Is Indonesia that bad?
Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 | 1:28 pm @ SK
Whenever I told people of my whereabouts in Jakarta, people can’t help but to ask me this: "Is it dangerous?" or "Is Jakarta in really poor state?"
Well, allow The Star’s Wong Chun Wai tells you this, once and for all.
SPREAD over 800,000 sq ft of retail space, the three-storey Senayan Plaza is the biggest shopping mall in Jakarta, with designer boutiques such as Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo, Dior, Prada and Gucci.
You name it and it’s there. Not too far away, the older mall, Plaza Indonesia, has similar brand names. Yes, there are two Louis Vuitton outlets in Jakarta.
By next year, the One Pacific Place, a mixed development with a 1.6km boulevard, will be ready with more fashion designer labels.
Over the past one year, Jakarta has earned a reputation as the most happening capital in South East Asia. The many cranes on top of half-completed buildings in Jakarta these days remind us so much of the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur previously. [...]
The FDI in Malaysia, on the other hand, has dipped to RM14.69bil last year from RM17.09bil in 2004. For the first time since 1990, Indonesia has managed to overtake Malaysia – FDI to Indonesia surged by 117% to RM19.46bil last year. It doesn’t take an economist to notice Indonesia is giving Malaysia a serious run for the money. Unfortunately, many Malaysians still continue to treat our neighbour as a supplier of maids and other cheap labour.
Like it or not, Indonesia is pretty good in playing the catch-up game. Most Malaysians tend to underestimate the strength of Indonesia in a whole, due to its complex relationship between riot occurrences and the residual wage gap between Chinese community and low income groups.
However, don’t caught by surprise when one day, you were told that your jobs are being outsourced to Indonesia due to cost, resource and various factors. The world has shrunk and the world is flattening as we become more connected. Malaysia needs to realise the forces at work because if we don’t, we will be left behind.
October 24th, 2006 at 7:20 am
Its not just Indonesia as a country that is catching up, if you venture to Tunku Abdul Rahman, you find a huge group of very successful Indonesian businesses. If you look carefully, you will notice the phenomenon all over the country. Whether its on the construction site or selling satay or vegetables at the Pasar Malam.
After all, one of them is already MB of Selangor..
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:59 pm
November 8th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
a couple years ago i studied at HUKM for my MD, i m purely indonesian, n juz a lil bit dissapointed, when i studied there, a lot of malay tend to underestimate the ‘indon’ people…uuuuh so sad…
November 8th, 2006 at 11:48 pm
[...] Lately there are lots of new apartment being constructed in Jakarta, like this one. Meanwhile, the Jakarta Stock Exchange is up 4% within the last week, setting a new record high day after day. Maybe we really are not that bad after all. [...]
November 16th, 2006 at 3:33 am
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:40 am
[...] I told him, look at Malaysia, toll rate is going to increase soon, Consumer Price Index (CPI) is going upward, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flow into Malaysia doesn’t look good (even Indonesia had overtaken us in drawing FDIs), Corruption Perception Index (CPI) continues to slide, a big bunch of people are preparing to move out from Malaysia and yet we’re still fighting over the 18.9% or 45% New Economic Policy (NEP). The best part is, the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is complacent about his achievement. [...]
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:38 pm
June 20th, 2007 at 2:28 pm