TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) proposed a permit for virtual offices to the Trade Ministry, in a bid to facilitate startup companies and micro, small and medium enterprises (UMKM).

"The emergence of startup companies, such as those of application technology, and UMKM must be supported by the government by issuing supportive regulation," Sandiaga Uno, KADIN deputy chairman for UMKM, Cooperatives and Creative Industries, said on Thursday, January 28, 2016.

Sandiaga explained that virtual offices and co-working spaces had helped startups to become established companies.

"So the regulations must be conducive [to startup development]," he added.

Sandiaga had also extended startup entrepreneurs' aspirations to the central government, such as the Trade Ministry, the Creative Economy Agency, and the Vice Presidential Office.

The Creative Economy Agency had showed its full support to the idea of setting up virtual offices.

"There would be no startup without virtual office. In other countries, everything is allowed because the co-working spaces provide many benefits," Hari Santoso Sungkari, the deputy of infrastructure at the Creative Economy Agency.

According to Hari, a virtual office will be a solution for a startup company that cannot afford real office yet in Jakarta. In addition, a tech company is different from other conventional companies that require their employees to come to the office. What a startup needs is just an office address, while its employees work remotely.

Earlier in November 2015, the Jakarta administration issued a ban on virtual office through Circular Letter of the head of the Jakarta One-Stop Integrated Service Agency (BPTSP) No. 41/SE/2015 dated on November 2, 2015. The ban was issued to ensure the existence of a company.

Ghiffari added that the circular letter was a temporary regulation while waiting for the official regulation to be issued by the Trade Ministry.

PINGIT ARIA