What is the Reason Behind Unequal Economic Growth in Indonesia?

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - Indonesia is such a large country and counted as the number fourth most populated nation in the world. It is unquestionable that with its population size, the distribution of wealth is not equally distributed which led to the continually widening gap between the rich and the poor.

The President Director of PT Jababeka Tbk, SD Darmono said that the unequal growth of Indonesian economy is caused by the same rules applied to many different regions in the country. Each region faces different challenges. Each has its own weaknesses as well which means that the rules applied should be adjusted to the conditions of each region.

"The root problem is that we have the same rules for each region. Each region encounters different issue and so the rules have to be adjusted to the condition of the specified regions," Darmono said, Jakarta, Friday (20/02/2015).

He thinks the generalization of rules implemented only improves the economy in the areas of Java, especially Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi. Thus far, the rules only benefited those around these areas as they are evidently developing and the closest to the capital city.

"Should the investment rules also generalized by th government then only the Java area would get the profit, this means the economy elsewhere will not progress as expected," Darmono continued.

Darmono thinks, the Indonesian government ought to make a specialized economic zone to help develop the undeveloped areas so that it could catch up with the developed ones. Within that specialized economic zone, there should be rules applied in accordance to the condition of the area.

"The specialized economic zone is very beneficial and imprative for the development of Indonesian economy in general. We have 17 islands in total, we ought to make good use of it," Darmono concluded.

Hitherto, investors always targeted Java island as their most favourite place to invest. That is why almost 70% of Indonesian industries are centred on the Javanese region. (Akp/Tnt)