President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has stressed the importance of foreign investment to improve the economy since assuming office. Like his predecessors, the President strongly believes investment will improve people’s welfare. In Jokowi’s first term, his administration prepared 16 economic policy packages to facilitate investment. Then-vice president Jusuf Kalla also supported the policy to reduce labor costs; while for decades tripartite negotiations between the government, business sector and unions had determined the annual minimum wage, a formula was determined to set minimum wages, thereby abandoning the lengthy negotiations. However, those steps failed to adequately increase investment inflow. Therefore, at the beginning of his second term, the President took a giant step, introducing a planned omnibus bill that would summarize over 70 acts in one bill ca...

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