Jakarta sees future for creative industries By John Aglionby Published: October 25 2007 01:43 | Last updated: October 25 2007 01:43
Indonesia wants to more than double the creative industries' contribution to the national economy in the next few years through aggressive development of the country's rich, but largely untapped, artistic traditions and cultural heritage. Mari Pangestu, the trade minister, says the creative industries contribute about 4.75 per cent of Indonesia's $400bn (£195m) gross domestic product. "I think we should be able to get it up to 10 per cent," she said. "It will take five to eight years. But we think Indonesia can have a niche [in creative industries] because of the very rich artistic capability of Indonesia and the very rich cultural heritage, as well as very high skills." The move is seen as an important plank in a wider, long-term strategy to diversify Indonesia's economy away from the resource- based industries and labour-intensive manufacturing on which it now relies. Officials trumpet the recent arrival of Royal Doulton, the British tableware and collectables manufacturer, as a sign of how overseas companies can tap into Indonesian creativity. It has a large factory near Jakarta and recently transferred 1,400 jobs to it from Britain, opening a design studio nearby. Narinder Arora, the head of Royal Doulton in Indonesia, said the local population's creativity was something of a hidden talent. "They're very poor at marketing," he said, "and they're very shy people, but what we've discovered with our products is that the quality and the creativity is as good as their British counterparts." Longstanding uncertainty over intellectual property rights, endemic corruption and burdensome labour laws have long been regarded as brakes on investment in Indonesia. South-east Asia's largest economy languished in 123rd place out of 178 countries in terms of the ease of doing business in a recent World Bank ranking. Mrs Pangestu said the drive to push investment in the creative industries would require a shake-up of government policies regarding intellectual property rights and education. But there are still those who see enormous potential in Indonesia's initiative. Yudhi Soerijoatmodjo, the head of a team at the British Council helping to develop Indonesia's cultural industries, said the country had spent the past three decades focusing on securing investment in labour-intensive, low-end manufacturing rather than on product design and branding. But when it had ventured into creative industries it had found success. Mr Yudhi said a good example was the music and related mobile phone ringtone industry. "Eighty per cent of music sales in Indonesia are now from local artists," he said. "And bands have found they can make masses of money from just one song by making it into a mobile phone ring tone." Samson, a local rock band, made $1.8m from downloads last year. The internet is also providing hitherto undreamt-of opportunities for creative Indonesians, according to Chris Kie, an Indonesian who draws the American GI Joe comic stories and designs matching action figures. "Artists can put their work on sites ... and get noticed in a way that they couldn't before because not many Indonesians can go abroad and showcase their talents," he said. The biggest impediment to success is seen as the government's ability to abide by its promises of reform. "The lack of co-ordination between government ministries is the big problem," Mr Yudhi said. "If everybody can work in a co-ordinated way the challenges can be overcome because there's a lot of buzz in the local media and society." Andrie Trisaksono, who started designing automated teller machines on a scrap of paper four years ago and turned a $4,000 loan into a multi-million-dollar company, said the government needed to address "economic creativity" issues. "If they can make it easier to do business here and attract investment then our creative industries could be extraordinary," he said. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/53199d60-8285-11dc-a5ae-0000779fd2ac.html? nclick_check=1 Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
