Sunday, 12 October 2014

INDONESIA’S CREATIVE INDUSTRY TO COMPETE IN ACE 2015 WITH CONFIDENCE


The Creative Industry fashion and craft work was believed to be strong asset for Indonesia in facing Asean Economic Forum [AEC] in 2015. In this which was known to produce creative products similar to that made by Indonesia. Malaysia was not regarded as potential direct competitor to Indonesia. “Indonesia’s creative products are more competitive than that of Malaysia, such as garments, so Indonesia is more confident in entering AEC 2015,” inspector General of the Ministry of Industry Syarif Hidayat was quoted as saying in Jakarta on Tuesday [16/9].

After opening an exhibition of creative products by 44 craftsmen in Yogyakarta until September 19, 2014 featuring batik, woven materials, leatherwork, knitted thread, silverwork, bronze work, handicraft, wayang, herbal and F&B products Syarif stated that to speak about creative industry means to discuss the wide potentials of varied cultural background. “The creative industry needed counseling and technological assistance, to make Indonesia excel in the field”, Syarif remarked.

In his written message he mentioned 15 subsectors of creative economy in the domain of the Ministry of Industry, among others fashion, handicrafts, computer service, and software industry. Culture-based traditional industry like fashion was the prevalent subsectors as contributor to national economy. Most developing countries had abundant natural and cultural resources but were not professionally managed.

In the global economic forum, developing countries were only acting as supplier of raw materials to developed countries to be processed into products of high technology whereby to manage natural resources and add value to it. Unfortunately developing countries had handicaps in developing creative economy, i.e. not having the proper mindset, bad habit and cultural obstacles. This not to mention low awareness of the importance of patenting intellectual rights.

Indonesia’s main export destination countries were the USA and some European stated which, in times of global economic slowdown might axe their shopping list and hence affected Indonesia’s export performance. Indonesia needed strategic maneuvers in product diversification to keep export high, and the Creative Industry was among the highly potential economic sectors that might contribute significantly to national economic growth. In 2013, creative economy in Indonesia grew by 5.78% on the average, higher than national economic growth of 5.76%. The Creative Industry could bring benefits not just to the creative communities but also to the nation as a whole.

Yogyakarta had high potentials for the Creative Industry and tourism, all the main propeller of economic activities. Besides, most of the creative industry was of the small-and-medium industry [IKM] category which was the bread and butter of some of the people in Yogyakarta. By location, Creative Industry in Yogyakarta was sporadic, not concentrated

“In Yogyakarta, every corner of the city had their own potential to produce marketable creative product,” Syarif said. Creative Human Resources were widespread and deep rooted in many district of the city. Batik had become the commodity icon of Yogyakarta commanding over national and international markets. Creative commodities were developing well in Yogyakarta as evident in total export value of creative commodities in June 2014 posted at USD 27 million, an increase of 13.72% against the previous USD 24 million. Compared to the same period the previous year total export was USD 22 million, an increase of 20.3%. the highest export value constituted of non-woven ready clothes, household instruments and leatherworks. (SS) 

Business News - September 19, 2014

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