"We are not banning any products as long as they comply with existing regulations," emphasized Zulkifli Hasan, who is familiarly called Zulhas, during a joint meeting with Commission VI of the Indonesian People Representative Council (DPR RI) in Jakarta on Monday (27/11/2023).
Regarding the public boycott of Israel-affiliated products, according to him, this is not a problem because it is their right.
"There are opinions from the public, (we are) welcome. The government doesn't prohibit anything, no, if (the government) regulates, yes," said Zulhas.
It is known that the Director General of Domestic Trade at the Indonesian Ministry of Trade, Isy Karim said that the preparation of a boycott list for products affiliated with Israel must be done selectively so that the information circulating in the public is not half-hearted. Karim said that the fatwa of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) regarding the prohibition of the use of products affiliated with Israel is in line with the government's stance of defending Palestinian independence. However, a deeper study is needed to choose which products are directly affiliated and which are not.
"The boycott must be selective in nature, this condition is so that it doesn't make what circulates on social media run wild. So, we need to go deeper into this, which products are directly and indirectly affiliated," said Karim.
According to Karim, the products circulating in the community are not directly related to Israeli aggression. Relations between Indonesia and Israel are only limited to business-to-business (B-to-B) trade relations and do not have diplomatic relations (G-to-G). Furthermore, the list of products circulating on social media are domestic products, where the workforce comes from Indonesia. Therefore, the Ministry of Trade will study more deeply which products are truly affiliated with Israel. (Antara)
