Arsjad Rasjid is chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or Kadin, and president director of Indika Energy, a public-listed investment company
October 24, 2022
Since establishing official ties in 1976, the UAE has become much more than a friend to Indonesia.
The UAE is the leading Gulf investor in South-East Asia, accounting for 74 per cent of Gulf states’ investments in the Association of South-East Asian Nations bloc between 2016 and 2021. Between January and July this year alone, total trade between our two countries reached $2.8 billion, an increase of almost 30 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2021. To add to the optimism, the newly signed Indonesia-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is set to eliminate about 94 per cent of existing tariffs. These facts and figures signal the rapidly growing business ties between the two countries.
However, our relationship is also one of respect and brotherhood, reflected in the naming of Indonesia’s longest elevated toll road after President Sheikh Mohamed, as well as the existence of a President Joko Widodo Street in Abu Dhabi’s diplomatic enclave. A similar exchange could be observed in plans to build mosques in the name of Mr Widodo in Abu Dhabi and Sheikh Mohamed in the Indonesian president’s hometown of Surakarta.
While some might view these symbolic acts as mere gestures, I am convinced that in the UAE, we have a friend who cares. Proudly, I can say that we reciprocate this feeling with utmost respect. When Sheikh Khalifa passed away, Mr Widodo had just returned from a visit to the UAE. This did not deter him from making a trip back to pay his respects. Such is the nature of our relationship.
This is why I want to share with Emiratis and Arabs the opportunities emerging in Indonesia as the country embraces great changes. Internationally we are gaining prominence as chair of the G20 Summit this year and the Asean Summit in 2023. Domestically we will start making Indonesia Vision 2045 a reality. By our 100th year of independence, we want to be one of the world’s five largest economies. I have faith we will get there – but we will need foreign investment to overcome three key challenges.
The first challenge is infrastructure. We are a country of more than 270 million people, the fourth largest in the world by population, across 17,508 islands. Our geography means logistics costs make up almost a quarter of our gross domestic product. To overcome this challenge and accelerate our journey towards economic prosperity, we must undertake significant infrastructure improvements in collaboration with foreign partners.
President Sheikh Mohamed attended Friday prayers with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. All photos: Ministry of Presidential Affairs
The jumaa prayers were also attended by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Tahnoon, Adviser for Special Affairs at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs.
The sermon was delivered by Taleb Mohammed Al Shehhi under the theme, 'Good Deeds on the Last 10 Days of the Month of Dhu Al Hijjah'.
Mr Al Shehhi emphasised that parents should raise awareness in children about the values of Islam, saying that they are the future of the country.
Mr Widodo attends Friday prayers alongside President Sheikh Mohamed.
The two leaders performed the prayer at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.
Worshippers were encouraged to increase their charitable giving and instil good ethics in their children.
The sermon was delivered by Taleb Mohammed Al Shehhi at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
President Sheikh Mohamed attends Friday prayers alongside other worshippers.
Also present were Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Tahnoon, Adviser for Special Affairs at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs.
Many of us have experienced and overcome hardship. We have faced crises, but we have never been defeated
As chairman of Indonesia’s National Capital City Project Steering Committee and a key backer of the Indonesian Investment Authority, Sheikh Mohamed and the UAE are no strangers to the commercial viability of infrastructure projects in Indonesia. Since 2014, I am proud to state that at least 6,140 kilometres of roads, 15 airports, 124 ports and 65 dams have been built. Yet, Indonesia needs more, and companies such as DP World, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala Investment Company will play a key role in making things happen.
Second, we need to play a larger role in the global supply chain. In 2021, Indonesia's trade-to-GDP ratio stood at 40.2 per cent. Developed economies typically having a trade-to-GDP ratio of 50 to 55 per cent. Indonesia must reach similar levels by offering products that are critical for the global supply chain.
Our final economic challenge is that the manufacturing industry contributes a mere 17.5 per cent to the national GDP. Without high-value manufacturing, Indonesia risks falling into the middle-income trap and becoming isolated from the global supply chain. Attracting high-value manufacturing from developed economies is a necessity to unleash Indonesia’s true economic potential.
Despite these challenges there are three reasons that I believe Indonesia will thrive.
First, Indonesian companies and the public are rushing to involve themselves in the industries of the future. Currently about a quarter of our population are Gen Z and a quarter are millennials, and this youthful energy can be felt everywhere.
In the digital sphere, Indonesia is a leading force in Asean. Only Singapore has more unicorns. The beneficiaries are not just a few big companies. Many of our MSMEs, which make up 61 per cent of our GDP, are online selling goods across the country or abroad at the click of a button. As chairman of Kadin, the only national business organisation mandated by the constitution, I will be speaking on their behalf and working to support them with advice and technical support.
In green energy as well, Indonesians are seizing the day. While the government has committed that Indonesia will have net-zero carbon emissions by 2060, many businesses have earlier deadlines. For example, Indika Energy has committed itself to a 2050 deadline. We started as a coal company. Now we are budgeting more than $500 million over five years, beginning 2021, to transition into climate-friendly business sectors including renewable energy, sustainable forestry and electric vehicles. A quick Google search will tell you that several other Indonesian conglomerates are doing the same.
Computer-generated imagery shows a design illustration of Indonesia's future presidential palace in East Kalimantan, as part of the country's relocation of its capital from Jakarta to Nusantara. AFP
The only limit is funding. I once told a high-level US official considering investing in Indonesia's transition: “Invest in us and I will personally round up every coal miner and put them to work installing solar panels.”
I know this funding will come, and this is my second reason for confidence – the world is waking up to Indonesia’s potential. In the past, trying to sell Indonesia was sometimes frustrating. People often knew only of Bali and were barely aware of the rest of the country. Sometimes we Indonesians were also too modest for our own good. At trade fairs, for instance, one could find Indians and Chinese at the front, with Indonesians sitting humbly in a corner. Now, this is changing.
As chairman of the advisory board at B20, the official G20 dialogue with the global business community, I have travelled the world telling the story of Indonesia Incorporated. From Japan and South Korea to the US and Australia, the people I spoke to quickly grew interested. Whatever people wanted – commodities, green energy, digital markets, supply chain diversification – Indonesia could offer it to them. In the second financial quarter of 2022, our FDI jumped 40 per cent year on year. Top global companies such as Hyundai, LG, Foxconn, Tesla and Volkswagen are all knocking on our door.
At Kadin, we stand ready to assist all businesses, whether foreign or national. All we ask is that they register in Indonesia, pay their taxes, and have a positive community impact via initiatives involving local talent.
The final reason is simply my faith in ordinary Indonesians’ spirit. Many of us have experienced and overcome hardship. We have faced crises, but we have never been defeated. It is always those who have faced difficulties but who can see success on the horizon who are most hardworking, most determined, and most enterprising. Indonesians are all those things. That is why I am determined to make the world take notice of our country and the rapid change that is looming with Indonesia Inc.
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Key recommendations
Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
The Al Barzakh Festival takes place on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm in the Red Theatre, NYUAD, Saadiyat Island. Tickets cost Dh105 for adults from platinumlist.net
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
Park in shaded or covered areas
Add tint to windows
Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'
Rating: 1 out of 4
Running time: 81 minutes
Director: David Blue Garcia
Starring: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
