legal Certainty AFTA 2010

No country in this world can avoid the requirement of Legal Certainty. In this rapid Global Era, if a country wants to create Healthy Business Climate, Legal Certainty is a must. The Gaps between the Poor and the Rich in Indonesia must be narrowed, if not the Poor People will surely be frustrated with the ongoing Unfair System.

In the Year 2010 AFTA ( ASEAN FREE TRADE AREA) will be applied, meaning that Indonesian Business Investors are forced to compete with foreign Investors from the AFTA region. The following are some information articles about AFTA occuring om Ist January 2010, from the above web :

Quote:

ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is a trade bloc agreement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations supporting local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries.

The AFTA agreement was signed on 28 January 1992 in Singapore. When the AFTA agreement was originally signed, ASEAN had six members, namely, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Vietnam joined in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999. AFTA now comprises ten countries of ASEAN. All the four latecomers were required to sign the AFTA agreement in order to join ASEAN, but were given longer time frames in which to meet AFTA's tariff reduction obligations.

The primary goals of AFTA seek to:

• Increase ASEAN's competitive edge as a production base in the world market through the elimination, within ASEAN, of tariffs and non-tariff barriers; and
• Attract more foreign direct investment to ASEAN.

Unquote:

Based on the above development, we all in Indonesia must be fully aware that corruption occuring in Indonesia results : High Costs for Business Investors Players in Indonesia. Thus, if Corruption is not seriously tackled by the Indonesian Authority in Indonesia, the Indonesian Business Investors will loose its leverage of competitiveness from the AFTA Business Players in this AFTA Region. We are than Forced to fight Corruption, to enable the Indonesian Business Players to compete with the other AFTA members in this AFTA Region. This is also significant for increasing the social welfare of the poor People in Indonesia.

Real Significant Action must be made to reform the Legal System in Indonesia. This must be applied to all level within the Police Department, The District Attorney, The Legislative, The Advocats and Lawyers and Businessman. The President had indicated its message to make such fight against the Court Mafia in Indonesia.

Jakarta, 1 December 2009

Agung Supomo Suleiman

AGUNGSS BUSINESS LAWYER NOTE