Indonesia to decree 'buy local'
Into choppy waters: A worker carries a pack of calcium powder onto a schooner vessel in Indonesia, where economic indicators raise the spectre of rising unemployment. Picture: Reuters
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
INDONESIAN civil servants will be ordered to buy locally made products for everything from clothes to movies under rules intended to boost demand amid the global economic crisis, a senior official said yesterday.
"This is an effort for coping with the global financial crisis, to prevent our country from being dominated by imported products," said Fauzi Aziz, director of small and medium enterprises at the industry ministry.
The new rules, which include sanctions for noncompliance, were being prepared by the industry and trade ministries on the direction of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and hoped to be in force by March, he said.
Government workers would be required to buy locally made food, drinks, shoes, clothes, "accessories", and films and music, Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe daily.
The trade, industry and administrative reform ministries would "join forces" to enforce the rules, Aziz said, without explaining how the country would police the shopping behaviour of its roughly four million civil servants.
Officials denied the measures would be protectionist, although the government has come under pressure in an election year to shield domestic industries and limit unemployment.
"It's as if we were sick and we were seeking treatment from the best doctor in the country. This treatment is the best, so why not?" Aziz said. Agencies
"This is an effort for coping with the global financial crisis, to prevent our country from being dominated by imported products," said Fauzi Aziz, director of small and medium enterprises at the industry ministry.
The new rules, which include sanctions for noncompliance, were being prepared by the industry and trade ministries on the direction of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and hoped to be in force by March, he said.
Government workers would be required to buy locally made food, drinks, shoes, clothes, "accessories", and films and music, Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe daily.
The trade, industry and administrative reform ministries would "join forces" to enforce the rules, Aziz said, without explaining how the country would police the shopping behaviour of its roughly four million civil servants.
Officials denied the measures would be protectionist, although the government has come under pressure in an election year to shield domestic industries and limit unemployment.
"It's as if we were sick and we were seeking treatment from the best doctor in the country. This treatment is the best, so why not?" Aziz said. Agencies
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