Large companies asked to help the smaller

Large companies asked to help the smaller

SUKABUMI, West Java (JP): Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad
on Saturday called on large private companies to extend a helping
hand to cooperatives and small enterprises.

"Please follow in the footsteps of state companies which have
put aside small portions of their profits for the development of
cooperatives and small businesses," Mar'ie said at the
inauguration of the Education and Training Center for Integrated
Farming Management.

Under a ministerial decree, state companies are required to
earmark up to five percent of their after-tax profits to assist
cooperatives and small enterprises.

Mar'ie stipulated that large companies would benefit from
helping small enterprises and cooperatives.

"Usually what's in the mind of businessmen is how to get as
much benefits possible. That's normal in doing business. However,
I want to assure you that by helping small enterprises, you will
help narrow the social gap and help alleviate poverty, two
potential components which may cause instability," Mar'ie
contended.

In addition to stability, Mar'ie said, poverty alleviation
will improve the buying power of the people, and thus serve as a
prospective market of "their products." It will also be easier
for large companies to get qualified and productive laborers.

Partnership

The minister then asked all parties not to make large private
companies their enemies, but their partners instead.

"We have to admit that only the larger businesses can help
smaller ones. So, let's make them be the partners in a synergy,"
Mar'ie said at the ceremony which was attended by a number of
businessmen.

At the same occasion, Mar'ie witnessed the signing of a
cooperation agreement between the education and training center
and seven private companies, including Indofood Sukses Makmur,
which are committed to marketing agricultural products from
farmers affiliated to the center.

The minister noted that efforts of alleviating poverty should
especially focus on the agricultural sector, as 60 percent of the
25 million people living below the poverty line work in this
sector.

He also asked all parties to pay more attention to the
agricultural sector as more and more young people shun working as
farmers. "It has been a saddening trend in the last decade."

The education and training center, set up by Bina Pembangunan
Foundation and funded by 28 state companies, is expected to
participate actively in alleviating poverty with educating and
training selected farmers from all over the country.

Cost

According to Director General of State Enterprise Development
Martiono, the establishment of the center has cost state
companies Rp 600 million (US$275,000). "But it's only a small
portion of their profits."

Martiono noted that up to now Rp 300 billion of the funds
taken from state companies have been channeled to cooperatives
and small enterprises throughout the country.

However, Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises
Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya said in his written address Saturday that
a large portion of the funds are allocated to cooperatives and
small businesses in Jakarta and West Java.

Martiono admitted that the uneven distribution of the funds is
a result of the government's past policy of giving aid to those
who are ready. "Now, we are designing a new way of distribution
in line with the government's program of assisting least-
developed villages." (rid)