EICN SG: C-Suite Congress: Hot Spots Indonesia: Unlocking opportunities in the archipelago

Event Details

We are delighted to extend an exclusive invitation to you for a morning of strategic discourse on the future of Indonesia.

Over the next 25 years, the country's clout could increase spectacularly. Indonesia is the sixth-biggest emerging economy by GDP, and in the past decade has grown faster than any US$1trn-plus economy bar China and India. A source of dynamism is digital services, which are helping create a more integrated consumer market, with over 100m people collectively spending $US80bn a year.

It has a fifth of global reserves of nickel, used in batteries, which makes it a vital link in electric vehicle supply chains, and is pursuing a policy of downstreaming.

Indonesia has found a way to combine democracy with economic reform. Reflecting the traumas of the 1990s, a flawed but pluralist political system that emphasises compromise and social harmony has developed. Public finances are tightly run, incremental improvements include new infrastructure, the cleaning up of state firms and some modernisation of education and labour laws. Corruption is a problem, but the economy is more open than it was ten years ago.

If Indonesia stays on this path for the next decade, the country could become one of the world's ten biggest economies. Inevitably, there are dangers. One is succession. Jokowi's final term ends in 2024 and he has not strengthened institutions that can guarantee continuity after he has left office. Protectionism is another risk. The country has a long history of prickly resource nationalism. Geopolitics could also cause Indonesia to stumble.

Join us as we delve into the challenges, opportunities and potential of Indonesia, with two esteemed guest speakers, Tom Lembong and Anies Baswedan.

This event will be held under Chatham House rules.

Seats are limited - available on a first come first served basis.

Supported by

Agenda

9:30 AM - 9:45 AM

Arrival and registration

9:45 AM - 9:50 AM

Introduction by Sumana Rajarethnam, Director, Economist Intelligence Corporate Network, Southeast Asia

9:50 AM - 10:40 AM

In conversation with Tom Lembong, including Q&A

10:40 AM - 11:30 AM

In conversation with Anies Baswedan (Mr Baswedan will be joining us via video conference)

Speakers

Tom Lembong
Director of Consilience Policy Institute and former Trade and Investment Minister of Indonesia
Tom Lembong served as Indonesia’s Trade Minister and then Chairman of Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board (recently renamed Indonesia’s Ministry of Investment) from 2015-2019. During his time as Cabinet Minister, Tom became known as one of Indonesia’s leading internationalist and economic reformists. Prior to serving in President Jokowi’s Cabinet, Tom spent his career in finance, starting with Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, ahead of co-founding in 2006 Quvat Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in Indonesia. He had a prior stint in government in 1999-2000 as a Senior Vice President at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, a government agency under Indonesia’s Ministry of Finance and Central Bank to recapitalize and restructure Indonesia’s banking sector after the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis. He returned to politics in 2013 as economic advisor and speechwriter to then-Jakarta Governor Jokowi, a role he continued throughout Jokowi’s first term as Indonesia’s President. Tom wrote some of President Jokowi’s most iconic speeches, like his “Game of Thrones” speech at the IMF-World Bank meetings in Bali in 2018, and his “Thanos” speech at the World Economic Forum. In 2021-2023, he also served as Chairman of the Board of PT Jaya Ancol, the only Provincial Governmentowned enterprise in Indonesia listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange.

Today Tom serves on the International Advisory Council of the IISS (the Institute for International Strategic Studies) in London, and on the International Advisory Board of Plastic Omnium (an automotive components company in France).

After leaving Cabinet, Tom set up and officially operates from Consilience Policy Institute in Singapore, a think tank to advocate for internationalist and reformist economic policies in Indonesia. He obtained his Bachelor’s in Urban Architecture from Harvard University in 1994. Tom was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World
Economic Forum in 2008. He was also awarded the Asia Society Australia-Victoria
Distinguished Fellowship in 2017. In 2020, the South Korean Government awarded Tom
the “Gwanghwa Medal, First Order of Merit”, the highest category of medal awarded to
non-Korean civilians.
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Anies Baswedan
former Governor of Jakarta
Anies Rasyid Baswedan served as the Governor of Jakarta from 2017-2022. During his tenure as Jakarta Governor, he also served as the Chairman of the Indonesian Governors Association, and was the Vice Chairman of the steering committee of the C-40 (Cities-40) Forum where he was in the leadership alongside the Mayor of London and the Governor of Tokyo. He also Co-Chaired the Urban-20 Forum as part of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency in 2022.

Prior to winning election to the Governorship of Jakarta in 2017, Mr. Baswedan served as the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia (2014-2016). In 2007-2014, he was the rector of Paramadina University, a leading private university in Jakarta. He was Indonesia’s youngest university rector when elected in 2007. He is also the Founder of Indonesia Mengajar, an organization that sends top Indonesian students to teach at schools in the most remote regions of Indonesia for 1 year.

Mr. Baswedan attained his Ph.D. in Political Science from Northern Illinois University, an MA in Public Management from the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, and a BA in Economics from Gadjah Mada University. During his studies, he was granted numerous scholastic awards including a Fulbright Scholarship, the William P Cole Scholarship, the Gerald Maryanov
Fellowship, and a JAL Scholarship.
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Sumana Rajarethnam
Director, South-East Asia of Economist Intelligence Corporate Network
Sumana is a senior policy professional with 17 years of experience. Having worked at several dynamic and vibrant tech firms, Sumana designs and implements policies through advocacy, strategic communication and evidence-based analysis. With a flair for writing and communication, Sumana is able to negotiate complex engagements & cultivate senior-level internal/external relationships.

Sumana holds a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan, as well as a B.A. in Political Science and Geography from UCLA.
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