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  • A power crisis has many businesses in Indonesia worried about incurring losses because of the blackouts. What impact do you think the energy cuts will have on the Indonesian economy?

Answers

  • Anang Kurniawan - Kediri, Indonesia

    To tell the truth, it is absolute loss to the industry and leads to worsening our economic condition. However, survival of the fittest will be significant in this time of electricity crises.

    Just assume, the crises as a test to prove our industrial strength to challenge the weakening factors. Once they are survive, they will no longer blame or expect aids from the government. First, it is useless to do so for PT. PLN is only a proof of government failure in expanding money: a symbol of 'the mouse dying in the barn'. Nothing could be expected from that government institution. Second, the survival is stood on its own feet. The question will be a decisive option. DO they want to die by expecting better government policies in electricity? or Do they want to face the challenge by producing alternatives regarding electricity?

  • David Booth - Bogor, Indonesia

    The power crisis, if it continues to be mismanaged by both PLN and the central government, will kill off any green shoots of recovery. The country's business leaders are reduced to begging for a timetable of blackouts, while PLN attempts to dictate the operating hours of its customers (though I'm sure most feel more like victims than customers). It is high time that those same business leaders were invited to direct operations at PLN, and for central government to show some genuine leadership in creating new capacity now.

  • Daryl Collins-Roe - Medan, Indonesia

    I am somewhat mollified, now that I hear that Jakarta will have extensive blackouts. For reasons I cannot ascertain, Medan has been suffering daily blackouts for the past 4 years, yet little has been reported about this. The local media occasionally criticize PLN, but other than the usual "concern" expressed by the city's leaders, nothing has been done.

    This crisis has been coming for years, but maybe the politicians and Heads of government departments subscribe to the old adage, "ignorance is bliss". Of course it will impact on the economy, however another economy has been created, especially here in Medan. There is a major retail industry in the city, selling household and business size electric generators. However there is a downside to this type of business, ie, the extra demand for fuel by householders and businesses, and noise pollution.

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