Soeharto cautions on imports

Soeharto cautions on imports

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has raised the alarm about Indonesian products losing out to imports at home, even before the nation moves on to free market arrangements with its neighbors in Asia and the Pacific.

Soeharto asked yesterday for the Supreme Advisory Council to conduct a survey in supermarkets, to see how far foreign products have penetrated Indonesian markets.

Council chairman Sudomo told reporters, after the meeting at Bina Graha, that never before has the president ask the council to conduct a study to look into a certain issue.

"It's interesting that for the first time the President has asked for something of us."

According to the constitution, the council advises the President on various issues but the head of state is not obliged to follow its recommendations.

Sudomo, a retired Navy admiral, said, quoting the President, that Indonesia must be prepared for the advent of free trade. First with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Area, within Southeast Asian countries in 2003, and later with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation free trade among countries in the Asia Pacific, starting in 2010.

Competitive

"For this reason, our products must be competitive and of high quality," Sudomo said. "And we cannot stop imported products flooding our markets either."

"There is a possibility that these products would still come in, although we have improved the quality of our own products. This could be fatal for our industries."

For this reason, Indonesia must find ways of encouraging its people to "buy and love" locally made products from as early as possible, he said, quoting the President.

Soeharto asked that this matter be studied and that the council come up with suggestions on ways of overcoming this challenge, Sudomo said, adding, "He suggested that the first thing the council should do is to check the supermarkets."

Sudomo noted an increasing trend for Indonesian people to buy their fruit from supermarkets, which largely supply imported fruit, although they are also grown locally.

"Some of these products are being dumped in Indonesia. Consumers do not care where they come from as long as they're cheap. And foreign suppliers are well aware of this fact, so they are flooding our market with their products."

Soeharto, in his New Year's message, also called on the Indonesian people to give preference to locally made products, over imports, as one way of safeguarding the nation from the impacts of free trade. The president said Indonesia could not but join the free trade arrangements, whether it likes it or not.

Soeharto was widely accredited for pushing the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to agree on a 2020 deadline, to establish free trade in the region, during the group's forum, which he hosted in Bogor last November. The deadline is set for 2010 for industrialized countries in the region.

Indonesia has also agreed to remove all barriers to trade with its counterparts in ASEAN by the year 2003.

Sudomo said the council has also noted some negative impacts from the increasing invasion of foreigners in various services industries, from advertising and entertainment, to film and tourism.

As an example, he noted that many hotels are employing foreign entertainers, something which he attributed largely to the lack of English language capability of Indonesian entertainers.

"That's why I'm recommending that everyone master the English language. It's an absolute necessity," he said.

At the same time, Sudomo said he supported the current move to "Indonesianize" some of the names and terms that use English, such as Citraland and Modernland. (emb)