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Investing in Indonesia

July 21, 2010 / 41:45

This episode discusses the Indonesian economy, foreign direct investment (FDI), and strategies for attracting international investors. Bita, a key guest, shares insights on Indonesia's economic stability, demographic advantages, and the importance of improving global awareness.

Bita emphasizes Indonesia's $650 billion economy, highlighting its political and macroeconomic stability. He notes the country's demographic dividend, with a young population that can drive future growth. Bita argues that Indonesia needs to change its global perception, moving away from negative stereotypes.

The conversation also touches on the potential impacts of global economic events, such as the European recession and China's currency appreciation, on Indonesia's investment landscape. Bita explains the importance of maintaining strong communication with existing and potential investors.

Bita outlines Indonesia's investment roadmap, focusing on infrastructure development and creating a knowledge-based economy. He discusses the government's commitment to education and the need for fiscal incentives to attract investment.

Finally, Bita shares examples of successful FDI projects in Indonesia, illustrating the country's potential for growth and the opportunities available for international investors.

TL;DR

Bita discusses Indonesia's economic potential, FDI strategies, and the importance of changing global perceptions about the country.

Episode

41:45
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[Music]
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Bita thank you so much for joining us
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today thank you happy to be here well I
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wonder if we could start by talking a
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little bit about the Indonesian economy
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uh you know when people think about
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global Investments Asia the countries
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that tend to come to mind are the giants
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like China and India and to some degree
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also Korea uh Vietnam and so forth when
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you think of the emerging markets in
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this kind of a global environment how do
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you position a country like Indonesia as
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a destination for international
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investors and how do you use that to
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drive your
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strategy that's that's an interesting
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question uh the the way to do it is is
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is to project Indonesia with
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positivities in
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realism uh we don't want to be swinging
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the pendulum uh too much uh you know
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from one to the other um I think we have
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suffered uh you know from not many
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people knowing about
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Indonesia uh not many people in the
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right
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places uh knowing about Indonesia so
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that's I think the most fundamental area
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that we've got to work on in terms of
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our having to elevate the level of
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awareness with respect to Indonesia that
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we're doing we're basically going out uh
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you know reaching out to different parts
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of the world uh you know to the US to
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Europe and many parts in Asia Pacific
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just to let everybody know that
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Indonesia is actually a $650 billion
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economy this year in
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2010 that it has 140 million people the
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third largest democracy a Muslim
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modernity the largest Muslim country in
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the world which I know a lot of people
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in Oklahoma don't know about uh that I
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think is being remedied as we grow now
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beyond that I
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think we would like to basically
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socialize and educate uh you know the
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internet ational Community with respect
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to you know some of the other
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positivities of Indonesia I think not
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many people also know uh you know the
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Fantastic demographic dividend uh or
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bonus that Indonesia entails I mean 60%
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of the population is you know 39 years
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old or younger 50% of the population is
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29 years old or younger that I think
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contrast with you know the situation and
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countries like Japan and China and as as
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you all know I mean we have a
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pretty competitive uh you know economic
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uh environment which I think uh is to be
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reckoned with uh let's not forget we've
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been able to
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show you know stability from a political
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standpoint macropolitical standpoint and
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also from a macroeconomic standpoint uh
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years ago 11 or 12 years ago I think
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you've if you had talked to me about
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Indonesia it would have been tough for
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us to actually be projecting Indonesia
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in a positive way uh you know in a
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realistic manner uh now I think we've
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got those two elements the macroeconomic
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stability and the macropolitical
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stability uh from an economic standpoint
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we've been able to show fiscal
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sustainability we've been able to show
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monetary stability for years you know
