Free trade era

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