Agency calls for campaign to push use of domestic products

JAKARTA (JP): The influential National Business Development Council (DPUN) has asked President Abdurrahman Wahid to start a campaign for the people and companies to use more locally made products.

Head of DPUN Sofyan Wanandi said in a press conference on Friday that there was now a trend among local companies, including state enterprises, to use imported products instead of domestic products.

"People are now looking for excuses not to use domestic products," he said, pointing out as an example that state owned oil and gas firm Pertamina had been using imported products in developing its infrastructure projects.

He said that the issue had been discussed at the Monday cabinet meeting with Abdurrahman, who is also called by his nickname Gus Dur. DPUN attends the weekly cabinet meeting.

Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Aburizal Bakrie said that the campaign was needed because if the problem continued, the multi-billion dollar investments made by local manufacturers would vanish.

Aburizal said that local manufactures had been systematically prohibited from supplying their products to various projects of state owned enterprises because the contractor had designed a requirement that was "impossible" to be fulfilled by the local industry.

He pointed out that local manufacturers of container cranes had not been unable to supply their products for the development of a joint venture shipping port in Surabaya because the contractor required that the producer must have 10 years experience.

"This kind of requirement is absurd. It's merely designed to protect the interests of the foreign partners," he said, adding that the quality of the local product was good because they have been exported to Japan and other countries.

Aburizal also said that the specifications for the pipe and requirements for the supplier for Pertamina's West Natuna gas project were also made to prevent local pipe makers from joining the bidding.

Pipe makers were required to have a net asset value of more than US$2 billion to be able to supply pipe to the projects.

"This has nothing to do with product quality. Our pipe products have also been exported," he said.

Aburizal is the owner of the Bakrie Group which has a pipe making subsidiary.

Elsewhere, Sofyan said that DPUN had also asked Gus Dur to take immediate action to resolve the ongoing security problems at home.

He said that the domestic security problem had already prompted businesses to withhold investments and delay plans.

He also said that the uncertainty had caused local exporters to park their earnings overseas.

"It is important to resolve the security problems quickly, and the President agrees," he said.

Sofyan dismissed rumors that he had "whispered" to the President at the Monday cabinet meeting to detain certain political elites allegedly related to the current social and security problems.

"It is absolutely not true. The cabinet meeting is attended by many other people, you can check it with them," he said.

Sofyan also said that he had suggested the state owned Pelindo II port operator delay its earlier decision to raise charges for its services by 50 percent to 100 percent.

He said that the Minister of Communications would hold a meeting with exporters and Pelindo to discuss the matter. (rei)