[stop-imf] Indonesia: Hundreds of lawyers to sue IMF

[Robert Weissman]

The Jakarta Post [online]
January 20, 2003

Hundreds of lawyers to sue IMF

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of lawyers, grouped in the Team of Lawyers Who Care
about the People's Hardship, will sue the Washington-based International
Monetary Fund (IMF), team coordinator Hotman Paris Hutapea said here on
Monday.

"We will sue the IMF at the Central Jakarta District Court as the
international agency has failed to help revive Indonesia's economic sector
from the prolonged crisis," Hotman was quoted as saying by Antara.

The six-year stint of the IMF in Indonesia has worsened the economic crisis,
he said, noting that the IMF's advice on Indonesia's economic sector,
such as
the scrapping of subsidies for fuel and electricity, was baseless.

The team will gather in front of the National Development Planning Board
(Bappenas) building to collect lawyers' signatures to sue the IMF.
Hotman did
not say when the protest would take place, but said it would be held in front
of the Bappenas building as the office is the agency which formulates
national development strategies.

However, Hotman denied that the protest would be carried out based on a
request by Bappenas chief, Kwik Kian Gie. "The protest will show that lawyers
care. We do not want to be provoked," he said.

Hotman also said they would send a letter of protest to the IMF headquarters
in Washington, the IMF representative office in the Asia-Pacific region and
the IMF office in Jakarta.