REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said professional appraisers must be ready to face challenges and competition in the ASEN Economic Community (AEC), implemented early this year.
"We need to strengthen the role of professional appraisers because we have entered the AEC era which poses a challenge and, at the same time, offers opportunities," the finance minister said while addressing the 11th National Congress of the Indonesian Professional Appraisers Society (MAPPI) here on Friday.
The minister said competition at this regional level should serve as an opportunity for appraisers to provide international standard services with better comparative advantage.
He said the fact that the AEC has kicked in should ideally act as an opportunity for appraisal professionals to expand services to other ASEAN countries, particularly in the Indochinese region where economic levels were still low.
"Not all ASEAN countries have the same economic development level. In the Indochinese region, there are still many opportunities. Myanmar, for example, is trying to develop its economy from a largely closed model to an open one. It must need appraisers in the field of land and building taxation," stated the minister.
However, the AEC also offers a chance to appraisers from other ASEAN countries to operate in Indonesia, and that makes it important for appraisers to become more competitive and improve their work quality.
"Appraisers must be creative, constantly improving their quality based on international standards and keeping abreast of international developments because it is quite possible for appraisers from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand, for example, to come to Indonesia to offer their services," Bambang, who is also a former dean of the economic faculty of the University of Indonesia, said.
In the meantime, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said Indonesia must do its best to catch up on development in the face of the implementation of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
"We have no other option except to work hard and catch up on development and overcoming shortcomings," President Jokowi said when addressing the opening of the First National Working Meeting of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) for the 2016-2020 period on January 10.
He said all member countries shared the same worries when it comes to the post-AEC scenario.
"They are afraid of being flooded by Indonesian goods. There are fears among us (ASEAN members). If they are afraid, so why should we also be afraid?. We should be confident, although we have to improve many things. But, (actually) we can compete," the President said.
Jokowi said Indonesia had made several efforts to catch up on the development front, and it is in that context that it has been working to develop infrastructure, namely seaports and airports.
He said in 2016, the government plans to pay attention to the development of the Indonesian eastern region.
With a budget much larger than the previous year's figure, the government hoped to undertake development in a balanced fashion across the country, he said.
"We want to have sovereignty, (economic) independence and (cultural) dignity, and for that, if I consider something is right, and indeed it is right, I will never have any doubt about whether to carry it out," he said.
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