In this installment of Looking South, Eric Gau chats with Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Indonesia economic director Jack Hsiao about expanding business ties with Indonesia under the New Southbound Policy.
Transcript:
Eric Gau: Good morning. I’m Eric Gau, and you’re listening to Looking South, here on ICRT. Today, we are taking a look at how the central government’s New Southbound Policy has affected Taiwan’s business ties with one of the target countries, Indonesia. To tell us about that, we have Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Indonesia economic director Jack Hsiao. Director Hsiao, welcome to the show.
Jack Hsiao: Hi, welcome.
Eric: Mr. Hsiao, what was doing business like in Indonesia before the New Southbound Policy was implemented?
Jack: I was in fact posted here in Jakarta in January of last year. Basically, what has been before was just hearsay for me. But I heard that in the past, when Taiwanese investors came to Indonesia to invest or even do business, there were a lot of challenges that was different from doing business in Taiwan. For example, there would be different authorities giving out different regulations and restrictions. Sometimes those directions or restrictions are confusing or conflicting with each other, making it much more difficult for newcomers to find their way properly to do business in Indonesia. But recently, in these past two years, under the leadership of President Jokowi, the current president of Indonesia, actually a lot of effort was devoted into this particular area, to try to deregulate and to try and make it clear for local people as well as for foreigners to do business here. I would say that in the past, it was quite challenging, with quite some protective measures, but it’s getting more and more clear now, or even easier for people to do business in Indonesia.
Eric: With these new changes from both Indonesia and the support of the Taiwanese government, how have things changed in the way Taiwanese companies interact with their local counterparts since then?
Jack: I would say that after the New Southbound Policy, my government tried to bridge a lot of channels and dialogues between the authorities on both sides, and that actually provided a great opportunity for people to dialogue and exchange viewpoints, and sometimes to find solutions. For example, since last year, Taiwan and Indonesia convened the Industrial Collaboration Summit. This is a forum where we tried to gather hundreds of companies from the Taiwan side and the Indonesian side to get together to sit down and discuss in different sections to try to find mutual possibilities and opportunities to cooperate. We actually tried to set up a Taiwan Desk in the Investment Board in the Indonesia government, and we tried to provide one-stop and on-time service for any investors from Taiwan, if they would like to come to Indonesia to invest. If there are any difficulties or problems, that would be the single stop for them to go to approach and to find the proper answers from the authorities from different ministries. That is something that provides a much better communication environment for our people to feel more comfortable and to get oriented here in this particular market.
Eric: Looking forward, what else can be done to further stimulate economic exchanges and business activity between Taiwan and Indonesia?
Jack: That would be a mutual way, if we’re talking about the New Southbound Policy, which is different from 20 years ago, because we try more and more to emphasize on two-way communication. In the past, maybe we only say that we want to nominate one industry to come to one market to invest, and that’s it. No negotiations, no consultations at all. But now, we spend much more time to try to bring people from the two sides to sit down and talk, to actually find what is mutually benefit for each other. And then, to start working on that basis will be a slower process, but is building a much more solid basis for both sides. We always try to discuss with our Indonesian counterparts what will be beneficial for both of us to work together and make money. We identified several possible areas, for example, agriculture. In Indonesia, there are mostly small-size farmers, like Taiwan. They have ample natural resources, which is what Taiwan does not possess. But on the other hand, we do have manpower, brainpower actually, to make much more value-added agricultural production. So we do find genuine possible areas if we can explore cooperation between Taiwan and Indonesia, in the agriculture sector, in aquaculture sector, in food processing sector. And those are the things that we are confident in after discussing with our Indonesian counterparts.
Eric: Stepping away from business a bit, how has the New Southbound Policy affected how the people in Indonesia view Taiwan and its firms doing business there?
Jack: The government, in addition to business, does a lot more to try to bring people-to-people interaction more closely with each other. For example, we try to invite more Indonesian students to study in Taiwan. Three years ago, the number of Indonesian students studying in Taiwan as registered students was roughly around 3,000. Two years ago, the number increased to 5,000, and this year, it’s increased to 7,000. This is steady growth, to guarantee that two-way communication has a very good foundation there. In addition, we also try to pay more attention to pay more attention to migrant workers from Indonesia. There are more than a quarter-million migrant workers from Indonesia working in Taiwan. They actually pay respect to Taiwan market there, because they understand that Taiwan actually offers the same minimum wage to migrant workers from Indonesia. That is something they are not often accorded in other markets. That is something they special attention to that. There is also international marriage between Taiwan and Indonesia people, the number is getting more and more. The next generation in Taiwan, to a certain percentage, will have one parent from Taiwan and one parent from Indonesia, so there is actually a lot of social exchange. We do promote a lot of tourism activities both ways, so people here, especially the audience here, when they come to our seminars or briefing sessions, they will listen to our way of design, for example we try to set up halal restaurants, halal hotels, halal tourist itineraries; I was told that by the later part of this year, there is the possibility that one hospital in Taiwan will get halal certificate. There is more and more of this bilateral friendly activities going on, and we do hope that this will pave the basis for the next generation or future workers to know both sides more and be able to bridge more in-depth cooperation for this New Southbound Policy.
Eric: We’ve been chatting with TETO Indonesia director Jack Hsiao about Taiwan-Indonesia business ties under the New Southbound Policy. Mr. Hsiao, thank you for taking the time to join us on the air today.
Jack: Thank you.
Eric: That wraps up this week’s episode of Looking South on ICRT. I’m Eric Gau, and thank you for tuning in.