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the last five 6 years uh and there's no
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you know apparent uh
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inflationary pressure you know coming in
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uh in ways that we had seen you know a
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few years ago uh and our ability to
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balance our budget uh has been I think
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recognized by the International
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Community particularly the ratings
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agencies um and you know our ability to
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trim down our debt uh to to a mere 28%
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debt to GDP ratio I think that's
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commendable uh especially if you put
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that in the context of what some of the
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the other economies in the world are
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going through today so you've got I
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think the macroeconomic stability story
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uh to to tell right and then the
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political stability uh we've gone
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through you know a rather
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difficult
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democratization earlier on but I think
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we've been able to show to the rest of
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the world that we have democratized in a
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good way uh and you know there's no
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apparent centrifugal force now that
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could rip you know the country apart
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like you know many people thought uh 11
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or 12 years ago so you've you can take
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off those boxes on the politics and the
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the economy beyond that I think uh one
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needs to take into account Indonesia's
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ability to
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you know remedy its mistakes uh I think
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Indonesia needs to stop being known as a
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country of tsunamis
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earthquakes and floods and all the
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negativities that have been portrayed in
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many you know International you know
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media uh but I think the world needs to
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understand Indonesia in a different way
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it has been more misunderstood than it
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deserved uh and that's what we are
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trying to Remedy by going out to sit
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down with you know think tank
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organizations and people within the
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Academia uh and people within you know
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executive decision-making bodies uh and
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I would prefer to spend more time with
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people within the Academia then and also
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the think tank as opposed to speaking uh
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in front of you know you know hundreds
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of businessmen who at the end of the day
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would have to rely on opinions you know
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being shaped and formed by people who
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actually understand or at least are
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willing to understand Indonesia better
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yeah now since we're talking about uh
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macroeconomic uh stability and the
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picture uh let's talk a little bit about
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some of the headlines that we see these
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days in the news and uh I'd love to know
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from you what your senses of their
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impact on the Indonesian economy uh for
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example these days there's a lot of
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discussion about what's likely to be uh
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happening with Europe uh the the the US
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part of the recession you know went on
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for a while but uh who knows when the
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you know the second shoe will drop in
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Europe uh what What's the impact on
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Indonesia likely to be do you get a lot
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of her FDI from there could be could
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that be impacted well you know I I'm I
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think many have have recognized that you
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know the the recovery that we're seeing
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in in the US and also in Japan is
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rather
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broad-based uh and that I think we take
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comfort in uh but what's happening with
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Europe uh I think is is not only
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concerning to the Europeans but I think
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it could concern many in the rest of the
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world
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uh fortunately uh you know
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our linkage with the European Union
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countries from a trade standpoint uh you
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know are EXP Port uh propensity to
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Europe uh the European Union countries
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and also uh the bank claims ratio in
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terms of banks that could claim back
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their uh you know exposure with you know
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papers that are being issued by the
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Indonesian government or Indonesian
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corporates is
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not significant as for us to to to be
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too concerned but I do believe this
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though uh I think we have an exposure
