Bandung. Some civil servants in West Java are welcoming a proposal barring foreign-brand shoes at work — even if the provincial governor floored others by proposing push-ups as a penalty for defying the rule.
The plan, set to take effect on July 1, was meant to encourage the use of locally made footwear at government offices, based on a 2009 presidential decree promoting domestic products.
“I am [not afraid of the] sanctions that come with the rule because I already use locally made shoes every day. I have three pairs,” said Nana Adnan, secretary of the province’s animal husbandry office.
“There are many upsides to the policy — helping entrepreneurs, encouraging purchases just right for civil servants’ pockets,” he said. “And quality-wise, they are not inferior to imported products.”
Ade Sukarsah, employed at the provincial headquarters in Bandung, also said he was in the habit of going to work in plain-toes from Cibaduyut — a shoe-producing subdistrict.
“I don’t have many [foreign-label] shoes, maybe only two pairs,” he said on Saturday, a day after the proposal was announced.
“But if it’s for work, I only wear shoes made in the country,” the officer added.
West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan had said on Friday that routine shoe checks would be conducted at government offices once the plan was implemented to ensure that the thousands of provincial-level employees would abide by the new policy.
The newly launched campaign was dubbed “The Use of Shoes Made in Indonesia.”
But the exact punishment for violating the rule had yet to be worked out, he said.
“The penalty can take various forms, including push-ups,” Heryawan said. “What is important is that there will be sanctions.
“This way, we are asking all people, especially civil servants, to side with the people” who work in local shoe manufacturing, the governor had said.
He said it would be up to officers-in-charge to ensure that their employees were toeing the line, adding that checking shoe brands would be “easy.”
However, Heryawan said district- and municipality-level officers will not be required — but encouraged — to follow the rule.
Ali Rahman Sidik, a cobbler in Cibaduyut, said he supported the initiative, but lamented that the government could have helped the industry more by specifying shoemaking districts where civil servants could buy shoes.
“I expect revenues [for Cibaduyut producers] to rise by around 25 percent [with the new rule],” he said.
“But if our subdistrict had been specifically mentioned in the circular as a place to support, revenues could rise by up to 75 percent,” Ali added.
Cibaduyut has 460 shoemaking businesses which produce an average of 4 million pairs of shoes a year and employ around 3,500 workers.
The shoemaker also said he hoped the same policy would be implemented at schools in the province and nationwide because this could boost the domestic shoe industry further.
