President: govt-facilities, collusion-based businesses no longer popular

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the era where businesses thrived on governmental facilities and collusive dealings was now over.

"The era of government-facilities-oriented and collusion-based business has passed," he said when opening the seventh national conference of the Indonesian Woman Entrepreneurs Association (Iwapi) here on Wednesday.

In fact, government-facilities-and collusion-based businesses would never help development of sound business and only cause crisis, he said.

Attending the function in the company of Madame Ani Yudhoyono, the president said business entities in Indonesia in the globalization era should stick to transparency and accountability through the application of sound business principles.

The head of state commended some business players who had realised that business activities can also be developed by entrepreneurs who were not on the list of those close to the power elite.

The government, he added, had opened more opportunities for all business entities who had equal rights in the business world.

On the occasion, the president also hoped that Indonesian women could be further empowered optimally in business activity.

It was for this purpose, Yudhoyono said that Iwapi should build good partnerships with the central and regional governments in addition to asking the women to take a real step in saving the environment.