Free trade era

Indonesia has agreed to participate in free trade. Actually, the free trade era will be introduced by 2010, but in the last agreement it was rescheduled for a much earlier time i.e. 2003. Although this agreement will be implemented step by step, it will influence Indonesia a great deal. The relationship between the free trade era and conditions in Indonesian, especially in the service sector, concerns human resources. Is Indonesia ready to open the gate to free trade? Will not the free trade era create a new system of colonialism for Indonesia in the future?

Indonesia is known for its rich natural resources. It was this richness that attracted the Dutch to colonize Indonesia and rule it for more than 300 years.

As far as human resources are concerned, Indonesia still has low-quality human resources compared to other countries, despite the fact that many of the workforce are university graduates. Ironically, many job vacancies require people who have some work experience, especially for jobs that apply high technology and modern management. Under these circumstances many fresh graduates simply do not have any chance of employment. It is often the case that highly sophisticated jobs are grabbed by foreigners.

The fact than many foreigners are employed in Indonesia is not without problems. Foreign employment creates sociocultural problems. Foreigners are usually paid higher than their Indonesian counterparts, even for the same type of job, under the false perception that foreign workers are more qualified.

The Indonesian government should seriously consider that the free trade era is intended to improve the quality of human resources in order to be able to compete with foreign workers. The time will come when our natural resources will be explored by Indonesian people, and for the benefit of the next generation.

MILA KARMILA ADI

Yogyakarta