President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo asserted that Indonesia still adopted an open economy albeit, in recent days, he has often called on people to love Indonesian products and hate foreign products. “I call on the public to love and be proud of Indonesian products and dislike products from abroad. Once again I emphasize that we adhere to economic openness, we do not shut anything,” said the President at the Association of Young Indonesian Businesspeople (Hipmi) working meeting on Friday, March 5, 2021.
Widodo said that Indonesia was not into protectionism as it was detrimental to the nation. “But we also should not be victims of unfair practices of global trade. We don’t want that,” he added. That said, he underlined that Indonesia could tap into its domestic market potential with its total population of 270 million people in order to boost the national economy.
On that occasion, he again appealed to the public to appreciate Indonesian products and despise foreign products. He opined it was permissible. “We can say that we don’t like foreign products. Why we cannot say we don’t like them. We are allowed to hate foreign products, aren’t we?” said Jokowi.
