By: Aldia Putra )*
Investment is the motor of development of the Indonesian economy nationally, however, the realization of investment in Indonesia should not only be concentrated on the island of Java, but also evenly distributed in other areas for the sake of realizing equitable development that is Indonesia-centric.
The Indonesian government continues to be committed to promoting Indonesia-centric development. In line with this, investment equity is also being put forward.
The Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia once revealed that President Joko Widodo had ordered him to develop Indonesia not to build one particular area, it had to be Indonesia-centric, so that what was built had to be from Aceh to Papua.
The Minister of Investment also explained that from the investment target of Rp. 1,200 trillion in 2022, in the first quarter, around Rp. 283 trillion had been realized. Outside Java 52 percent and 48 percent in Java. The provinces with the largest realization of foreign direct investment (PMA) are Riau, West Java, DKI Jakarta, Central Sulawesi and North Maluku.
Bahlil also emphasized that investment coming to Indonesia did not only come from one country. There are still Singapore, Hong Kong, China, America, South Korea. So it is not true when there is information circulating saying that Indonesia is only controlled by one country.
In addition to labor and environmental aspects, collaboration with local business actors up to the MSME level is one of the requirements of the Ministry of Investment for potential investors who will invest in Indonesia. Bahlil also briefly discussed the preparation of investment opportunity maps for national strategic priority projects.
With the investment opportunity map, investors can certainly make decisions more easily with strategic projects. Of course, investment should not be concentrated in the Java region, there must be an even distribution of regional investment. Therefore, with the investment opportunity map, there must be involvement of local local entrepreneurs.
Based on a study with comprehensive information, this map of strategic priority project investment opportunities is expected to help promote investment in Indonesia to be more targeted and make it easier for investors to make decisions to get involved in various projects in the regions.
This apparently has the support of a member of the DPR Commission VI, Nusron Wahid, who supports the Ministry of Investment to actively bring in investment to areas that actually have economic potential but have not been noticed by investors. Nusron said the investment ministry must explore investment potential in various regions and make investors interested in investing in Indonesia.
Previously, Chairman of the Indonesian MSME Association (Akumindo) Ikhsan Memoriubun appreciated a number of steps that the Investment Ministry would take to increase investment in the country, especially those involving the MSME sector. One of them is the establishment of OSS (Online Single Submission) for micro and small business actors, this of course can be an effort to harmonize the licensing process at the center and regions.
Ikhsan hopes that, in addition to encouraging central and regional synergy, the Ministry of Investment can also help simplify the licensing process for MSMEs in running their businesses. Because so far, the aspect of business licensing, especially for MSME actors, has often been an obstacle.
Furthermore, Ikshan also added that collaboration between investors and MSME actors could be facilitated through provisions or policies in the field from the Ministry of Investment that support all parties. Ikhsan assessed that this step could be one of the drivers to realize the investment target. Not only paying attention to the involvement of regional business actors, the Ministry of Investment also maximizes investment in regions, especially outside Java.
The Indonesian government is optimistic that Sulawesi, Sumatra and Kalimantan have high potential. These three areas need to be optimized so that they can become promising investment destinations. The advantage of this area is of course the land area. For example, Kalimantan has an area almost three times that of Java. In addition, there are also natural resources in the form of mining in Maluku, Sulawesi and Kalimantan.
Indonesia has a variety of things that can attract investors, of course the distribution of investment and development in Indonesia must be evenly distributed for the realization of Indonesia-centric development.
)* The author is a contributor to the Nusa Bangsa Institute
