The Ministry Of Industry Plays A Central Role In Future Government, As Well As Determinant Whether Indonesia Can Achieve 6 Percent Economic Growth

JAKARTA - Economist Prof. Dr. Didik J. Rachbini stated that the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) plays a central role in the future government, as well as determining whether economic growth can reach 6 percent or more.

According to this Professor of Economics and Indef researchers, failure to encourage the economy to grow above 6 percent because the industrial sector is growing low and moving very slowly.

"This happened because of the absence and vacancy of industrial policies and the Ministry of Industry," said Prof. Didik J. Rachbini, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, June 18.

So far, said Prof. Didik, the Ministry of Industry has played a very limited role with weak policies that have no significant value to advance the industrial sector.

Continuously, he said, this sector grew below 5 percent so that it did not have the driving force and was unable to lift high economic growth.

In fact, this sector actually stagnated with growth of only 3'4 percent. This, according to Prof. Didik, indicates the absence and absence of industrial policies. The industry is turned off because of policies that recede and do not provide opportunities, space, and encouragement for the national industry.

If industrial policies continue to occur like during the last 1.2 decades, then forgetting the promise of Indonesian Presidential Candidate Prabowo Subianto to advance a high-growing economy will be achieved.

"What happens is the opposite possibility, economic growth will always be below 5 percent due to being dragged into very low industrial growth," said Prof. Didik who is also the Chancellor of Paramadina University.

Prof. Didik then compared high economic growth so far in Vietnam and India. Why did India and Vietnam manage to encourage high economic growth? The answer is only one, which is to successfully encourage the industry as the locomotive of growth.

The industrial sector in India grew in double digits so that it attracted the economy to grow up to 7 percent. On the other hand, in the last two decades, the Indonesian industrial sector has only grown below 5 percent so it is impossible to attract economic growth to above 6 percent.

"Why has Indonesia for the past two decades failed to encourage high economic growth?" Didik replied, "The answer is the same, namely because it fails to place the industrial sector as the locomotive of growth and at the same time because the Ministry of Industry is stagnant and barren in carrying out its industrial policies."

Prof. Didik then emphasized, "The critical factor in economic growth during the Prabowo administration will lie in this ministry in the future."

On the other hand, he revealed that the Indonesian economy has stagnated growth by 5 percent or below because it relies on consumption and the service sector, which is mixed with the informal sector.

With the non-modern service sector and only relying on household consumption, according to Prof. Didik, the economy lost its locomotive, which in turn the economy grew low or moderately only.

Alluding to the campaign promise of Indonesian Presidential Candidate Prabowo that economic growth is up to 8 percent, Prof. Didik assesses a nearly impossible target with current policies and ministries that do not do much to compose the situation.

"If you want to be different from the previous government, the key to success lies in fixing the Ministry of Industry's success or not and its industrial policy. Without that, Indonesia will be the underdog (not seeded) in ASEAN," said Prof. Didik.