The Chinese dominance in the domestic market was believed to have been caused by the low number of local industries producing similar goods causing imports to increase, House of Representatives (DPR) Commission VI nember Mustafa Kamal said here on Saturday.
Quoting the results of his own observations, Kamal who is also chief of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction in the DPR said in the January-August 2011 period alone, the import of certain products such as foods, drinks, electronics, garments and children`s toys from China reached US$962.8 million, while the overall value those imports during the period stood at US$2.86 billion.
"Our industries should be able to produce similar products of high quality so that we can minimize the import of goods from China," he said.
He further criticized the government`s policies of allowing the import of Chinese electronics which accounted for 33.3 percent or US$817.9 million.
As a matter of fact, one of the Industry Ministry`s visions was to develop technology into a spearhead of product development and market creation.
"How can we develop domestic technological products if Chinese products are not restricted," he said.
The lawmaker noted that the import of Chinese toys now represented 70.6 percent of the overall figure.
The best solution to the Chinese domination of the domestic market was protecting the domestic market and empowering domestic traders so that they could compete with foreign rivals, he said.
"The government must have the courage to side with domestic products. Otherwise, local products will lose to foreign products at home," he said. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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