The Ministry Of MSMEs And The Indonesian Advocates Congress For Legal Assistance Cooperation For MSMEs

Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Maman Abdurrahman. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of MSMEs)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) agreed to cooperate with the Indonesian Advocates Congress (KAI) through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Legal Assistance Synergy for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The signing was carried out by the Deputy for Micro Business at the Ministry of MSMEs Riza Damanik and the General Chairperson of KAI Siti Jamaliah Lubis, and witnessed by the Minister of MSMEs Maman Abdurrahman and Deputy Minister of MSMEs Helvi Moraza.

"In carrying out this program, we need to work together and collaborate in a real and complete manner to provide legal literacy so that MSMEs avoid legal problems, as well as assistance and legal assistance services that can be utilized by micro and small entrepreneurs," said Maman in a statement to the media quoted on Saturday, June 7.

According to Maman, micro and small businesses are vulnerable to dealing with legal problems. This often happens because of the lack of understanding of MSMEs in terms of knowledge, including licensing and legality of business, understanding of product standards, and legal awareness.

"This often makes micro and small businesses have the potential to be entangled in legal problems, and is threatened with sanctions by law enforcement officials," he said.

He gave an example of a criminal law problem that once ensnared MSMEs in the case of Mama Khas Banjar who was charged with violating Article 8 paragraph (1) letter g of the Consumer Protection Law for selling consumer products such as salted fish, frozen food, andgalos without including an expiration date.

"In addition to criminal problems, there are also civil problems that have the potential to ensnare MSMEs. For example, business disputes with business partners due to the default of one party, disputes with employees, intellectual property disputes, to problems related to business credit," he said.

Minister Maman said, one of the mandates of the Job Creation Law and PP 7 of 2021 concerning Ease, Protection, and Empowerment of Cooperatives and MSMEs, is the government's presence in providing legal protection through the Assistance and Legal Assistance Service program for Micro and Small Enterprises.

"Support and provision of legal assistance are very important for micro and small businesses in running their business, because the productivity and competitiveness of MSMEs is maintained with easy access to legal certainty and access to business protection through assistance and legal assistance services," he said.

Meanwhile, the General Chairperson of KAI Siti Jamaliah Lubis stated that his party is ready to provide legal assistance to MSME entrepreneurs through hundreds of Branch Representative Councils (DPC) spread across regencies/cities in Indonesia.

"We are ready to provide legal assistance and assistance for MSME entrepreneurs throughout Indonesia. We realize that this effort is very necessary so that our MSMEs will progress," he said.