A lack of public awareness about the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) would hamper the successful implementation of national policies that the government has set in order to achieve the AEC goals, a survey has shown.

A survey conducted by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) ASEAN team has revealed that there is low awareness of the AEC among Indonesian people, although there are only 30 days left before the AEC takes effect on Jan. 1.

LIPI head Iskandar Zulkarnain said the establishment of the AEC marked the transformation of ASEAN from a state-policy oriented regional block to a people-oriented community, which aimed to improve the welfare of people in the region.

'€œThe existence of the AEC can give both opportunities and challenges to Indonesia, especially in terms of the competitiveness and resilience of the country'€™s economic sector,'€ Zulkarnain said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He added that the Indonesian government had issued three Presidential Instructions (Inpres) as anticipatory measures to improve national competitiveness. However, he said, the implementation of the regulations and their introduction to the public had not been optimal.

"The results of the survey that LIPI conducted in May, which involved both consumers and producers, indicated a disparity of awareness of the AEC among our society. All this time, the introduction of AEC programs has been directed only at stakeholders, especially in the business sector," Zulkarnain said.

Raising public awareness was one measure that needed to be implemented if Indonesia wanted to improve its national and regional competitiveness in ASEAN, he added.

LIPI senior researcher Tri Nuke Pudjiastuti said that based on the survey, the level of public understanding toward the AEC was only 25.90 percent, while the awareness level among business players and traders stood at 27.80 percent.

Nuke further explained that as a free market and production base, ASEAN was a huge market with a population of 650 million people. For consumer society, the AEC would certainly bring advantages, including lower prices and better quality goods and services.

"About 43.7 percent of respondents are certain that the AEC will bring economic benefits to consumers," she said.

Nuke said the mobility of the workforce after the official implementation of the AEC was predicted to provide structural changes. Local labor markets needed to maintain competitiveness and be prepared for the presence of an ASEAN labor market, she said.

"The consequences of the AEC have not been realized and these have affected the level of preparedness of our society. Around 82.6 percent of our respondents do not know about the mobility of labor under the AEC,'€ she said.

The researchers further said some indicators showed that the AEC would threaten production activities in the domestic industry. A flood of foreign products and weaker export capabilities of local entrepreneurs were predicted to emerge in the near future.

"If some of these issues are not managed properly, Indonesia will only become a consumer base for other ASEAN countries," said Nuke. (ebf)(+)

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