President Jokowi Slams Complicated Investment Permit Process in the Regions

President Jokowi delivers his remarks at the Coordinating Meeting with Governors from all Indonesia on Thursday (20/10) at the State Palace, Jakarta. (Photo by: Public Relations Division/Jay)

In a coordinating meeting with governors from all over Indonesia held at the State Palace on Thursday (20/10), President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo slammed the complicated process of obtaining permits for investors in the regions.

President Jokowi said he often receives such a complaint.

He added that this complicated process will lead to illegal levies and in turn, it will impede investment in the regions.

“I would like you to pay attention to this issue because in many cases, it lies within the authority of governors, regents and mayors,” the President said at the meeting.

President gave an example of the permits for manufacturing and industries that the investors reported to him when they met the Presidenton Thursday morning.

“According to those investors, there are almost 2,000 permits required and it can reach up to 20,000 pages if they are combined between permits from the Central Government and from regional governments. If this condition persists, investors will leave,” the President said.

Therefore, the President said, Indonesia’s competitiveness and ease of doing business is still lower from those of neighboring countries. Indonesia’s ease of doing business is still at 109, from the previous 120, while Thailand is ranked 49, Malaysia 18, and Singaporetops the list.

“This is what I have to repeatedly remind so that we can rectify the situation immediately simplify the permits,” the President said.

President Jokowi went on to say that in many government institutions, there are services to obtain permits to set up an industry, especially a big-scale industry.Permits, he added, can be issued by a number of ministries such Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Trade,Ministry of Health, Ministry of the Environment and Forestry, or Ministry of Manpower. This situation, the President said, has made the process of obtaining permits even more complicated.

“These days, a recommendation can become like a permit. Requirements can be like permits. We have to stop this,” the President said.

On that occasion, President Jokowi also gave an example. According to him, to build a building with a parabolic antenna, it requires a separate permit for the antenna. A hotel with a swimming pool of hotel also needs a separated permit for the swimming poor, or a hotelwith a restaurantalso needs a separated permitfor the restaurant

“If such condition persists, it is useless we market investment potentials of our country, we inform them that our country is friendly to investors, our country welcomes investment if the practice is still like that,” kata President Jokowi said.

President Jokowi also told governors to summon agency heads or regencies/mayors to address the issue.

“Requirements can become like permits. Technical recommendationcan become like permits. In fact, those are only appendix when investors propose the permit,” the President said.

Ending his remarks, President Jokowi said that he would further discuss the issues of land acquisition, investment in tourism sector, and many other issues with the governors. However, the President said he woulddiscuss the issues with the governors behind closed door after thee meeting,

Also attending the meeting were Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto, Minister of Home Affairs Tjahjo Kumolo, Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Attorney General Prasetyo, and Chief of the Indonesian National PoliceGeneral Tito Karnavian.(FID/UN/ES)(EP/YM/Naster)