The Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (MenKopUKM) Teten Masduki regretted the practice of buying and selling imported used goods. This practice is often referred to as thrifting, in which there is an activity of buying and selling used imported goods with the aim of re-using them. Teten said thrifting was not in line with the Proud Made in Indonesia National Movement. "In the midst of our movement to love, buy, consume domestic products, there is smuggling of used goods, including textile products and the like," said Teten at the KemenKopUKM office, Monday (13/3/2023).

"This is illegal. In my opinion, it is very inconsistent with the Proud Made in Indonesia movement," he continued.

Teten said, these imported used goods can also erode jobs. Not only that, there are also health impacts that can also occur to consumers.

"Job opportunities will be reduced by the import of these used goods. There will also be health impacts," he said.

The former Chief of Staff of the President has not been able to explain in more detail regarding the number of jobs affected if the thrifting business continues. However, he gave an illustration that the textile industry is a labor-intensive industry.

"We haven't got the statistics yet, but as an illustration, the textile industry is a labor-intensive industry. So of course the impact is likely to be very large on the workforce," said Teten.

For information, quoted from Kompas.com, the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (Kemenkop UKM) is said to have proposed a ban on thrifting because it is considered to be damaging to local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Thrifting is the activity of buying or selling imported used goods with the aim of re-using them.

The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs emphasized that according to regulations, the practice of thrifting or buying and selling used clothes from abroad has actually been prohibited.a