Minister Calls Suggestion to Develop State-run E-commerce a Joke

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Teten Masduki rejected a suggestion offered by a senior journalist Farid Gaban to develop a ministry’s owned e-commerce in order to facilitate SMEs' products.

“That’s not a good idea. It’s not a country’s task to run a business,” said Teten to Tempo on Tuesday evening, May 26.

Teten explained that developing an online marketplace is uncomplicated, but to be one that has strong market penetration requires professional management and huge capital.

He was informed that private online retail have been burning cash to date to increase its business valuation. Meanwhile, the ministry’s budget is less than Rp1 trillion. “So it’s a huge joke if the ministry is asked to have its own online retail platform that needs huge capital,” Teten remarked.

With that in mind, the ministry chose to partner with private platforms through a movement #BanggaBuatanIndonesia (proud of Indonesian-made products), such as Blibli, Tokopedia, Shopee, Lazada, and Bukalapak. 

“Simply put, running a business must be in crowded places. How come SMEs want to open in a quiet place,” said Teten.

Farid Gaban assessed that local SMEs could not develop in private e-commerces. The move could rather harm the country’s economy and create dependence on import goods. Quoting Indef (Institute for Development of Economics and Finance), Farid said 93 percent of products sold there are imported.

“The partnership will be more beneficial for Blibli than SMEs that wanted to be defended by Pak Minister Teten,” said Farid in his Facebook account a few days ago. 

An advocate and politician of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) Muannas Alaidid subpoenaed Farid over the latter’s criticism.

DEWI NURITA