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ast spaces, mountains, greenery and pristine beaches on a tropical island '€” who wouldn'€™t love to spend the whole winter in summer-all-year-long Indonesia?

Investors from Australia and Japan may love the idea most, as they are keen to provide more conducive weather for the elderly, having expressed serious interest in opening up nursing homes in Indonesia.

Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Franky Sibarani said Friday that a lot of foreign investors had expressed interest in the idea of establishing retirement homes, but only two were serious: Japan with an estimated US$40 million worth of investment in West Java and Australia with $26 million either in Java or Bali.

'€œMany elderly cannot stand the winter in four-season countries, so they seek a warmer place, such as Indonesia, during the season and go back to their home countries when it is summer again,'€ BKPM chief Franky Sibarani said at a press briefing on Friday.

Such interest could prompt the government to consider adding nursing homes or retirement homes to its negative investment list (DNI), which lists business activities that are off-limits to foreign investors or where special restrictions apply. The government is currently gauging public input until Oct. 31 to revise the list and plans to open up sectors such as manufacturing and forestry.

'€œThere are a number of sectors that we have yet to manage under the regulation. Senior care is one of them,'€ Franky said, adding that private cemeteries might also be subject to investment restrictions.

While investors are excited about the idea of building retirement homes in the country that only has two seasons '€” wet and dry, with tropical temperatures throughout the year '€” senior citizens from different countries have mixed opinions.

For Aloys Engel, a 61-year-old German scientist who has been working in Jakarta for three years, some parts of Indonesia are conducive for senior living. '€œPlaces like Bogor and Bandung in West Java or Lombok are cool and much less polluted and quieter than Jakarta. They suit people like myself, who prefer quiet living during retirement,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

He went on to describe winter in his home city of Cologne in western Germany '€” with shorter days and longer nights. '€œIt is darker, cold and sometimes very wet, thus not conducive for us to go out. And some elderly get sick more easily in winter. They could catch the flu or get a heavy cough.'€

Currently, Indonesia offers retirement visas for people who plan to stay for at least a year of their retirement. '€œThe most common complaints coming from clients is that [the visa] has a lot of requirements and it takes too long to issue,'€ said Lauri Lahi, a commissioner of Indosight, a market entry agency in Jakarta.

'€œI think it would be a good idea for the government to offer a visa with a short processing time and flexible requirements that would allow senior citizens from other countries to retire [in Indonesia],'€ he added.

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has a grand tourism vision to attract 20 million tourists a year into Southeast Asia'€™s largest economy, having waived visa requirements for visitors from more than 40 countries around the world to help achieve the target. The country is expected to draw in 10 million foreign tourists this year.

For 70-year-old Australian retiree Peter Brynt, who has been married to his Indonesian wife for 15 years, the idea of spending his retirement in Indonesia is just '€œOK'€.

'€œIt'€™s a good idea to open the doors for foreign investors to build homes for seniors. However, the country has to improve its environment, as many places and seas are polluted here,'€ Brynt said.

'€œBali is OK as it'€™s a tourism hub with many entertainment places, food and culture centers all in one place. It'€™s got mountainous areas too, which I like, because of the quiet living alternative, but sometimes it'€™s too secluded. Yogyakarta would be the best, because it'€™s smaller and close to various tourist spots and nice places,'€ he went on.

Bynt, who originates from Perth, said that it was true that things could get hard there during winter for the elderly, but also pointed out that there were high quality nursing homes to accommodate them there. '€œThe government has its own standards for it, and they monitor it every year.'€

Ursula Prabowo, who was a registered nurse in Adelaide, Australia, told the Post that there were different types of homes for senior living that were frequently audited by the government, such as retirement villages, hostels and nursing homes.

A retirement village is a complex of apartments or houses occupied by working senior citizens, which has some nurses on stand-by for emergencies. Hostels, where one or two seniors live in a room, have more nurses on duty, while nursing homes are for clients with very poor health. (rbk)