The Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki admitted that he had asked and agreed with market places, such as Shopee and Lazada, to close access (seller crossborder) for 13 products from abroad since 2021. This was aimed at protecting the domestic textile industry. The 13 products are hijab, Muslim women's tops, Muslim women's bottoms, Muslim dresses, Muslim men's tops, men's Muslim bottoms, Muslim outerwear, mukenas, Muslim children's clothing, Muslim accessories, prayer equipment, batik and kebaya.
"The reason is that the 13 product items have been produced by many Indonesian women in a number of regions," said Teten in a statement, Monday, March 20, 2023.
To encourage the textile and textile product (TPT) business, Teten admitted that the government had also presented many programs. One of them is the Proud Made in Indonesia National Movement which has been carried out since 2021.
According to Teten, the Proud Made in Indonesia National Movement program has been carried out in each province in turn. The main thing in the program is to display textile products, fashion and other creative industry products.
On the other hand, Teten said, the government is also presenting an affirmative policy, namely that 40 percent of the allocation for goods and services for ministries or institutions must come from MSEs and Cooperatives. This includes clothing and footwear as well as BUMN spending through the BUMN Digital Market (PaDi) with a transaction value of IDR 22 trillion in 2022.
"We want to make MSME players the hosts in their own country. We want every citizen to be proud to buy and use MSME products," he said.
Teten also followed the example of South Korea with the Korean Wave branding. According to him, this strategy has succeeded in influencing the behavior of almost all Asian regions, especially Korean clothing brands and their K-Pop culture.
The government has also banned the trade of imported used clothing or thrifting which is currently rife. Teten said it would be a shame if the Indonesian people chose to import used clothes instead of using local MSME fashion brands that had started to develop. Among them are Hammer, Eiger, Danjyo Hiyoji, As Far as the Eye Can See, Cotton Ink, Monday to Sunday, Monstore, Nikicio, Toton, Et cetera, Major Minor, and Rêves Studio.
"Illegal imports of used clothing can destroy the national clothing and footwear industry. If this happens, many MSMEs will go out of business and many people will lose their jobs," said Teten.
