TWO of Indonesia’s three presidential hopefuls told US investors on Tuesday (Oct 24) they would address issues surrounding doing business in the South-east Asian country.

Former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo told an event hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce that he would ensure legal certainty for foreign investors and boost tax collection in the trillion-dollar economy.

Anies Baswedan, the former governor of the capital Jakarta, promised to maintain Indonesia’s policy credibility by giving major posts to technocrats, and to bolster investment in the manufacturing industry if he wins the Feb 14 election.

“Illegal fees must be eradicated, services must be made cheaper, faster. We must provide legal certainty by enforcing the law,” said Ganjar, who narrowly trails front-runner Prabowo Subianto in surveys. He added that the certainty issue ranks among investors’ key concerns.

Ganjar has promised to boost the average growth of South-east Asia’s largest economy to 7 per cent if he wins the next five-year presidential term. US-educated Anies targets 5.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent growth on average.

Indonesia’s economy grew 5.3 per cent in 2022, boosted by the commodity upcycle. But with commodity prices falling, growth is expected to ease to around 5 per cent this year.

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Ganjar vowed to improve governance in the tax office to double the government’s spending capacity, without giving details.

Anies offered plans to create at least 14 new economic growth centres outside of the main Java island.

Prabowo, the defence minister, did not attend the American Chamber of Commerce event. He is expected to officially register his candidacy to the election commission on Wednesday, and has not made public his policy platform.

Elections in Indonesia are often a battle of personalities rather than policies, with candidates running on similar platforms promoting growth, jobs and pluralism in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.

However, candidates also often promote economic nationalism when campaigning.

Incumbent Joko Widodo, who must step down after serving a maximum of two terms, has asked his successor to continue his policy of prioritising processing natural commodities onshore.

Widodo has overseen Indonesia’s 2020 export ban on nickel ore, which he followed with stopping exports of unprocessed bauxite this year. REUTERS