AEC: ASEAN ECONOMIC COMPETITION

*Tulisan ini telah dimuat di Buletin Hayamwuruk Edisi I, Desember 2014 dalam Rubrik English Corner

December 2014 is almost over and we will face 2015. Perhaps, there are no many people remember what we will actually face after celebrating the New Year 2015. They may not remember or maybe they do not realize that there will be something quiet important happens in 2015. It is AEC, ASEAN Economic Community. AEC is a huge program of ASEAN which have been already prepared for the past eleven years since the 9^th meeting of KTT ASEAN in Bali. AEC, which implementation is officially based on ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint, will promise the openness of job vacancy in all country grouped in ASEAN. As mentioned in ASEAN official website, AEC has four characteristics that are a single market and production base; a highly competitive economic region; a region of equitable economic development; and a region fully integrated into the global economy. Then, a question arises of knowing the AEC; is AEC good news or bad news for Indonesia?

In one side, ASEAN Economic Community may be a good news for Indonesia. It is because AEC promises the openness of job vacancy, development of business, and entrepreneurship expanding. It will provide a lot of opportunity to get a job not only in Indonesia but also in foreign countries. It also sounds very interesting opportunity for college graduate student because it will not be too hard to get a job in others countries. AEC will be a facility to make a free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour, and free flow of capital for all countries grouped in ASEAN. Interpreting those purpose and beneficial effects of AEC will make Indonesian people be happy about the easiness in developing their business. Of course, AEC will also minimize the possibility that Indonesia will experience an economic crisis like in 1998.

If we look at AEC by a far-arranging point of view, we will find that AEC is a very beneficial program for Indonesia. Though, if we deeply look at the AEC Blueprint, we will find something to be worried about. It is the second point of the Blueprint characteristic; a highly competitive economic region. A highly competitive economic region clearly means that we must compete others countries in joining AEC. However, there are many things which have to be considered in order to face and compete others countries in AEC, such as our readiness and our preparation. Do we ready for AEC? Is our preparation good enough for AEC? AEC may be officially held in the end of 2015, but are twelve months is an enough time for us in preparing the AEC? Those questions can only be answered by us at the part of country which joins the AEC.

AEC does not only mean the openness of job vacancy, development of business, and entrepreneurship expanding, but it means that we need to compete in order to achieve it. AEC will not only be facilities for the economic community of ASEAN but it also will be an economic competition between one to others countries in ASEAN. All people must know that in joining a competition we need to have a lot of abilities. If we, as the Indonesian people, do not have enough abilities to face AEC, AEC will only give a very big loss for us which means a very bad news for Indonesia.

For example, the openness of job vacancy does not only make a possibility for us to get a job in another country, but it also make a possibility for foreigner to get a job in our country. If we do not have more abilities and special skill, we will not able to compete in AEC. There was a true story that an undergraduate man from India came to Indonesia and he joined in a TOEFL test. His reason is he wanted to get a TOEFL certificate for applying a job vacancy to be a TAXI driver in Indonesia.

According to the story above we can imagine that AEC will be a hard economic competition for Indonesia. The story may make undergraduate people in Indonesia imagine such a horrible thing. Indonesia has a fantastic number of unemployment, so what if the existence of AEC program will only increase the amount of unemployment?

AEC can also be a very dangerous program for Indonesia because of the Indonesian habits. Indonesian people are very consumptive people and they also prefer to choose and use foreign goods. However, if the habits cannot be controlled, AEC will be only beneficial for foreign country because there will be a lot of foreign products are sold in Indonesia. That situation will stub out the local products of Indonesia for sure.

Actually, ASEAN Economic Community is a good chance for Indonesia to expand Indonesia’s business, to show about Indonesia’s wealth and culture, and to open up employment opportunities as many as possible. Though, those purposes will be able to be achieved if Indonesia has a power to compete in AEC program. The preparation in this last twelve months will be a very important time for us. So, as the college student of humanities who will also take a part in this competition, what have you prepared guys?