After President Jokowi Meets Elon Musk: Optimistic Is OK, But Don't Be Lulled

President Jokowi when he met Elon Musk at the Space X headquarters in Boca Chica, Texas on May 14, which was part of the agenda for a visit to the United States, May 11-15 2022. (Setpres Press Bureau/Lally Rachev)

JAKARTA – President Jokowi met well-known businessman Elon Musk during a working visit to the United States, May 11-15 2022. Jokowi visited Musk's headquarters, the launch site for Space X in Boca Chica, Texas on May 14.

Jokowi stated that his visit to Space X was a follow-up to his order to the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan to speak with Musk.

"A follow-up to my order to meet with Elon regarding investment, regarding technology, regarding innovation, and now I am here and meet directly with Elon to discuss future cooperation," Jokowi said in an official statement from the Presidential Secretariat, as quoted by Antara.

President Jokowi with Elon Musk at Space X headquarters in Boca Chica, Texas on May 14, 2022. (Twitter/@setkabgoid)

Musk replied to Jokowi's statement by expressing interest in exploring some cooperation with Indonesia. According to the 51-year-old man born in Pretoria, South Africa, Indonesia looks very optimistic about the future and shows positive energy.

"I think Indonesia has great potential, and I think we through Tesla and Space X will try some collaborations with Indonesia," said Musk.

Musk also said that he would return Jokowi's visit. The CEO of Tesla Motors and Space X, who is one of the richest people in the world, plans to come to Indonesia to coincide with the G20 Summit in Bali in November.

Bringing Charm

It is undeniable that Musk is a figure who is a world trendsetter. The ideas are crazy, wild, and futuristic. A style that is loved by the current generation.

Musk's desire to form a human colony on Mars is one of them. The idea of sending humans and establishing settlements on the "twin Earth" planet is what led him to found Space X.

Musk believes that in the next 10 years, his dream of bringing humans to Mars will be fulfilled. While a human colony on Mars, according to him will be realized at least in 2050.

"If we are able to create a self-sustaining life on Mars, we have already passed one of the biggest sieves. After that, we can glance at interstellar exploration," Musk said, tweeting in November 2021.

Musk also has the view that congestion in all cities in the world can only be overcome by building a network of underground tunnel roads. That's why he founded a company that specializes in tunnel excavation, called The Boring Company in 2016.

Illustration of settlements on Planet Mars, one thing that has become Elon Musk's obsession with his Space X project. (SpaceX)

To make his dream come true, Musk started a tunnel excavation project at Space X's headquarters in 2017, as a test run. The reason is easy, making projects in privately owned areas does not require complicated permits.

Musk has also ventured into the health sector by founding Neuralink in 2016. The company's core business is brain implants. Musk believes that all health problems can be solved from the brain as the nerve center.

That's why he wants to implant a kind of chip in the human brain, which will later be connected to a computer program with the aim of replacing damaged nerves. Musk has already created a pilot project for Neuralink, using monkeys.

Criticism of Musk

Elon Musk does shine in the eyes of the world's citizens. His crazy ideas are always treated as a great innovation, brilliant. His status as the richest person in the world also adds to Musk's credibility tremendously. Time Magazine will award the Person of the Year award in 2021.

On the other hand, there are also many views of the ambitious Musk as an inconsistent person. As an entrepreneur, Musk's attitude that can change at any time is natural, because he must be profit-oriented. But for his employees, Musk's inconsistency is often upsetting.

Like the latest action taken by Musk, namely acquiring Twitter. Many support it, but not a few object. A former member of the board of directors and one of Twitter's investors, Bijan Sabet, for example. He does not agree that Twitter is completely controlled by Musk.

“Fourteen years ago we rejected FB. Although I hope the current board chooses to remain independent, I still love the product and the Twitter community as before," Sabet tweeted on April 26, 2022.

Dogecoin, Elon Musk's cryptocurrency. (DW/Star Maxi/Picture Alliance)

Sabet also tweeted that in 2008, Facebook had made a $500 million acquisition bid for Twitter. But the offer was rejected by the shareholders of the social media platform.

Musk's acquisition of Twitter is still going back and forth. As quoted from The Star, Musk said that the delay in the acquisition of Twitter was due to his legal team reminding him that he had violated the non-disclosure agreement or the agreement against disclosing confidential information.

The cryptocurrency that has been so glorified by Musk is also collapsing. Not only Bitcoin and Ethereum, but also Dogecoin, which is Musk's cryptocurrency. Dogecoin's current value is only half of what it was before.

When Tesla Motors announced its financial statements in 2020, the media in the United States criticized that the profits were not generated from the sale of the company's main product, the electric car. Tesla is profiting from selling electric car regulatory credits.

Tesla Model S, 2015-2016 best-selling electric car and has been equipped with autopilot in 2018 output. (Wikipedia)

In 2020 Tesla made $720 million from selling electric cars, but from regulatory credit the company earned $1.6 billion.

“In the long term, regulatory credit sales will not be part of the business material. We never planned such a business model. This condition for us is very difficult to predict,” said Zachary Kickhorn, Tesla Finance Director as quoted by The Mercury News.

In 2020 Musk was also criticized for the policies he took towards Tesla employees. During the pandemic, Musk allowed employees who were afraid to enter the office to work from home. But suddenly he made his own rules, in the form of threats of dismissal for employees who were not willing to enter the office during the pandemic.

Responding to all criticism of him, Musk said that he was not always right. His business intuition often misses estimates.

In 2017, Elon Musk very confidently said that by 2020 or 2021, Tesla would be able to sell self-driving cars. But until now, the boasts of people who are considered the richest in the world have not been proven.

"I don't mean to impose a will by influencing people's thinking to the extreme. But I'm not always right," Elon Musk told The Washington Post, in an interview about his dream of producing a self-driving car.