The Government admitted
economic potential in borderland had not been developed to the maximum. The
result was that economic condition of the people on border towns were still most
disheartening. Deputy Minister of Industry Alex S.W. Retraubun in Jakarta on
Monday (23/7/2012) stated that potentials of economy and industry in borderline
towns were not being fully exploited. The Government even seemed to neglect the
places and let them be the bases of smugglers of industrial commodities.
Borderlands, it was said to be happy playgrounds for criminals and law breakers
such as smugglers of goods, arms, or even human trafficking due to desolate
condition of the places.
Alex stated that border towns in Indonesia treasured
potential raw materials resources for industrial or manufacturing like CPO,
wood, metal and non-metal mining products, oil and gas, and seaweed. Alex
believed that development of industry in towns bordering on neighboring country
must be started from now on. Developments should not be concentrated in big
cities in Java. This he said, had its underlying law, i.e. Perpres No. 208/2008
on national industry policy (KIN).
According to the Deputy Minister, there had to be a
specially allocated fund in the Government’s budget to step up development of
basic infra structure like highways and internal roads whereby to start
economic heartbeat. The way it had been may workers in the borderzone worked
less than 35 hours a week and in less productive sectors their income were low.
What happened according to Alex was that wages and selling price of products
were 4 to 5 times higher in Malaysia than in Indonesia so naturally people were
more interested to work or sell their yields in Malaysia. “Indonesian citizens
in Kalimantan love to work as migrant workers in Malaysia because the pay was
higher” Alex remarked.
Meanwhile Vice Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of
Commerce (KADIN) and Head of Coordinator of Borderland Endang E. Kusumayadi
said there were five crucial problems to be cracked down by the Central
Government today, i.e. economic disparity, investment hindrances, regional
regulations which were noy pro-investment, change of citizenship, and
complicated permit application procedures. Endang stated that the borderline
towns had high economic potentials, but low employment opportunities.
Infra-structure in borderland were also still at minimum,
so it was hard for them to develop their natural potentials. The result was that
economic growth in the regions were low. Endang said there was another problem
in developing borderland into industrial, commercial and residential zones. And
yet she added, the borderline towns were potential areas for processing of
palm, crumb rubber, CPO supporting industries, rubber, mining products, hotels
and restaurants, marine tourism, cold storage and warehousing.
Other problem was trade regulations which were not on the
side of the people. She explained that each borderland had their different
problem, so she rated that the present regulation put in effect by the
Government was too generalized. Therefore special treatment would be necessary
for border towns. Endang stated that other national issues in borderland was
change of citizenship. Social economic disparity triggered social economic
conflict among the people which made them change citizenship or separate from
unified Indonesia (NKRI). As areas rich in natural resources, borderlands were
still entangled in permit issuance problems and local regulations. “We expect
eased procedures in permit application and investments to be enhanced soonest” Endang requested.
Business News - July 27, 2012
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