35 honored for help to cooperatives

35 honored for help to cooperatives

JAKARTA (JP): Marking Indonesia's 48th Cooperative Day
yesterday, President Soeharto inaugurated a pioneering wholesale
outlet for cooperatives and small businesses and launched a
national entrepreneurship drive.

"Today we witness many kinds of business partnerships between
large entities and cooperatives and small enterprises. One form
of the partnerships is the establishment of a wholesale center by
PT Goro Yudhistira Utama," President Soeharto said at the
wholesale center in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.

Soeharto said the center would provide goods with lower-than-
average prices to cooperatives and small enterprises. "By buying
goods at this center, cooperatives and small enterprises will
gain profits and consumers will not lose out," he added.

He called on every economic force in the country to develop
further partnerships which would give mutual benefits to each
party. He added, however, that such partnerships would only
flourish where they were supported by skilled entrepreneurs.

"We need not only the existence of administrative and
innovative entrepreneurs but also an increase in their number,"
Soeharto said in launching the national entrepreneurship drive.

Under Presidential Instruction No. 4/1995, Soeharto assigns 17
ministers, the governor of Bank Indonesia (the central bank) and
all 27 provincial governors to make the entrepreneurship drive a
success under the coordination of Minister of Cooperatives and
Small Enterprises Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya.

Partnership

At the ceremony, Subiakto said partnership between large firms
and cooperatives and small enterprises was expected to solve the
latter's external problems, while the entrepreneurial skills of
cooperatives and small firms' managers would solve their internal
problems.

The minister added that partnerships, coupled with the
entrepreneurial ability of those involved, would be a strong
force for change in the country's economy.

Soeharto suggested that cooperatives work hand-in-hand with
each other to mend their shortcomings and face the challenges of
global competition.

"In an economic situation which is full of competition
nowadays, cooperatives have to rely more on their own capacity
and capability," Soeharto said, adding that the development of
cooperatives must be related to the development of small-scale
firms, which are mostly members of cooperatives.

According to the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small
Enterprises, Indonesia had 44,294 registered cooperatives as of
the end of March this year, of which 9,021 were village
cooperatives, with total assets of Rp 1.7 trillion (US$765
million).

At yesterday's ceremony, President Soeharto also presented
awards to 35 people who had made significant contributions to the
development of cooperatives and small enterprises in Indonesia.

Among those honored were Moedjiono, president of the state-
owned surveyor firm PT Sucofindo; Faisal Abda'oe, president of
the state-run oil company Pertamina; Suhadi, president of state-
run fertilizer firm PT Pupuk Sriwijaya; Setyanto P. Santosa,
president of the state-owned domestic telecommunications firm PT
Telkom; I. B. Putu Sarga, president of state-owned life insurance
firm PT Jasa Raharja; Fachri Zainuddin, president of PT the
state-owned airport company PT Angkasa Pura I; and Zuhal,
director general of energy and electricity.

Other award winners were President Soeharto's second son
Bambang Trihatmojo of the Bimantara Group, Soeharto's half-
brother Probosutedjo of Mercu Buana Group, Prayoga Pangestu of PT
Barito Timber, Ciputra of the Ciputra Group, Eka Tjipta Widjaja
of the Sinar Mas Group, William Soerjadjaja of the Astra Group,
Rachman Halim of PT Gudang Garam and Usman Atmadjaya of Bank
Danamon. (rid)