America expected to reinstall RI trade status, House told

JAKARTA (JP): The government is optimistic the United States will retain its policy on trade privileges provided to Indonesia under the Generalized System of Preference (GSP).

The government is certain that Washington will prioritize its good bilateral ties with Indonesia rather than making big issues out of things like labor standards and human rights, Director General for Foreign Economic Affairs Wisber Loeis said in a hearing with House of Representatives (DPR).

"We are optimistic that the U.S. government will finally decide not to rescind our GSP status because of Indonesia's improving labor standards and our ties with other nations," he told DPR Commission I on foreign affairs.

After a six-month suspension, which started on February 15, Washington will decide whether or not to cancel trade privileges next month. They are expected to announce their decision in September.

Washington has threatened to permanently suspend trade privileges under the GSP to Indonesia, which it says has a poor record of labor standards.

Wisber said that the government has asked the International Labor Organization to provide Indonesia with technical assistance to improve the labor standards, noting that it has been making progress in the last two years.

"The U.S. government has acknowledged that labor conditions have improved," he said presumably referring to the last six months.

Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said recently that the government would continue to enhance the workers' conditions but argued that the improvement was made not because of U.S. pressure.

Wisber said that the U.S. government was striving to eradicate all obstacles in its bilateral ties with Indonesia to ensure success at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, to be held in Jakarta in September.

"Developed countries, especially the United States, Japan and Australia, are serving their own national interests in encouraging Indonesia to make the summit a success," he said.

U.S. President Bill Clinton is scheduled to attend the meeting where many of the problems facing to the two countries, including the GSP issue, will be discussed, Wisber said.

When asked if Washington will decide to eventually suspend Indonesia's GSP status, Wisber said it was the U.S.'s right to make such a decision and that it would not affect Indonesia's economy.

"We do not want donor countries, including the United States, to tie political conditions with financial and economic cooperation. We will never beg them to make a decision benefiting us," he said.

Indonesia earned some US$640 million in 1992 from its selected products exported to the United States under the GSP facility.

Military aid

Meanwhile, Director General for Foreign Political Affairs Izhar Ibrahim, who also attended the hearing, said that the United States wanted to lift its military aid ban.

"In a meeting last week, the U.S. Senate voted for lifting the ban and the proposal has been submitted to the Congress for approval within 14 days," he said. He added that the proposal was brought to the Senate for review by Senator Donald Johnson of Louisiana.

In October of 1992, the U.S. froze some 2.3 million dollars in international military education and training (IMET) to Indonesia because of the tragic incident in Dili, East Timor on Nov. 12, 1991, in which 50 protesters were killed. (rms)