IMI Collaborates With The Ministry Of Cooperatives And SMEs To Advance Indonesian Automotive Sports Events

Bambang Soesatyo with the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki. (Doc. Ist)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly and Chairman of the Indonesian Motor Association (IMI) Bambang Soesatyo (Bamsoet) together with the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki agreed to make a memorandum of understanding between IMI and the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs. Through this memorandum of understanding, IMI and the Ministry of Cooperatives of SMEs will carry out various collaborations.

Among other things, IMI will involve cooperatives and SMEs in various sports motorcycle events organized by the IMI extended family. Develop a MiniGP school for children aged 4 years and over, in order to produce MotoGP racers from Indonesia. Develop automotive SMEs, especially construction workers, so that they can improve from a hobby to assembly and modification, to penetrate into an industry. As well as the development of Multi-Party Cooperatives (KMP) for the empowerment of automotive sector SMEs.

"The involvement of cooperatives and SMEs under the guidance of the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs in various motorsport events is very important. In normal conditions before the Covid-19 pandemic alone, IMI's extended family can hold around 1,419 racing events throughout Indonesia, both cars and motorcycles, from international, national, regional, to inter-club levels. All of them can be used by cooperatives and SMEs to market their goods and services," said Bamsoet after meeting Teten Masduki, at the Office of the Ministry of Cooperatives. UKM, Jakarta, Friday, May 5.

Furthermore, Bamsoet explained, in 2023 alone, IMI will facilitate 8 rounds of international car and motorcycle racing championships. For international car racing championships consisting of Jakarta E-Prix 2023 with two rounds on 3 and 4 June 2023 at the Jakarta International ePrix Circuit (JIEC) Ancol, Jakarta. Then Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) 2023 for two rounds on 22-23 September 2023 and 24-26 November 2023 in the Lake Toba area, North Sumatra.

"For the international motorcycle racing championship, after the World Superbike (WSBK) on March 3-5, 2023 at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit, Lombok, NTB, there will also be a two-round Motocross World Championship (MXGP) on June 25, 2023 at the Samota Rocket Motor Circuit, Sumbawa, NTB and July 2, 2023 in Lombok, NTB. The peak is MotoGP 2023 on October 13-15, 2023 at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit in Lombok, NTB. All of them must be utilized by cooperative and SME business actors in increasing the marketing of their various products and services, from merchandise, souvenirs, and others," explained Bamsoet.

Bamsoet also explained that the cooperation between IMI and the Kemenkop UKM is also very important so that cooperatives and SMEs in the automotive sector can be more empowered to improve production and marketing capabilities. Given that Indonesia has many quality cooperative and SME business actors. In Purbalingga Regency alone, there are a lot of SMEs that produce exhaust, even penetrate the world market.

In Bali there is Tuksedo Studio, which produces various legendary classic cars by handmade. Among them, Porsche 356 Speedster (1957), Porsche 356 A Coupe (1955 1959), Porsche 550 Spyder (1953-1956), Mercedes Benz 300 SL Gulwing (1954 1957), Toyota 2000 GT 1968 (1967-1970), Jaguar XK 120 (1948 1954), Ferrari 250 GTO (1962-1964), to Maserati 450S (1956-1958).

"Workers at Tuksedo Studio come from local human resources in Bali and its surroundings, with an average of undergraduate degrees. Tuksedo Studio also opens opportunities for students to intern there. Prove that the nation's children are actually able to make vehicles with international quality. The workshop location in Bali has also made Tuksedo Studio a sport automotive tourism destination that can attract tourists to come to Bali," concluded Bamsoet.