INDONESIAN INVESTMENT UNIT DISAPPOINTED WITH RIM CHOOSING MALAYSIA FOR ITS BLACKBERRY FACTORY

JAKARTA, Sept 7 (Bernama) -- The decision of Research In Motion (RIM),

producer of the Blackberry smart mobile phone, to set up its Blackberry

manufacturing factory in Malaysia for its Asian market, has hit a sore point

with an Indonesian investment body.

The Capital Investment-Coordinating Board (BKPM) of Indonesia has expressed

its opinion that the republic was a more suitable location for the cell

production factory as it was among the largest markets for Blackberry.

BKPM also suggested that the Indonesian government take a stand on the

matter, including removing incentives for RIM and imposing a tax tariff.

Its Chief, Gita Wirjawan, said that next year, the sales of Blackberry in

Indonesia was expected to reach four million units with a value of US$300 per

unit, compared with the annual sales of 400,000 units in Malaysia.

"Why build a factory in Malaysia? They are obviously developing it there to

sell it in Indonesia, right," he said, urging his government to take

appropriate moves whether in the form of tariff or non tariff measures to

encourage RIM to develop its production capacity in Indonesia.

Gita, who was quoted as saying this by the newsportal, detik.com, on

Wednesday, explained that his unit had also proposed that Bosch from Germany be

also denied its incentives for building its solar panel plant in Malaysia for

the Indonesian market.

He said such measures were necessary considering that the companies had

large markets in Indonesia but refused to build their factories in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Deputy President of Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (Kadin),

Industrialisation, Research and Technology, Bambang Sujagad described the

suggestion by the investment unit to attract investments from multinational

companies into the country, with the threat of tax disincentives, as too late.

Instead the government should have taken measures to look into the

investment potential of RIM even before it had made the decision, he said.

"We are not all that aware that technology investments should be (attracted)

not only with tax holiday incentives but incentives like free land. It is the

duty of BKPM to get information on what it can do," he said.

Bambang also criticised the suggestion of tax disincentives such as imposing

the luxury goods tax on Blackberry, saying that such a move would not benefit

the people.

The Blackberry has already gained entry into the category of essential goods

for the society and is no longer a luxury item, he added.--BERNAMA

AFY SD