In light of the recent 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta in the first week of September 2023, in support of Malaysia’s Prime Minister (YAB Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim) and Indonesia’s President (Joko Widodo) call to strengthen trade and investment bilateral ties between the two ASEAN neighbors and also investment opportunities in Indonesia’s new capital city of Nusantara, Malaysia’s REHDA Institute Trustees () led a 40 strong senior business delegation to Indonesia in a preliminary trip from 22nd to 24th August 2023.
The REHDA Institute Malaysian delegation led by Tan Sri Datuk Eddy Chen Lok Loi, Tan Sri Dato Teo Chiang Kok, Datuk Haji Muztaza Mohamed were invited by the Nusantara Capital Authority (or Ibu Kota Negara – IKN) the coordinating Indonesian government authority for Indonesia’s new capital city, to explore opportunities in Nusantara.
Senior representatives from IKN (Dr. Agung Wicaksono, Deputy for Funding & Investment, Nusantara Capital Authority) met with the delegation and presented the latest current insights and also development opportunities in Nusantara (which is intended to be a carbon neutral and sustainable city) to the Malaysian delegation.
Dr. Agung highlighted that several Malaysian companies such as Maxim Global Berhad and IJM Corporation Berhad are already in serious discussions to leverage on the opportunities in Nusantara.
Nusantara covers an area of approximately 256,142 hectares (632,940 acres), and the new capital’s cost is estimated by the government to be U.S. $32.5 billion, 53 percent of which will be covered by the Indonesia’s budget.
A high-level business networking meeting was also held on 23rd August 2023 at Swissotel Pantai Indah Kapuk, between the Malaysian delegation and also invited Indonesian business leaders, which saw the attendance of more than 100 attendees, where the Malaysian Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia (His Excellency Datuk Syed Md Hasrin Tengku Hussin) delivered a keynote address.
His Excellency welcomed the Malaysian delegation and highlighted that the close bilateral relationship currently enjoyed between Malaysia and Indonesia is also due to the close personal relationships between the leaders of both countries and that the business communities from both countries should also take the opportunity to work together as part of the ASEAN business community.
Jakarta Property Institute (JPI) which REHDA Institute has a close working relationship with (was represented by Board Members – Harun Hajadi, Karuna Murdaya, Alex Kusuma and also Executive Director – Wendy Haryanto). Real Estate Indonesia (REI) which is the housing developers’ association of Indonesia, was also present (was represented by its senior representatives including Joko Suranto, Rusmin Lawin and also Executive Director – Dani Muttaqin).
Key presentations were also delivered by strategic partner organizations which facilitated the Malaysian delegation (including Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs – Dr. Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti from the Indonesia Ministry of National Development and Planning – BAPPENAS).
Presentations were also delivered by UOB Bank Indonesia (represented by its ASEAN Economist, Enrico Tanuwidjaja), JLL Indonesia (represented by its Head of Research, Yunus Karim), Law firm of Makarin & Taira (represented by Partner, Vincent Lie) and PropertyGuru Singapore (represented by its Director of Special Projects, Winston Lee).
The office of the Governor of the Special Capital Region of Jakarta also officially received the Malaysian delegation in a tour of one of the government’s affordable housing project in Nuansa Cilangkap, where it was enlightening to understand the government affordable housing model in Jakarta and also to visit an actual site to better understand the local design and implementations of such a project.
The Malaysian delegation also visited several property developments around the city of Jakarta including BSD City by Sinar Mas Land, Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD) by the Artha Graha Group, Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) and Ashta8 by the Agung Sedayu Group and Jababeka City Cikarang by the Jababeka Group, where the Malaysian delegation was warmly received by senior representatives from these companies.
Overall, it has been an insightful trip for the Malaysian delegation in terms of understanding the Indonesian developer’s experiences in developing very large townships (from 5600 hectares to 6000 hectares in the developments we have visited).
Many of these townships have a variety of real estate components (including industrial, technology hub, hospitality, commercial offices and retail, residential etc) and the Indonesian conglomerate developers are also willing to invest significant resources in terms of the master planning of the townships and also to develop unique placemaking ideas to drive footfalls into the townships.
Other Malaysian developers that are also exploring overseas opportunities in Indonesia and also have some form of presence in Indonesia include Matrix Concept, Genting and several others.
To promote and facilitate better co-operation between the business community between the 2 countries, many of these Indonesian conglomerates will also be planning a visit to Kuala Lumpur in the near future as a reciprocal trip.
