The U.S. dollar is losing ground to the euro

By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent

JAKARTA, March 30 (IslamOnline.net) - Indonesian Minister of Finance Sunday, March 30, said his country could well replace the use of the U.S. dollar in international transactions with the Euro.

This, he said, was a decision to be made soon following the invasion the U.S. is waging against Iraq, a Muslim nation. This announcement has not surprised observers and experts in the economic field in the Southeast Asia region.

Pertamina, the Indonesian petrol corporation is currently considering the use of the Euro in its transactions when dealing with oil and gas on an international basis.

Beodono, the Indonesian Minister of Finance added that the Euro has given signs of being more stable than the U.S. dollar and thus inspires more confidence to the Indonesian authorities.

“Pertamina is looking into the matter, studying the possibility of using the Euro instead of the US dollar in its transactions,” said the Chief Director of the Pertamina, Muchsin Bahar to the Republika magazine on March 28.

Indonesia may also shift its interests in aviation and other industries, including military equipment from the U.S.-Britain to France, Germany and even China, some of the experts in the field said.

“During the short spell of the B J Habibie presidency after the fall of the Suharto leadership in Jakarta, the Indonesian aviation industry was focusing on the Airbus and on Germany in particular for its supply source,” said Effendi, an oil and gas expert in Jakarta.

He insists the Habibie regime was forced out of power after the pro-U.S. lobby favoring Megawati Sukarnoputri, the current Indonesian President, plotted with the Parliamentarians to oust Habibie.

“This doused the German influence, killed any hope of a big entry of French cooperators and businessmen in Indonesia and strengthened the influence of pro-U.S. and indeed pro-Jewish lobby in Jakarta,” he added.

The Indonesian Mujahideen Council (MMI) told IslamOnline.net in recent interviews that Jewish based corporations from Bangkok, Singapore and the U.S. had made inroads in the Indonesian Telecommunications and Road infrastructure industries.

The MMI said the situation must be reversed and urged the Indonesian authorities not to grant contracts to Australian, Asian companies or U.S. with links to Israel.

They said the U.S., behaving as the Para-military force of Israel were going to attack Muslim countries and Muslim interests in the region and in the world under the disguise of the “war against terror”.

Halliburton, one of the companies already allocated a contract to run the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr in the middle of Iraq invasion and possibly other oil and gas projects in the probable post-Saddam era has strong footing in Indonesia.

The MMI said this was one example of the “capturing” of the Indonesian and Muslim markets by pro-U.S. and Jewish interests, which was bad for the future of the largest Muslim state on earth.

On the other hand, in Kuala Lumpur, the issue is more on petroleum contracts in Muslim countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq that are now under the control of the U.S. or at war with invading U.S. forces.

There are fears in Kuala Lumpur that the Iraq invasion will not bring any benefits to the Malaysian Petroleum company the Petronas, which we were told in Jakarta’s petroleum sources, was bidding for oil for food programs with the help of Paris.

An expert in the Malaysian oil industry said Malaysia was bidding in advance for contracts in the construction of Afghanistan’s oil pipeline or in the refinery of Afghan before the Taliban came to power in Kabul.

The collapse of Burhanuddin Rabbani regime and the coming of the Taliban under Mullah Omar stopped the Malaysians short in their bidding for the projects.

There were attempts to talk to the Taliban but it did not go far enough and fast enough due to fears of the fundamentalist regime from the Malaysian side, Effendi said.

Malaysia has already launched the Dinar, a form of currency that could be used to replace the U.S. dollar in the long run in transactions between Muslim countries, sources said in Kuala Lumpur.

Victory or defeat of the U.S. in Iraq will not necessarily affect this desire to change, to shift allegiance from the U.S., Britain and their closest allies and business partners to that of the Paris-Berlin axis.

Malaysia, Effendi and other experts said, would soon show that its looking more towards France and Germany, even Turkey in the bid to shift business and economic interests from traditional colonialist forces.

The U.S., Britain and their allies are bound to suffer if this operation is vigorous and translates into real time figures on the economic scene, Effendi added.

Malaysia’s frustration over the war in Iraq is doubled by the fact that the war itself has caused the possibility of securing contracts through France and Russia under the oil for food program is now ruined.

Malaysia has already started to consider purchasing heavy military equipment from France and Germany or Turkey may follow soon, experts said to IslamOnline.net.