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that is
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quite you know large with other
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countries outside Europe that have I
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think quite a significant exposure with
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the European Union countries so in an
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indirect manner I think we have to be
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cautious you know in terms of how we you
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know go forward how is all this going to
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impact uh you know investment flows
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coming from Europe uh I think uh it
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could have a a pretty serious impact but
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uh you know we have to you know
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underline the point that you know a good
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chunk of the investment coming into
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Indonesia has thus far been coming from
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Asian countries you know these Southeast
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Asian countries and the Japans of the
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world and koreas and increasingly Taiwan
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and Mainland China um although we're
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seeing an increasing amount coming from
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the US you know in in the last quarter
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or so uh so uh we've got to be cautious
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but I think we've got to basically
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continue deepening our communication uh
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with some of the members some of the you
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know uh countries that have been
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uh loyal and contributing to the
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investment uh map in
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Indonesia the the other major news
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development recently of course is
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China's decision to let its currency
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appreciate uh perhaps in preparation for
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the G20 corre uh discussions uh in
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Canada uh what impact you see that
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having on indones Expos I I think it's
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uh it's potentially enormous because of
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two accounts number one if you take a
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look at the economic structure
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of China and that of Indonesia I think
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there's a great degree of
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complimentarity China for the last 20
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years has been driven by
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Investments and Indonesia has been
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driven for the last 15 years by domestic
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consumptions and China is trying to move
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the pendulum from an investment Centric
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economy to more of the human capital
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development and more of the domestic
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consumption stuff uh whereas Indonesia
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needs to move its Reliance on you know
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domestic cons assumption for the economy
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to a more investment Centric uh Behavior
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so that complimentarity I think will
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play out nicely if we get Iraq together
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uh in terms of boosting investments in
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terms of you know inviting and
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encouraging Chinese investors to come to
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Indonesia and second uh is the increased
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strength of of the Yuan or the rimi
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which will I think uh solidify the
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Chinese position to even be shopping for
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more goods and services and also
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hopefully for more Investments uh abroad
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uh in Indonesia and we have seen you
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know a significant expression of
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Interest by many Chinese companies uh
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the numbers in terms of realization have
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not been as staggering as the expression
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of interest but you know there's always
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a lack between expression of interest
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and actualization of you know the
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investment uh but we have made a couple
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of trips to China in the last few months
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and we have been visited by throngs of
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you know Chinese companies who have
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expressed you know their interest in
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building the infrastructure building you
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know uh
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the power generation capabilities Road
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and bridges on the back of you know
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their you know Keen interest in getting
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you know natural resources from
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Indonesia such as coal boide nickel iron
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ore and all that so I think we've got to
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be cognizant
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of ensuring that there is value
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optimization uh you know not that we you
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know we don't want to just be selling
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coal and natural resources but I think
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we've got to attract whoever including
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the Chinese in terms of helping us
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create more of a value added to the
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value chain you know speaking of uh
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human capital development uh you know as
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as you correctly said you know
