| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Aug 5 (ANTARA) - The expansion of bank credits which grew at an average of 19.6 percent to Rp140 trillion has been able to fuel economic growth to 5.9 percent in the first half of this year. Economic observer Tony Prasetiantono of the Gajah Mada University (UGM) said Indonesia's economic growth reached 5.9 percent in the first semester of this year on the back of a bank credit expansion. "The economic growth was fueled by an expansion of bank credits," Tony said in response to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) data which indicated on Thursday that Indonesia's economic growth in the first semester of 2010 had reached 5.9 percent. He said bank credit expansion would increase in the second semester of this year, followed by a hike in government fiscal spending that would in the end drive up economic growth to over the 5.8 percent target. "Credit expansion in the second semester is expected to reach an even higher rate, namely about 20 percent, thus boosting further economic growth," the economist said. Bank Indonesia director of research and banking regulations Wimboh Santoso said last week the value of credits distributed by banks per June 2010 reached Rp140 trillion. "Credits keep growing and are under normal conditions," he said. Right now Bank Indonesia is still preparing a regulation linking reserve requirement (GWM) and Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR) to push banks to extend loans. The regulation will require banks to keep their LDR at 75 to 105 percent and those who fail to meet it will get a penalty and have to add more GWM contributions to Bank Indonesia. "If a bank has a LDR of below 75 percent it will just increase its credits and if its third-party fund is large it may just lower its rate to let the funds to flow out," he said. And this would further drive up the economic growth. Tony Prasetiantono said that economic growth in the second semester was expected to be the same as that in the first semester but the government should pay attention to the impact of the basic electricity tariff hikes and the inflation rate. "Economic growth in the second semester will reach at least the same level as that in the first semester. Actually it could be higher but it is most likely to be corrected by the power rate hikes and inflation," Tony, who is also an independent commissioner of Pemata Bank, said. Therefore, he predicted overall economic growth in 2010 would reach six percent or higher than the government's target. "I am confident that the 2010 overall economic growth will exceed six percent, which means that it is higher than the government's assumption at 5.8 percent" Tony said. The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) reported on Thursday that in the first semester of this year economic growth reached 5.9 percent compared with that in the same period. The 5.9 percent economic growth was fueled by growing exports, imports and household consumption, the BPS said. Household consumption grew 4.5 percent, gross fixed capital formation 8.0 percent, exports 17.2 percent and imports 20.1 percent, however, government consumption fell 8.9 percent, according to BPS Deputy Head for Balance Sheet and Statistical Analysis Slamet Sutomo. Based on an increase in gross domestic product (GDP) the domestic economy in the second quarter of 2010 expanded 2.8 percent compared to the first quarter of 2010 and 6.2 percent compared to the second quarter of 2009, he said. "The GDP based on the current prices and the 2000 constant prices in the second quarter of 2010 reached Rp1,572.4 trillion and Rp573.7 trillion respectively," he said. The second-quarter growth of 2.8 percent was driven by household consumption which rose 1.2 percent, government consumption 23.5 percent, gross fixed capital formation 2.3 percent, exports 2.7 percent and imports 5.1 percent, he said. Compared to the same period last year, the economy in the second quarter of 2010 grew 6.2 percent, fueled by household consumption which increased 5.0 percent, gross fixed capital formation 8.0 percent, exports 14.6 percent and imports 17.7 percent, while government consumption fell 9.0 percent, he said. On a quarterly basis, the economic growth was led by the transportation and communications sector which grew 5.0 percent, followed by the electricity, gas and drinking water sector 4.8 percent and the service sector 3.7 percent. The transportation and communication sector also was on top of the year-on-year growth, contributing 12.9 percent, with the trade, hotel and restaurant sector trailing behind with 9.6 percent and the construction sector with 7.2 percent, he said. Slamet said the second-quarter GDP was still dominated by the processing industry, the agricultural sector and the trade, hotel and restaurant sector, contributing 24.9 percent, 15.9 percent and 13.7 percent respectively to it. In the meantime, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last week that the government was continuously monitoring the progress being made in relation to economic growth and investment to ensure that the national economic growth target would be achieved. "We always have to pay attention to economic developments and increase economic growth in the coming four years. Our remaining time in office is effectively only four years so we have to use it in the best possible way to increase economic growth and cut the poverty rate," the President said. He said that investment should be generated because it constituted the main pillar of the country's economy which was related to the availability and development of infrastructure, micro, small and medium economic development. "Our economic growth target is rather ambitious so that we have to work hard and continue to measure its progress," the head of state said.***2*** |
