Should Our Way Falter When We See Our Social-Economy Society?

[caption caption="Google"][/caption]In such a consumer society as we live in today, people are forced to be dissatisfied with what they have in order to make economy grow. People find their happiness by accumulating resources and measure their self-image by the assets they have. Self-image for some people is the most important. For creating self-image, whatever it takes,  they will pay the price (even pay it with credit, not cash). So, the society tends to justify environmental damage and social degradation, provided that more resources can be consumed. Economic growth like this is simply unsustainable.

          Well, in the literature (as i know what i learned in the University), the study of economic starts with a simple story. Think of a box (the economy) that produces all goods and services. And inside that box, there are multiple agents mobilizing the exchanges of goods and services. The point is to, then figure out a way to enlarge or expand this imaginary box by way of maximiliing utilities (happiness, in economic terms) for the greatest number of agents. This illustration seemingly straightforward about growth. Then i ask myself, has growth translate to a betterment in our living conditions?

          In this article i will explain a lot and mix between social and economy. This article is different from my two previous article “Where are we heading? Will the economy recover in 2016?” and “Pengaruh Ekonomi AS dan China Terhadap Fluktuasi Nilai Rupiah”, you can read it in this web (kompasiana). Because in my two previous article, i explain a lot only about economy.

1. JAKARTA

[caption caption="Near my office"]

[/caption]

Now, i live in Jakarta and work in here. So, here we go. Jakarta as the epicenter for business and politics by which the flow of resources is perpetually flowing in and out of the country, the city has among the poorest infrastructure and mass public transportation facilities. So sorry to say this. The high grow rate is, instead, epitomized by the city’s worsening traffic congestion, new shopping malls, and increasing amounts of environmentally unfriendly industrial waste. There’s also a growing problem in creating more public spaces. For example, everyday i walk to my office, and what i hate is there’s no spaces for pedestrian. So, i walk at the street and shares spaces with motorcycles and cars. 

What i hope is someday there would be specific dedicated zones for cars and motorbikes. But where short distance travel trips were most frequent, accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists would be prioritized, while roadways must be designed to make driving uncomfortable. A spatial approach is badly needed to design convenient pedestrian zones and plazas, protected sidewalks and bike lanes, accessibility for people with dissabilities or parents with strollers, bike-sharing facilities, as well as more green and blue infrastructure that motivates and facilitates people to walk instead of driving. Then, the bad thing that i’ve seen so far is that there are just few public spaces in Jakarta . So, i always see in weekend that the Jakartans always confused how to refresh their mind, so they don’t have options. So, they always go to the malls and waste their money in there.

          Then, let’s discuss about the traffic. Fighting against Jakarta’s traffic during peak hours burns us out and burns our money –for nothing. At some point, driving a car starts to be symbol of immobility rather than mobility. There have been different approaches introduced to deal with Jakarta’s widespread urban congestion, namely the TransJakarta busway, mass rapid transit (MRT) and monorail systems, electronic road pricing (ERP), the elimination of fuel subsidies or the increase of commercial parking rates.

          Well, now motorcycles and cars have become  a common standard of comfort for all social classes, despite the many hours of traffic jams. Applying legal economic instruments to cope with congested commercial zones, such as a three-in-one vehicle restriction or the ERP scheme, will not be fully effective due to the lack of reliable public transport system and car pool facilities.

          The ERP i knew when the first time i came here. My brother and my sister-in-law introduced me in some zone that is ERP (Electronic Road Pricing). Implementation of ERP as a replacement for the 20-year-old traffic restriction policy popularly known as three-in-one is actually the concept of the internaliation of transport externalities, where every road user that contributes congestion must pay amount of money that is used to subsidize public transport riders.

          As we know that last month (February), Jakarta always got heavy rainfall. For me, based on what happened in last month, in addition to the traffic congestion, floods should be the other major reason for the government to seriously consider the idea of moving the nation’s capital to a new location. The unbearable agony of Jakarta’s floods makes the idea very realistic. Jakarta is so densely populated and dirty that it no longer can cope as the nation’s capital. With Jakarta being the crowded center of government, commerce and education, the central government and the House of Representatives must seek the best way to avoid flooding and traffic congestion in the city.

          The problems of Jakarta can’t be solved in a conventional manner. As the capital of the country, Jakarta is supposed to have minimal problems considering its position as the center of government and business. Unintegrated infrastructure and poor spatial planning have turned Jakarta into a very-energy-wasteful-city. Such a city can certainly not be the center of government.

          By the way, as i know that some countries have been successful in their attempts to move their old capitals to new places, like Istanbul to Ankara in Turkey, Bonn to Berlin in Germany, Melbourne to Canberra in Australia, Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia in Brazil, or Karachi to Islamabad  in Pakistan. Success in capital relocation can happen both in developed and developing countries.So, i hope this could be happen in Indonesia someday for a better Jakarta.

