Rachmat Gobel: The Japanese PM’s Visit Implies a Strategic Message

Detiktoday.com – Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Parliament Rachmat Gobel assessed that the arrival of Japanese Prime Minister (PM) Yoshihide Suga to Indonesia was not just an ordinary state visit, but brought a special message in order to maintain a bridge of cooperation between the two countries that has existed for 62 years. This visit gave a signal to the Government not to forget Japan’s strategic role in building geopolitical harmony and the world economy with partner countries.

“PM Suga’s visit has a strong and strategic message from Japan to its partners in ASEAN, including Indonesia. Under anyone’s government, Japan has always wanted to forge a warm relationship. Commitment is always present as ASEAN’s strongest partner, especially Indonesia in the interests of political and economic stability, both in the regional and global arena, “said Rachmat after attending the banquet of PM Yoshihide Suga and Japanese student alumni from Indonesia, in Jakarta, Wednesday (21/10/2020 ).

This commitment, continued Rachmat, should be read by the Government, various related institutions and business actors. According to him, 62 years of cooperation between Indonesia and Japan have contributed continuously to Indonesia’s development in various sectors. “Japan is not only present as one of the largest foreign investors in the oil and gas and non-oil and gas industry, but also plays a major role in improving the quality of human resources,” said the Head of the Indonesian Parliament, the Coordinator of Industry and Development.

After PM Suga’s visit, Rachmat hopes that the commitment of Indonesia-Japan cooperation in various sectors will be even greater. He was optimistic, when he saw the data on the growth of Japanese trade and investment in Indonesia, which was reported by Jetro, it showed that Indonesia’s economic performance to Japan had increased significantly. The total investment of Japanese companies in the last ten years to 2018 was recorded at US $ 31 billion invested in the industrial, infrastructure and service sectors.

Meanwhile, the contribution of Japanese companies’ exports to Indonesia’s total exports to world markets reached 24.4 percent. The absorption, as many as 7.2 million workers and nearly 90 percent of Japanese companies in Indonesia provide training to more than 50,000 workers and professionals. Meanwhile, in the infrastructure sector, one of them is building a power plant with a capacity of 17 Gigawatts.

In the field of human resource improvement, the results of a survey conducted annually by the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) show that the number of Indonesian students studying in Japan has doubled in the last five years to reach 6,277 people in 2018, although the ratio is still in under Vietnam. Vietnam, which sent 72,345 students in 2018, even though Vietnam’s total population is only 96 million.

Rahmat assessed that PM Suga’s visit to Indonesia also opened up great opportunities for national economic actors in various sectors including finance, trade, manufacturing, and infrastructure. This was done for the expansion of existing and new cooperation with Japanese businessmen who joined the group.

“From this visit, we can witness the development and results of the cooperation between Indonesia and Japan in various sectors, including the progress of infrastructure projects financed by Japan,” he said. This must be used to explore new opportunities. Hopefully this visit will calibrate the heart-to-heart relationship according to the Fukuda Doctrine, becoming even stronger, “he stressed.

In the future, the NasDem Party politician hopes that through related agencies the Government needs to continue to maintain good relations by ensuring fair regulation for all partner countries of Indonesia, including Japan. Moreover, in the midst of industrial development and information technology which will continue to develop rapidly in the future.

“As long as the relationship is fair to all traditional strategic partner countries, we can hope that not only will the investment value increase, the quality of investment will also be able to strengthen the national economic structure and face various challenges in the industrial era 4.0, including realizing the Golden Indonesia Vision 2045 which was announced. President Jokowi, “Rachmat concluded.