Investing in Indonesia

The latest fiasco regarding the possible requirement for male foreigners to put up US$50,000 for marrying an Indonesian woman, is, like so many have commented, totally ridiculous.

Even the government acknowledges that the current marriage law is woefully inadequate but instead of fixing the "bad" law, it is pondering coming up with a "patch" which really doesn't address the inherent problems that exist in the current law.

I am at total loss to see how the government can even float such a ludicrous idea. If the marriage law is not good, then fix it properly.

The current state of many laws involving foreigners ranging from investing to marrying here are, to say the least, exceptionally strange.

Indonesia must realize that the market for foreign investment capital is highly competitive. After all, why should foreigners invest in Indonesia with its business-unfriendly laws when they can so easily invest elsewhere in Asia and be warmly welcomed? Why is it that Malaysia, Australia and China all have straight- forward foreign investment regulations, and all benefit from the influx of foreign capital that helps in creating jobs, while Indonesia is struggling to attract foreign capital?

So my message to the Indonesian government is simple: If you really care about the fate of your people then you should hurry up and create an environment where foreigners want to invest in Indonesia. Why? Because foreign investment will lead to more jobs and that will benefit the people of Indonesia.

If conditions for foreign investment do not improve, well then, we can always invest elsewhere.

ROBERT A. ESKAPA, Jakarta