A dilemma

A dilemma

Local newspapers recently reported the minimum regional wage
would be raised by 15 percent. Many entrepreneurs protested
because they argued it was already good enough if they could pay
the wages of their workers.

During the monetary crisis, when US$1 is worth about four
times the precrisis rate of 2,500 to the rupiah, payments for
imported raw materials are also four times higher. So the
employers and entrepreneurs may consider themselves lucky if they
can keep their heads above water or make ends meet, but deal with
additional expenses of higher minimum wage rates? No way, they
exclaimed.

Employees should keep the above-mentioned difficulty in mind,
the employers reasoned.

There remains the question, a difficult question indeed, for
the employers to answer. With the price of their finished product
now four times higher, will they be able to sell their product at
four times the former selling price?

On the other hand, the employee, the little man, with a
monthly salary of Rp 300,000 to Rp 400,000, is also having a hard
time making ends meet, with prices of daily necessities also
rising 100 percent to 200 percent. No wonder local newspapers
state that the poor already constitute 50 percent of the
population.

In this case, both the employer and the employee face a
dilemma. Perhaps the wise King Solomon from ancient times could
have answered the questions.

I am told that many women wholesalers from Africa flock to
Indonesia to buy textile products, such as house dresses for
women. For them, prices in Indonesia are very low, if $1 is
calculated from Rp 9000 to Rp 10,000.

Indonesian export products are dirt-cheap! And Indonesian
motorbikes are in great demand (perhaps motorcars are too
expensive) in African countries!

A. DJUANA

Jakarta