Luring investment

Luring investment

Against a backdrop of the sagging of the rupiah against the
U.S. dollar and the dire need of quick recovery from a prolonged
economic "impotence", the initiative to lure more foreign
investors as televised live by TVRI on the evening of May 23,
2000, deserves praise. The meeting was held at the Hilton
International Hotel and was attended mostly by ambassadors of
foreign missions in Jakarta. Also seen attending the function
were foreign trade missions and chiefs of foreign companies, not
to mention journalists.

Speakers on the Indonesian side included, surprisingly,
Attorney General Marzuki Darusman and chief of the National
Police Let. Gen. Roesdihardjo. A chief representative of the
World Trade Center in Indonesia and some economists made
themselves available to answer questions.

The Indonesian side wanted to impress on the foreign parties
that investment laws were as steadfast as ever, though admittedly
there had been some violations. Also, that in spite of media
reports to the contrary, capital investment was safe in most
places, the exception being the disturbances in some outlying
areas. The presence of the attorney general and the police chief
was obviously designed to make these assurances sound more
credible.

The fight against corruption, unfortunately, has hardly
produced any tangible results, and along with collusion and
nepotism, the disease goes on unabated. However, although at a
slow pace, foreign investment has been coming in and is being
processed as usual.

On such an occasion we might have expected to hear from
economist Emil Salim or Sri Mulyani or a minister from the
economic team to present their arguments on why it is profitable
to invest in Indonesia.

If there are foreign ambassadors or foreign interests who
still doubt the unlimited potential under the protection of the
law, the presence of the attorney general and the police chief
would have surely allayed those fears. Though not visible on
screen, I am sure there were also representatives of the Navy,
the Army and the Air Force in civilian dress to attest to the
improved security conditions. Whosoever has the guts to encourage
smuggling, piracy or violations of the investment law know who
they will face. My impression was, however, that the meeting was
more polite and formal rather than enthusiastically held in the
wrong place and attended by the wrong people.

Hopefully, endeavors like this to help boost the economic
recovery will not be futile.

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta