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)