Prabowo Wants to Form Task Force for Deregulating Business Permits
President Prabowo Subianto wants to establish a task force to facilitate business permitting in Indonesia. This task force will accelerate deregulation efforts in the country.
Prabowo has instructed State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi to design the special task force together with experts. “Simplify it, don’t make it difficult. Entrepreneurs must be helped and supported,” said Prabowo during a speech at the Attorney General’s Office in Jakarta on Wednesday, 13 May 2026.
According to the Chairman of the Gerindra Party, the government wants to regulate naughty entrepreneurs operating their businesses in Indonesia. However, he stated that those who genuinely want to work and invest must be assisted.
Prabowo acknowledged that there are still bureaucrats in Indonesia who complicate the business permitting process. This difficulty, he said, causes investors to complain.
“Many foreign investors complain that in Indonesia the permitting process is often very long and numerous. Sometimes the permits are unreasonable,” said Prabowo.
This former defence minister expressed astonishment that such practices still occur despite the government’s efforts to simplify the permitting process. According to him, permits that have been made easy are instead complicated again through various technical provisions. Some bureaucrats, he said, even use this opportunity for corruption.
Prabowo stated that he has received complaints from business groups who want to work and invest in Indonesia but face difficulties in obtaining permits.
He said it is not uncommon for the permits they need to be issued only after one to two years since the application process. Meanwhile, he said, in other countries, permitting can be completed in two weeks.
Therefore, Prabowo wants to emulate neighbouring countries that have easier permitting bureaucracies. “If they can issue permits in two weeks, why do we take two years,” he said.
The China Chamber of Commerce previously sent a letter to President Prabowo to convey various complaints regarding the investment climate in Indonesia. In the letter circulating on Tuesday, 12 May 2026, Chinese entrepreneurs highlighted several policies they consider burdensome to the business world.
Some policies highlighted by the China Chamber of Commerce include the difficulty of permitting and bureaucracy in Indonesia, increases in mineral royalties, regulatory uncertainty, and law enforcement considered excessive.
The China Chamber of Commerce conveyed that investments from their country also contribute to national development. However, they assess that in recent times, the business world has faced increasingly greater challenges in Indonesia.