Kamis, 05 Agustus 2010
CREDIT EXPANSION BOOSTS ECONOMIC GROWTH
CENTRAL BANK WARNED OVER RUPIAH RE-DENOMINATION
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Aug 5 (ANTARA) - Different quarters have given mixed reactions to the discourse over the possibility of re-denominating the country's rupiah currency, saying that Bank Indonesia (BI/the central bank) should exercise extra-careful consideration before it takes a decision on it. "Bank Indonesia should not hastily re-denominate the rupiah currency which could cause a wide impact and disadvantage to the people's interest," Ade Komarudin, chairman of SOKSI, a labor organization affiliated to the Golkar Party, said. He said that as a monetary institution BI had to carry out a comprehensive and careful study about the impact of the policy and should not force itself to implement it if it would create turmoil in society. Komaruddin said it was not the correct time now to re-denominate the rupiah because it was a very sensitive matter to the people. Democrat Party politician Tengku Dirkhansyah Abu Subhan Ali concurred Komaruddin's view saying that it was not yet the correct time to apply the policy as it could cause panic in society. "Now is not the time to re-denominate the rupiah. The people consider that re-denomination is the same as 'sanering' (a Dutch word meaning slashing the rupiah), though it is two different things," he said. Tengku Dirkhansay, who is popularly called Dicky, said that BI had to have at least two main reasons before it could re-denominate the rupiah, namely stable inflation and enough foreign exchange reserves. He said that re-denomination could only be carried out if inflation was stable under the 5 percent level while the inflation in the country was still expected to reach over 6 percent. It should be ascertained that inflation was below five percent in a four consecutive years. In the meantime, the government must assure that foreign exchange reserves should be stable at between Rp100 trillion and Rp200 trillion. At present, Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves were only about Rp76 trillion. Besides, Dicky said, the confidence level of investment should be high while in Indonesia this confidence was still low. "Sometimes the investment trust is high but more often it is low, or even distrust often surfaces," he said. However, Eddy Suratman, economic professor of the Pontianak-based University of Tanjungpura, said re-denomination was good for Indonesia in the future. "The benefit of re-denomination is the equality of the rupiah to other currencies ," Eddy Suratman said on Wednesday. He said he often felt inferior over seas when he compared the value of the rupiah with that of other currencies. Therefore, re-denomination is good in the future. On Wednesday for example, the local unit traded Rp8,938-Rp8,948 per US dollar. "But with a ten year plan by BI to impose the policy, there would be enough time to discuss the advantageous and disadvantageous aspects that should be taken or avoided," he said. Thus, now is not yet the time to carry out the policy. According to economic observer Vincent Gaspersz of the Lupang-based Widya Mandira Catholic University (Unwira), it is not yet the correct time for the re-denomination of the rupiah because the people would respond to it negatively. "Negative response will create irrational actions which would have bad impact on the country's economy due to the past traumatic economic experience," Vincent Gaspersz said. He said that the policy would re-denominate the rupiah without reducing its value but by downsizing the digits, for example, Rp1,000 into Rp1. Its aim is to simplify the figures for the payment of goods and services and for the accountancy payment system. In the meantime, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said on Wednesday that the re-denomination discourse was still under the study of Bank Indonesia (BI) and the government had not taken any official decision. "The matter is still under a study by BI and not yet final. BI has not yet consulted about the matter with us so that we could not say anything. It is still under a study and would take a long ," the minister said. The same thing was voiced by Vice President Boediono. "It (rupiah re-denomination) is a mere study being carried out by Bank Indonesia and it is indeed something in the domain of the central bank," he told newsmen. On when the study would be finished and implemented in Indonesia, Boediono said the government still had to wait for its results and if they were already definitive there would still be a long process before it was implemented. "Indeed some countries