Ban on foreign retailers nedeed

JAKARTA (JP): The government was urged yesterday to maintain the ban on foreign retailers in Indonesia in order to protect the interests of local traders.

Sudwikatmono (right in the picture above), Chairman of the Governing Board of the newly-established Indonesian Retailers Association, argued that foreign retailers which usually own global chains and have access to capital are obviously out match Indonesian retailers.

"Therefore, I call on the government to maintain the retail trade ban on foreign investors," added Sudwikatmono, one of the country's biggest conglomerates, at the installation of the executive board of the association.

He contended that, despite the ban, many foreign retailers had entered the country through franchises and other forms of business tie-ups with local companies.

"National businessmen should tap the expanding retail trade opportunities themselves and should not instead lie to themselves by hiding foreign retail operations in franchise arrangements," Sudwikatmono said.

The executive board of the association for the 1994-1996 period was led by H.E. Dachlan of the Golden Truly Supermarket and Department Store as the general chairman.

Other executives included Hari Darmawan of the Matahari retail chain as chairman for department stores, Anton Lukmanto of the Hero supermarket chain as chairman for supermarkets, M.N. Fauziansyah as chairman for small retail stores and Suryadarma Ali as secretary general. (vin)