Luhut regrets govt ban on dot-com investors

Luhut regrets govt ban on dot-com investors

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut Pandjaitan
said on Tuesday the recent ban of foreign investors in the
country's nascent Internet sector was against the government's
drive to attract foreign funds.

The minister said the policy was a mistake and should be
reviewed if Indonesia really wants to win back foreign investors'
confidence.

"It should not have happened at a time when we're actually
striving to get foreign investors to return to the country. If it
(the decree) only causes problem, we'd better revise it," he told
journalists on the sidelines of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR) Annual Session.

Luhut said he was not aware if the initiative to place the
sector or Internet-based services on the negative investment list
came from the Directorate General of Domestic Trade, which is
under his control.

He said he would have to find out more information on the
contents of the decree and to check whether his office was
involved in the controversial policy.

Separately, the Forum of the Indonesian Internet Industry
(FIII) also called on the government to revise the controversial
decree by removing the sector from the negative list for foreign
investment.

The forum said in a statement that the ban would only destroy
the future of the country's Internet sector.

"Our Internet sector is still in the early development stages.
If it can grow at such a rapid rate, that is because the players,
most of whom are medium and small-scale enterprises, are getting
financial and technological support from foreign investors," the
forum said.

The government issued on July 20 Presidential Decree No.
96/2000, which states that some business sectors, including all
Internet-related services such as Internet service providers,
Internet content providers, portals and e-commerce service
companies, are restricted from direct foreign investment.

The government issued a new investment policy last week
banning the entry of foreign investors in the country's Internet-
related companies.

Riza Primadi, the senior assistant on communications and media
to the Minister of Investment and State Enterprises, earlier said
that the restriction was important to protect the local dot-coms
from foreign dominance.

He said the newly developed e-commerce business had been put
on the negative list for foreign investment under a
recommendation from the Directorate General of Domestic Trade of
the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

However, FIII, which groups 36 local Internet-based firms,
such as Agrakom, Asiapot.com and Indo.com, said the government
should revise the decree and declare the Internet industry open
to foreign investment.

"It is just impossible to support the Internet sector by
protecting it from foreign investors. If the government really
wants to help, it should open the industry up to foreign
investors," the forum said. (bkm/cst)