have already done it such as Turkey. It is still being studied by BI and again it is still something under study and will not yet be implemented in the near future," he said. According to Difi A Johansyah, BI head of public relations, the plan to plan to re-denominate the Rupiah is still in the form of a study done in connection with the implementation of regional schemes such as the ASEAN community. "It is a study we are carrying out in the framework of integrating economies in one region such as the ASEAN community and facilitating transactions. It is still an initial study done to see its prospects and the possible existence of opposition," Difi A Johansyah said. He said re-denomination was different from the currency reform once done by Indonesia. It must be prepared over a long period and in a thorough way, including its familiarization based upon the needs of the people and the economy to avoid a negative impact that would hurt the people. "If it is really to be carried out, its benefit must really be felt. Therefore, until now the issue is still a mere topic of study and research by Bank Indonesia," he said. (T.A014/A/H-NG/A/O001)5-08-2010 10:10: |
Rabu, 28 Juli 2010
'HARAM' FOR MUSLIMS TO WATCH INFOTAINMENT PROGRAMS
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, July 28 (ANTARA) - Infotainment programs which have so far attracted a lot of TV viewers have been declared by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) through its 'fatwa' (religious edict) as 'haram' or forbidden according to the Islamic law. According to the MUI fatwa, it is haram for Muslims to broadcast or to watch certain contents of infotainment, but will this stop TV stations broadcasting this type of entertainment programs or lead viewers to stop watching them? "It will have little impact," experts say. The MUI's fatwa will not have a wide impact on the public, Mohamad Ihsan, communication expert of the Bogor-based Institute of Agriculture (IPB) said on Wednesday. The same fatwa has also been issued by the Central Board of the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdatul Ulama (NU) five years ago but the people simply ignored it. The NU issued the same fatwa declaring infotainment as 'haram'. It only colored media reports for several weeks. After that the news about it disappeared and televisions remained convenient in broadcasting infotainment programs. "The fate of MUI's fatwa, which was issued on Tuesday is most likely the same as that which once issued by the NU. It only sparked uproar for a moment before it died out again," Mohammad Ihsan said. The MUI issued a fatwa on Tuesday declaring infotainment television programs 'haram'. The 'fatwa' was announced by Ma'ruf Amin, chairman of the Fatwa Commission of the MUI during its national meeting (Munas). Based on the fatwa, discussing about others' shameful deeds or gossiping, or disclosing the public's and individuals' private life were haram based on the Islamic law. It was also mentioned in the fatwa formulation that it was haram for someone to write a news story which disclosed people's sins. The same was also true to taking benefit from a news story about gossips and others' sins. However, MUI said that it was allowed to broadcast, disseminate and watch stories about others' shameful deeds and gossips for the interest of enforcing the law and fighting evil deeds. Therefore, according to communications expert Prof. Sam Abede Parena of the Surabaya-based Dr Soetomo University (Unitomo), infotainment programs should not be generalized as not all of them are "dirty" or deviate from the norms of propriety or good taste. "We have to admit that there are one or two infotainment contents which are dirty, verging on pornography and deviating from public norms of propriety but these are only casuistic in nature," he said on Wednesday. Thus, he said, infotainment programs should not be generalized and be subjected to the same restrictive regulation. Parena who is a press ethics expert said that infotainment was a kind of information, facts or news which contained entertainment elements, the case of which was similar to soccer news. "If there is one or two items in infotainment program which are dirty, it had better be reported to the competent bodies," he said. The competent bodies are among others the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI), Association of Independent Journalists (AJI), the Indonesian Television Journalists Association (IJTI) and the Press Council of Ethics. Journalists have their code of ethics. Regarding infotainment programs that tended to invade people's private lives or affairs, Parena said that the public had the right to know the private affairs of artists, state officials or other celebrities. "It is only proper for the public to know about their private lives. But in this case, the private affairs the public needed to know are those that are not dirty. If the programs expose dirty affairs it should be reported to the PWI, AJI, IJTI or the Press Council," he said. In the meantime, Mohamad Ihsan, communications expert of the Bogor-based Institute of Agriculture (IPB) said that it was basically a good thing for MUI to issue the fatwa as it could serve as a means of people's morality