ABU DHABI // Thousands of Indonesian expatriates are expected to visit their diplomatic missions here today to vote for the country's next president and vice president.
In the run-up to the second democratic election in South East Asia's biggest economy, nationals emphasised the importance of casting their vote.
Several highlighted the importance of political stability and called for more time to be given to the country's existing leadership.
The incumbent president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, won Indonesia's first direct presidential election in 2004 and is the strong favourite to win a second term.
Despite last-minute doubts over the reliability of the voter lists, the election is expected to proceed as planned. Registered voters will select from three pairs of presidential and vice-presidential candidates: Mr Yudhoyono and Boediono, a former central bank governor; the vice president, Jusuf Kalla, and Wiranto, a retired army general; and the former president, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces commander.
Haris Soeseno, 40, an Indonesian computer engineer from Abu Dhabi, said: "If the elections will be successful, Indonesia will be considered the largest democratic country in the world.
"Being able to choose our own leader is a stepping stone to a brighter future of our country."
Dewi Connolly, 38, an Indonesian housewife living in Abu Dhabi, added: "We normally choose a political party and not the candidate himself so this is new to me. I will be meeting a lot of my countrymen at our embassy and I'm interested to know what they think about the elections.
"I hope President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono wins. Five years is not enough for any president to institute changes, to make our country better."
For Syahrizal, 52, an Indonesian engineer who has worked in Abu Dhabi for three years, it will be the first time he has voted in the UAE.
"If we would like to see any changes in our country and contribute to its progress, it is important that we cast our votes."
He is one of the members of the election committee who will be at the embassy from 7am until midnight.
"I already know whom to vote for," he said, but declined to name his preferred candidates.
Registered voters can cast their ballots at both the embassy in Abu Dhabi and consulate in Dubai between 8am and 6pm.
Voting will be followed by the manual counting of votes at the missions. The results will then be transmitted to Jakarta.
Voters can also send their ballots by mail, but these have to reach the embassy by July 18. The next day, the votes will be counted and the results sent to Jakarta.
Muhammad Arif Hidayatullah, the second secretary of the economic section at the Indonesian Embassy, who also serves as the head of the secretariat of the election committee in Abu Dhabi, said there were 3,299 registered voters in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Ruwais.
Of them, 639 wrote on their registration forms that they wished to cast their votes in person at the embassy. The rest, mostly domestic workers and semi-skilled and skilled workers, had indicated that they would be voting by mail.
Records at the consulate in Dubai showed 3,845 registered voters from Dubai and the northern Emirates.
Indonesians who are 17 on or before the date of the elections are eligible to vote, as are married citizens aged under 17.
There are an estimated 75,000 Indonesians in the UAE, of whom 30,000 are in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and Ruwais, according to the Ministry of Interior - meaning that fewer than 10 per cent are registered to vote.
About 70 per cent of the UAE's Indonesians are nannies and housemaids.
rruiz@thenational.ae
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Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Geneva from Dh2,845 return, including taxes. The flight takes 6 hours.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
