Govt preparing draft bill on small businesses

JAKARTA (JP): The government has begun formulating a bill on small enterprises to provide them with a legal basis for development, in response to environmental changes and the trend of globalization, a minister says.

Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya said here yesterday that a legal framework, besides improved human resources and a conducive economic environment, was a prerequisite for the development of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).

Speaking on the second day of the 21th International Small Business Congress (ISBC), the minister said that the draft bill will be submitted to the House of Representatives (DPR) for deliberation within a few months.

He said that, as human resources are one of crucial weaknesses faced by SMEs, their improvement was unavoidable.

"Some aspects of this strategy, therefore, are improvements of entrepreneurship, managerial skills and outlook on business environment," Subiakto told the three-day congress attended by over 700 participants from 38 countries.

Besides Subiakto, speaking on the second day of the three-day congress was Raymond W.Y. Kao of Singapore, Bruce A. Krichhoff of the United States, Ken O'neill of North Ireland, Vessa Routama of Finland and Nobuhiro Kurose of Japan.

Subiakto noted that the strategy for developing SMEs will not be sufficient without creating conducive environment that provides better opportunities for them to grow bigger, stronger and self-reliant.

"In this connection, the government has been promoting business partnerships between small, medium and large enterprises. The large entities are later called upon to sell some portion of their shares to small companies and cooperatives.

Subiakto told newsmen after the congress that eight conglomerates, all of which are listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, will soon sell 3.5 million shares to 38 cooperatives.

Meanwhile, Businessman Fadel Muhammad said the participation of large entities in the improvement of small and medium companies should still be encouraged.

"I myself understand the importance of large entities in helping small and medium sized enterprises. You know, I started from a small business then became a medium one and now I'm a bit bigger," Fadel told The Jakarta Post.(rid)