Erna Witoelar fights to protect consumers<\/p>\n
By Prapti Widinugraheni<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The level of consumer protection is not the same
\nworldwide. While some consumers are very aware of their rights --
\nand are thus protected from defective products -- others are
\nhelpless to a point where they remain unaware of their right to
\ncomplain about inferior products.<\/p>\n
Consumers International, a federation of 220 consumer
\norganizations in 100 countries, was established to achieve two
\ngoals: to support and strengthen the consumer movement and to
\nadvocate consumer policies at an international level.<\/p>\n
Erna Witoelar, the president of Consumers International (CI),
\nhas chaired the federation since July, 1991.<\/p>\n
During that time, Erna, who currently lives in Moscow with her
\nhusband, Indonesian Ambassador to Russia Rachmat Witoelar, gained
\na lot of insight on the consumer movement and on ideas of how to
\nincrease the awareness of Indonesian consumers.<\/p>\n
CI was founded in 1960 and was then called the International
\nOrganization of Consumers Union (IOCU). It has a central office
\nin London, five regional operations and a global policy and
\ncampaign unit.<\/p>\n
Funding for CI is made by fees from member organizations,
\nfoundations and government grants. Every three years it holds a
\nWorld Congress during which it debates current consumer issues
\nand elects a president and a globally balanced council. The
\ncouncil, in turn, appoints an eight-member executive board.<\/p>\n
Recently The Jakarta Post interviewed Erna at her home in
\nMoscow by fax and phone.<\/p>\n
Q: What have you done as CI president in the past five years?<\/p>\n
A: I have chaired policy meetings of the council and the
\nexecutive board which were held to direct the organization's
\nplan of action, allocate resources, develop memberships and
\ndiscuss new policies, as well as global and regional campaigns. I
\nhave been traveling all over the world, when necessary, to
\nrepresent CI at international and regional meetings to strengthen
\nnational consumer organizations through policy development,
\ngovernment lobbying and media events. I have also visited central
\nand regional offices to give consultations on organizational
\nmanagement.<\/p>\n
Q: What do you consider as \"milestones\" during your period of
\nleadership at CI?<\/p>\n
A: Some milestones include the setting up of our African regional
\noffice and the facilitation of Africa's rapidly growing consumer
\nmovement. We have also done similar work in Central and Eastern
\nEurope. In general, the growth of membership in the last five
\nyears has been the fastest we've ever had in our history.<\/p>\n
At an international level, after successfully campaigning for
\nthe adoption of the 1985 Guidelines for Consumer Protection by
\nthe United Nations, we managed in 1995 to get ECOSOC to adopt a
\nnew resolution calling for the guidelines to be updated and
\nextended.<\/p>\n
These guidelines have been one of the most important assets to
\nconsumer organizations that seek to improve national consumer
\nprotection legislation.<\/p>\n
In Latin America and the Caribbean, we have been working
\ntogether with the Latin American Parliament to formulate a model
\nof the Consumers Protection Law for the region. Now 12 countries
\nin the region have consumer protection laws.<\/p>\n
At an organizational level, we have managed to restructure our
\nglobal and regional operations, building the cohesiveness of very
\ndiverse members' interests into a \"one CI policy\" through a
\nglobal management system.<\/p>\n
Q: Do you feel that you and your colleagues at CI have achieved
\nyour mission?<\/p>\n
A: Yes, we feel we have achieved part of our mission, but of
\ncourse the challenges continue to grow and we still need to catch
\nup on some new expectations.<\/p>\n
Personally, I have managed to survive the organization's most
\ndifficult and challenging times, and I feel I have also achieved
\nmy mission to unite the organization with its tremendous
\ndiversity while keeping its integrity intact.<\/p>\n
Q: What obstacles have there been in achieving your goals and how
\nhave you coped with them?<\/p>\n
A: The organization's main obstacle lies in the global area of
\nits operations and the \"never enough\" resources for ever-
\nincreasing expectations.<\/p>\n
We try to cope with them using improved telecommunication
\ntechnologies, strategic planning in the priority setting of our
\nprograms and resources and sometimes the painful cutting of our
\nhuman and financial resources.<\/p>\n
