Do we need economy led by command and control i.e. industrial policy steered by government as we observed china nowadays and USSR in old days rather than let industrialist manage their own path to develop their own?The answer:
As Indonesia`s experience in military regime led by Gen. Suharto, the regime thought that dictatorship government could manage easily industrial path of the country. Yet it went to different way. Cronyism arose and no standard to choose which industry should be supported and how to choose which company is eligible to have support of government.
However, I can see the role of government in the case to regulate what industry should support without pointing directly at company. Furthermore, there is no "consensus" or "jurisprudential guide" what industry at the first development to support.
The bottom-line is it is not easy to conclude that the role of government in industrial policy is really affected to industrial development or not if we referred to scholar of Korea concluded the achievement of Korea`s industry nowadays is "just a lucky".
Beny Trias Oktora
Master of Arts in International Development and Corporation
Staff at Directorate General of Fiscal Balance
Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia
