All out export drive
President Soeharto has again called for an all-out export drive to win increasing opportunities in the international market and asked all ministries and government agencies to fully support the effort.
"We should step up our joint efforts to strengthen the international competitiveness of our products," the President said on Thursday at the annual Export Awards presentation to the best-performing exporters.
Two days earlier several textile exporters complained in public House hearings about cumbersome bureaucratic regulations and illegal levies they often faced. They said that unless bureaucratic barriers were reduced they would lose out to competitors from other countries.
None of the complaints were actually new but their plight once again amplified the wide gap between what the government preached and what it actually did. The complaints further testified that though the country's economic development is based on an export- led strategy, there seems to have been little improvement in the regulatory framework for export trade.
We don't think the problems are isolated to the textile and garment industry alone. Many other exporters have often complained, but privately, about the same difficulties. But officials involved in the numerous chains of the export process, being used to doing the same routine chores, might defend their performances as simply normal by the local bureaucratic scheme of things. The problem is that exporters have to compete in the international market place where bureaucratic efficiency, as one of the components that build up export competitiveness, is not measured by the standards of Indonesian civil service.
According to our views the problems are, in part, caused by the lack of understanding among officials about export. Officials often perceive the exporting process simply as a matter of shipping or airlifting goods to foreign countries. President Soeharto fully understands the multi-faceted process of exporting, as shown by his speech. But many officials in the field, who are in charge of processing the regulatory paperwork, do not realize that export actually encompasses cross-sector activities.
The exporting process actually starts with the importation of goods which have to go through customs clearance, port handling and land transportation before they are processed at the plant. Then the products have to go through the same process before entering the international market. A delay in one of the numerous steps of the process affects the whole export process with various damaging impacts: Upsetting delivery schedules, delays in payments, additional storage costs, larger interest payments to the banks or even claims from importers overseas.
The difficulties complained about by exporters should be cause for great concern because such problems should have been abolished by the massive economic and bureaucratic reform measures since 1985. If bureaucratic obstacles cannot be removed or minimized despite repeated instructions from the President we think a special task force is needed.
In connection with this, we wonder why the government has not considered it most imperative now to set up a powerful inter- ministerial team that is authorized to monitor and to immediately cope with any potential trouble spots in all the chains of the export process.
In several countries, such as South Korea, which has had great success in promoting exports, the president holds a monthly meeting, especially for export, that is attended by all top officials of departments or agencies related to exports as well as representatives of exporters' associations. The meeting is very effective because it resolves immediately any problems, by executive fiat, on the spot. The monthly meeting not only keeps key officials on their toes because they have to be ready with answers to any questions regarding the area of their responsibility but also makes it easier to forge coordination and cooperation for the export drive.