Indonesia is expected to maintain its policy of blocking the entry of the Chinese e-commerce platform Temu into the country to protect its small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
According to foreign media including the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 9th (local time), the Indonesian government has upheld this policy since Temu applied to enter the local market in 2022.
Budi Arie Setiadi, Minister of Communication and Information Technology of Indonesia, recently stated in a broadcast, "Temu cannot enter Indonesia because it could harm Indonesian small and micro businesses," adding, "We will not allow such a possibility." He expressed concerns about the country's online space, saying it should be filled with elements that "make society more productive and profitable," warning that "if left unchecked, our small and micro businesses will be destroyed."
According to Piki Satari, an aide to the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperatives, Temu has attempted to register three times since September 2022 to enter the Indonesian market. Piki explained that Temu's recent registration was rejected because an Indonesian company already uses the same trademark.
Earlier in June, Teten Masduki, Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperatives, mentioned that Temu poses a greater threat than TikTok Shop, the shopping service of TikTok, a video platform owned by China's ByteDance. TikTok Shop entered the Indonesian market in 2021 and grew rapidly, but the Indonesian government effectively halted its operations last year by prohibiting sales of goods through social media to protect the domestic e-commerce industry.
Meanwhile, Temu has recently expanded its business into the Southeast Asian market, entering the Philippines and Malaysia in August and September last year, respectively, and starting operations in Thailand in July.
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