Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Coordination among cabinet ministers during the first 100 days of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono`s administration has not been very good and, as a consequence, the people have yet to enjoy the benefits of the government programs, a business community spokesman said.

"An obvious case in point is the divergent views certain cabinet ministers have expressed about the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA)," chairman of the Indonesian Businessmen`s Association (Apindo) Sofyan Wanandi said here Monday.

He said there seemed to be no common stance between the Industry Ministry and the Trade Ministry on renegotiating ACFTA. "So the two ministries still need to coordinate with each other and adopt a common stance. Internal coordination in the government needs to be improved," he said.

Sofyan also urged the government to expedite the settlement of the Bank Century case so that it could focus on its program to improve the business climate and not lose the momentum in the world economic recovery.

According to Sofyan, the investment Indonesia had been attracting over the past 10 years was mainly for capital-intensive projects such as in mining, plantations, services and property whereas capital sunk in the labor-intensive sectors had even been fleeing the country.

Therefore, Sofyan said, the government should soon implement its infrastructure improvement program and continue its policy reform efforts so that the country could compete with Vietnam and Cambodia which investors were now beginning to eye.

"If the Law No13 on Manpower can be revised, I predict the investment inflow can increase by 100 percent to 250 percent," he said. What business is feeling as a heavy burden is the clause in the law on severance pay (up to 32 times workers` monthly salaries)," he said.

Other problems businessmen considered as great constraints concerned spatial appropriation maps and inadequate infrastructure facilities.

Businessmen were also complaining about unfair treatment by the authorities whereby the market was dominated by illegal imports. "At ports, smuggled goods are released more quickly than legal imports," Sofyan said. (*)

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono

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