<![CDATA[Review of infrastructure investments in Indonesia not scapegoating China, Jokowi's opponent says]>
If Prabowo Subianto becomes Indonesia's next president, his government's review of foreign investments " including the US$6 billion China-funded high-speed rail project " will not turn into a blame game, his pick for vice-president Sandiaga Uno has pledged.
Indonesia is hungry for more domestic and foreign investments, especially from China, which is already a "huge investor", to create quality jobs that can boost incomes and prosperity.
"We would focus more on investments we can do together with our Chinese counterparts that create jobs for Indonesians," the 49-year-old tycoon and investor told This Week in Asia, as he wrapped up a gruelling day on the campaign trail on Friday, ahead of Wednesday's presidential and legislative election.
"But let's prioritise things that create immediate impact for Indonesians ... that create quality jobs and bring about an affordable cost of living," said Sandiaga, the former vice-governor of Jakarta.
About 2 million school-leavers enter the job market each year, and while the middle-class group is growing " with about 20 per cent of the 260 million population now falling into that category " about 1 in 10 Indonesians still lives in poverty.
Sandiaga cited appreciation for President Joko Widodo's focus on ramping up infrastructure " during his more than four years in office, the leader popularly known as Jokowi has launched plans for new roads, railways and ports, though not all have come to fruition.
But a Prabowo government would do better at ensuring infrastructure projects were "a means to an end", aimed at reducing inefficiencies and providing better logistics so job-creating industries such as manufacturing could grow faster, he said.
The vice-presidential candidate described plans for a 142km fast-train railway between the Indonesian capital and metropolitan city of Bandung as "in a nutshell, a good idea".
President Joko Widodo at a ceremony for the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway. Photo: AP
The project was given to China in 2015 after an aggressive bidding battle with Japan, but KCIC, the Indonesia-China consortium building the rail link, has made slow progress due to land acquisition delays. Unclear loan terms have fuelled worries of Indonesia falling into a debt trap, leading to Prabowo's vow he would review the project.
Sandiaga said he had looked at the "alignment [and] the specifications" of the project and concluded there were "a lot of loose ends to be tightened".
"So we would like to sit down with them and see ... In particular, some of the stops that require land clearance [are] impossible to be done in Jakarta," he said. "Because it would deal with ... relocations of thousands of families from the particular area. It's very dense locations [that] they picked as one of the train stops."
The affable and youthful-looking politician spent the penultimate day of campaigning at two rallies in Bandar Lampung, in south Sumatra. He said he had held more than 1,550 meetings across the archipelago in a bid to hear from as many of the 192 million voters as possible.
Sandiaga Uno at a campaign rally in Bandar Lampung, south Sumatra. Photo: Jack Hewson
As his motorcade wound its way past ramshackle warungs [small eateries] and squat buildings housing small businesses, hordes of motorists and pedestrians tooted their horns and waved, raising their thumbs and index fingers to signal their support for Sandiaga and Prabowo, whose names appear second on the ballot after Jokowi and his running mate Ma'ruf Amin.
At the first rally in an indoor sports hall, about 5,000 people stood shoulder to shoulder in the oppressive heat cheering as he spoke.
Fans of Sandiaga Uno express their support with a hand sign. Photo: Bloomberg
Prabowo and Sandiaga have, in their bid to wrest leadership from Jokowi, promised further reforms to propel the resource-rich country to its full economic potential.
If they won, Sandiaga said, their immediate plans would be to woo investments that would bring jobs, specifically in energy to gain self-sufficiency and in agriculture as the country had fertile soil and "farmers who are very diligent and could be trained easily".
Growing the manufacturing sector was another target and better infrastructure would help, he said.
Other low-hanging fruit would be to build new homes and grow "quality tourism that embraces sustainability, a longer length of stay and more spending for the tourism sector", Sandiaga said. About 16 million tourists visited Indonesia last year, including more than 2 million mainland Chinese.
"There are a few others we want to focus on, but these are the quick five sectors that we think will take us to 6, 6.5 per cent growth within two years. And we're very optimistic," he said.
While credible surveys expect Jokowi-Ma'ruf to win the election, the race as tightened after a campaign season driven by religious identity politics and fake news. Analysts have estimated that up to 30 per cent of voters, uninspired by either pair, may abstain from voting.
Undecided voters " totalling about 10 per cent by latest estimates " could also sway the outcome of the election.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
