The House Of Representatives Is Worried That The Competitiveness Of MSMEs Will 'weaken' After Tokopedia Joins TikTok Shop

Illustration of TikTok Shop. (Swello-Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Rivqy Abdul Halim, admitted that he was worried about the fate of MSMEs after TikTok Nusantara (SG) Pte.Ltd acquired PT Tokopedia. He considered that the competitiveness of MSMEs was threatened with 'weak' due to dealing with large-scale producers.

According to Rivqy, there was an imbalance in algorithms that had been felt and complained about by MSMEs by the joining of Tokopedia and TikTok Shop. Not to mention, there are new rules for selling partners after Tokopedia was merged with TikTok Shop which caused many problems.

"I'm afraid the acquisition could deepen the transaction algorithm on the dominant platform leading to manufacturers or entrepreneurs selling their products on a large scale at low prices," said Rivqy, Thursday, June 19.

"If that happens, MSMEs selling local products on a limited scale will be increasingly threatened with competitiveness. Finally, they will die or go out of business," continued the legislator from the East Java IV electoral district.

As is known, Tokopedia and TikTok Shop have officially joined and formed a new platform called Shop Tokopedia after TikTok acquired 75.01 percent of Tokopedia's shares. The merger of the two e-commerce was determined by the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) on Tuesday, June 17.

To overcome concerns about MSMEs, Rivqy assessed the need for regulatory updates, such as for aspects of digital trade, business competition, and consumer protection.

The member of the Council who is familiarly called Gus Rivqy also asked the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi), the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of MSMEs, KPPU, BPKN, Polri, and other institutions to coordinate to discuss updating regulations in favor of sellers and buyers.

"Everyone must sit down together to update the rules that ensure the digital economy ecosystem takes place fairly, transparently and equally for all parties, from producers, distributors to consumers," explained Gus Rivqy.

While waiting for the regulatory update, Rivqy asked KPPU to look at the report given by TikTok Shop in detail.

"Make sure the report is factual data in which there is no trending, bundling and monopolizing the digital market ecosystem either implicitly or explicitly," he said.

Furthermore, Rivqy also highlighted a number of problems that sellers complained about at Tokopedia after Tiktok Shop acquired the 'green' online buying and selling site. Like no buyer, the turnover decreased, the slow acceptance of complaints to the increasingly complicated buying and selling system.

Rivqy hopes that Tokopedia will not remain silent with the TikTok workings that harm sellers and even buyers. According to him, updating the rules for users of the platform must be clear and not make it difficult for sellers, especially for small-scale traders.

"This problem must be resolved immediately, it's a pity that sellers at Tokopedia must be victims. Instead of adding buyers, the shop is quiet because the new system is complicated, and they have to follow the Tiktok Shop rules, both should agree," said Rivqy.