TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's State-owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister, Erick Thohir, stated that President Joko Widodo or Jokowi will officially launch the Merah Putih Fund on December 17, a platform to fund or support local startup firms.

"On December 17, inshallah, Bapak President Joko Widodo will launch what is called the Merah Putih Fund," Erick said in his speech at the Technology Institute of Sepuluh Nopember Surabaya, Saturday, December 11, 2021.

The Merah Putih Fund, he went on, is owned by Indonesians, will be operational in Indonesia, and go-public in Indonesia. Erick sees that local startups are funded by foreign parties. "We can't blame that Indonesian startups are funded by foreign investors, we can't be mad [at it]. This is because we did not care at that time," he said.

Erick previously iterated that he wants state-owned companies to do intervention in the digital sector to embrace local startups to be nationalist.

His statement was a response to the many Indonesian startups that moved to Singapore and obtained foreign investment.

The minister said that the government will soon launch the Merah Putih Fund Program supported by Telkom and Telkomsel to fund Indonesian startups. It will be officially launched by President Jokowi in mid-December 2021.

Read: Erick thohir to Prepare Funding for Local Startups

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