2. Outsourcing

          Outsourcing is one of the biggest problem in this country that i might say that this is one of the biggest trouble in this Country. Why? Because i still find that the people who’s from outsource that didn’t get paid for the last 2 months. What the fuck? People who’s from outsource are always get paid under UMR.

          In the economic term, outsource is defined as the possibility of using external resources to conduct product or process that used to be produced by internal stakeholders. So, let’s say that company A needs a worker. So, they pay to the company B (as the company which provide outsource). Company A pay the company B higher than UMR or maybe at least the same as UMR. So, i ask you who read this , how much money or percentage that the outsource people get a month? The same as UMR? Big NO! Higher than UMR? Keep dreaming kiddo! Hell NO! They get paid lower than UMR. Maybe just 60% from the payroll (Company A to B).

 So, why this is happened? The company B argue that they had spend a lot of money to train them, so that’s why the 40% as their income. Well, the 40% as their income cause they spend money money to train the people at least just-let’s-say-one-or-two-weeks. So, can you imagine how much money they get for years? There’s 2:3. The outsource people get  2 months salary is the same what the outsource company get in 3 months. They get it from each people that under their company! The money? It’s fucking blowfish! Fucking asshole!

          The negative impacts of outsourcing on Indonesian workers have been widely debated in the last decade. It’s an important issue because it’s related to the wealth and future of the workers, which was clearly the message of the latest mass rally against outsourcing staged in a number of industrial regions accross the country.

          As a system on industrial relations,outsourcing is widely used by many companies in the world, including Indonesia. It began in 1776, when Adam Smith, the pioneer of political economy, argued that firm would operate more efficiently if some unit businesses were distributed to other companies that were specialized in handling production process.

          In Indonesia, outsourcing adversely affects employees and labor unions, rather than employers. Some consequences of outsourcing in the country include lower wages and unfavorable conditions workplace. Casual or contract workers resulting from outsourcing are the-worst-off beneficiaries of the practice. They have no right to social insurance, pension schemes or gradual increases in wages that correlates with the length of service. Outsourcing can cause disputes as well, due to different treatment in terms of salary and benefits between casual workers and permanent workers.

          Workers employed under the outsourcing and contract system have long faced uncertainty and can’t support their families or send their children to school as they are underpaid or paid according to the minimum wage level and endure financial difficulties when two-year     contract is not extended. Workers and families facing such a difficult situation have never enjoyed social welfare as expected by government through the new renumeration policy.

          So many workers (mostly unskilled, included “fresh graduate”) will be exploited by employers in Indonesia. Some employers will push some wages very low and inhumane levels. A lack of bargaining power gives often immobile, uneducated and ignorant workers little choice but to accept wage offers. This is some core labor problems, the government shouldn’t ignore this.

          This is one of the proble in this country that never been solved. Our way should falter when this problem always we face day by day. And i hope someday in Indonesia there’s no outsource people again. And for the company which provide outsource people and didn’t pay the people under them (work in another corp), the owner should be in jail. How dare they’re taking money from the poor people???

3. Jobless growth

          As what i read in newspaper that there are so many company nowadays fired their workers maybe hundred or thousand due to the economic slowdown. So, they have to do it. There’s some reason that push me to write this. There are some questions in my head. Are those companies who fired thousad workers, really don’t have money to pay the salary of their workers? Are they in debt? Do they face a tight liquidities? If they get profit, why they fired their workers? Because they pay too much to the Board Of Directors? Or What?

          Given the reported trends of the shifting of most foreign and domestic investment from labor to more capital intensive sectors, Jokowi-JK should be particularly aware of higher unemployment and underemployment. The situation is similar at the global level, confirming a “jobless growth” phenomenon where the creation of jobs can’t catch up with the growing labor force, particularly among the youth.

          Business people argue that Indonesian worker productivity has not been higher compared to workers from neighboring countries, in fact with less income. Wider income inequality the government has to develop a policy to address inequality and vulnerability among the regions, to prevent workers “race to the bottom”, by establishing a minimum safety net for all citizens to access minimum protection for health, income and pension. The agenda should also provide incentives for business to grow, by reallocating a mis-targeted fuel subsidy.

          Jobless growth happen in America and Indonesia and some countries. In America as i read the news about Bank Of America (if i’m not wrong) as one of the biggest bank in America. They fired their people too due to economic slowdown. There are so many people suffered due to the termination. And in Indonesia, we see what happen with Panas**ic and the other companies who have the same way to their people.

          Well, i don’t have a word to say this. But i’m waiting for the income statement of the companies who fired their workers. Why and then what? I want to make sure about what happen. But what i see is the companies tend to fire their workers bercause they pay too much to their Board Of Directors (BOD) like what SOE’s (Merpa*i) did! I wait till the external auditor release their income statement in BEI (Bursa Efek Indonesia). I’m curious about this.

In the end,  are you sure to say “we are ok” when it’s not? Are you sure to say that our economic is stable when we day by day will be near  in 98? When we see this kind of problem that have a never ending solution, should our way falter?