Echoing Hating Foreign Products, Indef: Jokowi Must Be Accurate, Which Imports?

President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. (Photo: Doc. Setkab)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) recently echoed the hatred for foreign products. He stated that it is okay to dislike foreign products. Jokowi's statement drew reactions from various parties, one of which was Indef Research Director Berly Matawardaya.

Berly actually questioned which of the calls made by Jokowi for imported products. According to him, there are three types of raw and supporting materials, capital materials and consumer goods.

Based on BPS data, said Berly, it can be seen that most of Indonesia's imports of raw materials and supporting materials are 72 percent in 2020. 16 percent of capital goods, and 10 percent of consumer goods such as cars, shoes, bags, and others.

"(Imports of consumer goods) are not too much. Even if they are reduced, it is good. If raw materials and auxiliary materials are reduced, domestic production will be disrupted. So it must be accurate if you want to hate imports. Which imports do you hate?" he said in a virtual discussion, Monday, March 8.

According to Berly, the next step that must be taken is to reduce imports of consumer goods, such as watches, shoes, bags, up-skill electronics.

"But for raw materials, capital materials, do not limit them or stop them," he said.

"But we don't use the old strategy continuously. So imports will be processed for consumption in the country. We import the more we strengthen the manufacturing and service production chains to make it stronger so that we can export," he added.

Apart from that, said Berly, Indonesia also needs to attract export-oriented investment from the start. He admitted that it is not easy to attract investment into the country. But two keys are important.

"The key is in the business climate and corruption, where yesterday our ranking of corruption perceptions was getting lower. This is also disturbing. If we want to become a country with strong production and export, it has to be a good business climate and low in corruption," he said.

Previously, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) invited the Indonesian people to hate foreign products. He asked people to love local products.

"Echoes the domestic product. Echoes also hate foreign products. Not only love but hate. Love our goods, hate foreign products," Jokowi said as quoted from the Presidential Secretariat YouTube account, Thursday, March 4

Jokowi's statement drew reactions from various parties. In response to this, Jokowi stated that it was okay to dislike foreign products. According to him, this is the time for Indonesians to love and be proud of local products.

"It's okay to dislike foreign products, why can't we dislike it, it's okay to dislike foreign products. Why does it cause such commotion? I said I hate foreign products can cause such commotion, it's okay to dislike foreign products, right," said Jokowi at the National Working Meeting Hipmi 2021, Friday, March 5.

The former governor of DKI Jakarta said that Indonesia should not only benefit from foreign products. Supposedly, the consumption of domestic products should be increased and echoed.