I lived and worked in Indonesia for some years during the 1990s and so I was delighted to help with the production of the new and extremely useful guide Doing Business in Indonesia published by UKTI last week.
First, a bit of background information that might help. Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world with a population of 240 million; it has the third fastest growth figure in Asia, this year expected to be around 6%; it has an affluent and aspirational middle class of about 35 million; and is politically stable with vast natural resources. Unsurprisingly, it is potentially a tremendous market for British goods and expertise.
In the words of my friend Brian Woolley of Chase International, who also helped with the guide: “The sheer size of Indonesia is a great draw; there’s so much economic activity that it represents a major market.”
Since President Sudhoyono (widely known by his initials SBY) was elected in 2004, the issue of corruption has been tackled with the creation of a special government agency called the KPK, and his “Vision for Change” has underpinned considerable economic growth and a renewed role for SMEs in enterprise development. All in all, it represents, as never before, a real opportunity for British businesses. It is a fascinating country too.
Culturally, it is very different and, as an orang asing (foreigner) in a land of orang asli (indigenous people), I found it hugely rewarding. Just take the language of Indonesia or Bahasa Indonesia. To become reasonably proficient in a basic sense is not too difficult. There is no verb to be, there are no tenses: you decide on whether or not it is the past or present by context. To form the plural you simply say the word twice – satu orang is a person, orang orang means people!
It’s a really interesting mix of influences including Dutch, for example: in both languages knalpot means the exhaust pipe of a car and wortel means carrot. At first glance this seems to be straightforward, and may be so, but you will also need to understand some really complex nuances to be able to communicate truly effectively. A command of prefixes and suffixes is vital.
So it goes with other aspects of Indonesian culture. On the surface you will find a very welcoming and friendly reception, but dig more deeply and you will be rewarded with a far, far richer experience. The best analogy I can give is the famous Indonesian Wayang Kulit shadow puppet performances. The audience sits on one side of a screen and sees two dimensional shadows, but go behind the screen and you will find the gamelan orchestra and all the puppets which are adorned in a variety of wonderful colours and gold. Watch the performance and you will just see two dimensional images, but take time to go beyond that and you will be rewarded handsomely.
In business my advice is to go beyond the shadows, do the research and get to know the country. You will be rewarded.
For more information on exporting to Indonesia, visit: www.ukti.gov.uk/indonesia.