REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian government should intensively popularize the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) so people are prepared to face it when it is implemented at the end of this year, a former ambassador said.

"Most people are not well-informed about the regional economic cooperation yet, even though the AEC will be implemented coming December," Dino Patti Djalal, Indonesia's former ambassador to the United States, stated here on Thursday.

People still lacked knowledge about the AEC, he pointed out, adding that not more than 15 percent of Indonesians were aware of the regional economic cooperation.

According to Djalal, only people of the middle and upper classes were well-informed about the AEC. Lower class people, such as laborers and small-scale entrepreneurs, still know little about it.

The former ambassador further noted that member states of the ASEAN had agreed to implement free trade in the region from January 2016, which would include the flow of goods and services in the region free from import duties.

Similarly, the flow of skilled and professional workers will also be free within the region, with workers free to work in any member country of the AEC.

"Indonesia, whose population is 40 percent of those of the ASEAN countries, should be optimistic about possibly becoming the biggest producer in the ASEAN market. In the remaining seven months, the Indonesian government should make the best preparations, including overcoming constraints that hamper the growth of domestic businesses and manufactures," he remarked.

Furthermore, former vice president Boediono said that the Indonesian government still had a lot of preparations to make before the AEC came into effect.

"Although it can be said that Indonesia is ready to face the AEC, it still has a lot of homework to do," Boediono stated at the Muhammadiyah University (UMY) in Yogyakarta on Monday.

He added that the homework in question entailed, for example, making improvements to the investment sector.

Speaking at a seminar on the strategy for human resources development required for the future of the country's economy, the former vice president pointed out that in the investment sector, Indonesia did not have that many domestic investors.

In addition, Indonesia has yet to significantly improve its performance in the handling of inter-ASEAN flow of goods to accelerate customs and clearance processes, as well as the release of cargo, Boediono remarked.

"If we want to become a competitive country, we should be able to integrate and handle the existing constraints in different countries. So there is still a lot of homework to complete," he reiterated.

Indonesia can take two strategic steps to prepare itself for the AEC.

The first step could be to make a comprehensive inventory of all decisions made to select those that were and those that were not successful.

"An independent team should carry out this measure to ensure that there is no favoritism in play in certain sectors," he emphasized.

He added that the second step could be to take diplomatic efforts to explain which sector could be improved and which could not.

"If Indonesia does not do this, other nations may lose their trust in the country because Indonesia would then be accepting things without having knowledge of its own capability," Boediono explained.

Indonesia should also be able to advance 277 other sectors, as agreed upon by ASEAN member states in the face of the AEC 2015.

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