Retail Entrepreneurs Protest About Plans To Transfer Imported Goods Entry Paths To Eastern Indonesia

JAKARTA - The Association of Indonesian Shopping Center Retailers and Tenants (Hippindo) protested the government's plan to move entry routes or ports for seven imported goods to Eastern Indonesia.

Chairman of Hippindo Budihardjo Iduansjah stated that the relocation of this imported location has the potential to increase the national industry and retail. He considered that this policy would not necessarily be an effective solution to overcome the problem of illegal imports.

"Infrastructure in Eastern Indonesia is still not adequate when compared to the West Indonesia region, especially related to transportation and logistics," Budihardjo said in a written statement, quoted on Friday, September 6.

According to him, this price increase will have a direct impact on people's purchasing power, which in turn is feared to threaten revenue and closure on retail.

"If the price of goods continues to increase due to high logistics costs, people's purchasing power will decrease and domestic spending targets through the BINA program will not be achieved," he said.

Hippindo also emphasized that a more effective solution to dealing with illegal imports is to strengthen supervision and law enforcement throughout Indonesia's ports and increase collaboration with related parties to curb illegal imports.

In addition, Hippindo encourages the government's initiative to increase the production of domestic goods.

"In addition to moving imports, we see the need to increase the supply from domestic factories. If necessary, cooperation with outsiders can be carried out, but provided that goods produced in Indonesia must be sold for domestic needs, not only for exports," said Budihardjo.

Budihardjo assessed that what must be prioritized is the fulfillment of stock of goods, both food and non-food with a focus on products that are not yet available or are still minimal in Indonesia.

"We support efforts to map products that have not been produced in Indonesia, especially those that are easy to produce domestically," he said.

"For this reason, we encourage the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) to provide convenience for producers to start production and Hippindo is ready to support it by ensuring that these products can be purchased by our members, as long as they meet applicable standards and conditions," he added.

Therefore, Budihardjo continued, his party urged the government to consider the plan to transfer these imports more carefully.

"This policy must consider aspects of infrastructure, logistics costs and their impact on industry and consumers. Thus, the main goal of improving the economy and the welfare of the community can really be achieved," he concluded.