Indonesia a dumping ground, says minister

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

Being an agrarian country does not guarantee that local produce will dominate the market.

This has been evident for some time in Indonesia, where Thai oranges, durians and bananas are to be found in abundance, despite being costlier than the home-grown versions.

Another indicator of Indonesia's dependence on foreign products is the influx of Chinese consumer goods and high-tech devices from South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and other developed countries.

But while consumers might be kept happy by the constant flood of foreign goods, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparano raised his eyebrows when asked to comment on national productivity and the competitiveness of Indonesian products on the local and international markets.

"Indonesia is not only a big market for foreign products but is also a dumping ground for scrapped goods from other developing countries," he said at the Asian Workshop on National Productivity being held here on Tuesday.

He said that the country's dependence on foreign products had a lot to do with the low levels of national productivity caused by poor human resources and a lack of mastery of both simple and high technology.

More than 200 participants from Asian countries, including Japan, Iran, India, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam are attending the workshop, which will end Friday.

"Not only the weakening nationalism among the people, but also the failure to master science and technology and to improve the quality of human resources, have caused the nation to lag behind neighboring countries," he said, referring to a recent Asian economic survey which put Indonesia 136th out of 137 developing countries in terms of national productivity.

He said the revitalization of the agricultural sector could begin by providing training for farmers and encouraging farming experts and the businesspeople to make the country self-sufficient in agricultural products, including rice.

The minister also challenged the nation to implement a merit system in the national remuneration system in the private and state sectors, saying Indonesia could no longer depend on the current minimum wage policy and should reform the bureaucracy in order to improve the quality of human resources and national productivity.

Meanwhile, delegates at the workshop hailed the meeting as an annual forum for member countries to share their experiences in training programs and mastering technology to improve national productivity.

Secretary to the Thai Minister of Labor Relations and Foreign Employment Phanit Laosirirat said Thai success in producing superior agricultural products laid in a research and development program to create a variety of agricultural products, the diversification of its markets and the strengthening of farming institutions.

"Our main target is to achieve self-sufficiency in agricultural products and accelerate exports to improve our competitiveness in the global market," he said, adding that Thailand has diversified the foreign markets of its agricultural products not only in ASEAN but also in developed countries.

He said his country has reached self sufficiency in stockpiles and tropical agricultural products, leaving no space for foreign products despite the free market.

Chairman of Japanese Productivity Center Tsuneaki Taniguchi said that in dealing with the issue of decreasing population, Japan was directing its human resources development to spur up the service industries to maintain its prosperous economy in the future.

"Nationalism is a prerequisite. All stakeholders, including the government, businessmen, labor unions and the civil society are challenged to develop what is called a "mindset of innovation" for ourselves, the innovation of business leaders, of the government and of the public sector. We are pursuing to enhance a sustainable economic development together with other Asian countries," he said, adding that Japan was also promoting the improvement of management quality as a regional movement in Asia.

In Japan, 80 percent of the GDP comes from non-manufacturing sectors, with a particular concentration on service industries, which is regarded as the engine for its economic growth in the future.