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