Minister Of Industry Agus Opens His Voice About Himself Being Called Abai To Industry

JAKARTA - Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita opened her voice regarding Senior Economist Faisal Basri's statement that he was busy campaigning in the midst of bankruptcy that hit textile factories to ceramics.

The Minister of Industry responded to the statement by saying that the Ministry of Industry was holding a Tech Link Summit 2024 at the PIDI office, Jakarta, on July 18-20.

He considered that the event was a form of attention from the Ministry of Industry as an industry coach.

"There is a senior economist who says that the Minister of Industry has never paid attention to the industry. The Minister of Industry has never paid attention to manufacturing, did he agree or not? (Ask the Minister of Industry to the audience). This is one clear proof of the Ministry of Industry's attention in developing industry, this is him (the implementation of Tech Link Summit)," Agus said on the Tech Link Summit agenda, quoted Friday, July 19.

Agus added that the manufacturing industry's performance was also quite good in 2023. The reason is, based on data released by the World Bank, it states that Indonesia is ranked 12th in the top manufacturing countries by value added (added value).

The added value or added value of the manufacturing sector in the country increased by 36.4 percent on an annual basis.

Bearing in mind, in the previous year, MVA Indonesia was recorded at US $ 187 billion.

"For this reason, the manufacturing industry must continue to strengthen its competitiveness with the spirit of Making Indonesia 4.0," he said.

Through this program, domestic industries must be able to jump technology innovation in a series of business processes with the aim of increasing added value and streamlining production costs.

In this case, the Ministry of Industry encourages industrial companies to collaborate with domestic startups to implement advanced manufacturing technology, such as AI to increase productivity, sustainability and robustness of the supply chain or supply chain industry.

Previously, Senior Economist Faisal Basri satirized the performance of Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita in the midst of bankruptcy that hit textiles and ceramic factories and other problems.

Instead of taking care of the industrial sector, Faisal assessed that Agus was actually busy campaigning. In fact, he said, the sector has not been able to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Many companies are bankrupt, not just ceramics. Textiles are bankrupt, have not been able to recover from COVID-19. The restructuring program has been completed, which cannot be restructured, yes, it has gone bankrupt, selling," said Faisal in an Indef discussion in Jakarta, Tuesday, July 16.

"Not only on ceramics, it's still red. The ministers are busy campaigning, yes, Golkar officials. Where do you take care of? Have you ever heard the minister of industry make a statement, he rarely does. Maybe not all of you also know the name of the minister of industry," he added.