Jokowi Touches Luhut And Partners About Technology Acquisition, The Tesla Case?

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) emphasized that in building any cooperation, especially with foreign parties, it is necessary to ensure that the strategic points of technology production must be in Indonesia.

According to the President, this is part of a technology acquisition strategy that can accelerate the control process independently.

"This order is not only for Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) but also for the entire cabinet, especially the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, the Minister of Trade, the Minister for Industry, the Minister for State-Owned Enterprise, and the Head of Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM)," he said virtually at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Monday, March 8.

To that end, he instructed his staff to prepare the acquisition strategy so that it can be implemented quickly in the country.

“This is very important so that we don't just buy finished products, which in the end will make us unable to make this technology for decades. Please underline, we must establish technology cooperation in Indonesia that involves Indonesian technologists, so that the process of knowledge transfer and experience transfer can take place," said President Jokowi.

As previously reported by VOI, the government through the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan continues to build communication with the high-tech electric car manufacturer Tesla.

So far, the company owned by Elon R. Musk has only expressed serious interest in building cooperation in the field of lithium battery development. Many parties hope that Luhut can attract more Tesla investment by building production facilities in Indonesia.

However, he emphasized that he never mentioned that the electric car manufacturer would invest in building an electric car factory in Indonesia.

"So we never talked (Tesla would build) a car factory," he said some time ago.

Luhut added that Tesla is currently still considering investing in Indonesia in six sectors including starlink, launching pad, hypersonic, lithium batteries, and energy stabilizers.

"We make sure the negotiations are still ongoing," he said.

To note, Elon Musk chose India as Tesla's production base for the marketing area in Asia. In addition, this decision also made India the first country outside America to be trusted to produce the electric car.