Press Statement of President of the Republic of Indonesia after the Opening of the 2023 Investor Daily Summit, at Hutan Kota by Plataran Senayan, Jakarta Special Capital Region, October 24, 2023

Journalists
What is this event related to, Sir?

President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
Yes, this is a good event aimed to encourage investment and boost investors’ trust in our country, Indonesia. If there were no events like this, there would be no encouragement for investment, both for domestic investment primarily and foreign investment. I think there should be more events like this.

Journalists
How do you provide incentives for property industry, Sir?

President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
The meeting has not yet started; it will be held this afternoon. In essence, we want to trigger our economy by providing incentives for housing development and property industry. That’s because property industry entails many things. There are about 114 items whose production growth can be boosted by property industry, like roof tiles, cement, bricks, sand, wood, doors, glass, ceramics, and many more. Therefore, we want to provide an incentive in the form of value-added tax (VAT) exemption for houses with prices that will later be decided in billions, for example two billion a piece. As for low income community, they will be given an incentive in the form of exemption from administration fees which amount up to four million rupiahs. But it hasn’t been decided yet, it will be decided later this afternoon. It will encourage investment in housing industry.

Journalists
Is it aimed to create economic growth in this transition period, Sir? How to maintain economic growth in the transition period over the next year, Sir?

President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
The key is that exports must be maintained so that they continue to increase. This is not easy. Furthermore, investment should also be maintained so that it continues to increase because the current base of our economic growth is still in the consumption side, both government consumption and private consumption. But we hope that we can increase our exports and our investment, because those serve as the basis for Indonesia’s economic growth.

Journalists
Did you meet AHY (Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, former President SBY’s son) yesterday, Sir?

President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
Yes, I did. It was a friendly meeting, in which we talked about things that we usually talk about when we meet with [a representative of] the party.

Journalists
Excuse us, Sir. You, Kaesang, and Gibran (President Jokowi’s sons) are reported to the Corruption Eradication Commission. What is your response, Sir?

President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
It is a part of democratic processes in the legal domain. Yes, we respect all those processes.

Journalists
After Gibran is made Prabowo’s vice presidential candidate, how is Gibran’s relationship with PDIP (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle) and Megawati (PDIP’s chairwoman), Sir? After Gibran becomes Prabowo’s vice presidential candidate, how is your relationship with them?

President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
Yes, it’s just as usual.

Journalists
What is your response to the so-called political dynasty, Sir?

President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
It’s just people’s judgement. And, in elections, whether in regional head elections, in mayoral elections, regent elections, gubernatorial elections, presidential elections, it is the people who vote and decide, not us, not the elites, not the parties. That’s democracy.

Journalists
When will the cabinet reshuffle take place, Sir?

President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
Maybe this week.

Journalists
What day, Sir?

President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
It’s still being prepared.

Journalists
What ministerial posts will be subject to the reshuffle, Sir?

President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
The post of Minister of Agriculture.

Journalists
Thank you, Sir.

(TM/LW)