A lack of ethics?

A lack of ethics?

A trader has no homeland, an old English proverb says. And
now, in this era of globalization, the old saying appears to have
come into vogue again in Indonesia. That, at least, is the
impression one gets on learning of the Salim group of businesses'
intention to sell the majority of its shares in PT Indocement and
PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, to Singapore company QAF.

The explanation given by the Salim Group, that the step is
based solely on considerations of business in the face of global
challenges, may be 100 percent acceptable. Nevertheless,
considering the growth of this group, which is close to our
policy makers, and given the considerable size of its share on
the national business scene, the impact of its actions on the
nation's economy and political life should always be taken into
account.

One of the factors that must be considered is the group's
corporate image. A shift in the group's base operations to
Singapore might easily lead people to conclude that it will be
paying its taxes to the government of Singapore while getting rid
of its waste products and profiting from the low labor wages in
Indonesia.

All this might probably be considered commonplace, had the
Salim Group been a multinational company that had grown big in
the conventional manner. However, the Salim Group is certainly no
ordinary grouping. We therefore hope that the move of its base
operations be canceled in order to prevent the birth of a new
saying that "a trader has no ethics".

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta