Investors want powerful partners

Investors want powerful partners

JAKARTA (JP): Foreign investors prefer Indonesian
businesspeople with political power to become their partners in
establishing joint domestic ventures, Chairman of the Indonesian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry Aburizal Bakrie says.

"This tendency is not healthy," he told reporters here.

He said that the tendency is caused mainly by the fact that
the government accelerates licensing processes for such
businesspeople.

Aburizal was quoted on Wednesday by Kompas suggesting that
foreign investors avoid using these businesspeople as the focus
for considerations in creating business partnerships in
Indonesia.

Using a businessperson's level of political connections as the
main point for partnership considerations indicates that some
foreign investors have short-term visions in doing business in
Indonesia, he said.

He said foreign investors should give a higher priority to the
management and business culture of the domestic partners in their
considerations for establishing joint domestic ventures, because
management and business culture are more permanent than political
power.

Aburizal, who is also chairman of the Bakrie Group,
acknowledged that it is very important for Indonesian companies
to invite foreign partners to set up joint ventures in order to
seek the transfer of technology, besides looking for their
participation in equity investment.

The equity participation of foreign investors will help reduce
the debt burdens of Indonesian companies and strengthen their
capital structure, he added. (riz)