control. "The fatwa provides a good education so that the people would become more cautious about the danger and impact that could be created by an infotainment program," he said. He mentioned as an example the behavior of artist Krisdayanti who showed a porn act with Raul Lemos through an infotainment program broadcast by a television station last week. "The act is against our culture and the Islamic teachings. This kind of infotainment fails to observe social ethics and norms," Ihsan said. He said that although he thought that the fatwa had a positive aspect, yet he was pessimistic that it would have wide impact on the people. The same opinion was also raised by Deputy Chairman of the Sirajula Falah (Sifa) Tarbiyah Institute, Sudeni Al-Fatoni. "The fatwa is very good but I am not convinced that it would have impact on the people," he said. Sudeni said that the weak impact of the fatwa could happen because there was no media regulation which could directly control such a program so that televisions could freely broadcast it. After all, at present there is no single means in the world that could carry out control over the mass media. "Even the state could not control the media. If a state carries out control, it would be accused by the press as interfering in the media which should remain independent," Ihsan said. He said that the role to control mass media, either electronics, online or print, was actually in the hands of the audience or readers and viewers. The role of the audience was great so that it could influence the color of the mass media. "The real control over the mass media is basically in the hands of readers/viewers. If we do not like a certain program, just leave it. Thus the program would not survive," he said. So, it seems that there is no point for MUI to issue the fatwa. According to NU chairman for Central Java M Adnan, there is no need for MUI to issue the fatwa on the infotainment program because not all of its contents are bad. "We are of the opinion that there is no need for MUI to issue a haram fatwa on infotainment programs because not all of their contents are haram," he said. The haram ones are infotainment whose contents besmirch other people, sully someone's name or gossiping others' shameful deeds. "It is known to us all that talking the bad things of other people is a sinful deed and even the Quranic verses have clearly banned people from doing such a thing ," Adnan said.***4*** |
Selasa, 27 Juli 2010
CAUSE OF DAMAGE TO CAR'S FUEL PUMPS STILL A MYSTERY
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, July 27 (ANTARA) - The cause of damage to the engine fuel pumps of hundreds, if not thousands, of cars in Jakarta in recent weeks still remains a mystery. While investigation is still underway, public suspicion has arisen that the damage could have been caused by law quality of premium gasoline sold by state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina. Even, there are suspicions that Pertamina has deliberately reduced the octane of its subsidized premium gasoline in an effort to discourage consumers from using premium gasoline so that they would turn to other quality of gasoline, although more expensive non-subsidized fuel, like Pertamax. The team carried out inspections in oil refineries, supply of imported premium and gasoline refueling stations (SPBU). Director General of Oil and Gas of the ESDM Evita Legowo said on the sidelines of a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission VII on energy affairs on Tuesday that her side was still conducting field tests in a number of gasoline spots to obtain the final results. "Today, we visited seven gasoline spots in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi," she said. Evita said that based on the preliminary examinations in four gasoline spots, most of the 11 criteria like the octane rate, sulfur as well as water content in the gasoline were in accordance with the requirements. "The results of the study indicated that all have been in accordance with the required standards," she said. The Association of Indonesian Auto-Industries (Gaikindo) has earlier invited state-owned oil company Pertamina to jointly investigate the cause of fuel pump damage in a number of car brands suspected to have been caused by low-quality gasoline. "We will also coordinate with sole agents (ATPM) to collect information about the issue," Gaikindo general chairman Sudriman MR said. He said Gaikindo and ATPMs would meet and conduct coordination to determine the steps that needed to be taken and after that they would meet with Pertamia to discuss the damage to fuel pumps found in various car makes recently in the country. The president director of PT Toyota Astra Motor, Johnny Darmawan, said the ATPM along with Pertamina had better find solutions to the problem. "This is to avoid finger pointing," he said. He said he would not accuse Pertamina in connection with the issue like many others who had been reported in the media as saying that the problem was caused by the poor quality of the gasoline produced by Pertamina. Several popular car makes such as Toyota Avanza, Toyota Yaris, Vios as well as Honda Jazz, Freed, CR-V and City and Nissan Serena had recently been reported to have often had