Commentary
By Wayne Forrest

           I recently purchased a Palm Pilot handheld organizer that features several ways to reset it.  If the device locks, for example while connected by modem to the Internet, you can simply press a button in the back for a "soft" reset.  When doing this, although annoying, all the contacts, address, and other information remain, no data is lost.  However, this may not sufficiently clear up the problems and one may have to do a "hard" reset.  This procedure erases all the information on the handheld, not a problem if you regularly back it up to your desktop computer.  Well, like many things, Murphy's law applies, and of course I've been caught without backing up after being forced into a "hard" reset.

         Unless your fascinated by electronics devices, most of this is probably boring or irrelevant, but recently it occurred to me that since the crisis of 1997 Indonesia has only attempted a "soft" reset. The problems that were attributed to President Wahid's first coalition Cabinet have persisted into the second, a Cabinet that on the face is much more unified.  Now granted this Cabinet has only been in place for a few months, but it is fast looking like the first.   While speaking the language of reform, Indonesia's leaders have made little headway in areas that would provide a needed boost to the financial sector.  To an outsider it looks like Indonesia is trying to achieve massive reforms while keeping everyone in place, a modus operandi that may be necessary but extremely limited or even dangerous.  How can Indonesia's people believe in reform if no one is held responsible for the malfeasance of the past.  Can the elite get away with blaming foreigners (US, UN, IMF) for the mess without creating technical and administrative solutions to low economic performance?     

        Looking around Indonesia's economic and political landscape, one sees that few have been prosecuted for corruption, while those that have been convicted have not been jailed. Similarly, loans that should have been repaid, haven't, and assets that could have been sold when values were higher wallow in limbo.  Political leaders that have openly espoused violence have rarely been brought up on charges.  Military and paramilitary perpetrators of illegal violence go unprosecuted.   International attorneys have all but given up on the bankruptcy procedures since no one is being convicted and portfolios investors have little enthusiasm for IBRA since little to nothing is being sold.  A stronger consumer economy that will register 4% growth for this year, low inflation, a robust export sector and higher energy prices, keep a flicker of hope that Indonesia is somehow muddling through.  The military