Investment In The Jokowi Era Is The Highest In History, Faisal Basri: Why Are The Results So Little?

President Jokowi at the Merdeka Palace (Photo: BPMI Setpres / Rusman)

JAKARTA - Senior Economist Faisal Basri said there was something wrong with the development process carried out by the government of President Joko Widodo. According to him, this should be acknowledged by the government so that improvements can be made.

"Well, what is the wrong example? A clear example of the increasing value of investment in the Jokowi era. The highest investment in history as well. But why does large investment yield a little ?," he said, in a virtual discussion, Thursday, August 13.

Furthermore, Faisal said, another concrete example of a mistake was the large amount of investment that had entered Indonesia, even hundreds of trillions, one of which was in the nickel smelter industry. However, the increase in taxes in this sector was zero.

"And the Ministry of Finance has begun to realize that there is something wrong with our nickel management. So there is a lot of investment, but it still runs out of all. So if it is identified, it is successful, then we will realize that there is something wrong with it," he said.

Faisal said the Jokowi era government only accepted the comparison of its leadership with the previous era in a positive way. Meanwhile, constructive criticism is considered not wanting to be heard.

Merdeka Palace (Photo: Angga Nugraha / VOI)

"Inflation in the Jokowi era is also the lowest in the history of the Republic of Indonesia. The government says it is relevant comparing inflation. So if the good is relevant, the bad is irrelevant. Don't cheat the government," he said.

According to Faisal, the government should have been wise in handling constructive criticism. He also stressed that he had no other intention than to help the government reflect that something was wrong in the government.

"Just fairness, I don't have any agenda. But Pak Jokowi really wants to realize that something is wrong in this process. If we don't want to realize that something is wrong, it is impossible for the tax ratio to go down," he said.

However, said Faisal, this reduction in the tax ratio was not purely Jokowi's leadership, it's just that the government failed to keep it from falling further.

"It means that Pak Luhut's thesis has been wrong and must be corrected. If you don't want to be corrected, just resign. So it's clear who the source of the problem is clear. So we want to help Pak Jokowi identify the root of the problem so that it can be resolved," he said.