30/03/2013 (Jakarta Globe) - Indonesia is set to experience higher economic growth, more foreign investment, better infrastructure, improved labor policies and fairer trade practices in the coming years, representatives from the Democratic Party and the Golkar Party, both part of the ruling coalition, said on Thursday.

Speaking at a forum organized by the Singapore Chamber of Commerce Indonesia and the Jakarta Globe, Democratic faction chairwoman Nurhayati Ali Assegaf and Golkar’s top legislator at the House of Representatives, Airlangga Hartarto, canvassed a variety of issues before an audience of businesspeople, diplomats and Singaporeans in Jakarta.

Nurhayati said her party believed in economic growth with equity.

“Economic growth must be coupled with job creation and poverty alleviation. We put emphasis on a people’s economy that promotes welfare,” she said.

The faction chief, who commands the largest number of legislators at the House, said the Democrats would focus on accelerating growth among farmers, fishermen and the informal sector.

She also revealed her party’s plans to promote trade and investment. This includes tax holiday incentives for investments valued at up to Rp 1 trillion ($102 million), efforts to tackle corruption, bureaucracy and red tape, improved labor policies and accelerated infrastructure-building policies.

Airlangga, a  member of House Commission VI, which oversees trade and investment, said he was upbeat on the prospects for the building of infrastructure, especially airports and ports.

“We are working on merging Indonesia’s many port authorities, working to revise the existing labor laws to include certain outsourcing and improve regulations that relate to mineral resources. In regard to this, we need to overcome trade imbalances such as in oil. We export $7 billion worth of oil but we import more than $50 billion,” he said.

He said he was bullish about Indonesia’s economy after 2014.

“Golkar is projecting 8.9 percent to 10 percent economic growth [per year] by 2025. We also share our coalition partner’s views on the people’s economy,” he said.

On foreign investments, Nurhayati, who has studied in the United States, said foreign businesspeople investing in Indonesia benefitted not only from Indonesia’s resources but also from its strategic location close to growing markets in East and Southeast Asia.

“We welcome foreign investors as it will help promote economic development and welfare. But this goal will be achieved if the investors follow the investment rules in Indonesia,” she said. “Foreign investors are allowed build manufacturing plants, but the protection of workers in regard to safety, security, minimum wage and other labor rights must be followed in accordance to the standards of Indonesia.”

On the topic of fuel subsidies, Nurhayati said they continued to pose a heavy burden on the nation and were mis-targeted. She said her party had proposed gradually phasing out fuel subsidies accompanied by systematic efforts to increase consumer purchasing power.

On how Indonesia can achieve high economic growth, Nurhayati said the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia Economic Development (MP3EI) provided the building blocks to transform Indonesia into one of the world’s 10 largest economies by 2025.

“But economic growth must reach 7 percent to 9 percent per year, on an ongoing basis. We must encourage large-scale investments in 22 main economic activities. We have to strengthen local and international connectivity. And we must strengthen national human resources capability and science and technology.”

Nurhayati and Airlangga both dismissed the question of Indonesia becoming more nationalistic in implementing its policies. “That is not true. We are in fact too open. We are such a big market and everyone’s free to come in. But we need to address reciprocity,” Airlangga said, referring to the ability of Indonesians to invest in foreign countries.

Although the forum was intended to focus politicians’ views on business and investment only, politics also colored the discussion. Nurhayati admitted that her party was experiencing a crisis and needed to restore itself to bolster its prospects in the 2014 election.

“The figure who can do that is the chairman of the party’s board of patrons,” she said, referring to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. “SBY has proven himself, winning a majority of votes in 2004 and 2009. His government did well and the Indonesian economy experienced growth even at a time when Europe and America experienced crisis. This is why we have high hopes he will be nominated the party chairman [this weekend].”