JAKARTA - Economist and Public Policy Expert UPN Veteran Jakarta Achmad Nur Hidayat assessed that the temporary trading halt (trading halt) on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) was only able to dampen market turmoil in the short term and did not immediately restore global investor confidence.
According to him, international market confidence cannot be restored only through a 30-minute trade pause, but rather through consistent, measurable, and verifiable reforms.
He emphasized that market authorities are not enough to merely state that Indonesia's economic fundamentals are strong, but must show a real improvement in governance and market openness.
"Authorities are not enough to just say that the fundamentals are strong. Authorities need to show that governance and openness will be improved with a clear roadmap, including improving data quality, transparency of ownership structures, and certainty of rule enforcement," he said in a statement, Thursday, January 29.
He welcomed the IDX's plan to discuss with MSCI the need for data and improvement measures, but emphasized that the global market is waiting for proof of implementation, not just commitment.
Furthermore, he said that transparency of share ownership must be improved from merely fulfilling formalities to openness that allows verification.
"If the public ownership reporting system is still based on a certain threshold, while more detailed data can only be read through other sources, then there will always be a perception gap," he explained.
According to him, international practices have moved towards disclosure of ultimate beneficial owners, in order to make it easier for investors to understand the company's control structure.
In addition, Achmad assessed that the free float of shares should be a sustainable commitment, not just a listing requirement.
According to him, the low proportion of actually circulating shares, especially in large-cap emitters, is considered to increase market volatility and raise questions about liquidity.
"This is exactly the issue that triggered the discussion of the free float methodology, and why Indonesia is said to have one of the lowest free float averages among the major indices in Asia Pacific according to Bloomberg data quoted by the media," he said.
He also emphasized that the quality of market data and transaction supervision is the main infrastructure of trust.
Regarding MSCI's spotlight on data feed issues and alleged coordinated trading, Achmad assessed that the authorities' response should be in the form of audits, system improvements, and clear and transparent public communications.
Achmad reminded that the deadline called MSCI until May must be understood as a narrow policy window to prevent the risk of market reclassification.
"This means that we are in a short policy window. In the era of global finance, time goes faster than bureaucracy," he explained.
"In the end, the world is not only asking whether the Indonesian economy is growing. The world is asking whether its financial markets can be trusted. Are the rules clear, can ownership information be tracked, is liquidity not an illusion, and do regulators act as architects of the system, not just as firefighters," he added.
According to him, the freezing of MSCI rebalancing and the sharp correction of the JCI are alarms for the national financial market and this is not an invitation to panic, but to be mature and consistent in reform.
He emphasized that if Indonesia wants to continue to be seen as a credible emerging market, then openness to share structure, governance, and market infrastructure quality must be a national project with tangible and measurable results, not just promises.
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