Indonesia needs to open up its protected sectors: Moerdiono
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia needs to further open up its protected sectors, simplify bureaucracy and empower businesses and social organizations to ensure high economic growth and compete in the coming free market era, Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said.
"We have a lot of homework to do to improve our competitiveness in the global market," Moerdiono told a two-day seminar organized by the Pancasila University here yesterday.
He noted that the level of protection in a number of sectors, especially industry, needs to be reduced gradually to expose them to global competition so that they can become more efficient.
Many bureaucratic procedures are still too complicated for businesses to follow, and need to be simplified to encourage more business activities, he added.
"We also need to empower our social organizations, most of which still face problems related to leadership and allocation of resources," Moerdiono said.
He said that the most challenging task facing Indonesia in the coming century is empowering local businesses to compete in a freer global market.
"All those things are necessary because we are facing greater competition from countries which have just completed their national integration processes: Vietnam, Cambodia, India and Pakistan," Moerdiono said.
Moreover, he added, in only eight years, Indonesian enterprises will be forced to compete head-on with companies from 10 countries in Southeast Asia. And by 2020, they are to compete with companies from all countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
"For a dynamic society, 25 years is not a long time. And therefore we must work hard to improve our competitiveness," Moerdiono said. "We must from now on focus on the micro rather than the macro."
Even though the current wave of economic globalization is huge, Moerdiono predicted that the government will keep providing public services, especially security.
Aspirations
Economist Sjahrir supported Moerdiono's view, saying that to improve the country's competitiveness, the government needs to accommodate the public's political aspirations and improve the transparency of its economic management.
He warned that Indonesia is already in danger of disintegration, citing recent riots in Jakarta and Situbondo, East Java, as the most obvious warnings signs.
Therefore, unless the government meets the public's political demands, the country will experience more political disturbances, which may lower competitiveness, because it will not be a safe place to do business anymore.
Former cabinet minister Subroto shared this view, saying that the public's current discontent with the establishment is a result of the success of economic development.
He said economic development has helped create income gaps -- and also a certain decadence. The violence shows that some people, especially those in the lower-level income brackets, are dissatisfied with wealth distribution.
"On the other hand, the well-to-do are also dissatisfied with the current condition because they find no channels to express their political aspirations," said Subroto, who is also the rector of the university.
Meanwhile, former vice president Soedharmono noted that Indonesia is compelled to follow international trends, including fairness, human rights, democratization, openness, environmental protection, and so forth.
"Every nation must realize this if they want to participate in the development of new world order and benefit from the opportunities offered by the international community," Soedharmono said. (rid)