Business in Jakarta

Business in Jakarta

If you run a business in Jakarta, watch out. It is very likely
that one day at an office party nobody will be able to blow out
the candles on the cake. The reason being that no one would be
licensed, certified, equipped or know the standard procedure to
put out a fire. You will have to invite the fire brigade as well.

While the world embraces deregulation there is a concerted
wave of regulatory framework slyly being imposed on the Asian
economies. These regulations, and the bureaucracy created to
oversee them, will act as corset which will slow down development
of the Asian economies. Regulations, certifications,
standardization and other kinds of red tape shall be carefully
assessed by policy makers and businessmen. Foreign consultants
act as Trojan horses and profit from the whole gamut of
activities created by the
standardization/certification/regulation business. Once imposed,
they spread virus-like infecting every kind of economic activity.
This burdensome bureaucracy is imported euro-sclerosis.

Let's not forget that recently, while Asians threw out the
work-rules book and went for it, Latin America imported OECD-
style labor rules which are partly to blame for the poor
performance of their economies.

OSVALDO COELHO

Bandung, West Java