Consumer group adopts more aggressive plan

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Consumer Foundation (YLKI), which celebrated its 21st anniversary this month, is planning to adopt a new, less conventional approach in pushing for greater consumer protection.

The foundation needs new strategies to strengthen its function as an organization which supports consumers, its executive director Zumrotin K.S. said on Saturday.

"We can't depend on our conventional ways anymore. To tell you the truth I feel frustrated because we have stayed too long with our conventional ways," she told reporters.

She did not disclose the new approaches being planned.

Az. Nasution, who chairs the foundation's plenary council, said the group plans to encourage people in Indonesia to insist on their rights as consumers.

Indonesian consumers should bear in mind that they have the right to consume safe goods and use public transportation facilities. "We also have our rights, just as we have duties. Don't just accept everything," he said.

YLKI has been pressing the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) to enact legislation on consumer protection and liabilities of manufacturers and sellers of their products and services.

The point was raised again on Saturday by Nasution who called the government irresponsive to its demands, leaving consumers virtually unprotected from the exploits and abuses of manufacturers and sellers.

In the absence of such legislation, developers are selling houses in areas which are prone to floods although their advertisements suggest that they are flood free, he said.

Advertisements by drug producers very often also mislead the public, he said.

A law on consumer protection would allow the people to sue companies for supplying poor quality products, Nasution said.

Nasution added that the foundation sent a draft on consumer protection law as far back as 1980 to the National Law Supervision Agency (BPHN). In 1992, YLKI, the Ministry of Trade and the University of Indonesia wrote another draft.

It is now entirely up to the government to improve on the draft and present it to the DPR for deliberation, he said.

Since 1973, the foundation has been conducting research, education, information and publication activities in addition to organizing cooperation with other non-governmental organizations.

YLKI has branches in Medan, North Sumatra, Yogyakarta and Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi. (par)