I was at Batam beach facing the island of Singapore sometimes in the year 2000, I could see chain of high rise buildings on Singapore soil. I had never been there, but i was so sure that time, Singapore is so much different from any place in Indonesia.
Singapore, for most Indonesians is merely a shopping paradise. Singapore welcomes more than 10 million tourist last year bringing in $14.5 billion of money, you can imagine a country with 4 million population hosting tourists tripe its population, it’s like Indonesia is welcoming 500 million tourists.
For a small country like Singapore (sized only half size of Gunung Kidul regency in Yogyakarta), it is really a great achievement. Great great one.
However, Singapore is not only a tourist destination. Singaporeans did not get this wealthy merely from tourist pockets. GDP percapita of this tiny nation is $52,000, a level even developed nations find it difficult to catch up with. Many of us don’t know that the architect of Singapore’s economy was Dr. Albert Winsemius, a Ducth economist who was Singapore’s economic adviser from 1961-1984. Dr Albert was involved in designing the industrialization of Singapore. He changed Singapore from a entrepot (transit point) to be world class manufacture center. Singapore is home to many industries world many billions of dollar. It is where the world’s largest oil refinery is located, it is a place of 130 international banks setup their biz, a country with world class and most advanced facilities in all sectors.
What can we do from here?
1. We can benefit from Singapore’s wealth for sure. Investment, export destination, tourism, to name a view.
2. We can actually replicate the way Singapore developed itself to our cities. Imagine if Indonesia has 8-10 cities like Singapore.
3. We can also establish more free-trade zone in regions sharing border with Singapore.
Any other idea?
Akhyari Hananto
Popularity: 3% [?]
Fauzi Js
2 months ago
no way.. im becoming more pessimistic of the future of the cities in my beloved indonesia. i dont know. it’s just… let’s be realistic! poor roads, poor public transportations, loads of crowded and slum areas, horrendous traffic jams, beggars, and many many mooore! the govt cant even make jakarta (as the representative of indonesia) a cool city! let alone other cities. gosh! we cant transform all the cities to be like s’pore unless we rebuild the cities from the beginning. and its impossible (-_-|||) i sound so pathetic, well i indeed do!
maurits
2 months ago
I strongly disagree with Mr Fauzi. I do believe that we can achieve better and become prosperous. Yes we still have a lot of work to do, but isn’t a great nation always started with the determination of its people? No matter what.
Indonesia has all the ingredients needed to become a major player in economy, and even now Indonesia is back on the radar and classified as a G 20 country. Some people may not realize it, but that is a sign of a great economic growth.Not bad for a country which suffered the most from major 97 crisis. Not bad at all. Infact, some expert considered it as a major achievement.
So there is no need to become so desperate. Indonesia can and surely will become a prosperous nation.
maurits
2 months ago
I strongly disagree with Mr Fauzi. I do believe that we can achieve better and become prosperous. Yes we still have a lot of work to do, but isn’t a great nation always started with the determination of its people? No matter what.
Indonesia has all the ingredients needed to become a major player in economy, and even now Indonesia is back on the radar and classified as a G 20 country. Some people may not realize it, but that is a sign of a great economic growth.Not bad for a country which suffered the most from major 97 crisis. Not bad at all. Infact, many expert considered it as a major achievement.
So there is no need to become so desperate. Indonesia can and surely will become a prosperous nation.
RTB
2 months ago
Singapore shouldn’t be our role model, considering both countries have really huge differences. They are small country with so few people. Besides, Singapore is a more trading country, but not production based. In politics, that country is also not a democratic nation as Indonesia.
If we want to find a role model, it should be countries like India, Brazil or even Thailand. Those countries had similar problems as Indonesia right now, such as: poverty, human resource, population problem, corruption, democracy etc. However, they are overcoming the problems (although to some extent, problems like poverty still exists in India/Brazil ’til now).
Indonesia, in my opinion, will never be like Singapore, but Indonesia can be powerful in politics and economics as India/Brazil.
Akhyari
2 months ago
Balikpapan is likely the first city to adopt singapore’s initial development. Important port, transit-based city, and production based.
Soon, it will surprise as all