Thousands of Regulations to be Expunged to Encourage Investments

Jakarta, InfoPublik - In order to accelerate foreign investments to Indonesia, the government will remove 3,000 government regulations and 200 ministerial regulations which are considered to contribute in hampering the flow of investment to Indonesia.

“Central government should be more objective in assessing regulations which have hampered investments and do not blame the local governments,” said Aceh Regional Representatives Council (DPD) member Fachrurozi in Jakarta, Tuesday (6/7).

In addition, central government must also encourage local governments’ improvisation and creativity.to be able to develop with the incoming investments.

Generally, local governments should consider the local interests or local wisdom before permitting the investments to enter their region. This, sometimes, contradict the central government’s interest. 

For example, the Aceh administration has officially implementing the Qanun Jinayat (Islamic Criminal Code Bylaw) which is specific for the region and based on the local government regulation.

Local governtment expungement must be conducted fairly for not all the regulations that are deemed unsuitable with the interest of the central government should all be expunged. Therefore, the division of central government and local government tasks should be distinct, with clear criteria, in order to avoid conflict of interest.

Fachrurozi considered it is unhealthy for the promotion of local governments’ development if everything is controlled by the central government. He added that foreign investors he met in a number of visits stated that theey are more comfortable to work directly with local governments than with the central government.

Many investors are willing to invest in Indonesian regions and are welcomed by the local governments, but they are hampered by the central government due to complicated bureaucracy. Therefore, he suggested investment issue to be evaluated to ensure simplicity. (Translator: Erik Limantara)