TEMPO.CO, Batam – Indonesian Ambassador to ASEAN Ngurah Swadaya said corruption has diminished Indonesia in competing with other countries and its efforts to boost its economic growth. Currently, Indonesia is ranked 34th in terms of competitiveness, far below Singapore in the second position and Thailand in the 30th.

Ngurah Swadaya revealed that 284 regional heads, 3,169 councilors and 1,221 civil servants were implicated in graft cases.

“So, we have to prevent corruption,” Ngurah Swadaya told students, business owners, and stakeholders in Batam during a seminar on Thursday, May 21, 2015.

In terms of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Ngurah said, Indonesia’s huge population that accounted for 40 percent of the ASEAN total population is a potential market. However, Ngurah added that realizing mutual relationship between ASEAN countries would take global competitiveness since ASEAN was the third largest economy in the world.

Ngurah also called for increased attention to laborers. According to Ngurah, about 46.6 percent of seven million unemployed people in Indonesia are elementary school graduates, and the other 33.5 percent are middle school graduates.

Batam Management Agency (BP-Batam) head Mustofa Wijaya said Batam was ready to take the challenge of the AEC. Currently, the BP-Batam is developing the infrastructure called for by investors and the people of Batam. The city’s economic growth soars above six percent annually. In average, foreign investors set up 100 companies each year. By April 13, 2015, foreign investments in Batam reached US$17.7 million.

RUMBADI DALLE