Large businesses call for changes to monopoly bill<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Major business players in the country called on
\nthe lawmakers on Monday to practice flexibility in deliberating
\nthe anti-monopoly bill.<\/p>\n
A major producer of food items in the country, PT Indofood
\nSukses Makmur, said that one of the bill's clauses which limits a
\nproduct penetration to 30 percent at the maximum was totally
\nunfair.<\/p>\n
\"We all must know that a particular product might be able to
\ndominate 100 percent of the market because it is a new or
\nunrivaled product,\" Indofood's director Fransiscus Welirang told
\na meeting with the House of Representatives' special committee
\ndealing with the bill.<\/p>\n
\"This is clearly not the fault of the company, as long as
\nthere is no limitation or barrier to others entering the market,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Indofood itself is a dominant player in the instant noodle
\nbusiness, controlling some 90 percent of the instant noodle
\nmarket in Indonesia with its various product brands like Indomie,
\nSarimi, Supermi, Pop Mie and Top Mie.<\/p>\n
The market-share limitation would hamper producers and
\ncompanies in achieving their optimal targets when they compete in
\nthe international market, Frans said.<\/p>\n
It would also open ways to government intervention in market
\ncompetition.<\/p>\n
And most importantly, it would discourage foreign and local
\ninvestors from putting money into Indonesia, he said.<\/p>\n
The limitation would also be hard to implement because it
\nwould be next to impossible to measure market shares regularly,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
\"We are worried that this kind of regulation would not be
\neffective and would merely become a toothless tiger,\" he said.<\/p>\n
At the same meeting with the committee, state-owned PT Pupuk
\nSriwijaya (Pusri) president Suhadi suggested that the House
\nrevises the clause so that it would allow market control of up to
\n50 percent as long as the company was not practicing monopoly.<\/p>\n
Limiting the market share to 30 percent is very risky because
\nthere would likely be an increase in demand so that production
\nmust be increased, he said.<\/p>\n
\"It must be noted that there are companies which have been
\ncontrolling more than 30 percent of the market without practicing
\nmonopoly,\" he said, citing his own company Pusri, which produces
\nfertilizers.<\/p>\n
\"Currently 100 percent of urea fertilizer in the local market
\nis produced by Pusri and the group,\" he said, adding that 100
\npercent of the company's production were sold on the local market
\nat prices below the market level, thanks to a government subsidy.<\/p>\n
He urged the legislators to add a clause which exempts \"state-
\nowned companies that yield products or services crucial for the
\npublic at large\" from being subject to the antimonopoly bill.<\/p>\n
Suhadi and Welirang also urged the House to change the six-
\nmonth period given before the bill could be enforced to a year.<\/p>\n
Small businesses<\/p>\n
In the afternoon session with the committee, the Chairman of
\nthe Confederation of Primary Cooperatives Associations (Inkud),
\nNurdin Halid, pointed out that the bill does not differentiate
\nbetween the middle and upper segments of business sectors and the
\nsmall and medium-scale enterprises and cooperatives.<\/p>\n
The current bill stipulates that all \"players in the economy
\nare people or a legal body, owned by the state or the private
\nsector, or cooperatives which conduct business in their role as
\nproducers or traders\".<\/p>\n
\"Under this definition, the status of cooperatives is made
\nequal with that of other business players in the bill,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said the bill did not side with small firms or
\ncooperatives, thus it did not follow a decree recently passed by
\nthe People's Consultative Assembly which stipulates that the
\ngovernment should prioritize the development of the small-scale
\nbusinesses.<\/p>\n
A consultant on small-scale economics, Rino A. Sa'danoer, said
\nin the same meeting that the antimonopoly law would encourage
\nbusiness competition as well as open up the market entry for new
\nplayers in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"With the existence of competition, only the strong can
\nsurvive in the market,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The small firms and cooperatives in the country would have a
\nhard time participating in any competition because they were not
\nequipped with adequate capital, technology and efficiency as
\ntheir larger-scale competitors were, he said. (das)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/large-businesses-call-for-changes-to-monopoly-bill-1447893297",
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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