Jokowi Wants Downstream Industry in Seaweed Sector

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is pushing the downstream seaweed industry in Indonesia after the downstream industry of mining products comes into effect in 2020. He said Indonesia has the potential to become the largest seaweed-producing country in the world.

“We can be the number one producer [of seaweed] in the world, but [the raw material] is sold to the Philippines. Why don’t we first process it into beauty products or make it into alternative energy sources,” said the President during a meeting with the media editors-in-chief at the State Palace, Central Jakarta, Thursday, August 10, 2023.

He explained that the idea of a downstream seaweed industry came up during his visit to Germany, which used the commodity as an alternative energy source. It is also reported that seaweed can capture quite high carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

With this great potential, Jokowi would encourage the seaweed industry by first guaranteeing the availability of the market. The government would then seek investors.

Jokowi said there were already investors from India who would build the seaweed industry in Bali. “Our future is there,” he said.

On the same occasion, Jokowi also expressed his desire to have a strong successor who would continue his legacy programs, such as the downstream industry, which still has a long way to go.

If his successor is consistent with the downstream industry, Jokowi believes that Indonesia will achieve a per capita income of up to US$10,000 per year in the next 15 years. Moreover, the downstream plan is not only applied to nickel but also to other mining products.

However, Jokowi said that the next president needs to have a strong stance because the plan faces opposition from various countries, including the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH

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