Indonesia's Economy Already Greater Than Netherlands: Dahan Iskan

Surabaya - State enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan said in terms of the economy, Indonesia has been able to outpace the Netherlands, the country that colonized Indonesia for hundreds of years. "We have beaten the Netherlands since 2011 when Indonesia's GDP reached more than US$800 billion, while that of the Netherlands was more than US$700 billion," he said here on Saturday. Dahlan made the statement during a discussion entitled "The Youths' Optimism Towards a Brighter Indonesia" held by the student executive body of state institute of technology ITS and attended by more than 1,600 students, including from state Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Gajahmada University, Airlangga University and others. During the discussion, opened by ITS Deputy Rector I Professor Dr. Ing Herman Sasongko, the minister, who is former president director of state electricity company PLN, said the achievement was historic, although it was not celebrated as in China. "Indonesia, which was once colonized, could take revenge in an extraordinary way. Even next year, capitalization in Indonesia's stock exchange would beat that of Singapore and in the next two years we would overcome that of Spain," he said. Dahlan noted that Indonesia's economy continues growing above six percent a year, which would make it possible for the country's economy to be equal to that of other developed countries in the next several years. "China has a huge population and is poor, but they became larger than Japan two years ago. In terms of population and the number of poor people, China is not far different from us. The question is why has China become more advanced?" he asked. He said the key to China's progress was its optimism. "To develop optimism they have always celebrated their victories, such as when they beat the British and German economies, and two years ago Japan's economy. " He said China and Japan are rivals, similar to Indonesia and the Netherlands. He added that China had even predicted it would be able to overcome the US and its economy, as China hopes to have the largest economy in the world by 2016. "How about Indonesia?. According to me, we have the potential like China, since Indonesia's GDP at ASEAN levels has reached 51 percent, with the rest being divided among other 10 ASEAN member countries. So, Indonesia's economy could not be undermined," he said. However, Dahlan also said that Indonesia is still ranked 4th in trade among ASEAN nations and also number four in trade with New Zealand, Australia, Japan and the US, compared with other countries' trade. "We could raise the ranking to number one in stages by focusing on achieving a third ranking by doing concrete things," he said. Among the actions he suggested is moving to dominate China's bird's nest market, which is worth Rp25 trillion. "With regard to palm oil exports, we are still beaten by Singapore, but we could later win the position. For that I have planned to merge seven state-owned companies operating in the palm oil sector in the next two years. If the House of Representatives approves this, we will become the world's largest owner of oil palm plantations," he said. Dahlan added that he also planned to build large ports in Tanjung Kuala and Dumai so that big ships could be used to allow Indonesia to export palm oil using big ships to Singapore or even without having to transit in Singapore. "We have to pass the optimism on to the people, as China has done, because we have the potential. If we read the media, it seems our country is chaotic and, therefore, we must spread the optimism and avoid mingling with those who are pessimistic," he said. (*)