REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has said that the mass production of the local-made Esemka car is the business of a private industry. He asserted that the government has no business in it.

"What is my business in the production of Esemka?" he said after attending the opening of the 33rd Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition in Tangerang, west of Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Jokowi stated that when he was mayor of Surakarta, he had encouraged the production of the car. It was created by students of a state-run vocational high school (SMK) with the help of technicians from a large company.

The government then wanted the Esemka cars to undergo an emission test and road-worthiness test. "That is the only task of the government. After it was finished, it was handed over to the industry. Whether or not it will be produced (en masse) is no longer our business," he explained.

He added that if Esemka cars' production was to be inaugurated, he would attend the inauguration because the car was the work of the sons of Indonesia.

The plant which produces the Esemka car has secured a registration card and certificate of type test from the Transportation Ministry.

The plant, which was set up at Sambi village in Central Java's Boyolali District, has produced cars of pickup type.

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