problems with their fuel pumps. The Blue Bird taxi group has reported that about 1,200 taxis of its fleet have suffered damage to their engines' fuel pumps. The director of marketing and after-sales service of PT Honda Prospect Motor, Jonfis Fandi concurred with Darmawan. "We will work together to investigate the root cause of the problem in the fuel pumps in several of our products," he said. Earlier, Bambang Soesatyo of the Golkar Party Faction in the House of Representatives (DPR) called on Pertamina and police to help explain allegations that premium gasoline had caused damage to many cars' fuel pumps due to its inferior quality. "Pertamina and police must honestly explain the quality of premium gasoline," he said. Bambang said that Petamina and its distributors must cooperate and support police steps to investigate the problem. "I am concerned because some people have been suspicious that Pertamina has deliberately lowered the octane content of its gasoline," Bambang said. He said he did not believe Pertamina had the courage to do that careless act but there was now opinion developing within the society that Pertamina had deliberately lowered the octane content in an effort to lower the volume of subsidized premium consumption. Thus, it would indirectly encourage consumers to choose other Pertmaina products with better quality like pertamax. "This story has been developing in the society because they did not receive honest explanations," he said. Therefore, Bambang called on Pertamina and its distributors to be proactive in collecting data in the fields to reinforce police finding. After all, the energy and mineral resources investigation team in its preliminary calibration premium gasoline sold by Pertamina is in line with its specifications. Director General Evita Legowo said that the field checks by the team found no problem with the premium gasoline. Evita suspected that the cause in the decline of gasoline quality was dirt at SPBU tanks. "The tanks must periodically be cleaned," she said. She also stressed that the change in the octane rate from 90 to 88 would not cause damage in the short term. "It will at the most cause the engine to tickle," she said. However, she added, in the long-run, the reduction in the octane rate would cause damage to the engine. Earlier, Erie Soedomo, director of the downstream fuel oil regulating body, suspected that damage to fuel pumps of car engines which of late had increased was caused by water which had entered into fuel tank containing premium gasoline. ***2*** |
Senin, 26 Juli 2010
RATTAN BUSINESSES COMPLAIN OF GLOOMY PROSPECT
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, July 26 (ANTARA) - Domestic rattan farmers and businesses which once have a glorious era in the past, are now complaining of gloomy prospect as demand for rattan-based products had been declining, causing more than 50 percent of rattan industries at home to close down over the past two years. This condition has raised concern that the sustainability of the country's rattan business could not be maintained if the government fails to adopt a proper policy regarding the country's rattan potentials. "The lack of a well-planned policy on rattan exports and the decline in demands for rattan products in the domestic and world markets are threatening the sustainability of rattan business in the country," Chairman of the Indonesian Rattan Business Foundation (YRI) Lisman Sumardjani said on Sunday. Since 2007, the performance of the local rattan industries had begun to slow down and their number had been declining. In addition, the trade minister's decree No. 36/ 2009 on rattan export restriction which came into effect as of August 11, 2009 was seen by Lisman as something which could not bridge the interest between the farmers and rattan furniture industries. "The export restriction is actually also restricting the farmers' rattan business, because they could not sell their products to furniture industries which were not required to purchase the farmers' rattan," Lisman said last year. In the meantime, demand for rattan-based products has been declining. Lisman said on Sunday the decline in demands for rattan made products was among others caused by the fact that most consumers began to turn to imitation rattan goods. Actually, he said, world demand for rattan-based furniture and rattan-made handicraft products are relatively high, where in 2008 and 2009 reached around US$100 and US$104 billion. Of the total market share, Indonesian rattan-based products could only reach 2.6 billion dollars in 2008 and 2.3 billion dollars in 2009. "This indicates that the market for rattan-based products was virtually wide open. We need to take advantage of the available market," he said. He said that the absorption capacity of the domestic market for locally made rattan products was only about 30,000 - 40,000 tons this year, or about 50 percent of the country's production capacity of 696,000 tons. Lisaman said that the government so far had no well-directed policy about the rattan business. It only often changed its export regulations. And what happened was a disruption of the growth of rattan-processing industries. If in 2007 the number of rattan-processing industries reached 614 