REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia should aim for more business opportunities with the United States after Donald Trump became its new president, noted the lecturer of American Studies at Universitas Indonesia, Rony Mamur Bishry.
During a forum that was held by the Habibie Alumni Program (IABIE) on Saturday entitled "Trump Presidency and its Impact to Indonesia", Bishry said that Indonesia had to be more aware of potential business partnerships with American industry, such as with its technology sector. "The US is very competitive in the field of modern technology. Indonesia must be able to develop its knowledge of the different areas of this industry such as software, gaming and animation in order to form partnerships with the major American companies," he added.
His recommendations were in line with the government's goal of producing 1,000 technology-based entrepreneurs and 8,000 MSMEs by 2020. The digital technology sector, particularly financial technology, has the potential to have a major impact on the country's economic development.
Indonesia's information and communication technology sector currently contributes 4 percent to the national GDP. The government expects the digital economy to grow from 10 to 12 percent of the national GDP in three years. These will include developments in devices, networks, applications and digital broadcasting.
However, Bishry stated that the establishment of Indonesian start-ups should follow comprehensive regulations, especially in terms of financing and other potential legal issues, in order to increase confidence for business overseas expansions. "There hasn't been any comprehensive rules about the financing of technology businesses in Indonesia. This is the responsibility of the banking authorities and the Ministry of Finance," added Bishry, who was previously the Commissioner of the Indonesian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.
A doctoral graduate of Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Bishry also said that both the Indonesian government and private stakeholders must be transparent when making economic deals with President Trump.
Due to his background in business rather than politics, Trump is expected to prioritize American economic interests over political formalities. "He is a realistic businessman. As long as we can find intelligent businessmen to negotiate with him, I think Indonesia's economic position with the US will be safe," Bishry noted.
The US is currently Indonesia's major trading partner, with a total trade value of 19.27 billion USD between the period of January to October, 2016. It is ranked as the 10th largest investor in Indonesia, with a total value of 430.40 billion USD in 2016, which mostly comes from mining projects.
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