Minister Teten Calls The Need For 'Ronda' To Intercept Imported Goods Entering The Republic Of Indonesia

JAKARTA - Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki emphasized that patrols or guarding the entrances of imported goods need to be tightened to protect domestic MSME products.

Teten said, Indonesian MSMEs have a strong adaptation to various economic dynamics. This is evident from the many MSMEs that survive and recover after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the government has issued trade regulations to reduce the flow of imported finished products (consumer goods). However, Teten assessed that stricter guarding needs to be carried out at all points that have the potential to be the entry point for illegal products.

"We have to patrol. Because we have a very large beach, so the inflow can be illegal and legal," said Teten, quoted on Friday, August 2.

On the other hand, Teten admits that it is currently a free trade era. Various products from many countries are traded across borders and foreign investment flows are wide open.

Therefore, he encouraged local MSME products to compete with cheaper imported products. The business model for MSME players, said Teten, must be efficient and competitive from foreign products.

"But indeed we have to prepare competitive products in terms of quality, supply, continuity and prices," he said.

Previously, the Minister of Trade (Mendag) Zulkifli Hasan officially formed a task force (Satgas) to supervise certain goods. The task force will later oversee import activities, especially illegal imports that harm the domestic industry and the market share of MSME products in the country.

The man who is familiarly called Zulhas said the Task Force would oversee seven types of imported commodities. For example, textiles and textile products (TPT), finished clothes, ceramics, electronics, beauty or cosmetics, textiles have finished and Footwear.

"The rise of products categorized as illegal is because they are far from the proper price and cannot be accounted for by SNI and others. So there are layoffs, factory closures and others. Therefore, we formed a Task Force," he said during a press conference, at the Ministry of Trade office, Jakarta, Friday, July 19.

The task force was formed based on Decree (SK) number 932 of 2024.