Alluding to Tokopedia-TikTok, Purbaya Does Not Want Indonesia's E-commerce Dominated by China

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has admitted he is contemplating ways to bring major marketplaces in Indonesia back under domestic control. This idea emerged after he received a flood of complaints about Indonesian marketplaces being dominated by foreign entities. One example is Tokopedia, an Indonesian e-commerce giant whose majority shares are now held by ByteDance, a Chinese technology company. “I’m thinking about how to return the marketplaces. Not just those controlled by China, for example, Tokopedia is controlled by China, right, all of it,” he said to journalists after Id prayers at the DJP Mosque in Jakarta on Saturday (21/3/2026). He stated that if marketplace ownership is controlled by foreign companies, the profits will flow out of Indonesia. “How can we call it digitalisation if it’s like that; it seems like we’re directly giving the market to China,” he added. He also mentioned he is working to revive domestic companies to compete with Chinese firms in the market. “I’m thinking of domestic companies that can be revived to become competition against Chinese dominance,” he explained.