Appointed As Minister Of Industry For Six Years Ago, Agus Gumiwang Confesses To Get This Heavy Task

JAKARTA - Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita admitted that he was tasked quite hard when he was first appointed to carry out his duties as Minister of Industry (Menperin) six years ago.

Quoted from the upload of a video on his official Instagram account @agusgumiwangk, Thursday, November 13, Agus got the task of improving the performance of the textile and textile product (TPT) industry, which at that time was considered sunset or decreased.

"Six years ago I was assigned to become Minister of Industry. One of the sub-sectors that became our attention at the office at that time was TPT and at that time there was also a narrative that the TPT industry was the sunset industry," said Agus.

However, Agus did not believe this. In fact, he also questioned the motives of the alleged people who made the narrative.

"I don't believe it. Maybe we also have to ask what motive, yes, for those who try to narrate our TPT (industry) this is a sunset sub-sector," he said.

The former Minister of Social Affairs also suspected that the narrative was made by importers, so that their goods could easily enter Indonesia. The reason is, according to Agus, the goods included by the importers are no longer produced in Indonesia.

"The Minister of Industry suspects that maybe the importers who tried to narrate the textile sub-sector and the textile derivative are sunset sub-sectors, so that they can more freely enter their belongings into Indonesia because Indonesia is no longer produced," he added.

Previously, the Director General of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Textile Industries (IKFT) of the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) Taufiek Bawazier conveyed the current condition of the textile and clothing industry.

As is known, the textile industry continues to receive attention from various parties due to the large number of factory closures and the rampant layoffs (PHK) that occur.

In a Hearing Meeting (RDP) with Commission VII DPR RI on Wednesday, November 12, Taufiek said, the textile industry did grow slightly by 0.93 percent until the third quarter of 2025.

"The textile industry and clothing are even though they grow thin, but this has gone through a process," said Taufiek at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday, November 12.

Taufiek explained that the textile and clothing industry is now going through a process called recovery, recovery to stabilization.

"After stabilization, we will push on growth for the textile industry itself and now it has entered the stage to the end of recovery," he said.

"So, we can see that the growth is 0.93 percent, but if we look at q to q, it grew 1.98 and our c to c grew 3.28 (percent)," he continued.