YLKI attacks consumer protection law

YLKI attacks consumer protection law

JAKARTA (JP): Consumer protection law that was put into effect
last year is still insufficient in protecting consumers as it is
largely ignored by the government and businesspeople, says the
Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI).

"Businesspeople seems to have such a major influence on the
government that they just disregard the law," Az Nasution, a
member of YLKI's plenary board said on Wednesday.

The fact that the government had yet to issue a regulation on
the implementation of the consumer law was another obstacle in
protecting consumers' rights. Such a situation had surely
weakened the law, he said.

"Consumers' rights here are still ignored, in spite of the
law. That is very sad," Nasution told The Jakarta Post.

He said that soon after the government had approved the
consumer law, his organization had submitted a draft of
regulations to facilitate the law's implementation. But there had
been no news about it until now.

Consumer Protection law No. 8/99 stipulates a Rp 2 billion
(US$210,526) fine or a five-year jail sentence, in addition to a
revocation of the business permit, for any violator.

In a seminar here on Wednesday, YLKI, along with the
Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) and the Food and Drugs Research
Body (POM), gave a reminder about Ajinomoto food enhancer, the
investigation into which was halted by the police on June 25, due
to lack of evidence.

Last December, MUI accused PT Ajinomoto, a Japanese company
that produces monosodium glutamate (MSG), of violating Muslim
consumer rights by labeling its products as halal (allowed by
Islamic law), despite the fact that they were alleged to contain
pig enzymes.

MUI said that it had discovered that the company used pig
derivatives in its products.

YLKI said that PT Ajinomoto had violated Consumer Protection
law No.8, article 8, point H, which stipulated that a product
labeled as halal had to be processed in accordance with Islamic
law.

YLKI questioned the halting of the Ajinomoto investigation as
it perceived the company had clearly broken the law.

"Our investigation was based on scientific identification
methods. Both the forensic laboratories of the Health Ministry
and the police declared that Ajinomoto products were free from
pig enzymes," said Alex Alim Rewos, the police chief of
detectives from the National Police Headquarters for the
Ajinomoto case.

"Therefore, we decided to halt investigations into Ajinomoto
until there was new evidence," Alex told the seminar.

YLKI cited the Ajinomoto case as a sad reminder of the
ineffectiveness of consumer protection law. "The law should be
properly implemented in this country," Nasution said at the end
of the seminar. (06)