Bahlil called Economy Minister Jokowi all “players” who cannot be fooled by investors.

LIVE – Investment Minister/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia said that the economic ministers in President Joko Widodo’s (Jokowi) government were all “gamblers” who found it difficult to fool investors.

Bahlil made this statement during a public lecture at the IPDN campus which was broadcast online on Thursday, July 11, 2024. Bahlil delivered a public lecture on “Transport Management and National Downstream Strategy Towards Golden Indonesia 2024”.

Bahlil initially said that downstream is the path to golden Indonesia. The first step he took after taking charge of the Ministry of Investment was to encourage downstream activities in the nickel sector.

“Nickel exports in 2017-2018 amounted to only $3.3 billion. Then we stopped exporting nickel to Europe. We stopped and built a domestic industry, made it public. What happened? By 2023, the value of nickel exports from downstream products reached $33.5 billion, which has increased tenfold in just 4-5 years,” Bahlil said.

“This means that we have been lied to all this time. What happened? When we stopped exporting nickel, Europe took us to the WTO. These countries were not prepared to see Indonesia’s progress in improving its wealth,” he continued.

In short, Bahlil said, RI lost at the WTO. His party then reported to President Jokowi and was ordered to continue fighting Indonesia’s sovereignty claim.

From there, Bahlil explained, fossil fuels and coal will soon be abandoned in favour of green energy. That is why the government plans to build an electric car factory.

According to him, of the 100 percent of components in an electric car, 40 percent is the battery and 60 percent is the chassis. There are four raw materials for electric car batteries: nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium.

“In Indonesia we have manganese, cobalt, nickel, but we don’t have lithium. It turns out, I just found out, that’s why Europe brought us to the WTO. They don’t want Indonesia to become a battery producer. country in the world,” he said.

It’s hard to fool investors

Bahlil stressed that the Indonesian government is fighting against the European Union’s claim on banning the export of nickel ore from Indonesia. As a result, LG Korea’s investment in the electric car ecosystem now amounts to IDR 160 trillion.
“Thank God, yesterday we opened the first battery factory in Southeast Asia and the largest factory in Indonesia in Karawang,” he said.

In addition to LG, investors from China Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) will also invest to build a battery plant in Indonesia with an investment value of 5.2 billion USD.

“This is what the world is afraid of. But I tell other governments and ministries in other countries, ‘I’m sorry boss, the current Pak Jokowi government, his ministers, especially the economic minister, cannot be fooled,’” Bahlil said.

“Why (is he not easily fooled)? They are all gamblers, businessmen. Mr. Eric, me, Mr. Airlanga, Mr. Luhut (Marves Luhut’s coordinating minister Binsar Panjaitan), how can they bluff? Papuans say, “You are writing now.” , elder brother reads: “So we can’t do it anymore, we already know that it is a global game,” he said.