TPT Industry Continues To Fall, KAHMI Urges The Ministry Of Industry To Be Transparent About Textile Import Quota

Textiles (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The bankruptcy case of PT Sejahtera Bintang Abadi Textile Tbk (SBAT) adds to the long list of textile companies in the country that have fallen. This also sparked the spotlight on the government's performance, especially the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin).

Executive Director of the Islamic Student Association (KAHMI) Alumni Corps Rayon Textile Agus Riyanto assessed that the government failed to develop the domestic textile industry because it continued to allow the deindustrialization wave.

"It's been about three years since the textile factory collapsed, the workers are currently still recovering. However, the officials are still partying to distribute imported quotas," Agus said in an official statement received by VOI, Friday, October 3.

Agus menuding, penyebab utama deindustrialisasi adalah banjir impor yang justru diatur melalui kuota impor di bawah kewenangan Kemenperin. Dia menekankan perlunya transparansi dalam distribusi kuota tersebut.

"Darely not the Ministry of Industry to open data, their import quota is given to anyone, how much? Because it has become a common secret among textiles, if this large quota is only given to around 20 companies owned by only three people," he said.

KAHMI also questioned the consistency of the Ministry of Industry which often talks about industrial protection, but in practice it rejects various proposals for the imposition of anti-dumping and safeguards.

"Any defense submitted by the Ministry of Industry is hard to believe, because BPS data talks about the import rate continuing to rise. The reason the local industry is unable to meet domestic needs is nonsense. The proof is that dozens of factories are closed because they are unable to compete with dumping imported goods," explained Agus.

The Secretary-General of the Association of Indonesian Filament Filaments and Fiaments Producers (APSYFI) Farhan Aqil said the same thing.

Farhan gave an example of the case of anti-dumping filament thread from China, which the Ministry of Industry actually rejects the imposition of anti-dumping import duties (BMAD).

"Even though it has been proven dumping. The reason is that the Ministry of Industry is making it up and only for the benefit of certain importers," said Farhan.

With the condition of the textile industry continuing to weaken, KAHMI and APSYFI both emphasized the importance of decisive steps by the government.

One of them is that the Ministry of Industry is able to transparently disclose import quota data to resolve alleged games of interest that are detrimental to the domestic industry.