Entering the free trade era

Entering the free trade era

Indonesians, as members of a pluralistic society, may or may
not agree with the International Monetary Fund's reform package.
We are being forced to open ourselves widely to competition from
other nations when we are still scarcely prepared in terms of
legal framework and infrastructure. Some of us believe we are
being forced to compete without any mental preparation
whatsoever.

When we consider our legal infrastructure, for example, we see
that we still do not have a law to ensure healthy competition, to
protect the consumer, or one against monopolies. How are we
expected to compete fairly when no clear (legal) beacons exist?
How can consumers feel protected when their market position has
always been decided by the producers of goods? Won't the
scrapping of Bulog's monopoly merely result in other, private
monopolies because it has always been the same old players who
get a part of the action? The warnings given to hoarders, for
example, have only added to the public's confusion because the
concept of "hoarding" has never been clearly defined.

This is the homework which the executive and legislative
institutions have to do. For its part, the public too will have
its own, no less complicated homework to do. The free trade
environment which we will be enter in a few days calls for the
mental readiness of the whole community, particularly the state
apparatus.

So far, there have been many distortions because of the
practice of collusion. In this free trade era such practices,
even on the smallest scale, will destroy the competitiveness of
our national economy and thus hurt us all.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta