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Stop viewing world through halal-haram lens, says Kadin chief
The Kadin chairman emphasizes that both businesses and world leaders need to put people first in contributing to world peace.
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Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) chairman Arsjad Rasjid speaks on Nov. 13, 2022 at the 2022 Group of 20’s Business 20 (B20) Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali. (G20 Secretariat/-)
The head of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has stressed the role of business in building bridges over deep divides between countries in an increasingly polarized world economy.
In an exclusive interview with The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, Kadin chairman Arsjad Rasjid, who is also CEO of Indika Energy, said that even though businesses were nonpolitical entities, they held immense responsibility to assist in building peace.
“The Russians are here, the Ukrainians [also], CEOs of companies [from both countries are] at the B20. You know, I met with them,” Arsjad said, referring to the Group of 20's business dialogue forum, or Business 20.
He added that he preferred a “people-to-people” approach to negotiation, rather than a pragmatic business-only approach.
Yet world leaders did not apply this approach, said Arsjad, as “they have forgotten that the bottom line is people”.
Read also: B20 forum ‘rebrands’ Indonesia in eyes of business world
Arsjad, who is Muslim, referred to Islam’s halal-haram dichotomy to describe the current state of global affairs, marked by politically motivated taboos against businesses engaging with their peers from countries considered adversarial.
