PROGRES.ID – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has revealed that he received reports about the sale of clothes at very low prices on an e-commerce platform. Therefore, this is considered predatory pricing or the practice of selling goods below their production cost.
“Even yesterday, there were clothes being sold for how much? Rp 5,000, Rp 5,000! This means there is predatory pricing there, they have started burning money, the most important thing for them is to control data, control behavior. We all need to understand this,” said Jokowi at the PPSA XXIV and Alumni PPRA LXV 2023 Lemhanas event, as reported by CNBC Indonesia on Wednesday (10/4/2023).
Furthermore, Jokowi also conveyed the message that Indonesia should not only be consumers in the digital trade market. Especially, products sold on e-commerce platforms should ideally be products of Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs).
“Again, we should not only be consumers but we must also be producers. This means that if we have applications that enter there, producers of the goods we produce should be involved. Hopefully, we can export to other countries. We don’t need to go too far; let’s dominate ASEAN first,” he said.
Jokowi also revealed that currently, countries in the ASEAN region are negotiating to formulate a framework for digital economic called the Digital Economy Framework ASEAN. This framework is targeted to be completed by 2025. In this framework, digital trade, digital payments, and data security will be regulated.
In this context, Jokowi also called on all relevant parties to prepare human resources in the digital field so that Indonesia does not become an “economic colony” of other countries.
“Don’t let us be colonized in this modern era, don’t let us be colonized in this modern era. We are unaware; suddenly we have been economically colonized,” Jokowi emphasized.
According to Jokowi, modern economic colonization is happening through the control of digital data and by making Indonesian consumers dependent on cheap goods.
“At the beginning, it was still Rp 5,000. Once everyone is addicted and buys it, the price is raised to Rp 500 million. What can we do? We are helpless because we are dependent on it,” said Jokowi.
