Soeharto launches national motorcycle<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto unveiled yesterday a new
\nnational motorcycle, called Expressa, and defended the
\ncontroversial national car program.<\/p>\n
Soeharto officially launched the new motorcycle, produced by a
\nsubsidiary of PT Astra International, by riding it through the
\ngrounds of the Merdeka Palace.<\/p>\n
He hailed the small cylinder motorcycle as an "extra
\nachievement of the nation" and named it Expressa, an Indonesian
\nacronym for the phrase.<\/p>\n
The new national motorcycle would help Indonesia achieve
\n"independence" in the motorcycle industry and capture the
\nlucrative domestic market, Soeharto said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia must become more self-reliant in the automotive and
\nmotorcycle industries and should not only serve as a market for
\nindustrialized countries, the President said.<\/p>\n
"We are the fourth most populated nation in the world... We
\nshould not merely become their market. We have to capture it with
\nvehicles produced by our sons and daughters," he said after
\nlaunching the motorcycle.<\/p>\n
He said the motorcycle, designed by 12 of Astra's Indonesian
\nengineers, was also aimed at achieving independence in motorcycle
\nsupply and transport for the lower and middle classes.<\/p>\n
About 10.08 million motorcycles were registered in Indonesia
\nlast year and this year the number could reach 11 million,
\nSoeharto said.<\/p>\n
Astra chief commissioner Mohamad "Bob" Hasan said the new
\nmotorcycle would enter commercial production in May 1998 with an
\ninitial production of 30,000 motorcycles per year.<\/p>\n
The motorcycle will cost less than Rp 3 million (US$1,000),
\nlower than most Japanese-brand motorcycles of the same type whose
\nprices exceed Rp 4 million.<\/p>\n
The Expressa prototype would have a 62 percent local content
\nin terms of value and 85 percent local content in terms of
\ncomponents, he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is the world's third largest motorcycle market after
\nChina and India and the fifth largest producer after China,
\nIndia, Taiwan and Japan.<\/p>\n
In three years time, Indonesia is expected to become the third
\nlargest producer of motorcycles, surpassing Taiwan and Japan.<\/p>\n
According to Astra, annual demand for motorcycles stood at 1.4
\nmillion in 1996 and this year's figure is estimated at 1.8
\nmillion.<\/p>\n
Astra claimed it controlled 48 percent of last year's
\nmotorcycle market share, mostly from its subsidiary Federal
\nMotor, the producer of Honda motorcycles.<\/p>\n
Soeharto yesterday also defended the national car program as
\nanother effort to pursue independence in the automotive sector as
\nit could not continue depending on other countries' technology.<\/p>\n
"Our national car is a pioneer although there are still many
\nproblems. But we must go ahead and will not retreat to pursue our
\nindependence (in the automotive sector)," Soeharto said before
\n300 people from small businesses and cooperatives nurtured by the
\nDharma Bhakti Astra Foundation.<\/p>\n
The national car program, launched in early 1996, grants tax
\nand duty exemptions to PT Timor Putra Nasional, owned by
\nSoeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, to produce
\nsedans bearing the Timor brand name.<\/p>\n
The company is required to clear an eventual goal of a local
\ncontent exceeding 60 percent by 1999.<\/p>\n
Since the company has yet to build an assembly plant, the
\ncompany was licensed by the President to import up to 45,000
\nfully assembled Timor cars from its South Korean joint venture
\npartner, Kia Motors Corp.<\/p>\n
The company is set to receive US$690 million in syndicated
\nloans from a consortium of state and private banks to build its
\nassembly plant in West Java.<\/p>\n
Despite the recent retrenchment program, which included the
\npostponement of US$16.5 billion-worth of private state-related
\nprojects, the government decided to continue with the Timor
\nproject.<\/p>\n
Japan, the European Union and the United States have taken
\nIndonesia's national car program to the World Trade Organization
\n(WTO)'s dispute settlement body, contending that the program was
\ndiscriminatory and in violation of WTO rules.<\/p>\n
But Soeharto argued that through the national car program,
\nIndonesia was increasing its independence in the automotive
\nindustry and no foreign country should question it.<\/p>\n
"There is no reason for them to object it because we simply
\nmanage our own business by building our own independence (in the
\nautomotive sector)," Soeharto said. (prb\/rid)<\/p>",
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