People told to buy local products

People told to buy local products

JAKARTA (JP): Vice President Try Sutrisno called on
Indonesians yesterday to love, buy, use and promote locally
produced goods and services to enhance economic growth.

"We all have to be proud of and love our own products, which
represent Indonesia's identity and high culture," Try said while
closing the 1995 Indonesian Product Exhibition at the Jakarta
Fairgrounds.

Try said local manufacturers must improve the quality and the
competitiveness of their products to be accepted by both domestic
and international markets. He added that the products must be
environmentally friendly.

"The public is not satisfied with good, low-price products.
They now demand practical, efficient, varied and environmentally
friendly products," Try said.

Indonesia has greatly improved its goods and services, Try
continued. However, he warned, Indonesians must work even harder
to beat global competition.

Minister of Industry Tunky Ariwibowo reported at the same
ceremony that retail sales at the exhibition reached over Rp 8
billion (US$3.5 million) and export contracts topped $11.2
million.

"This is the largest integrated exhibition in Indonesia,"
Tunky said. The Indonesian Product Exhibition is held once every
five years. The first exhibition was conducted in 1985. The third
Indonesian Product Exhibition was opened by President Soeharto on
Aug. 12.

Tunky noted that 1,196 participants, ranging from
conglomerates to small enterprises, took part.

Many participants at the Small and Medium Enterprises Hall
were satisfied with the exhibition and the bonus free stands.
However, for small companies that had to pay for their stands, it
was a difficult undertaking.

"I had to pay about Rp 8 million for this stand, but I sold
less than a half of that amount," said Hasanudin, the marketing
manager of PT Unisa Cipta Utama. His company produces jeans under
the Pigano and Tropic brands.

Dedy Prijatmoko of CV Niggi in Malang, East Java, which
specializes in Onyx arts, said he had benefited from the expo,
even though he paid Rp 8 million for a three by four meter stand.
"In addition to some profits, I also promoted our products here,"
he said.

Visitors

Minister Tunky reported that the two-week exhibition had
attracted 1.7 million visitors, over 100,000 people a day. Some
1,100 delegation members from 72 countries, including Queen
Beatrix of the Netherlands and her entourage, visited the expo.

The stands of large business groups, like the Bakrie, Salim,
Napan and Texmaco groups, drew many locals because of their large
and attractive displays.

"It's an interesting setting here. We can see our faces in
television directly," said a high school student while watching
the demonstration of a television camera from the Indosiar stand
at the Salim Group's compound in Hall A.

Some visitors complained about the arrangement of the expo.
Thach B. Tran, a design engineer at the U.S. manufacturing and
sales company Duff-Norton, for instance, left the expo empty
handed.

"I have been here since yesterday to look for industrial
products. But what is being displayed here is only consumer
goods," Tran told The Jakarta Post. "I can't find what I'm
looking for."

A buyer from the Czech Republic, who was reluctant to identify
himself, said too many Indonesians were loitering around the
venue. They made it hard to do business.

Guides at a chemical industry complained about the mosquitoes.
"We have worked here everyday for two weeks. There are too many
mosquitoes biting our legs," said one woman guide with bare legs.
(rid/kod)