World Economy Will Never Be Fair

There will always be injustice in the world economy now and in the future. There is no respect from people of wealthier countries. Those people that only think about money and more money will do anything to get more and more profit. When those people die, they will not bring their money with them in the grave. No money can help them in the grave and before God. Those kinds of people do not understand the “good” way to earn money.

I am becoming a bit mad, despite Ramadhan, because I just heard a sad story of a Balinese artist. She was forced to sell her special piece of artwork to a European. That European is then applying a patent for that piece of artwork in his home country (I do not know how he can get that patent for something that is clearly not local– patent office in his country must be very passive or ignorant). When that Balinese artist tried to sell the similar product to Europe, she suddenly has to deal with WTO because she was accused for stealing the design of her own original design. The system has beaten creativity. Economic reason (mainly profit) has killed someone’s creativity. What a fair world. Wait a fair economy. Theft is protected by law and sadly it happens in modern country (wealthier country). WTO cannot ensure fair trade. WTO only protects the rich ones because the poor is always guilty.

Globalization has many faces. Some are good and some are bad. It really depends on the man behind it. Economic oriented globalization created environmental damages, loss of jobs, product dependency, economic conspiracy, violation of human rights and injustice. Globalization cannot be stopped. Internet is the proof. Using the internet, people from around the world can connect. Internet is global.

One says: globalization is lucrative and also deadly competitive. Therefore, facing globalization the government has to be strong and smart. Protection is still needed for some important industry (e.g. agriculture). Indonesia is seen as a big market and also important source of “creative” products. Chinese products have flooded Indonesia and kill some established industries (e.g. textile). This is wrong. Government should do something about it. Creative products (indigenous creativity) of Indonesia is often stolen. Government should do something about this. Protecting the people is government’s duty.

People themselves also have to be loyal to local products. Middle class of Indonesia is the “destructive” class. They consume imported goods and use more than most of Indonesians. National economy is becoming imbalance because of that. There is no surplus for Indonesia because of that many imports. A national movement, with strong and real example from the top (president and all) to use local products might able to make change. Indonesia must learn from South Korea. Their pride to use their own products and their patriotism are some of many good examples. Different culture is not a barrier as long as there is real example from the leaders the people will follow.

Let’s use our national products and producers must also improve the quality of the products. Be prepare for globalization.

This is my 50th.