Govt still irked by RIM decision

The government is still expressing its disappointment over the decision of BlackBerry smartphone producer Research in Motion (RIM) to choose Malaysia over Indonesia as the location for its new production base, kompas.com reported on Tuesday.

Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said that BlackBerry demand in Indonesia far exceeded that in Malaysia.

“We are disappointed over RIM’s decision, why would they build their base there [in Malaysia]? We actually have a bigger market,” Bayu said as quoted by kompas.com.

The number of cellular phone imports by Indonesia has increased in the first five months of the year, Bayu said.

He pointed out that cellular phones were one of the most influential products in terms of the rise of the country’s imports, and they had also contributed toward the non-oil and gas deficit in May.

The Trade Ministry recorded that the number of cellular phone imports increased by 22.2 percent from January to May. Bayu said that the government had been requesting that phone manufacturers build their production bases in the country to lower import numbers.

“We will push the manufacturers to build their factories here because the demand is huge,” he said. (fzm)