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