American Indonesian Chamber of Commerce

AMERICAN INDONESIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Recent Trends As Indonesia moves closer towards a pivotal national election, I thought it might be useful to set out a few trends to keep in mind going forward. Economic China: As Indonesia’s most important economic partner, China will remain key to Indonesia’s future. China is Indonesia largest two-way trading partner and Indonesia’s is

Democracy and Development

Democracy and Development Indonesians are worried about democracy and development, or at the least those that work at Indonesia’s leading English language publication, The Jakarta Post, and spoke at its 40th anniversary event: “The Sustainability of Democracy in Southeast Asia”.  The event and subsequent editorials show significant concern over the direction of democracy and

Labor Day 2020

Labor Day 2020 September 2020 Commentary by Wayne Forrest With unemployment at record levels in both the US and Indonesia amidst an ongoing pandemic I've been reflecting on Indonesia's struggle to find meaningful employment for her growing population of 270 million.  Of course, our two nations do not share Labor Day:  Indonesia observes International

Where’s the Transformation ?

Commentary by Wayne Forrest It keeps happening over successive Indonesian presidencies: a transformational figure is elected (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Joko Widodo) who appoints transformational ministers, who propose reforms. But, then things bog down. Frustration sets in, or the person leaves the Cabinet. Growth atrophies and the language of discourse remains in the pluperfect tense.

MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES

The principals of 5 US-Indonesia organizations with Vice President Jusuf Kalla and US Ambassador Joseph Donovan Commentary by Wayne Forrest Indonesia seemed to be exhibiting multiple personalities during my visit last week as it simultaneously hosted a major athletic event(Asian Para Olympic Games) and banking event (World bank/IMF Annual Meetings) while organizing

Politics and Rice

Indonesia possesses many excellent economists who know supply and demand. They graduate from the economics departments of not only the nation’s best universities that rank with counterparts in other countries but from foreign universities as well.  Many occupy senior positions in the government. But yet, when it comes to commodities such as rice or

Ambiguity and Sadli’s Law

May 9, 2017- My recent visit to Indonesia underlined a defining feature of Indonesia’s political economy: ambiguity. The common theme among all my meetings with local as well as international business people was that contradictory regulations, shifting political winds, side-wise legal decisions, were all hampering an economy that should be growing above 5%. So every

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