The Other Side of the Equation

摘要

The challenges of Indonesia's textile industry are indeed plenty. Internally, the country is still struggling to recover from 1998's economic crisis, which has caused not only financial, but also political, instability. Gone are the many incentives enjoyed I by the textile industry dur-ing President Soeharto's era (1967-1998). In the last ten years, Indonesia has had four presidents, who would each come to office with a new or revised set of strategies and regulations. Initiatives of the former cabinets are usually abandoned. Regulations that are important for mills, such as labor and import/export procedures, are often revised. With the high level of instability, mills halt their plans for investment or expansion, and many foreign investors transfer their operations abroad. Small mills, unable to cope with interest rate as high as 59 percent, are forced to close their operations.