NGOs form consumer protection body
JAKARTA (JP): Several women's organizations formed a consumer protection body to seek solutions on problems often faced by consumers in the capital.
Coordinator of the body, called the Consumer Protection Association (PPK), Mrs. Syaiful Mufty said that the body would be a legitimate one given that most of the association's members were housewives.
"Housewives are the ones who control family spending and have also become the main targets of product marketing," Mrs. Syaiful, who is also a member of the Indonesian Women's Congress (Kowani), told a press conference on Friday.
Women's organizations already participating in the association include Kowani, the Association of Indonesian Women (Perwari), the Family Welfare Team (PKK), the Muslim Wanita Aisyah organization and the young Muslim women's organization Fatayat NU, which is associated with the giant Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama.
The various organizations have thousands of members in the capital alone.
"Consumers, especially women, should be aware of marketing tricks so they can make decisions rationally," Mrs. Syaiful said.
An executive of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) Zumrotin K. Susilo said that the association would provide its members with knowledge about products they planned to buy.
"Many housewives are ignorant when it comes to buying things. Many of them don't even know that the snacks that they usually give to their children are junk," Zumrotin told reporters on the sidelines of the press conference.
Zumrotin also said that the women's organizations could use their regular gatherings to collect data about problems faced by consumers.
"Instead of using the gatherings to talk about less important things they can use the events to collect data," Zumrotin said.
Zumrotin added that the newly established body would be a partner of the 27-year-old YLKI.
The PPK coordinator said that the association's activities included monitoring problems faced by consumers and figuring out solutions which could be submitted to YLKI or to the government.
At the press conference, the new association presented their findings on problems currently faced by consumers in the capital including advertising, food products, and public services.
On the issue of advertising, the association concluded that several advertisements which are currently being run in various forms of media should be stopped.
PPK said that such ads often feature children while the products, such as printers for PCs, detergent powders and toothpaste, were not specifically aimed for them which was unethical because the ads would make children force their parents into buying the products. (jaw)