VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian consumers have increasingly become critical and aware of their rights and obligations, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said.

"Our consumers have increasingly become critical. They know well their rights and can no longer be cheated. If we want to improve competitive edge, the role of each office chief under the coordination of PKTN (the Directorate General of Consumer Protection and Trade Order) is important," he said while opening an event aimed to synchronize policies on consumer protection and trade order in Jakarta on Monday.

Hence, all stakeholders, including the central government, regional governments, businessmen, and the public, should unite their steps to create effective consumer protection, he said. The government itself has formulated a grand design for consumer protection contained in Presidential Regulation No. 50/2017 concerning the national strategy for consumer protection (STRANAS PK), he said.

He said the post border supervision this year is one of the central government`s policies which are high on the list of the Consumer Protection and Trade Order Directorate General`s national priorities. Through the policy, the government has since February 1, 2018 shifted the surveillance of goods subjected to ban and restriction from the border (inside customs area) to post border (outside custom area), he said.

Consumer protection is a legal instrument created to protect and fulfill consumers` rights. Under the consumer protection law of 1999, Indonesian consumers` rights have legally been protected. Although the law has been put into force since 19 years ago, Indonesian consumers are still in the stage of understanding, meaning that they have been aware of their rights and obligations as reflected by consumer empowerment index of 33.7 in 2017.

To make consumers more aware of the importance of consumer protection, they must be smart consumers by realizing their rights and obligations, paying attention to the labels, quality, expired dates, manual and guarantee cards of products, buying goods according to needs and loving domestic products. (ant)