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"Stop talking and start working" is the strong message sent
by Indonesian business to the government in relation to its efforts to
increase investment and improve the country's competitiveness amid the
challenges of rapid globalization.
Indonesian businesspeople attending the recent 14th annual summit of
the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Hanoi, Vietnam,
as part of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), have urged the
government to deliver on the promises made in its economic reform
packages.
To improve investment, infrastructural development and the country's
competitiveness, ABAC suggested, the government must carry out its
policies, including the overhauling of the investment, tax and labor
legislation. The amendment bills are currently stalled in the House of
Representatives.
"I'm afraid that if we do not accelerate the process, we will be
eliminated from the competition," ABAC member Sofjan Wanandi told a
press briefing.
He said that the policy packages issued under a 2006 presidential
decree, and major changes to the customs and excise, taxation and work
permit rules, had not panned out as expected, with most of the
proposals still being stuck in the House of Representatives.
If things do not change, local manufacturing industry could be heading
for collapse within five years, he claimed.
"I think there has been enough traveling and going to other countries.
Most of the work that has still to be done is now at home," Sofjan
said, clearly referring to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who also
attended the APEC Summit meeting in Hanoi.
ABAC Indonesia chairman John A. Prasetio stressed the importance of
accelerating policy implementation as this would reassure investors.
"For business, it would be better to have imperfect regulations now
then to have perfect ones in five years time."
The latest report from the World Bank shows that Indonesia remains one
of the most difficult places in the world to do business. It was ranked
135th out of 175 countries surveyed for the 2007 Doing Business report,
compared to 131st out of 155 countries in the 2006 report.
Established in 1989, APEC, which includes 21 member economies that
account for 60 percent of the world's GDP at some US$19.2 trillion, has
set a non-binding deadline for eliminating tariffs by 2010 for
developed economies and 2020 for emerging economies.
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