units, in 2008 it dropped to 234, because the declining rattan consumption at home and the banning of raw rattan exports had affected 2.3 million rattan collector farmers. "Rattan which was formerly a reliable source of living of the locals could no longer be expected to become a source to live on," he said. He said that in a condition where certain types and volumes of rattan exports had been restricted, the value of rattan exports could only reach 240 million US dollars while in a condition where rattan exports were not restricted the value could reach 1.53 billion dollars. This is based on the figure of exports in the 1990-2004. With the gloomy prospect, Lisman expressed concern that rattan at home is now facing rapid extinction. He said that the sustainability of rattan could be maintained if world consumers continued to need rattan and its by-products, including rattan-based furniture, and this would benefit local rattan farmers. "Farmers will gather rattan only if rattan industries at home grow and develop well. Without all these, the story about Indonesia's rattan potential which controls 85 percent of the world market would remain only as a story," he said. According to Lisman, if managed well, Indonesia's rattan potentials could earn an annual income of 4 billion dollars a year and could provide jobs for about 5 million people. Therefore, Lisman asked the government to provide political support in order to revive the demand for processed rattan products. "Besides, all the nation's components should take part in promoting the use of rattan products, such as successful promotion of the use of 'batik'," he said. Deputy Chief Economic Minister for Industry and Trade Coordination Edy Putra Irawady supported the appeal of the YRI chairman, saying that government agencies should help promote and use rattan furniture. Edy concurred with Lisman that the sustainability of rattan in the country would face rapid extinction if all parties failed to promote rattan products. Moreover at least 2.3 million poor rattan farmers and rattan collectors earned a living from this sector. According to Lisman, rattan farmers are the most disadvantaged party with the present condition of rattan business in the country. He said the government's latest decision on rattan export restriction failed to encourage rattan farmers to help maintain sustainable rattan cultivation. "It is true if the government has to guarantee rattan stocks for the rattan industry at home but it must also guarantee that rattan farmers would be able to market their rattan products and reap reasonable profit," Lisman said recently. He said that the government has issued a policy which restricted rattan exports to meet local industries' needs for raw rattan but the furniture industries were not required to purchase the farmers' rattan. The trade minister's decree No. 36/ 2009 on rattan export restriction which came into effect as of August 11, 2009 did not bridge the interest between farmers and rattan furniture industries, he said. He said that the export restriction is actually also restricting the farmers' rattan because they could not sell their products to the furniture industries which were not required to purchase the farmers' rattan. This would discourage the farmers to preserve the continuity of rattan plantations, threatening the sustainability of the country's rattan industry. "Farmers are in the front line in the cultivation of rattan that would eventually guarantee the sustainability of rattan in the country. If farmers and locals near forests do not gain benefit from it, they would not help preserve rattan cultivation," he said. |
Sabtu, 24 Juli 2010
"HALAL" LABELS EXPECTED TO HAMPER FLOOD OF FOREIGN GOODS
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, July 24 (ANTARA) - Foreign goods may find it difficult to compete with local products in the country, albeit in the free trade era, if the requirement to attach 'halal' (edible or allowed based on Islamic law) is imposed on consumer goods at home, a chief ulema says. The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman Amidhan Saberah said that the halal label would benefit domestic products, businesses and the country as a whole. After all, in Indonesia as a predominantly Muslim country, consumers have continued to demand for 'halal' products. Thus, local goods with halal labels will increase added values, benefit local industry and reduce the flood of foreign products in the free trade area. Unluckily however, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) estimates that less than 50 percent of products in the country have been certified as halal. Therefore, MUI is launching a promotion on the need to provide halal certification for products at home and asks the government as well as the House of Representatives (DPR) to deliberate and enact a bill on halal products. "This is still very low. Ideally it must be 100 percent or at least as high as the number of Muslims in Indonesia, namely 90 percent," the vice director of secretarial affairs and familiarization of the MUI's Institute of Cosmetics, Drug and Food Assessment (LPPOM), Osmena Gunawan, said in a talk show at the International Halal Business and Food Expo. Osmean Gunawan said by putting