Faisal Basri Talks About The Corruption Of Nickel Investments And Foreign Workers From China That Can Make Indonesia Lose Hundreds Of Trillions

Indef's senior economist, Faisal Basri. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Senior economist Faisal Basri criticized the government for being blind to potential losses in nickel investment, including the problem of recruiting foreign workers from China. Faisal said that Mother Earth only received a coolie's wages and a modest land rental fee.

Faisal said the government - which he later called the ruler - failed to promise to build a battery factory for electric cars. He said, until now Indonesia has only processed pellets, nickel pig iron, ferrous nickel, and semi-finished steel.

"Almost all of the nickel smelter products they export to their own country. The authorities do not impose a value-added tax (VAT) because almost all of their products are exported. They do not also pay export taxes," said Faisal Basri, quoted from his personal blog, Wednesday, February 23.

In the context of nickel ore processing, Faisal said the authorities had sold nickel ore, setting the price at only about a quarter of the domestic price. Due to these conditions, he said, it is inevitable that many foreign businessmen, especially China, flocked to Indonesia.

"If it is necessary to move a nickel smelter factory in the country. It could be that the used machine that is moved is recognized as a new machine, the price is inflated so that it looks as if the investment value is jumbo so that you can get tax-free facilities (tax holiday), get tax allowance, investment allowance, and super deduction tax," said Faisal.

Regarding foreign workers, Faisal said that hundreds of thousands of workers had been brought in. Most of the workers, he said, used a visit (tourist visa), so they did not pay a levy of 100 US dollars per month per worker. The wages range from IDR 15 million to IDR 50 million.

"Are they experts? Most of them are not, most are high school graduates or lower. There are forklift drivers, heavy equipment drivers, security guards, statisticians, dormitory officers, and many others," he said.

Faisal assessed that so far there has been no sign from the government to conduct an audit of the extraordinary fiscal facilities they have received and the labor audit which is suspected to have violated the rules.

"The country has the potential to suffer hundreds of trillions of rupiah in losses. We have never heard a voice from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Manpower," he said.

Faisal further said that the authorities repeatedly boasted that exports had increased by hundreds of percent, but their foreign exchange had flown away.

"So, what is the Ruler proud of? Proud to be a supporter of industrialization in China?" he complained.

Faisal also highlighted the steps taken by foreign companies to take control of nickel mines. The entrepreneurs, he said, began to reduce their purchases of nickel ore from national miners.

"In addition to coming from their own mines, their nickel ore procurement is also supported by mining SOEs which have signed sales contracts for millions of nickel ore with them (nickel smelter owners)," he said.

"The authorities seem to turn a blind eye to or "protect" the practice of exploiting natural resources by those who damage the environment. Will we be silent on this practice of depleting natural resources that is indescribable?" said Faisal Basri.