Political climate affects consumers

Political climate affects consumers

By T. Sima Gunawan and Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): You are upset to hear that the toll fees on
Jakarta's highways will likely increase this year. You grumble,
take a breath and then ignore it. There is nothing you can do to
prevent the hike anyway.

Your complacency is common. More and more Indonesians are
becoming apathetic, according to the head of the Indonesian
Consumers Organization (YLKI), Zumrotin K. Susilo.

"There are more people who are critical, but most are
apathetic," she told The Jakarta Post last week.

She divides consumers into several groups: very critical, not
critical at all, and apathetic.

"Those who aren't critical at all don't have purchasing power
and are not educated. But the apathetic consumers are educated
people from the middle-class with enough buying power," she
explained.

She believes the apathy is linked to the political situation
in the country. The middle-class prefer to remain silent because
they belong to the establishment and are enjoying life, even
though deep in their hearts they fume. They won't risk losing
what they have by condemning things related to the government or
those in power.

This attitude bothers Zumrotin. She regards criticism as a
factor which could improve the condition of the consumer,
especially at a grassroots level.

Yet, Zumrotin has perceived a significant improvement in
consumer awareness over the past few years.

Partial credit for the increase must go to YLKI. It was
established on May 11, 1973 following the success of an
exhibition held to encourage Indonesians to buy local products at
the Jakarta Fairground in Central Jakarta.

Chairwoman of the fair's organizing committee, L. Hardi, told
the Post that after the exhibition a journalist questioned the
quality of the local products and asked about consumer
protection.

Hardi, an activist in several organizations, had never thought
about the need to protect consumers.

"I told the journalist I would answer within a month," she
said.

She talked to her secretary, Permadi Satrio Wiwoho, and
contacted several people with interest in the issue. They agreed
to establish YLKI and appoint Hardi as chairwoman.

A year later, Hardi moved to Vietnam when her husband was
appointed Indonesian ambassador to the country. Her position was
taken over by Soemarno, wife of a former Jakarta governor.
Soemarno was succeeded by Permadi in 1979. Six years later he was
replaced by Erna Witoelar, who headed the organization until
Zumrotin took over in 1989.

Since 1991 Erna has been the president of the London-based
Consumer International.

Critical

Hardi emphasized that being critical is the most important
element in empowering the consumer.

"We have been free for 50 years. We should be able to become
more critical," said the 78-year-old woman.

According to Zumrotin, some Indonesians are unable to
criticize because they have been conditioned to accept whatever
happens to them without complaint.

She cited the chaotic first phase of this year's haj
pilgrimage as an example. Some 240,000 Indonesians were allowed
to register for the first phase, 43,000 more than the final quota
of 197,000. As a result, many Indonesians had to postpone their
departure.

She recalled her own experience when she joined the haj
pilgrimage in 1993. Due to poor management in Indonesia, she and
the other pilgrims had to stay longer in Saudi Arabia than
scheduled.

"We were told to thank God because God loved us so much that
He chose us among hundreds of thousands pilgrims to stay longer
and pray again," she said.

"And I said that God's love, and lousy management were two
different things," she recalled.

As long as criticism is curtailed, the running of the
pilgrimage won't get better, she vouched.

Zumrotin criticizes the government for showing little
political will to protect the consumer. She notes that there are
policies which favor industrialists and business people but are
disadvantageous to the consumer, such as the one on cement.

Last month, the government increased the reference price of
cement by more than 40 percent to about Rp 9,000. In response to
strong criticism from the public, the government announced a few
days later that the retail prices should be 10 percent below the
reference price.

Indonesia has been plagued by market distortions in the cement
trade for the past two years. This is caused by the dominance of
several major cement producers, who are believed to control
distribution to bar newcomers to the industry, according to
analysts.

"A better policy on the distribution on cement is required,"
Zumrotin said.

She said that some producers have good business ethics, but
there are more who do not.

"Compared to the past decades, their delinquency is different.
It is more sophisticated now," Zumrotin said. "For instance, in
the past, a delinquent biscuit producer would just put more
papers in the box so that it looked bigger. Now, they fool the
consumers by placing misleading commercials," she said.

Citing an example, she said that there was an advertisement
declaring that one could buy a van, by an installment plan, with
a down payment of less than Rp 900,000. It turned out, however,
that people also have to provide a huge sum of money to pay for
various fees, which were not mentioned in the commercial.

Mature

The 22-year-old YLKI feels that it is mature enough to deal
with the government when rules are issued that favor
industrialists and businesspeople, but harm the consumer,
Zumrotin said. Despite its experience, YLKI often fails to
persuade the government to review its policies because state is
exceedingly sensitive to criticism.

Although YLKI is outspoken, it does not oppose the government.

"We have to exercise diplomacy to be able to achieve our
goals. There must be a dialog (with the government)," Zumrotin
explained.

"If we took a frontal position (against the government), we
might become popular among the people. This will be good for our
organization, but we will not be able to attain our goal of
protecting the consumer," she explained.

Unlike other non-government organizations, YLKI has never
staged a demonstration.

"We try to stay away from politics," Zumrotin said.

Strong criticism is launched every time the organization
finds a government policy that could cause the public to suffer.
They target not only government institutions, like the
telecommunication authorities or the state-owned electricity
company, but private firms as well.

Early last year the organization called for a boycott of
television fees when the Minister of Information ordered TV
owners to pay between Rp 1,000 and Rp 6,000 a month. He was
backed by a presidential decree. YLKI believes that the House of
Representatives' approval is required for the collection of the
fees. The consumer organization also criticized the ambiguous way
in which the collected money was managed.

Realizing that active public participation is essential to
improve consumer protection, YLKI has set the empowerment of
consumers as their aim. The organization concentrates on
education, information and advocacy to achieve this goal.

To increase consumer awareness, YLKI publishes Warta Konsumen
(Consumer News), a monthly bulletin with a circulation of between
4,000 and 5,000 copies. A subscription costs Rp 10,500 for six
issues. It has also expanded to Surabaya, Medan and Ujungpandang.

In conjunction with its 22nd anniversary, YLKI organized a
training program involving activists from the other 28 consumer
organizations in Indonesia.

YLKI has 26 full-time staff, six part-time employees and an
eight-member executive board. Human resources has been a big
problem for the organization.

YLKI's treasure, Irama S. Abdulgani, said they couldn't handle
insurance, banking or other financial cases because no expert
economist would work for the organization.

The basic salary given to a university graduate is only Rp
150,000. This probably explains YlKI's expertise deficit,
according to the secretary of the organization, Agus Pambagio. He
added that the organization offers its employees the opportunity
to win a foreign study scholarship as an incentive.

Agus, who works on the side as a financial management
consultant, studied engineering management at George Washington
University in Washington, D.C.between 1988 and 1990.

YLKI's modest office is located on Jl. Pancoran Barat VII/1 in
the Duren Tiga area of South Jakarta.

It began in the house of one of its founders but, after moving
several times, YLKI asked the government for office space and was
allowed to move into the Bureau of Logistics. A few years later,
YLKI moved to a house owned by the Logistics office. The
organization operated there for 10 years until the government
took the house back.

The Logistics office compensated YLKI Rp 110 million, 25
percent of the value of the house, which they used to buy the
building in Duren Tiga.

The government provides YLKI access to laboratory facilities
for independent testing of products.

Government assistance is fine, but enacting a consumer
protection law would be more beneficial.

As for the consumer, they should learn their rights and
responsibilities in order to protect themselves from delinquent
producers.

Law -- Page 4

Activist -- Page 8