Indonesia presidential candidates pledge to attract investments; businesses outline expectations for next leader

PRAISE FOR JOKOWI

Several businesses and analysts speaking at the summit praised Mr Widodo, better known as Jokowi, for introducing sweeping changes in 2020 to various laws which were earlier deemed unfavourable to Indonesia’s investment climate.

Speaking during his session, Mr Baswedan hinted that he might not seek to revoke these changes, adding instead the importance of making sure regional-level regulations are in line with these national laws.

“The feedback that we received (from the business community) is more on policy. There needs to be consistency, predictability and synchronising policies (between the national and regional levels),” he said.

Mr Baswedan told the summit that, if elected, he wants to see more investment in less-developed provinces and areas.

“We have seen a new phenomenon across the globe that (economic) disparities between countries are narrowing down. But disparities within a country are widening… 

“We would like to see more centers of economic growth across Indonesia, not only in Java,” he said referring to Indonesia’s most developed island where the country’s capital Jakarta is located.