National car issue

National car issue

Referring to Mr. HW Pienandoro's letter (The Jakarta Post,
June 12, 1996) on Car troubles, I would like to say that he
missed the point. It is not the national car which the local
media and the world are arguing about and which the American
Automobile Manufacturers Association, Europe and Japan are
complaining about. Instead, it is how the so-called national car
is going to be manufactured which is the focus of the objections,
because the procedure is said to be against WTO, APEC and AFTA
rulings.

Everything has its rules of the game, including the business
world. Korea has kept silent because stand to benefit from the
arrangement. The Indonesian government, however, has been trying
hard to explain to the world that the car policy they are
pursuing is not violating the WTO agreement. Are we doing things
right? Or should we perhaps give some consideration to what the
world has to say about us, because Indonesia is a member of world
organizations.

Prof. Dorodjatun Kuntjoro Djakti, the dean of the Faculty of
Economics at the University of Indonesia, said recently that
Indonesia should revise its policy in the industrial and
manufacturing sector and stop thinking about full manufacturing
in heavy industries, because we wouldn't be able to compete in
world free trade (Kompas, June 14, 1996). I agree with him.

There are certain things that we have the potential and the
capacity to do. However, there are also things that we are not
ready to do, at least for the moment. Why should we rush to
compete in that field when there are still a lot of other things
that we can develop to their full capacities, making them
something that we can be proud of. As each individual has his own
particular good points, each country has its own strong points,
as well.

JENNY LAURITZ KHOENG

Jakarta