As President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo focuses his administration’s agenda on human resources and talent development, issues that are presenting themselves as major challenges are the 2003 Labor Law revision, shortage of skilled workers and the rise of automated jobs. The business community considers the 2003 Labor Law and its derivatives to be one of the factors dragging down the country’s competitiveness, as high severance pay requirements and high wage requirements have discouraged labor-intensive, smaller enterprises from investing in the country. One example is the South Korean Garment Entrepreneurs Association in Indonesia chairman, Ahn Chang Sub, among businesspeople who have lamented the drastic minimum wage increases over the years in West Java. Last year, an estimated 21 companies planned to relocate their factories from Karawang, West Java, to other...