President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned Wednesday that attempts by domestic industries to play the nationalist card to seek protectionist policies would lead to lack of competitiveness in the domestic market.

Yudhoyono said local companies should be able to compete with an inflow of imported products and be able to win the hearts of local consumers by increasing competitiveness.

"Domestic products should be able to compete with imported ones in terms of quality and price. I am sure conditions will improve if we promote a campaign to 'love and buy domestic products'."

"But industries should not use nationalist arguments and preference for local products while being inefficient," he said.

Given the global economic slowdown, there is a growing tendency to prioritize local products despite them sometimes being more expensive or of lower standard, while government and businesses are intensifying campaigns to buy local products.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, has been struggling to cushion the impact of the global economic downturn by strengthening local consumption of local products, which can be a key driver to economic growth in present conditions.

"If domestic products can be competitive and innovative, no need to worry about recession because our industry will be able to meet demands from the local market. Our economy will be more robust," said Yudhoyono. – JP/Desy Nurhayati