My personal obstacle is having to work in Moscow, away from my
\nown organization (YLKI, the Indonesian Consumers Protection
\nAgency) in Jakarta, so I have very limited staff and information
\nmaterials to work with.<\/p>\n
I try to cope with this by keeping close contact with YLKI
\nwhile getting support systems from CI's central office in London.<\/p>\n
Q: What is your view on the awareness of consumers' rights, both
\nglobally and in Indonesia?<\/p>\n
A: I think the awareness of consumers in general is increasing,
\nbut so are new challenges, thus the handling of consumers'
\nproblems is now more complicated than before.<\/p>\n
For instance, with the globalization of trade and marketing
\nsystems and the privatization of public utilities and other
\nservices, a lot of consumers are lost in directing their
\ncomplaints. They sometimes are unaware about the line of
\nresponsibility on the producer's or seller's side.<\/p>\n
Another problem is the influx of \"information pollution\" which
\ncurrently overwhelms consumers. This causes confusion for even
\nthe most aware consumer.<\/p>\n
Q: How do you increase consumers' awareness, particularly among
\nIndonesians, and how would you compare their awareness with that
\nof consumers in other parts of the world?<\/p>\n
A: It is no longer enough to leave the job of increasing the
\nawareness of Indonesian consumers -- which is relatively lower
\nthan that of some neighboring countries -- to consumer
\norganizations alone.<\/p>\n
The government and private sectors have a bigger
\nresponsibility to do this because the creation of awareness must
\nnow be done through mass communication systems.<\/p>\n
More wary consumers, in general, are needed to create a good
\neconomic system in a country. More critical consumers are a good
\nelement to boost competitiveness in the production sector.<\/p>\n
I strongly believe that one reason for the lack of
\ncompetitiveness of Indonesian products abroad is the lack of
\nconsumer protection and critical awareness in our country. \"Jago
\nkandang\" (one that can only win on home turf) is the impression
\nmade by the low performance of our exports abroad compared to
\nthat of our neighbors.<\/p>\n
Q: What is your view on the Consumers Protection Bill and why has
\nthere been no progress so far? Do you have any concepts of your
\nown?<\/p>\n
A: YLKI has been working on the bill for almost two decades now,
\nthrough several generations of parliament members and ministers,
\nthrough all political factions in the House of Representatives
\nand all relevant commissions with no progress.<\/p>\n
We have been drafting and redrafting many concepts, and we had
\nto start again and again with every new generation of politicians
\nand every new minister.<\/p>\n
In retrospect, I think that in the beginning the government
\nwas unnecessarily afraid that a consumer protection law would
\nkill local industries.<\/p>\n
Then, after there was a bit more confidence in our industries,
\nthere came an era of deregulation, hence there was a reluctance
\nto create more regulations -- without realizing that we had never
\nhad a good consumer protection regulation before.<\/p>\n
After that, economic policies in that context became
\nillogical. Political and commercial interests merged even further
\nand higher costs were needed to push for a law, causing public
\ninterest laws to be totally disregarded.<\/p>\n
Q: What are your goals for the next five years?<\/p>\n
A: For CI, the next five years will be directed toward
\nstrengthening the global consumer movement by enhancing the role
\nof civil society at local, national and global levels. This will
\nempower consumers to protect themselves.<\/p>\n
CI will continue to facilitate the growth of consumer
\norganizations in developing countries and in countries undergoing
\nstructural adjustments and democratic reforms. We hope to reach
\nmore low-income and uninformed consumers.<\/p>\n
CI will enhance its global policy and campaigning in order to
\ninfluence governments into articulating consumers' interests, so
\nthat every consumer is able to live in a just and fair society.<\/p>\n
As for myself, frankly speaking, it is difficult to describe
\nmy goals for the next five years. The end of this year will be
\nthe end of my last term as CI president and the end of our four-
\nyear stay in Moscow.<\/p>\n
I will have a new chapter in my life and I still need to
\ndecide what to do in the next phase. But whatever and wherever
\nI'll be, I will still be very committed to my goal of
\nstrengthening civil society.<\/p>",
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