INDONESIA IS UNDER ATTACK

This expression may be difficult to understand but the fact is that in economic terms, Indonesia is in the shadow of other nations, especially China. Physically, Indonesia has been separated from foreign occupation since 65 years ago. As the largest nation in Southeast Asia, Indonesia has been achieving various advances. But along with the current era of globalization, the economic influence of China is very big in this country. This can be seen from many Chinese-made goods in Indonesia, from toys to motorbikes.

The rapid development of science and technology in the nation of China, coupled with cheap-hired labor in the country led to the reducing production cost into minimum so that goods can be afforded by Indonesian society. This is an innovation of another nation which gradually affects the pattern of life of Indonesian society.

Physically, the goods from China are very diverse and very inexpensive when compared to the goods from other countries. This is what makes people of Indonesia started to become loyal customers of made-in-China goods because the majority of Indonesian society is very pleased with cheap goods without prioritizing quality. Especially now, branded goods that formerly imported from Europe and Japan also have been labeled with the words "made-in China" that makes people skeptical of them. As a result, the Chinese-made goods began to get their own place in Indonesian society.

For example, the popularity of Blackberry as a multifunctional qwerty-keypad mobile phone has been an usual thing since Chinese goods are produced similar to that brand. Various brands of China have been flooding the mobile market in Indonesia. Even in some cases, the presence of Blackberry became a question for the Indonesian people because with such a high prices,  Indonesian can buy two Chinese mobile phones whose features are more complete (remember, sometimes the quality is a second matter for Indonesian society). This is a new phenomenon in the middle of Indonesian economy which begins to rise after this country faced multi-dimensional crisis in 1998.

The word “occupation” or under attack may be less precise but the domination Chinese goods has caused goods from Indonesia itself less able to compete in the domestic market. This is a new phenomenon in Indonesia, which have actually declared its independent decades ago.