Investment Commitments Stalled in Implementation, Industry Players: Special Team Needed to Unblock Obstacles
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Industry players are calling on President Prabowo Subianto to promptly form a Task Force for Monitoring and Accelerating Investments. This step is believed to overcome investment obstacles on the ground.
General Chairman of the Industrial Estates Association (HKI), Akhmad Ma’ruf Maulana, assesses that the biggest challenge currently is not in gathering investment commitments, but in their implementation stage.
He conveyed this following Indonesia’s success in securing investment commitments from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United States (US), Japan, and the Republic of Korea.
According to him, these investment commitments represent a major opportunity to strengthen industrial downstreaming and national energy resilience.
However, HKI observes that at the implementation level, various obstacles still hinder the realisation of investments. Convoluted bureaucracy, inconsistencies in regulations between central and local governments, and several technical constraints are seen to often make investors hesitant to realise projects or commence construction (groundbreaking).
“The President has done an extraordinary job in actively seeking opportunities abroad; we highly appreciate it. However, we at HKI and Kadin have observed that on the ground, there are still blockages and hurdles,” said Ma’ruf in a press statement on Monday (13/4/2026).
“Convoluted bureaucracy, inconsistencies in central-local regulations, and other technical constraints often make investors reluctant to proceed with groundbreaking,” he explained.
Ma’ruf notes that global investors from Japan, South Korea, and the United States highly prioritise legal certainty and policy consistency. If these various obstacles are not promptly resolved, Indonesia risks losing the currently wide-open investment momentum.
“We do not want these major commitments to merely become signing ceremonies. This Task Force for Monitoring and Accelerating Investments must ensure that every dollar promised truly enters industrial estates and delivers real economic impacts,” he added.
On the other hand, Ma’ruf continues to appreciate the successes of President Prabowo’s economic team diplomacy, which is deemed capable of enhancing Indonesia’s bargaining position globally. State visits to several countries such as the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Japan, and South Korea are said to have yielded major investment commitments, particularly to support industrial downstreaming and national energy resilience.
“It is time for us to work hard to attract investments as much as possible. We hope that we can set aside barriers and political interests so that Indonesia becomes a safe and comfortable global investment destination,” he said.
President Prabowo Subianto’s working visit to South Korea marks the strengthening of economic relations between the two countries, particularly in increasing investments.
As part of the agenda, agreements were reached in the form of the signing of various memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between business actors with a total value of 10.2 billion US dollars or equivalent to Rp 173 trillion.
The value of the commitments reflects high investor confidence while opening opportunities for the development of strategic sectors and national economic growth.