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Indonesian economy has been based to
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some degree on domestic consumption but
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also to some degree on the successful
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use of Natural Resources right uh how do
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you envisage moving from that to a a
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knowledge based economy and do you have
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a sort of strategic vision for how how
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Indonesia could go there we do I mean if
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you take a look at
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our investment road map I think uh the
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first
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phase obviously involves the quick wins
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right the quick wins unfortunately or
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fortunately involve some of the more
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natural resource Centric investment
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thesis but we're trying to go to the
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second phase of basically creating INF
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structure soft and hard not just
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building roads and power generation
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capabilities but the soft part which is
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really creating more capacity building
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uh so that we can weed out policies
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which are
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confusing policies which are you know a
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little too ad hoc uh with a view that we
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can go forward more in a strategic
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manner as opposed to Tactical um and I
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think the investments into the
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infrastructure soft and hard will entail
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you know our ability to go to the third
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phase of the large scale you know
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industrialization which we need because
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we need to ensure that there is you know
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vertical
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integration uh in the value chain uh and
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we've got to move away from just natural
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resource we've got to ensure that you
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know we go to the downstream side of it
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it we don't just sell boide but we've
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got to build smelters we don't just sell
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cocoa but we've got to build the
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chocolate factories we don't just sell
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palm oil we've got to build a Refinery
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similarly with the oil and gas uh that
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will I think add value and also create
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jobs our president is hugely committed
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about the the three-prong strategy Pro
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job PR growth prop poor and without the
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vertical integration and the value added
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we're not going to achieve the pro
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growth and pro job uh and surely the
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proor uh
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now is that likely to happen soon you
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know the large scale
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industrialization I think it could if we
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do not only take the non-fiscal view but
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we've got to take a fiscal view of
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things I think we've got to be able to
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basically not just map out but you know
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take a view on certain industries which
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we want to support
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that would create a lot of value but
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we've got to be able to provide the
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necessary fiscal structure and space
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whether that involves giving fiscal
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incentives or what have you that I think
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we've got to really you know make a
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decision on uh soon now if we can get
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that done I think you can see
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Indonesia's ability to manufacture goods
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and services in a big way which I think
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can allow us us to position ourselves as
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a knowledge-based economy which is our
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last phase of the you know investment
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road map that's I think a 10 to 15 year
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view of the Indonesian uh you know
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investment road map now I I do take
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comfort in this because you know again
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you know we've got the demographic bonus
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right and then let's you know let's not
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forget you know the government's
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commitment in terms of educating the
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society uh now the government is
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allocating 20% of its budget indirectly
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and directly for purposes of Education
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that's a larger number than whatever we
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saw you know six or seven years ago
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which was on a single digit basis um now
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I think with that kind of a commitment
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in terms of
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infusing soft power and software into
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the society I think we've got a good
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chance great well uh with that
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background about the economy let's let's
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turn to the some of the specific things
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that you are doing at bkpm to advance
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this uh Mission forward uh the very
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first question that struck me was uh
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what the elevation of the uh of of of
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the office to a Ministry meant in terms
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of your ability to tackle some of the
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challenges that that might lay ahead uh
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any any thoughts on that I think it
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mattered
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but I don't think it mattered as much as
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people think
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okay uh because I think a lot
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of what we have done I think is is
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mainly out of you know the institution's
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own initiatives as opposed to the fact
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that it is ministerial you know in terms
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of levels
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uh one
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classic uh example that I can point out
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is our ability
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to create this One-Stop shop right which
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came into implementation in February
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this year this was a delegation of
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authority from 15 different
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ministers and you know one may think
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that it's tough to get one signature
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from one Minister we were able to get
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those you know in relatively a short
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period of time mhm and with that we were
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able to simplify investment decision
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making process in Jakarta now we can
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issue a license in 5 hours okay unlike
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how people might have thought or unlike
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the reality long time ago or not too
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long time ago at the longest 7 Days okay
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now we can give you you know immigration
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permits labor permits and all that
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without you're having to go to all the
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different Ministries even the fiscal
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incentives for certain industries
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now the challenge is to actually roll
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this
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out to all the 33 provinces all the 500
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kabu patents or regencies that's that's
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a monster in itself and we have set a
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Target to basically roll it out in seven
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provincial capitals by the end of June
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of
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2010 and by the end of the year in all
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33 provincial capitals including seven
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that we would have implemented by the
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end of June and 40 kabu patents the
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capitals of you know 40
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regencies I think if we can get this
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done which I believe we
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can we will see a significant value
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unlocking yeah what what kind of uh
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barriers do you
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anticipate uh or or do you anticipate
00:20:24
any barriers or resistance on the part
00:20:26
of the provinces uh simply in terms of
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the execution of rules and regulations
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realistically yes we've got to
00:20:35
anticipate that so how do you overcome
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those we have visited 28 provinces in
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the last what 3 months or so uh we sat
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down with the governor and in many cases
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with many of the Battis the Regency
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heads and we told them look we're
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not we don't have a lot of jur
00:20:58
jurisdiction we're not bringing
00:21:00
jurisdiction but we're bringing money
00:21:02
yeah we're bringing Investments and
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Investments do create
00:21:07
jobs and that
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song you know turned out okay you know
00:21:14
with respect to the ears of
00:21:17
many and we have concocted this Regional
00:21:21
Championship notion uh which involves
00:21:25
seven provinces so we have basically
00:21:29
anointed seven provinces as Regional
00:21:31
Champions and this was kind of cute
00:21:34
because it balled up all the other
00:21:35
provincial
00:21:37
leaders and because of the special
00:21:41
attention that we're giving to the
00:21:42
provincial leaders of these seven
00:21:44
provinces and we we we mean business I
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mean we sit down with these seven we go
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out of Indonesia we promote and we've
00:21:53
been able to
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actualize really big Investments you
00:21:57
know in some of these and now the
00:21:59
governors are
00:22:00
talking now the remaining 26 Governors
00:22:03
are telling me how come we're not
00:22:05
selected as a champion right you know
00:22:08
and it's good this positive
00:22:09
discrimination I think has worked out
00:22:12
nicely in the sense that you know I tell
00:22:14
them back you know that you know I'd
00:22:17
like to make all 33 of you as Regional
00:22:20
Champions as Regional
00:22:23
champions in a shorter period of time
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but you know we can only start with
00:22:28
seven and let's try to standardize you
00:22:30
know our our thinking and our you know
00:22:34
practice uh in terms of attracting
00:22:36
Investments to these provinces and I'm
00:22:40
quite
00:22:42
comfortable that by by virtue of you
00:22:46
know sitting down and rubbing shoulders
00:22:48
with these guys we would be able to
00:22:50
achieve a pretty significant Target and
00:22:53
and the mission let's be very clear is
00:22:56
not just to promote Java the mission is
00:22:59
to promote investments into you know the
00:23:02
outer Java or outside Java regions
00:23:06
because particularly in the eastern part
00:23:08
of Indonesia that's an area which I
00:23:10
think right
00:23:12
needs you know development more than the
00:23:15
other parts of Indonesia right you know
00:23:18
there's also a certain about amount of
00:23:21
confusion about you know what has come
00:23:23
to be called the negative investment
00:23:25
list uh especially on the part of uh
00:23:28
International investors right uh could
00:23:31
you tell me a little bit about the
00:23:32
history of this list and you know
00:23:35
sometimes in other places uh uh such
00:23:37
restrictions are meant to protect
00:23:39
domestic industry uh from International
00:23:42
competition right uh was that the case
00:23:45
here and and I understand that there are
00:23:47
some plans to liberalize certain areas
00:23:51
yeah could you tell us you're thinking
00:23:53
about these things the the negative list
00:23:55
is actually a list that tells the whole
00:23:58
world including domestic
00:24:01
investors what sectors they can or
00:24:04
cannot invest in and the extent to which
00:24:07
they can invest
00:24:09
in you know any particular sector so
00:24:13
it's as as much as it has that negative
00:24:16
connotation it should have been called a
00:24:18
positive list yeah uh because it talks
00:24:21
about not only the sectors that you can
00:24:24
invest in but the extent to which and we
00:24:27
have actually taken a view to liberalize
00:24:29
some sectors and this is starkly
00:24:32
different from how we crafted it you
00:24:36
know five four or five years ago uh in
00:24:39
2006 and
00:24:41
7 this takes a purely sectoral
00:24:44
approach uh you know for any particular
00:24:48
sector the extent to which you can
00:24:50
invest we've decided to basically
00:24:53
liberalize up to 40 sectors uh unlike
00:24:57
how it was in the past
00:24:59
and this is
00:25:01
clearcut uh and yes we have not decided
00:25:06
to open up some sectors which I know
00:25:10
foreign investors would have I think
00:25:13
loved uh but we which ones are you not
00:25:16
opening up uh the one that we have
00:25:18
decided to
00:25:19
close clearly is the Telco Towers the
00:25:22
telecommunication Towers uh and
00:25:27
that we had advocated for the opening up
00:25:31
but I think collectively the government
00:25:33
has decided to keep it closed for now
00:25:35
but I think the the word of
00:25:38
encouragement is that we have taken out
00:25:42
the language within this presidential
00:25:44
decree which was issued and signed on
00:25:47
the 25th of May this
00:25:50
year we've taken out the language that
00:25:53
this negative list could only be
00:25:56
reviewed every 3 years so there is an
00:25:59
open-mindedness you know in terms of
00:26:02
spirit and I have always basically told
00:26:06
everybody in Indonesia and outside
00:26:08
Indonesia that to the extent you've got
00:26:10
a view on a certain sector you know in
00:26:13
terms of how it ought to be closed or
00:26:15
opened up you know there's a mechanism
00:26:17
with which we go forward with this and
00:26:19
that mechanism involves the cost benefit
00:26:21
analysis of any particular sector being
00:26:24
opened up or
00:26:25
closed and we have also asserted the
00:26:29
language of hierarchy yeah in the past
00:26:33
we did not have Clarity on this you
00:26:36
would have a presidential decree you
00:26:37
would have a ministerial decree you
00:26:39
would have a collective ministerial
00:26:40
decree you would have a durgen decree
00:26:42
and all that uh on an ad hoc basis those
00:26:46
were slightly confusing we've taken that
00:26:49
I mean into consideration and put a
00:26:52
language on the hierarchy of law and the
00:26:55
presidential decree surely you know
00:26:58
super seeds uh ministerial decree or any
00:27:00
other you know uh decree lower than the
00:27:05
ministry uh so this is a progress and a
00:27:10
process uh is it perfect is it ideal
00:27:14
perhaps not but if we take a portrait of
00:27:18
this and compare it with how the
00:27:19
portrait would look like in the past uh
00:27:21
I certainly think this is a lot better
00:27:24
than how it looked uh previously and and
00:27:27
we have We have basically sat down with
00:27:31
the foreign Chambers uh and many of the
00:27:34
you know local Chamber of Commerce uh
00:27:37
members and I think net net they're
00:27:39
quite happy with it so it sounds like
00:27:42
you're doing quite a few things to move
00:27:44
in a positive direction you're creating
00:27:46
greater transparency about different
00:27:48
sectors and the amount of investment
00:27:50
that's possible uh you're opening up 40
00:27:53
sectors for investment now let's assume
00:27:56
that International Capital response and
00:27:58
and you start you know an influx of
00:28:00
capital coming into these areas what
00:28:03
kinds of returns can International
00:28:06
investors expect to earn uh in these
00:28:09
sectors and how would they compare to
00:28:12
earn returns that they might exp get in
00:28:14
similar investments in countes in other
00:28:17
countries save the brick
00:28:19
countries well that's that's a longer
00:28:22
conversation but uh I I I'll give you my
00:28:24
two cents worth I I think you've got to
00:28:27
take into to
00:28:29
account the trajectory of Indonesia
00:28:32
right I think if one takes a 5 to 10
00:28:34
year view of
00:28:35
Indonesia I think it looks pretty good
00:28:37
yeah you know as an investment thesis uh
00:28:41
and at the rate that we're significantly
00:28:44
underhyped yeah compared to some of the
00:28:46
other countries and you know you've been
00:28:51
to you know Vietnam you've seen the
00:28:53
infrastructure out there I think we've
00:28:56
got a pretty good infrastructure in
00:28:58
Jakarta and many other cities in
00:29:00
Indonesia uh let's not forget you
00:29:04
know fit and standard and porters have
00:29:08
upgraded us recently you know we're
00:29:11
rated doubleb plus by fit when do you
00:29:14
expect to get to investment grade I I do
00:29:16
expect that in the next 12 to 18 months
00:29:20
realistically uh I do think that with
00:29:22
the continuation of the fiscal
00:29:26
discipline and the fiscal
00:29:29
decentralization that's being done as we
00:29:31
speak and the Improvement that we're
00:29:33
making in terms of the investment
00:29:36
climate uh and on the monetary side uh
00:29:40
you know with what we've talked about
00:29:42
earlier I do think there's no reason for
00:29:44
us not to be an investment great country
00:29:46
in the next 12 to 18 months and that's
00:29:48
going to reduce Capital right and that's
00:29:50
going to improve your irr uh calculation
00:29:53
at the rate that we are committing $50
00:29:57
billion
00:29:59
from a budgetary standpoint for the
00:30:02
development of the infrastructure for
00:30:04
the next 5 years and that's part and
00:30:06
Parcels of the whole $150 billion
00:30:09
infrastructure development program that
00:30:11
we're going to launch that we're
00:30:12
launching actually that's going to
00:30:14
entail the development of 20,000 km of
00:30:17
Roads 15,000 megaw of power
00:30:21
generation that's going to create a much
00:30:24
higher degree of
00:30:26
connectivity than whatever we have today
00:30:29
and that's also going to reduce Capital
00:30:31
mhm I mean cost of capital so if you
00:30:34
take those two things into account and
00:30:38
take into account the fact that we're
00:30:39
underhyped
00:30:40
right and take into account some of the
00:30:43
other stuff that I've mentioned the
00:30:44
natural resource the demographic bonus
00:30:46
and political stability and all
00:30:48
that I think this presents an enormous
00:30:51
opportunity for anybody right actually
00:30:54
you brought up a point that I found very
00:30:55
interesting that is why why is it that
00:30:58
the cost of capital in Indonesia tends
00:31:01
to be higher uh than in other places
00:31:04
well I think you know if you take into
00:31:06
account
00:31:07
the the swap or the credit you know
00:31:14
default uh
00:31:17
swap it is reflective of the
00:31:21
perceived risk right right right and I
00:31:25
do believe that as more and more people
00:31:29
do not misunderstand Indonesia as much
00:31:31
as before that perception of risk will
00:31:37
lessen and that I think will reduce the
00:31:42
premium and that I think will surely you
00:31:46
know reduce the cost of capital for
00:31:48
Indonesia to borrow in US Dollars and
00:31:53
with a declining you know swap rate
00:31:56
you're going to see I think A continuing
00:31:59
declination in terms of the cost of
00:32:01
capital in
00:32:02
rupia and I think the government is
00:32:04
aware of this and is also in the process
00:32:07
of basically trying to figure out a way
00:32:10
to elongate the
00:32:13
instrumentation for debt so that that
00:32:16
can be channeled to support the
00:32:18
infrastructure development which has not
00:32:21
taken place yet but to the extent that
00:32:23
takes place I think we're not going to
00:32:25
see as much liquidity trap as we have
00:32:28
seen thus far and that I think will help
00:32:31
reduce the cost you know structure for
00:32:33
Indonesia yeah I'll come back in a
00:32:35
little bit to the the risk uh aspect but
00:32:39
uh since you refer to the fact a couple
00:32:41
of times that Indonesia is so underhyped
00:32:44
let's let can you give me a
00:32:47
realistic view of an FDI uh investment
00:32:51
in Indonesia that really worked in a
00:32:54
realistic sense for the country for the
00:32:57
economy and for the investor in terms of
00:32:59
amounts or of of of see some FDI
00:33:02
investor investment that was made by a
00:33:05
company uh uh just to Let's Tell the the
00:33:10
positive story sure uh well first of all
00:33:13
in in in the first quarter FDI went up
00:33:16
by
00:33:17
41% okay uh and from what we're
00:33:21
detecting in the second quarter I think
00:33:23
that momentum is likely to continue
00:33:25
overall
00:33:28
investment has spiked up by 25% in the
00:33:31
first quarter so there is a declination
00:33:33
from from a domestic standpoint but
00:33:35
domestic has been a much smaller
00:33:37
component of the the whole investment
00:33:39
flow now in terms of cases uh we've been
00:33:44
able to attract a large you know Middle
00:33:47
Eastern player uh from razal CIA to
00:33:50
build you know this integrated
00:33:53
infrastructure project in East cimon to
00:33:56
build a Port 139
00:33:59
km uh rail track uh and
00:34:05
,300 megawatt power generation
00:34:09
capability and a 500,000 ton capacity of
00:34:14
smelter uh and a coal mine which they
00:34:17
bought also they've
00:34:19
started they have poured you know quite
00:34:22
a significant amount of money this is
00:34:23
all going to Total to about 5.2 billion
00:34:26
US uh they have basically been able to
00:34:28
clear most of the land on which they'll
00:34:31
build the rail
00:34:33
track and where're we've
00:34:37
also you know been able to convince uh H
00:34:41
shim from Switzerland to do a massive
00:34:44
expansion you know uh for their cement
00:34:48
uh
00:34:48
capabilities and we're also uh in talks
00:34:52
with you know a large or one of the
00:34:55
largest uh in the world you know
00:34:57
electronic
00:34:58
uh uh
00:35:01
manufacturing uh firm in Asia uh to
00:35:07
basically relocate their manufacturing
00:35:10
capability for Southeast Asia purposes
00:35:12
to
00:35:13
Indonesia all these are tangible results
00:35:16
that we've been able to produce uh in
00:35:18
the last few months and this is a result
00:35:20
of what has been done before also uh and
00:35:24
I do believe as more and more people
00:35:26
understand that the cost competitiveness
00:35:28
of Indonesia particularly from a labor
00:35:30
standpoint mhm uh and with the
00:35:33
declination of cost of capital like we
00:35:35
talked about earlier M uh and hyping
00:35:39
Indonesia a little bit more that it
00:35:43
is a country with
00:35:46
positivities uh I do believe more and
00:35:49
more will come the end game is quite
00:35:52
simple the end game
00:35:54
is to be able to convince somebody from
00:35:57
om Maha
00:35:58
Nebraska to put a dollar in
00:36:01
Indonesia and I do believe if I can do
00:36:04
that the billions will
00:36:06
come and we've been able to do that with
00:36:10
some of the large players in Asia in the
00:36:12
Middle East and all that but as we do
00:36:14
more and more and we prove to the world
00:36:17
that we can actually Remedy our mistakes
00:36:19
and you know these guys take a 5 to
00:36:21
10year view of a country uh I do believe
00:36:24
we can make something happen what what's
00:36:27
your view of uh the potential for
00:36:29
private equity in Indonesia and and how
00:36:32
does that compare to uh private equities
00:36:36
prospects in other parts of Asia oh I I
00:36:39
think it's enormous uh look let's take a
00:36:43
look at the the market cap of the
00:36:45
Indonesian stock market it hovers around
00:36:47
220 billion US right I think the amount
00:36:49
of private Equity
00:36:51
Funds uh that have been invested or
00:36:54
managed with respect to Indonesia
00:36:58
it's very
00:36:59
small in absolute value we're not
00:37:02
talking about no more than 2 billion US
00:37:05
Dollars and as a as a as a ratio to the
00:37:08
whole market cap uh of the Indonesian
00:37:11
Stock Exchange or stock market it's it's
00:37:13
a small
00:37:15
percentage now if you put that in the
00:37:17
context of the economy I mean the
00:37:20
economy is a is a staggering $650
00:37:23
billion economy it's the largest in aan
00:37:26
I mean the second largest is that of
00:37:28
Thailand at what 280 billion and then
00:37:31
Malaysia at 220 and Singapore at 170
00:37:34
give and
00:37:35
take we're now the largest uh you know
00:37:38
economy in aan we're a member of the G20
00:37:40
and that economy of 650 billion us is
00:37:44
going to grow in
00:37:46
2014 to around1 trillion
00:37:50
us so looking at how small the private
00:37:54
Equity Funds that are being managed for
00:37:57
for Indonesia in terms of around 2 to 3
00:38:00
billion US put that in the context of
00:38:02
the market cap and the economy I think
00:38:05
it's uh it presents an enormous
00:38:08
opportunity for many to take a look at
00:38:12
Indonesia that's great and you you you
00:38:15
also refer to the fact that Indonesia
00:38:17
has a very young uh population and you
00:38:20
refer to the Democratic the the
00:38:22
demographic dividend uh what kind of
00:38:26
efforts are you making to to encourage
00:38:28
entrepreneurship and Innovation uh to
00:38:31
create new jobs through venture capital
00:38:33
for example uh uh are you making any
00:38:36
efforts in that direction
00:38:38
yes but
00:38:40
not substantially
00:38:43
yet I think uh we need to take a view on
00:38:47
how we can cultivate the small medium uh
00:38:51
entrepreneurship and if you take a look
00:38:55
at the bulk of the investment flows into
00:38:59
Indonesia from within and from
00:39:01
without a lot of them actually relate to
00:39:04
small medium you know
00:39:06
Enterprises and that I think involves
00:39:09
entrepreneurship uh you know in a big
00:39:12
way uh I think we need to think about
00:39:17
how to number one
00:39:19
promote these in a bigger way and number
00:39:22
two how to how to lead them to a more
00:39:26
innovative
00:39:28
thought
00:39:29
processes whether that includes you know
00:39:32
the thinking of going to the capital
00:39:35
markets
00:39:36
model uh after a few years uh for exit
00:39:41
mechanism purposes or for Value
00:39:45
crystallization purposes or value
00:39:46
maximization
00:39:48
purposes uh this is still in a thought
00:39:53
you know
00:39:53
stage uh
00:39:57
I think this is a homework that we've
00:39:59
got to you know do uh in the next
00:40:02
hopefully couple to three years but
00:40:05
we've also got to sit down with the
00:40:07
other relevant uh Ministries uh the
00:40:09
ministry of
00:40:11
cooperatives uh and the ministry of
00:40:14
state owned Enterprises and the Ministry
00:40:15
of Finance because you know if we refer
00:40:18
back to the old days of you know 15
00:40:22
years ago there was a subsidy mechanism
00:40:24
MH you know from the banking system m in
00:40:28
terms of interest rate subsidies for
00:40:30
small medium
00:40:32
Enterprises uh that system was abolished
00:40:36
yeah I'm not suggesting that we should
00:40:37
re-implement that but I think we need to
00:40:40
identify and come up with a mechanism
00:40:43
that would catalyze you know small
00:40:46
medium entrepreneurship uh in in a
00:40:49
bigger way because that I think is what
00:40:51
will sustain economic
00:40:54
growth what does music mean to you
00:40:58
music is everything to me and and and
00:41:00
what how has it been a source of
00:41:02
personal growth it's uh tremendously I
00:41:06
mean it's um you know I went to the US
00:41:08
on a music scholarship I know that and I
00:41:12
unfortunately or fortunately I had to
00:41:13
switch major to accounting because you
00:41:15
know my parents were not too thrilled
00:41:18
but it has been a source of creativity
00:41:21
and Dynam dynamism and whatever I've
00:41:24
been doing thus far and it has I think
00:41:26
shown up little bit and and and and some
00:41:28
of the stuff we're doing at bkpm

Episode Highlights

  • Indonesia's Economic Potential
    Indonesia is a $650 billion economy with a young population and democratic stability.
    “Indonesia is actually a $650 billion economy this year.”
    @ 01m 56s
    July 21, 2010
  • Changing Indonesia's Image
    Efforts are underway to reshape Indonesia's global perception beyond natural disasters.
    “We’ve got to stop being known as a country of tsunamis, earthquakes, and floods.”
    @ 05m 37s
    July 21, 2010
  • Vision for Industrialization
    Indonesia aims for large-scale industrialization and value-added production to boost its economy.
    “We need to ensure that there is vertical integration in the value chain.”
    @ 14m 45s
    July 21, 2010
  • Investment Climate in Indonesia
    Indonesia is liberalizing investment in 40 sectors, creating opportunities for foreign investors.
    “We have taken out the language that this negative list could only be reviewed every 3 years.”
    @ 25m 59s
    July 21, 2010
  • Infrastructure Development Program
    Indonesia is launching a $150 billion infrastructure development program over the next five years.
    “We're committing $50 billion for infrastructure development over the next 5 years.”
    @ 29m 57s
    July 21, 2010
  • FDI Growth
    Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Indonesia surged by 41% in the first quarter.
    “FDI went up by 41%.”
    @ 33m 16s
    July 21, 2010

Episode Quotes

  • Indonesia is actually a $650 billion economy this year.
    Investing in Indonesia
  • We’ve got to stop being known as a country of tsunamis, earthquakes, and floods.
    Investing in Indonesia
  • We need to ensure that there is vertical integration in the value chain.
    Investing in Indonesia
  • Music is everything to me.
    Investing in Indonesia
  • It's been a source of creativity and dynamism.
    Investing in Indonesia

Key Moments

  • Economic Overview01:56
  • Image Rebranding05:37
  • Industrial Strategy14:45
  • Investment Liberalization24:53
  • Infrastructure Commitment29:57
  • FDI Surge33:16
  • Music and Growth40:58

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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