By: Muhammad Hadi *)
Jakarta, CIDISS –Soon, 2015 will be ended and replaced by 2016. Of course there are many new things that we will face in the 2016’s. One of them is the implementation of free trade among countries in ASEAN that we call with ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
The presence of these AEC should be taken positively, although there are a lot of negative things that we can receive if we do not maximally. There are many people who judge that AEC would give a loss, as a flood of foreign labor and products in Indonesia. But, it would not have happened if we prepare everything well. In fact, it is time for us to expand the workforce and products to other ASEAN countries.
Of course, there are many things that need to be prepared because being calm is not enough. One of them is that we have to keep in focus on the AEC, because towards the end of 2015 there were a lot of problems trying to divert our attention, starting from the political noise in the House for nearly a month and a controversy jams that occurred in the celebration of Christmas 2015 and New Year 2016.
Controversial issues will always be there and will always provide an adorable entertainment for the community. However, if we get carried away by these issues, without realizing it, we have missed a lot of opportunities to make AECs preparations. Thus, it is not the time to be consumed by such a controversial issue, but we have to focus on preparing to face the AEC.
Improved quality of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as one of the micro-economic actors is one way that can be done either by the government or society to face the AEC. We should not underestimate the role of economic actors at the domestic level. Did you still remember the crisis that hit the world in 2008? At that time the role of the domestic economic is enormous in saving Indonesia from the threat of severe crisis. In fact, World Bank Country Director for Indonesia, Stefan Koeberie during visiting Indonesia in July 2012, said that the high domestic consumption is able to maintain the resilience of the Indonesian economy at the rate of 6 percent and can prevent Indonesia from the downturn impact of global economic.
Although the AEC and the global crisis have a different context, but we can know that the domestic economic actors have proved its role in supporting the Indonesian economy. Therefore, SMEs is one economy aspect that needs to be strengthened is the small and medium businesses to face the AEC.
A belief in the pivotal SMEs roles on the creative industries are also delivered by the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Associations (HIPMI). Head of HIPMI’s Organization Part, Anggawira said Indonesia’s creative economy has a huge potential. SMEs or creative economic is also known as a renewable and endless resource to be created. In addition, the creative economy can also be used to be strength the identity of the Indonesian nation that is known for its rich values of local wisdom.
An effort to increase the SMEs role has also been raised by the government through the Minister of Commerce Thomas Lembong, Monday (12/07/2015). According to Lembong, SMEs has a capability to face the implementation of the. One of the government supports is by making a deregulation and de-bureaucratization to simplify the licensing process and resolve the regulatory issues that is overlapping.
So, SMEs and the creative industry’s entrepreneurs or operators do not need to be panic to face the AEC which became active on this January 1, 2016. There are a lot of government supports that can be used to improve the competitiveness of. No time longer to be afraid to face the AEC, but now is the time to answer the challenges of the AEC through the readiness of SMEs. [MH]
*) Jakarta Contributor
