Indonesia is starting to get the attention it deserves and can no longer be ignored by multinational companies seeking growth, according to James Castle, an American business consultant with 30 years experience in the country.
Castle, founder of the consultancy CastleAsia, told the International Herald Tribune that Indonesia’s visibility in the Group of 20 and its economic resilience during the global downturn over the past 18 months had started to attract attention from companies across the globe.
“After ’98 and the Asian financial crisis, Indonesia just got ignored. Now it’s in the discussion.” he told the IHT.
“Some companies may for very good reasons decide that now is not the right time for them to come here, but they will have made a conscious decision. Indonesia can no longer be ignored. If you’re a global company, and you’re not in Indonesia, you really have to ask yourself why, or why not.
“Most big companies are looking at Indonesia and trying to find opportunities here. And if they’re not, they should,” he added.
Castle said Indonesia had attained a stature similar to that of the so-called BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China), and might even have an edge over China and Russia in social and political stability over the longer term.
“I think both China and Russia have tremendous political obstacles to overcome, though meanwhile they both can be very good places to do business,” he said. “Large companies will have the resources to go into all these countries if they want to. So it’s really just a question of, ‘Is that particular market ready for us right now?’”
Castle acknowledged much work remained to be done for Indonesia to become a true economic power, including infrastructure and regulatory reform.
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