Facilitated by a largely unquestioning media, Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s government has become a master at the game of smoke and mirrors, which in its simplistic form is all about convincing the public that things are happening when they really aren’t.
The protracted negotiations with US mining giant Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold are a good example, but going back to the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the deceptive game-playing has covered everything from beef to natural resources to infrastructure.
While not new, the official obfuscation and embellishment of the truth has become more apparent as the 2019 legislative and presidential elections approach and Widodo and his palace spin doctors perceive the need to display his accomplishments.
Yudhoyono played this game back in mid-2011 when the Australian government suspended live cattle exports to Indonesia over animal welfare issues, and Jakarta decided some payback was in order by ordering a ban of its own.
Over the next two years, it slashed cattle imports by half and sought to convince consumers that the local industry could fill the gap when rising prices – and one of the lowest per capita beef consumption rates in Asia — clearly showed it could not.
Fast forward to the much-vaunted China-backed US$5.8 billion Jakarta-Bandung fast-rail project, once seen as the showcase of Widodo’s ambitious infrastructure program and now stalled over land acquisition issues that should have been foreseen.
Getting it started hasn’t been for the want of trying. Widodo attended a ground-breaking ceremony in January 2016, only to see Transport Minister Jonan Ignasius call a halt to the project five days later because of several “unresolved issues.”
Widodo and the Chinese weren’t amused. In July, the same month the construction permit for the project was finally issued, Ignasius — the former, highly successful chief executive of state-run railway Kareta Api — was unceremoniously sacked.
The president should have already learnt his lesson. In mid-2015, he had presided over the ground-breaking of the US$4 billion, Japan-funded Batang power station in Central Java, only to discover local farmers were still refusing to sell a key patch of land.
The courts finally resolved that one, but the railway still isn’t going anywhere despite the efforts of State Enterprise Minister Rini Soemarno, who showed up last July for yet another ground-breaking event – this one a tunnel.
It takes a lot to beat the whole Freeport saga, though, starting with last year’s framework agreement which was hailed at the time as a major victory for the Widodo government in forcing the company to agree to divest 51% of its shares in its local subsidiary.
Maybe so, but no-one seemed to notice that the devil was in the small print. In fact, the Indonesia media failed to point out at the time that the crucial questions of valuation and management control had yet to be settled.
Little surprise then that the negotiations continue, interspersed on frequent occasions with reassuring pronouncements by senior government officials that a final, final deal is just around the corner. It has been a long corner.
So far, there have been at least four government-imposed deadlines, all based on the extension of Freeport’s permit allowing it to continue exporting copper concentrate from its high-altitude Grasberg mine in Papua’s Central Highlands. The next one is in June.
Refusing the permit would clearly hurt the company’s profits, but it would also cut deeply into government revenues and, perhaps more importantly, lead to worker lay-offs that could spark unrest in the country’s already volatile Papua region.
In the latest show-and-tell, the government last week ceremonially signed a memorandum of understanding under which it will hand over 10% of the Freeport Indonesia shares it still needs to acquire to the Papua provincial administration.
The government spin machine has also recently turned to eastern Indonesia’s Marsela natural gas project, which for reasons even some senior Indonesian politicians can’t figure, Widodo wants to be developed on a remote, sparsely-inhabited island.
Joint venture partners Inpex and Shell have been dragging their feet, arguing that only an offshore facility makes sense, given the undersea terrain and a lack of existing infrastructure.
With the project seemingly in limbo, the government announced earlier this month that the partners were working on detailed plans for an onshore plant that would be finished by the end of this year. Tellingly, there was no word from either company.
“The officials are talking on behalf of the company, without the company knowing anything about it,” says one Indonesian oil veteran. “That’s politics, but for me as an industrialist it is very troubling.”
The French oil giant Total has maintained a similarly stoic silence since the state-run Pertamina oil company claimed the firm wanted back into the Mahakham gas field, which it had to leave when its contract expired last December.
In fact, with little money to maintain the Mahakham, it is the government that has been offering Total a slightly higher 39% participating interest to entice it to return as a partner in the field it ran for more than 40 years.
