FORBES INDONESIA

ISSUE & IDEAS ANIL K. NAYAR

Strong Ties,
Great Chemistry
Singapore investors confident in RI’s future, says
Ambassador Anil K. Nayar.

BY MARELLA PUTRI

A
s the top investor, prime
tourist destination coun-
try and advanced technol-
ogy provider, Singapore
is a strategic partner of Indonesia.
In 2018, Singapore held the rotat-
ing chairmanship of the Southeast
Asian nations’ organization, ASEAN,
during which throughout the year it
established several important initia-
tives such as the ASEAN Smart Cities
Network to improve regional connec-
tivity, and the ASEAN Single Win-
dow to facilitate regional exchange of
customs and trade-related documents
electronically.
In an interview with Forbes Indo-
nesia, Anil K. Nayar, the Ambassador
of Singapore to Indonesia, shares his
views on how Singapore develops rela-
tions with Indonesia in wide-ranging
fields and his country’s efforts to re-
main relevant in the Southeast Asian
region amidst global uncertainty.

EXCERPTS: The challenge amidst these posi-

Forbes Indonesia (FI): How would
you describe RI-Singapore bilat-
eral relations today?
Anil K. Nayar (ANK): Concisely, I
would say the relationship is long-
standing, strong, and forward-looking.
At the leaders’ level, there is very
good chemistry and mutual under-
standing between President Joko
Widodo and Prime Minister Lee
tive relations would be to find new
areas to enhance the relationship
covering such areas as fintech and
digital economy, smart cities, and
people’s skills training.
FI: Did the recent Rupiah depre-
ciation affect Singapore investors, billion, or about 30% of Indonesia’s
the largest in Indonesia for some total inbound investment. So, year-
time now? on-year it’s a 10% increase in invest-
AGOESRUDIANTO FOR FORBES INDONESIA

Hsien Loong. Both met at the Lead-
ers’ Retreat last October.
The relationship is also strong
at the people-to-people level. In the
field of tourism, for example, in 2017
we had about 3 million people from
Indonesia visiting Singapore and 1.6
million the other way around.
ANK: It’s true that Singapore invest-
ment has been at the very top since
2014. Our realized investment in In-
donesia in 2017 is worth $8.4 billion,
while between January to September
2018 alone, according to BKPM (the
Indonesian Investment Coordinat-
ing Board), the number reached $6.7
ment between 2017 to 2018.
The key point of all of this is that
even amidst the very challenging in-
ternational and regional economic
situation, Singapore investors re-
main confident in Indonesia’s future.
This signifies Singapore’s strong de-
sire to be part of Indonesia’s success

22 | FORBES INDONESIA JANUARY 2019

story and a constructive partner.
What Singapore investors are
looking for, like other foreign inves-
tors are, is Indonesia continuing to
welcome foreign investments.
One of the iconic joint projects,
for example, is the Kendal Industrial
Park in Central Java between Indone-
sia’s Jababeka and Singapore’s Semb-
corp. It was opened in 2016 and is
doing very well, having absorbed total
investments worth $500 million in-
volving about 43 companies and is on
track to create around 6,000 jobs.
FI: As neighboring states are de-
veloping their own hubs, how does
Singapore maintain its relevance
as a regional hub?
ANK: It is our ethos to make sure
that our economy continues to grow
in a way that will enable us to con-
tribute and stay relevant to the re-
gion and the rest of the world.
So first we will continue to in-
vest in our people and maintain
connectivity. We make sure that
Singapore continues to possess
physical infrastructure with our
airport as the most obvious example.
This enables us to serve the rest of
the region as an important aviation
hub and also to focus on information
JANUARY 2019 FORBES INDONESIA | 23
FORBES INDONESIA

ISSUE & IDEAS ANIL K. NAYAR

In March 2018 our foreign min-

isters jointly launched the Nongsa
Digital Park in Batam, which serves
as a space where technology compa-
nies can build an ecosystem to work
and develop our digital economies
together.
There are already two joint proj-
ects: a launchpad between Indonesia-
based East Ventures and Singapore’s
SG Innovate, as well as Block71, a col-
laboration between NUS Enterprise
and the Salim Group.
An MOU in cooperation in the
fintech sector was signed at the
Leaders’ Retreat, under which terms
the MAS (Monetary Authority of
Singapore) and Indonesia’s OJK (Fi-
nancial Services Authority) will fa-
cilitate information sharing between
NURTURING RELATIONS the two sides on fintech-related
market trends, do joint innovation
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and PM Lee Hsien Loong met at the Indonesia-
projects and open opportunities to
Singapore Leaders’ Retreat last October in Bali. Held annually since 2016 with
both countries taking turns to host, the retreat serves as a good opportunity for each other.
leaders to discuss how to advance the countries’ relationship.
There were several agreements signed at the third Leaders’ Retreat, one FI: Is the ASEAN Single Window
of them being the bilateral investment agreement, which will have great initiative making progress?
significance in providing foreign investors not only those based in Singapore, ANK: The one-stop digital platform
but also those coming through Singapore that want to invest in Indonesia with a for customs clearance went live this
greater certainty from the regulatory and legal standpoint. year for Indonesia, Singapore, Ma-
There was also the aforementioned MAS-OJK fintech MOU and the MAS- laysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Since
Bank Indonesia currency swap agreement as well as cooperation on Industry 4.0 then traders have been able to han-
between the Indonesian Ministry of Industry and Enterprise SG aimed at bringing
dle all cross-border customs docu-
together technology providers and Indonesian manufacturers.
mentation through the single win-
Both sides are also working to boost cruise tourism, mutual learning on
Indonesia’s regional autonomy, and a cultural cooperation agreement to increase dow scheme. The remaining ASEAN
opportunities for artists, entertainers, and heritage institutions. member states are obviously encour-
aged to resolve the outstanding tech-
nical issues and join it.
There lies tremendous poten-
flow in non-physical connectivity. was no longer cost-effective from the tial for everyone: if ASEAN coun-
Furthermore, it is also related to standpoint of land or wages. So, we tries can lower their import and
our focus on smart cities. A whole are now developing other things. export time by 20%, we are looking
batch of ASEAN cities has been se- at something like 1.5% points times
lected to form a network and share FI: How is the progress of the in- GDP growth.
smart city ideas to improve one an- novation hub between the two Challenges, however, remain
other through special planning. countries, and what are the plans on cross-border infrastructure and
What we also want to find, even on new collaborations? digital divide in ASEAN, prevent-
as we all individually develop our ANK: Batam plays a major role as ing the ASEAN Single Window to
own strengths in different areas, are the ‘digital bridge’ connecting Sin- play its full potential. This will take
WWW.PMO.GOV.SG

ways to remain relevant. Singapore gapore with the vast growing digital time, but we are very optimistic
used to be a place where consumer sector in the island itself and other that a very important start has been
goods were manufactured until it parts of Indonesia. made. F

24 | FORBES INDONESIA JANUARY 2019