The conflict between Israel and Palestine has sparked waves of protest around the world, including in Indonesia. One form of protest has been boycotts of products said to have ties to Israel.
In response, the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) said that, as supervisor of national industry, it neither supports nor rejects the boycott movement. “Kemenperin's role is to implement policies supporting industrial productivity and competitiveness. Our current focus is on tightening the flow of imported goods to support development of the domestic market,” Acting Secretary General of Kemenperin Putu Juli Ardika said in Jakarta on Thursday (2/11).
The government continues to step up efforts to protect domestic industry from imports by tightening the inflow of imported goods and overhauling domestic import trade rules.
Tighter import controls are expected to boost the use of high-quality domestic products. “This is so our industry becomes stronger and its products can be used by the public,” Putu explained.
According to a press release from Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto (1/11), the tightening is being carried out by revising Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) Number 25 of 2022 on Import Policies and Regulations, changing import trade rules from post-border to border inspection for eight commodities: bags, electronics, traditional medicines and health supplements, cosmetics, other finished textile goods, children's toys, footwear and apparel. The revision is to be completed within two weeks, with a three-month transition.
The government continues to increase the uptake of domestic products through the Program to Increase the Use of Domestic Products (P3DN), both through government spending from the state and regional budgets and at the individual level. At Business Matching Phase V 2023 in March, President Joko Widodo reminded all state and regional budget users to buy local products, many of which are already in the e-Catalog.
Source: Press Release of the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia