Media closed to foreign investors
JAKARTA (JP): The government has issued a list of sectors closed to foreign investment, including the mass media, film and cinema, land transportation, forest concessions and freshwater fish breeding.
When announcing the list last night, State Minister of Investment Hamzah Haz said its issuance was designed to give certainty to investors.
The negative list, based on Presidential Decree No 96 dated July 2 but released yesterday, also covered uranium mining, sponge cultivation and timber cutting.
The production of alcoholic liquor, the processing of chlorophenol, dichloro diphenyl trichloro (DDT), dieldrin and chlorodane are also closed to foreign investors.
"Foreign investors are also not allowed to produce fire crackers here," Hamzah noted.
Trade services and trade supporting services are also on the list.
Foreign retailers however are still allowed to operate in large-scale businesses such as malls, supermarkets, department stores, distribution, quality certification services, market research and after-sales business.
The decree, however, stipulates that foreign investors can enter the closed sectors indirectly by purchasing companies' shares on the local stock exchange.
In order to make Indonesia more attractive to foreign investors, the minister said the government has promised to give them more incentives.
"The government has issued four presidential decrees, four presidential instructions and one ministerial decree which give more incentives to investors," Hamzah said.
He promised to unveil the details of the new policies by the end of this month.
The minister said Indonesia was still attractive for investment despite the country's economic crisis.
He said two oil companies from England and from a Middle East country had received government approval to build oil refineries in Purworejo, Central Java, and Selayar, South Sulawesi.
The minister did not identify the companies but said they pledged to invest about US$3 billion and $1.6 billion respectively.
"It shows that foreign investors still see Indonesia as promising," said the minister. (prb)