Business owners protest govt ruling

JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of established business owners who used to provide goods and services to Jakarta's city administration urged the office on Wednesday to ignore a presidential decree requiring them to register with the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

In a rally staged at the city hall in the afternoon, the protesters renounced the Presidential Decree No. 18/2000, saying such a regulation would lead to trouble. They said there had been widespread reports that the chamber used to extort businessmen while applying for membership.

"Now that it's time for regional autonomy, there is no need to obey the presidential decree. How can we deal with Kadin, which has never paid attention to small-scale businesses like ours," Freddy Siahaan, the coordinator of the group, told several of the city officials.

He claimed that Kadin requires the businessmen to pay membership fees for the last five years plus a Rp 2 million certificate fee. The certificate fee depends on the scale of the business.

"It's much cheaper to get the certificate from the city administration. We demand the governor to allow the city administration to regain the right to process the certification, standardize tender requirements and validate the old certificates," Freddy said. (bby)