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