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Former Vice President Jusuf Kalla has called on the government to shift the focus of its economic policy to the public rather than the major business groups he says are the main beneficiaries of current policies.

“Our economic growth has been driven by conglomerates. That has made it difficult for people to gain more economic opportunities, which in turn prevents them from gaining prosperity,” Kalla said on Saturday at Brawijaya University, in Malang, East Java, where he was awarded with an honorary Ph.D.

Kalla said that the government should alter its economic policies, giving more incentives for small and medium-size companies and encouraging cooperatives to play a greater role in boosting the economy.

The government estimated that there are 51 million SMEs that contribute about 56 percent of gross domestic product.

Given the size of the SMEs’ contribution to the economy, the government has launched programs to support them, such as the People’s Business Loan (KUR), introduced in November 2007.

The KUR scheme allows SMEs to borrow from banks while providing little or no collateral.

According the Ministry of Cooperatives, there are also more than 170,000 cooperatives, which differ from SMEs in that they are not limited liability partnerships.

“There should be a strong and clear policy from the government to enable the country’s cooperatives and SMEs to compete with big business,’’ Kalla said, adding that the contribution of cooperatives to the economy remains small.

Top economic minister Hatta Rajasa said that the current economic policies had been designed to benefit many Indonesians.

“We oppose the neoliberal paradigm. We need to build a just and fair market for our people,’’ Hatta said on Sunday. “Not one of our people should suffer living in an area abundant with natural resources.’’