The Nunukan government must accommodate cross-border enterprises on the Indonesian-Malaysian border as their role is essential for maintaining commodity availability in the border region, the Nunukan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has said.

“Cross-border enterprises are essential for maintaining commodity supply and price stability in Nunukan,” Nunukan Kadin chairperson Irsan Humokor observed on Friday.

The regional authority must address cross-border enterprises’ concern over the lack of proper coordination and control from the authority, despite the enterprises’ importance in maintaining commodity price and supply in Nunukan, Humokor said.

Local cross-border enterprises depend on imports from Malaysia to fulfill local commodity demand, as relying on domestic sources alone would not allow them to meet the demand, he noted.

The regional government could establish an agency or a platform to accommodate the enterprises’ activities, the regional Kadin head suggested.

“Nunukan district or the North Kalimantan authority must coordinate with cross-border enterprises, and they could establish an agency to perform the task,” Humokor said.

The regional authority and local enterprises could then collaborate to ensure commodity price and supply stability in Nunukan or conceive commodity import plans from Malaysia through the established agency, he added.

Despite admitting that cross-border enterprises lack a legal basis to operate, the Kadin head reminded the authority that the situation in the border regions, such as in Nunukan district, is different from other regions in Indonesia that have closer access to major commodity centers.

“If we do not import commodities from Malaysia, Nunukan residents would live under commodity scarcity, as supplies from Makassar and Surabaya are always limited,” Humokor said.

Source: Antara News