KKN a stumbling block to investments

Patrick Guntensperger, Business Consultant, Jakarta, ttpguntensperger@hotmail.com

As a new government settles in and takes on the Herculean task of turning the Indonesian economy around, there are a number of things that must be considered. In the first place, no significant economic growth is going to take place until the plague of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) is addressed and seen by outsiders to be waning. KKN is holding this country back from a future of unbridled potential.

I have recently done some traveling and every day I am in communication with people from all over the world. Every organization or person with whom I discuss these matters reports the same thing: Indonesia is simply not on his or her radar screen for investment or even for visiting for one overriding reason...KKN.

Indonesia's development of a global reputation for something other than being a hotbed of corruption is critical to her acceptance as a serious member of the world's community of economic and cultural exchange. If Indonesia is going to realize her potential, international awareness of the great things this country has to offer must be brought about. To raise that awareness, Indonesia must overcome her well-deserved reputation for corruption. And that awareness will pay enormous dividends.

We should be investing large sums of money and energy in foreign trade efforts. Our government should consider dedicating enormous resources to the introduction of the new Indonesia to the rest of the world. There should be high profile Indonesian culture and trade expos at major cities in the west, shamelessly huckstering for this country.

As a new, democratic government begins to chart a course for Indonesia in the 21st century, the time is ripe for Indonesia to capitalize on her unique resources. Let us encourage the western consumer goods and tourism market to sit up and reconsider their preconceptions regarding Indonesia.

We need to see the government cooperate with companies in the consumer goods, travel and tourism, cultural arts and entertainment businesses to establish a commission dedicated to the promulgation of uniquely Indonesian products and services to the Western world.

As an example of the kind of initiative that is needed, a trade mission that showcases Indonesian culture and Indonesian products should be created, well organized, funded and launched. The cultural trade show should feature Indonesian film, music, painting, sculpture and dance as well as business and investment opportunities.

An overview of Indonesia's unique mosaic of cultures, history and geography should be presented in a way that emphasizes her exoticness to the Western mind. The arrival of the Indonesian cultural exposition in a city in the West should be a major media event.

Business owners should be encouraged to join the exposition and diplomatic representatives should be on board to promote deal making, to answer investment questions and provide help in sorting through paperwork. It is critical that the exposition be professional and impressive...even awe-inspiring. We have the resources to do it and the message is there if we choose to spread it.

Of course, we have to re-think the incredibly shortsighted visa-on-arrival policy that was recently instituted. Our diplomatic posture should be one of welcoming visitors to this country rather than one that reeks of suspicion, hostility and opportunism. It is only with simple, inexpensive and bribe-free access to business and tourism visas that we will see the steady flow of visitors and therefore investment that we need.

That means that we have to have government employees who know what they are doing and who actually do it without having to be bribed. These officials are the first ones that potential investors encounter when they arrive in Indonesia; their professionalism, or lack thereof, sets the tone for an overall impression of this country.

Right now, that impression is as likely to be one of incompetence, dishonesty, greed and inefficiency as anything else. Combine that with a visa policy that sends out the unmistakable message that visitors are not wanted, and we are virtually assured of receiving bad reviews in the foreign press.

Right now, most westerners couldn't find Indonesia on a globe. Most of those who are sufficiently enlightened to have heard of this country know little more than that she is a poor, tropical country and, "Doesn't Indonesia always rate as one of the most corrupt places on earth?" That is a situation that we can change, if we have the political will to do so.

There is nothing preventing Indonesia from becoming universally respected and, ultimately, envied. Indonesia has so much going for her that it is a tragedy of enormous proportions that we haven't capitalized on the vast number of advantages we enjoy, but rather, we continue to wallow in KKN, poverty and internal bickering. The rest of the world watches bemused; those who are aware of this country can't help but think of what could be done here if we could only find a leader with a vision, a population that shares that vision and the political will to follow through. -----