Widodo also adopted Yudhoyono’s cattle chicanery, part of an economic self-sufficiency program in which, with little planning and a lot of wishful thinking, Indonesia was hoping to produce all its own beef, rice, sugar, corn and soybeans.
In 2015, it was proudly announced that the proportion of beef imports to total consumption had dropped from 31% to 24%, without anyone noting that Indonesians were eating just 2.7 kilograms a year, the lowest per capita rate in the region.
A year later, that figure had shot back up again to 32% and last year it increased yet again to 41% with the price of beef at US$10 a kilogram and officials acknowledging the obvious: that Widodo’s five-year self-sufficiency target was now unattainable.
Again, that has a familiar ring to it. By importing rice, seen as almost a crime in some nationalistic quarters, past governments have often been forced to admit (if anyone is listening) that Indonesia’s supposed self-sufficiency in rice is nothing but a myth.
That would have former President Suharto, who did achieve rice self-sufficiency back in the early 1980s with careful planning and a slew of coordinated programs, rolling over in his grave.
Sooner or later, the smoke and the mirrors will inevitably lift to reveal hard realities.
Everyone except jokowi nor anyone from his allies is should be better for indonesia, even some random street comedian out there should be better than them
A’an Alireki you fool, it has been clearly explained and you still unable to understand.
Huft, ya lelah kalo ditanya proof tapi malah dikatain cebong/china/komunis????????
Then who’s ?
Kang Marno huft, funny logic????????????
Well, depends on his rival????????
Andy Han hahaha bakno wong india, wes lah kabeh presiden yo enek kurang e, disyukuri ae yo pak????????
Wishnu Sukmantoro: esemka didn’t exist at the first place. It was just a toy for show. The first was just a china manufacture doing illegal copy from various japanese car, honda crv’s front combinated with isuzu’s back.
Still more the development of esemka up until now.
Only brainless people who still believe on esemka after years of the first hoax launched.
https://m.cnnindonesia.com/teknologi/20180131095544-384-272824/komparasi-esemka-garuda-1-dan-mobil-china-foday-landfort
Schillachi Bianco Hi I already read the link you sent me. It shows, Indonesian’s economy is IN DECLINE PRIOR TO Jokowi gets into office. Not sure if this is due to domestic reason, approaching 2014 as election year. Or impact of global financial crisis. The fact remains, that Jokowi had halted the decline. And in 2017 achieved 5% growth. While the global average is 3%. I have also responded to your comments, under Junanto Xu thread below, with examples of GDPs of various countries. That it is much easier for countries with smaller GDP to achieve higher growth, than a country with bigger GDP. They just need to sell US$30-50billion of natural resources, and they grow a full percentage point. While Indonesia need to sell US$100billion. Out of countries with comparable/bigger GDP to Indonesia they mostly grow at 3%. Only India and China grows bigger than Indonesia, at 6%. I fully acknowledge that all of Indonesia’s presidents have been working hard to improve the country, though no one is perfect. Would you acknowledge, in the big picture (Indonesia as a whole), Jokowi’s achievement of 5% economic growth in current global economy, far outweigh his imperfections? Disclaimer: I did’t choose Jokowi last election.
Rubbish news !! Too many haters. The title ASIA TIMES bullshit !! Actually this from australia i guess or from the hater. And for indonesian people that join here You know how hard president joko widodo works to build papua from zero to something. Airport, road, tol, buildings, etc slowly but sure, everything need a time. Compare with another president before what they have done to papua ? Nothing ! Except sale papua’s gold to abroad. Therefore joko widodo do it. But you know Indonesia not only papua , we have sumatra, borneo, java and many else n they need attention from the president as well. As you’ve known Indonesia now is better than before. We havva proud of our President, humble, smart, patient, kind, work hard, full of love, down to earth and the most important is honest. If you wanna have a perfect president ask God to be your president. Look at your self what you have done to your country ?? Nothing !! Always ask but never give, who do you think you are ?…. Lol
Sounds more like disinformation???
Titiek Titiek… read this https://www.adb.org/data/southeast-asia-economy and come back afterwards.
Paijo Gopala There is always conflict and polarization throughout the history of human kind. Including (perhaps, especially) during the time of the most unifying/prominent leader in this world, take for example: Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Mao Zetung, Soekarno, Soeharto, even the Prophet Muhammad. Just be alert, don’t be easily divided. In this particular instance, by a biased article, please do some research before accepting it. Disclaimer, I didn’t choose Jokowi last election. But I see his track record, in the big picture, that Indonesia is heading in the right direction. There are minor manuvers that he can’t avoid, can’t please everyone, but mostly for the greater good for the Indonesian people. Don’t get bogged down in the minor details. But at the end of the day, Indonesia’s credit rating is now BBB, from B 10 years ago. And It’s GDP growth is 5%, where the rest of the world is at 3%. Only 2 countries with comparable GDP to Indonesia have bigger growth, India and China at 6%."Let us not be haters, let us celebrate success"
Andy Han At least I tried to investigate the truth in the issues raised by this article from independent sources. And there are numerous publications that counters the allegations in this article. I believe in True North principle. What is the truth is the truth. I find this article mainly provide half truths, that there are valid reasons for Jokowi’s decisions, usually for the greater benefit for the Indonesian people. I acknowledge that Jokowi is not perfect, and so are other presidents. On the other hand, I acknowledge his achievements, as well as other presidents. "Let us not be haters, let us celebrate success."
Hari Hryn Sorry for my misinformation. Thanks for the correction. I am very new in this debate. Just started a month ago. I didn’t even choose Jokowi last election. I FULLY acknowledge that Trans Papua had been started by a number of presidents before Jokowi. A large portion of Trans Papua was actually done during SBY time. However, Trans Papua is only one relatively "small" development for the Papuan people. Which brings back to my original question, the elephant in the room, why in 72 years of Indonesian rule, there is a very big discrepancy in development between Papua and Java, in terms of clean water, electricity, road and doctors. Can you acknowledge this?
Schillachi Bianco I noticed you have selected smaller developing countries with small GDPs as comparison. THE FACT IS: it is much easier for countries with small GDP to have bigger growth rate than countries with larger GDP. Indonesia GDP 2016 US$932 billion with estimated 2017 growth 5.1%. Malaysia GDP US$296b with 5.8% growth (was 4.2% in 2016). Cambodia GDP US$20b with 6.8% growth, Myanmar GDP US$67b growth 5.9%, Phillipines GDP 2016 $US304 billion 6.7% growth. NOW, let’s compare growth of countries with comparable GDP to Indonesia: Australia GDP US$1204b growth 2.8%, South Korea $1411b growth 3%, netherland GDP US$770b growth 3%, Thailand GDP US$406b growth 4.3%. NOTE: Of countries with bigger GDP than indonesia, only China and India have bigger growth, at 6%+, the rest are around: 3%. You can check yourself here: https://tradingeconomics.com/
Charles John Anthony: But was there some kind of national level of citizen polarization just as we see it now???
It is as clear as the full moon on the clear sky, that the origin of this national chaos was started in 2012 jakarta election.
Paijo Gopala I just checked in Wikipedia, 1998, FPI Became well known due to Ketapang incident. 2003 Habib Riziek was jailed 7 months for inciting violence. In 2008 he was also jailed for inciting violence. I think there is an increasing trend of track record here.
And the point is…. is there any perfect guy for The Next Indonesia’s President? Prabowo? could anyone mention his achievements? what has he done for Indonesia? besides kidnapping and riots in 1998?
No one is perfect, at least Jokowi strive to give justice for all the people of Indonesia, we can not satisfy everyone, but we can put priority on what we really need to improve first.
God bless Indonesia.
I see, this article is a big order mainstream, or dislike of government regulations against both outside and large, would certainly be a negative or a loss including shares in this media I think. So be careful of these article that are cornering and unfair. The issue of Indonesian partiality to Palestine and about freeport would be a good frying tool to not only be the president, but also the state of Indonesia. JAS MERAH (Jangan sekali sekali melupakan sejarah)