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Indonesian President Joko Widodo was cautioned on Indonesia's joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership economic regime with critics saying Indonesia is not ready to cope with the consequences.
Widodo's stance was conveyed during his meeting with the United States President Barrack Obama during his official visit to the U. S. last week.
"Indonesia is a country with opened economy. With a population of 250 million people, we are the largest economy in Southeast Asia. We intend to join the TPP," Widodo said.
Commenting on the president's statement, Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said Indonesia's interest was only limited to its eagerness to further study the official documents related to the economic pact first.
"About the TPP, we expect to obtain the official documents of the TPP so that we can study it first. It should be the initial phase, we must study it first," Retno told reporters here on Monday.
She added that as of now, Indonesian government has yet to receive the documents. "We expect to receive the complete documents before we start to study it," she said.
In line with the foreign minister, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Darmin Nasution said on Monday that the government needs to weigh first the potential advantage or loss from joining the TPP.
Deep concern upon the president's eagerness to join the TPP was conveyed by then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in series of his official twitter.
Yudhoyono, who refused the offer to join the TPP when he was still in the presidential office hinted that essence of the TPP was trade, investment and liberalization.
"If we're not ready for it, our market will be flooded with goods and services from other countries. In the meantime, our exports will fail to be competitive abroad," Yudhoyono said in on his twitter.
He added that Indonesia has a different economy model with countries which already joined the TPP. He said Indonesia's economy model was domestic market-oriented, meanwhile, those joining the TPP were export-oriented countries.
Instead of joining the TPP, Yudhoyono said the government should wait to see the benefit Indonesia can garner from implementation of ASEAN Single Community (AEC) starting this year and ASEAN Free Trade Agreement with China that took into effect in 2010.
Besides that, Yudhoyono also warned over the geopolitical consequences from joining the TPP which was initiated by the U.S.
"Let us maintain a free and active foreign policy, an all-direction foreign policy. Avoid to ally with one country and set distance with other countries," Yudhoyono said.
He called on the people to help the president in taking appropriate and clear decision for the sake of people and the nation's interest.
The Trans Pacific Partnership was joined by the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Vietnam. Enditem
