Threat to export

Threat to export

Since May 1998, international customers -- especially those from the U.S. -- have halted orders for Indonesian products. Several export commodities have thus failed to earn U.S. dollars since then.

International customers have placed their interest in other manufacturing countries like China, Thailand, or Vietnam for shoes, textiles, textile products, and furniture.

The reasons for this move are that they are worried that Indonesian companies would not be able to meet their orders, and that the delivery of the goods would be behind schedule. Their main concern is workers' strikes and protests, which -- in several areas -- have turned to anarchy.

Now we face a threat to our export sector. The association of international shipping companies is to impose additional fees -- by 40 percent of the current levy -- for containers from Indonesia to be shipped to the U.S. The new ruling will be effective Dec. 5 this year.

The new fee is to be imposed on grounds that Indonesia has been classified as a country at war, but this is an unfair maneuver, and canceling or postponing orders is unfair behavior. Have there been any Indonesian exporters who have failed to meet the deadline or schedule?

It is even more unfair that the shipping association has classified Indonesia as a country at war, in the wake of the Bali bombings.

It's time for the government to act promptly to deal with this added hardship. Now that the police have arrested the Bali bomb suspect and relevant institutions, it is up to them, including the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to take steps to cure the export malady.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta