Political Quotes

“Earlier this afternoon, I introduced an amendment which would have instructed the U.S. representative to the International Monetary Fund to vote against any proposal with respect to Indonesia that would have benefited President Soeharto or his family or his close associates. I did so because it seemed to me that while several of the Nations in Southeast Asia that have been subjected to these runs on their currency and toward the present economic crisis were close friends of the United States, had developed democratic institutions like our own, were struggling toward free markets like our own, this was not taking place in Indonesia. It was a wholly-owned family subsidiary benefiting largely the Soeharto family and not the people of Indonesia. I pointed out that it seemed to me unfair to impose heavy requirements on friends of ours like the Republic of Korea and the Philippine Republic and allow any IMF money to go to Indonesia that was resisting all of the attempts by IMF to reform its economy.”