PRESIDENT ASKS FIRMS NOT TO LAY OFF WORKERS

Jakarta, March 10 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed his hope that businessmen would try to prevent layoffs and be ready to receive reduced incomes in the current global financial crisis.
"The commitment of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI) to help prevent layoffs is good. If employers feel they could not prevent layoffs, please come to the relevant minister first to seek for a solution," the president said when opening a meeting of HIPMI here on Tuesday.
Earlier, HIPMI Chairman Erwin Aksa said that his association was ready to help the government in overcoming employment problems by trying to prevent layoffs.
The president said that in the current economic condition it was very urgent to extend mutual help, among others, by employers' readiness to receive reduced profit so that workers would maintain their jobs.
"If the government's revenues are declining, of course it would be natural if the profit of employers is also declining. We hope that all this would later be compensated once the crisis is over," the president said.
According to the president, in the face of the financial crisis close cooperation is needed among the government, the private sector and the banks so that the impact of the crisis could be offset.
"Synergy is badly needed in facing economic problems. Self-reliance is also an important agenda that needs to continuously be nurtured by taking a lesson from the crisis, and seeking new opportunities and new economic architecture for Indonesia," he said.
He said that the new national strategic economic design needed to be focused on the strengthening of domestic economy, including increasing the absorption capacity of the domestic market.
"This is needed so that we are not dependent on exports and would not fall when a global economic economic recession is taking place,' the president said.
Erwin Aksa in his address said meanwhile that HIPMI intended to help the government in overcoming financial crisis and in the implementation of the up-coming general elections.
He said that the country's self-reliance needed to be built in order to be free from global economic crisis. For this purposes, Indonesia needed to develop the foundation of the real sector, not that of the financial sector. ***1***