TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi has spoken up about issues surrounding the debt for the construction project of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train (KCJB) being guaranteed by the State Budget (APBN). He told media reporters to ask Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati directly about the matter.

“Ask the Finance Minister,” he said as quoted from a press statement published on the Cabinet Secretariat’s website, on Wednesday, October 4, 2023.

As previously reported, Sri Mulyani passed the Finance Minister’s Regulation Number 89 of 2023 concerning the government guarantees to accelerate the implementation of the country’s first bullet train.

A number of observers and economists criticized the issuance of the regulation. Yusuf Wibisono, director of Indonesia Development and Islamic Studies (IDEAS), assessed that the regulation caused the government to fall into China's debt trap.

“The government is forced to comply with China's demands to ensure that the project is finished and not abandoned,” he told Tempo via a WhatsApp text on Wednesday, September 20.

President Jokowi launched the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train, which is officially named Whoosh, on October 2, 2023. Developed by the joint venture between China and Indonesia, the train cost more than US$7 billion.

MOH. KHORY ALFARIZI

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