halal label on products people would feel certain that the products they would consume are halal, thus also increasing the added value of the products. The director of beverage and tobacco industry of the ministry of industry, Warsono, meanwhile appealed on the occasion to industries to put halal label on their products as it will give an added value to the products especially in Indonesia. "The halal label will increase the competitive power of the products not only at home but also abroad," he said. Malaysia for example has also put halal labels on their products for its consumers. So, if Indonesia wants to win a market share in that country it has to certify its goods as halal. Vice President Boediono also voiced the need for the country to attach halal labels on its products. "Therefore, Indonesia as the largest Muslim country in the world should play an active role as a potential market for various products and services with halal labels," the vice president said. He said the products and services of a country to be sold in international markets were no longer restricted by tight import duties or taxes but by their international halal certification standards. "What a pity it would be if Indonesian products and services fail to enter other countries' markets just because of their failure to meet halal standards," the vice president said. Therefore, the MUI called on the DPR and the government to speed up their deliberations on the bill on 'halal' products and pass it into law soon. "Having such a law in our country is a must because we are the biggest Muslim country in the world," MUI chairman Amidhan Saberah said after attending a talk show at the International Halal Business and Food Expo at the Jakarta Convention Center on Saturday. He said performing a halal deed was part of the religious obligations of a Muslim. In this case, the government should protect the Muslim community from the consumption or use of non-halal goods and services. The enactment of a law on halal products would also benefit producers at home because it would reduce the flood of foreign goods in domestic markets. "If we use tax or import duty restrictions we will not be able to curb the influx of foreign goods into the country. But the flow can be restricted with the halal certification requirement," the MUI chairman said. He said that Malaysia, for example, required Indonesian products to have halal certificates if they were to be marketed there. But Indonesia whose Muslim population reaches 200 million has not yet adopted a regulation which requires such certificates. As most Indonesian consumers are Muslims, the attachment of a 'halal' label on food packages will be advantageous to producers. "Demand for 'halal' certificates for food products is to increase and producers are also increasingly aware of the importance of attaching halal labels to their products," Head of the Auditing Section of MUI's Food, Medicine and Cosmetics Assessment Institute (LPPOM MUI), Muti Arintawati said. She said that Indonesia was a potential market for 'halal' products so that businessmen must be able to take advantage of this potential. Moreover, still quite many number of products produced at home that should be certified as halal. Meat is among the commodities which still have to be imported. "Indonesia is a potential market for halal meat because domestic meat production falls far short of national needs," Executive Director of the Indonesian Meat Importers Association (ASPIDI) Thomas Sembiring said. Thomas said that several countries had obtained accreditation from the MUI for halal meat export to Indonesia. Countries which had obtained MUI accreditation were Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Brazil and Ireland. He said that about 100 thousand tons of meat were exported to Indonesia in 2009, which was an increase if compared with that in the previous year which stood at 90,000. According to MUI Chairman Amidhan, Indonesia already has stationed halal certification personnel in a number of countries such as Japan, Australia, Canada, and some European countries. "Thus all products and commodities from those countries are safe for consumption because they have gone through tight examination procedures and quarantines before entering the domestic market," Amidhan said.***2*** |
Jumat, 23 Juli 2010
GOVT URGED TO STOP CIRCULATION OF REFINED SUGAR
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, July 22 (ANTARA) - The government has been urged by legislators and businesses to overcome the circulation of refined sugar as direct sales to consumers of this type of sugar, which is only designed for industry, has caused businesses to suffer billions of rupiahs. "The government has to put in order refined sugar which has strayed into public market for direct consumption," Aria Bima, chairman of the House Commission VI for trade affairs said Thursday. The legislator made the appeal following reports that refined sugar which is designed for food and drink industries has been sold to the public for direct consumption in the past several weeks. The same appeal was also made by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin). According to the Kadin, the government should tighten control over the