Businesspeople unfazed by threat of boycott

Businesspeople unfazed by threat of boycott

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian businessmen played down on Thursday
Australia's threat to impose trade sanctions against the country.

Chairman of the Indonesian Exporters Association Amirudin Saud
said on Thursday that Indonesia's foreign trade would not be
overly affected if Indonesia-Australia trade relations were to be
suspended.

He said he did not foresee any problems if Australia boycotted
Indonesia's export products.

"There are always other countries that can take our exports if
Australia rejects them. And anything that we import from
Australia, we could get from other countries," he said.

Relations between the two countries have been under strain
following the Australian government's outspoken criticism of
Jakarta's handling of the East Timor issue.

In Jakarta, anti-Australia sentiment is growing following the
burning of the Indonesian flag and the boycott launched by the
neighboring country's labor unions against the unloading of goods
shipped from Indonesia.

Indonesian students also burned an Australian flag on
Wednesday. Protests continued on Thursday in Jakarta's main
streets.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Thursday that
Australia had no plans to impose economic or trade sanctions on
Indonesia in order to pressure the country to control the ongoing
violence in East Timor.

But Howard told a media briefing in Sydney that the Australian
government had not ruled out imposing sanctions at a later date.

"Although the government isn't considering imposing sanctions
currently, the issue is very much on the table," he was quoted by
Dowjones Newswires as saying.

Earlier in the week the Indonesian Importers Association
(GINSI), supported by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce &
Industry, also threatened a boycott of imports from Australia if
the country intervened in Indonesia's internal affairs over the
East Timor issue.

Disadvantage

Secretary-General of the Indonesian Pulp and Paper Association
Kahar Haryopuspito shared Amirudin's view, but he observed that
any trade conflict between the two countries would cause
disadvantages all round.

He was said he was concerned with GINSI's earlier statement of
a threatened trade boycott against Australia.

"We in the business side of the relationship should not start
the conflict. What GINSI did by threatening Australia was not
wise," he said.

He said the Indonesian business community should apply the
boycott against Australia only if both governments were engaged
in political conflict.

With the exception of last year, bilateral trade has been in
favor of Australia, which exports textile fibers, dairy products
and mining equipment to Indonesia.

Indonesia made a profit of A$1.41 billion (about US$950
million) in bilateral trade with Australia in 1998, partly due to
a decline in imports from the neighboring country.

According to data released by the Australian Embassy,
Indonesia's exports surged 57.2 percent to A$3.56 billion last
year, while imports dropped by 37 percent to $2.15 billion.

Indonesia's main exports to the country are paper, furniture
and non-metal mineral products.

Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Iman Taufik said in Bali on Thursday that if both countries
terminated their economic relationship, Australia would suffer a
greater loss than Indonesia. He said the former had always
enjoyed a surplus in its bilateral trading with Indonesia.

"Just forget Australia. Our trading with the country is
small," Iman said on the sidelines of an oil conference.

He expressed concern over what he called the "deplorable
conduct" of Australians in handling the East Timor issue.

"Australia is now talking too much about East Timor. In fact,
they paid no contribution in the development of East Timor over
the past 23 years, during which Indonesia heavily invested in the
area," he said.

Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1976 after the Portuguese
colonial ruler abruptly pulled out of the area, leaving a civil
war behind.

Iman said East Timor had received a total foreign investment
of US$40 million over the past 23 years, all from Asian
investors.

Former Australian Federal Minister of Environment Ros Kelly
told reporters during the conference that she believed the
current tension between Australia and Indonesia would not lead to
a termination of the relationship.

"It would be an enormous tragedy if there was any lessening of
Australia's relationship with Indonesia ... I do not believe that
anyone in our country wants the disruption in the relationship.
There's so much goodwill that that can not happen," said Kelly,
who made a presentation on the environment at the conference.

Kelly said Australia and Indonesia had worked hard to build a
good relationship over the past 13 years and that the current
tension between both countries was not expected to ruin the good
ties.

She compared the relationship with a marriage, describing the
current tension as only a "hiccup".

"Sometimes with your partner, you just get very angry ... But
in the end you know you have to stick it out with the other.

"And the reality of all this, (is that) we are neighbors. We
have got to be friends. We live next door to each other," she
said. (udi/jsk)