“The main thing is not the process, the main thing is the result […] We have to work hard, work quickly, productively.”

Like a chief executive officer addressing his employees, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo uttered the directives during his inauguration speech and when he introduced the Cabinet members for his second term.

If Jokowi was the CEO of a private company, he’d be adopting the Chris Allen productivity wisdom of “getting things done” and most probably be a micromanager. The appointment of Mahendra Siregar as deputy foreign minister is one example.

The former Indonesian ambassador to the United States came out of his interview with Jokowi carrying a document with very detailed and specific one-year targets and a “key performance indicator”.

Jokowi instructed Mahendra, a former deputy trade minister and deputy finance minister, to reinvigorate economic diplomacy at the Foreign Ministry. His targets? Increase trade with the US from US$10 billion to $25 billion within two to five years and exceed palm oil export values of $25 billion with $10 billion in foreign exchange savings.

In order to achieve this, Mahendra has been told to negotiate trade facilities with the US, push forward palm oil industry sustainability and revive bilateral trade discussions.

The former boss of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) will directly report to Jokowi and if he fails to meet the target within one year, the President will replace him, the document shows.

Management literature shows that the characteristics of micromanagers include immersing themselves in the work assigned to others, looking at and being involved in the details rather than the big picture and discouraging others from making decisions.

Mahendra is among 12 deputy ministers appointed by Jokowi, who mostly deal with the economy. While the number indicates a big consolidation of power, it also shows Jokowi’s clear intention to fix things on the economic front.

Indonesia’s economic growth has been dragged down by extremely weak exports in light of the ongoing US-China trade war and recession facing Europe’s biggest economies, while Brexit uncertainties add to geopolitical risks in global economic growth. Investment has also stagnated with weakening global demand.

The World Trade Organization even slashed its global trade growth projection dramatically to 1.2 percent this year from previously 2.6 percent, while the World Bank and International Monetary Fund lowered their global growth outlooks.

The external conditions are therefore unfavorable for Jokowi in his second term. Against the backdrop of these risks, it is understandable that Jokowi appointed many people to handle economic-related issues. With most of the 12 deputy ministers, plus the 15 ministers under the coordinating economic minister and coordinating maritime affairs and investment minister, the common thread is to boost investment and trade.

The macroeconomics front looks promising. With Sri Mulyani Indrawati reappointed as finance minister, fiscal and monetary policies coordination with Bank Indonesia helmed by Governor Perry Warjiyo would continue to be strong.

But there lies the issue for other economic team members: coordination.

Looking at Jokowi’s brief for Mahendra and deputy trade minister Jerry Sambuaga, there are already plenty of top-line overlaps. While international trade negotiation and foreign trade fall under the Trade Ministry’s directorate generals, Mahendra is tasked with similar work.

The appointment of two state-owned enterprise deputy ministers and a new tourism and creative economy deputy minister on top of the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) also raise concerns of potential overlaps.

Appearing to have factored in these potential overlaps, Jokowi appointed strong figures in the coordinating minister roles.

The addition of “investment” under retired army general Luhut Pandjaitan’s role as coordinating maritime affairs and investment minster is a clear sign that one of Jokowi’s most trusted allies since the first term is expected to be in charge of an issue of great importance for the President. Apart from investment, strategic sectors from energy and mining to tourism and transportation to fisheries are all in Luhut’s purview.

Luhut has been discussing big-check financing prospects from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the US’ International Development Finance Corporation and the United Arab Emirates' Mubadala to aid Indonesia’s infrastructure and other development programs.

In the first few days, Luhut quickly showed that coordination is strong under his watch. The senior Golkar politician backed BKPM chairman Bahlil Lahadalia’s shocking gentlemen’s agreement with nickel mining companies to temporarily ban raw nickel exports with immediate effect, although the rightful authority, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, has yet to issue any regulation.

The policy flip-flop may spook business players, who have long called for structural and bureaucratic reforms to boost investment, a sticky issue that will have to be comanaged with Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto as well.

For Golkar Party chairman Airlangga, using the state budget to address inequality and economic growth, as well as to revive the manufacturing industry and create jobs, is central to his coordination role. But although the Golkar leader is considered a good fit for a coordinating role, his time as industry minister did not show much in terms of spurring the role of the manufacturing industry in Indonesia’s economy.

So are these strong coordinating ministers enough to handle overlapping tasks? It may take more than a generation to solve deeply rooted issues such as bureaucratic red tape and policy flip-flops within the government, which have created an unfriendly environment for investment.

But if Jokowi stays true to his CEO roots, having run a furniture exporting company, he should trust the process that the economic ministers of his choice go through.

Popular

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Analysis: Indonesia denies normalization with Israel to enter OECD

Citroen to produce electric cars in Indonesia