distribution of refined sugar to prevent the commodity which is imported to meet industry's needs from straying into the consumer market at industry's expense. "The government has been supervising it but not yet effectively enough so it must still be tightened. We urge the police and other relevant agencies to increase supervision," Natsir Mansyur, chairman of the Permanent Committee for Trade and Distribution of the Kadin said. He said that Kadin would form a sugar distribution supervision team to assist the government in the supervision of sugar distribution to industry and consumers. "We will form an internal team to assist supervision, and government officials can join this team," Natsir who chairs the Indonesian Wheat and Sugar Business Association (APEGTI) said. In this case, Inayat Iman, director of the supervision of goods in circulation of the trade ministry, said that supervision over the distribution of sugar had been carried out well. "We have sent a letter to the relevant agencies in the regions and the capital city to monitor sugar circulation in the market and based on their reports there was no refined sugar in the consumer sugar market," he said. However Natsir said that it was a reality that refined sugar that based on regulation could only be used by industry was sold in traditional markets in Sulawesi, Maluku, Kalimantan and Sumatra. He said that businesses suffered a loss of some Rp30 billion due to the presence of refined sugar in consumer sugar markets. In Central Kalimantan for example, the absence of local sugar has caused the circulation in the market of refined sugar, like what was happening in Kapuas district. The Trade and Industry Services of Kapuas district said refined sugar has been circulating in the consumption market because local sugar was no longer found on sales. "Refined sugar circulated not only in Kapuas but also in all regions in Kalimantan because local sugar stocks are not available," Ferdinan Junarko of the industry and trade service said here on Thursday. He said that based on the government regulation refined sugar could only be sold to industries and was not allowed to be sold in the public market for consumption. Refined sugar has been in the market because the government did not provide local sugar so that traders were forced to sell refined sugar which was actually designed for industries. There is suspicion that traders are keeping their local sugar stocks that caused scarcity in the market, as it can be found in Central Java. According to Central Java's rice monitoring and control team (TPPH), it has recorded that about 32,000 tons of sugar were still kept and piled up in warehouses. Antonius Tri Puji of the TPPH said that off the 56,780 tons of imported sugar for Central Java, about 32,000 tons were still kept in a number of warehouses of state owned plantation firm PT Perkebunan Nusantara XI. Sugar was one of the commodities whose prices were now on the rise over the past few months. The scarcity of consumption sugar in the market has led to traders to sell refined ones. In order to overcome the problem, legislators also urged the government to put the refined sugar in order. Legislator Aria Bima said the government should carry out a re-auditing of the distribution of refined sugar to see where the refined sugar so far had been channeled. The government had better examine the portion of refined sugar for food and beverage industries and supervise their distributors. Aria suspected that refined sugar had so far strayed into the consumer sugar markets because its distribution was not well supervised. He also asked the government to provide a detailed report over the amount of refined sugar which had strayed into the consumer sugar market. Meanwhile, chairman of the Indonesian Refined Sugar Association (AGRI) Melvin Korompis said he had never known before that refined sugar had strayed into consumer sugar markets. Melvin suggested that the government set up a small team composed of representatives of inter-related sectors such as the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Trade. "This small team should supervise the distribution of refined sugar distribution," Melvin said. Melvin said he would coordinate with other AGRI members to study the distribution networks and to learn how refined sugar could stray into the consumer sugar markets in a number of regions. In the meantime, Chairman of the Indonesian Sugarcane Growers Association (APTRI) H. Arum Sabil said national sugar output this year is expected to fall 20 percent short of the government-set target of 2.9 million tons because of extreme climate change in recent months. The high rainfalls during the grand sugarcane harvest time had reduced the sugar content of sugarcane. "Though the sugarcane harvested is abundant its sugar content declines because of too much water," he said. With a population of about 230 millions Indonesia is a big sugar consumer needing about 3.8 million tons per annum. It needs some 2.7 million tons of sugar for direct consumption and 1.2 million tons of refined sugar for industries. However, its own annual sugar output from about 60 factories only ranges between 2.7 million and 3 million tons, requiring it to import the balance. ***2*** |