Member countries need to be well-prepared ahead of the ASEAN Economic Community, which is the South East Asian economic integration.
Economics lecturer, Denni Puspa Purbasari, M.Sc., Ph.D, said that in the run-up to the AEC, Indonesia needs to elevate its standards in order not to be lagged behind.
During a national seminar for the young generation to face economic challenges in the AEC era, Denni mentioned Indonesia as a huge market with 24 millions of its population belong to the middle-class who have consumptive lifestyles.
"They may change their mobile phones every six months, make on-line purchasing through Facebook, Instagram, etc.; the market there is very huge, which is 1000 trillions", she said.
The government, therefore, needs to devise a long termed policy, not only distribute cash that has no specific purposes. Denni admitted rational policy tends to be unpopular whilst politicians tend to make the popular ones.
"So, it needs a long termed policy as this becomes a very significant point. Policy that is made has to take the next generation into account, not just for the short term,” she said.
Political and social sciences lecturer, Poppy Sulistyaning Winanti, M.Sc., said it was normal if both pessimism and optimism arise amidst the implementation of the AEC. What is important is that people should be well-informed on what’s happening.
"If we are becoming only the market, let’s get pessimistic. But when we aim at making ASEAN production and market basis, let’s incorporate all of those to make this region highly competitive,” she said.
The seminar is hosted by UGM Library in collaboration with Sampoerna Corner to welcome the AEC. A paper writing contest is also held, where participants from eight universities join: Universitas Gadjah Mada, Universitas Sriwijaya, Universitas Padjajaran, Sampoerna University, Universitas Diponegoro, Universitas Brawijaya, Universitas Negeri Jember,and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh November. Winners are Yasmine Permatasari (UNDIP) Mokhamad Faridl Robtitoh (ITS Surabaya), and Robie Tanziil (Universitas Sriwijaya).