Prime Minister of Malaysia Praises Indonesia Downstream Program

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim praised the steps taken by Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to focus on commodities downstream programs. Anwar assessed that the policy was carried out to defend or defend the interests of the people.

“I perceive it as a good approach. How do we ensure that everything, such as nickel and palm oil, is in the right sequence to defend the interests of the people,” said Anwar at the CT Corp Leadership Forum event at Menara Bank Mega, South Jakarta (09/01 /2023).

Reported by cnnindonesia.com, Anwar also touched on the digitalization issue that Indonesia and Malaysia plan to carry out.

“He mentioned another digitalization, we are planning digitalization. So he said in a small and simple and wider industry, what I want to call the crave for knowledge is limitless if only you have the sense of humility. Humility is endless,” he explained .

Previously, the Indonesian government had stopped nickel exports. Jokowi claimed that this policy was able to increase the value of nickel exports. The profit from exporting raw materials is only IDR 15 trillion. However, this value may change with downstream programs focused on export processed materials. Profits from downstream program exports can reach IDR 300 trillion.

However, Indonesia must face a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The European Union filed a lawsuit against Jokowi’s policy to stop the export of these raw materials.