Can Indonesia Lure Its Diaspora Back Home?

Behind China and India’s rise to economic stardom is its army of diaspora. After years of working at the West’s reputed financial institutions, innovative technology firms, and top universities, they came back in drove bringing with them world-class skills and expertise necessary to spur growth in the high tech sectors, from telco, pharmaceutical, biotech, to space program.

Against the economic slump in their host countries, many are lured by lucrative economic opportunities at home, others tempted by favorable policies and preferential treatment, like China’s “Thousand Talents” program which offers tax free cash allowance of $150,000 permanent residency, start-up fund and other generous subsidies for its diaspora — colloquially known as the “sea turtle.”


China’s top search engine Baidu, for example, is founded by Robin Li, a Silicon Valley alumni. On the other hand, India’s success story is better epitomized by Bangalore — the country’s answer to Silicon Valley — fueled by its returning tech workers during the dotcom bust.

While not as big as China and India (50 million and 20 million, respectively), Indonesia’s diaspora, estimated to be between 8 million to 10 million — larger than the Vietnamese and Korean diaspora — are also a source of tremendous managerial, technical and creative talents.

But, unlike the Chinese and Indian diaspora, “Indonesia diaspora is like millions of unconnected dots whose social, economic and brain powers have largely been untapped,” said Sonita Lontoh, a green technology expert and a successful Indonesian diaspora working with Trilliant, a leading smart grid company in the Silicon Valley.

They are a diverse group of students, artists, educators, professionals, businessmen to innovators, they are a diverse group with immense knowledge, skills, capital and networks the country can use to usher it into an era of knowledge-based economy.

“The median income of Indonesian diaspora in the US alone is $59,000 per year, which is $10,000 more than the annual income of all Americans. And every year, Indonesian diaspora send $7 billion back home,” Dino Patti Djalal, Indonesia’s ambassador to the United States, pointed out during the first Congress of Indonesian Diaspora (CID) in Los Angeles in July.

The country has only recently started to acknowledge its diaspora as an economic asset, though there is yet a clear policy and coherent strategy to unleash the hidden power of its diaspora.

“I think the Indonesian diaspora are kind of feeling alienated thus far,” said Andi Sie, a diaspora living in Ohio and a successful start-up entrepreneur who co-founded eEvent, an online event promotion.

“Many felt that their successes or failures are independent of government. So the ball is now in the court of the government to regain their trust,” he said, lauding the last CID as a significant step.

Daliana Suryawinata, a prominent architect and urbanist living in the Netherlands also feel the lack of attention from the government. Up to now, she said, her researches on Indonesian cities have been paid by the architecture funding institute in the Netherlands.

“They did that so often, until the moment they asked me, ‘Well, this research would be beneficial for your own country, wouldn’t your government provide the funding for it?’ And I am like speechless,” said the founder of architecture firm SHAU which also consults Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo on key urban projects.

“A way to acknowledge Indonesian diaspora besides giving awards is for the government to arrange project funding to enable more projects from Indonesian diaspora for the country. Simple grants for important Indonesian projects will be good to start with,” she added.

Asked whether we should emulate China and India’s efforts, Chatib Basri, the head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), said the country still has a long way to go. He preferred to talk about a more practical and immediate solution instead, picking the low-hanging fruit like revising the visa policy.

“It sounds like a tall order to me at the moment. Why don’t we first deal with something more concrete, say, by granting them an extended visa over a period of five to ten years,” he said, explaining that it’s such a hassle to apply for a visa where one has to renew his visa every three months outside the country.

“It’s doable and its impact will be felt immediately. You don’t need to change any law, you don’t need to go to the parliament. How do you expect people to come and invest if you make life harder for them. I am a very pragmatic person. Take care of this issue first and then we talk about concerted policy like what China and India did.”

Chatib is convinced that if we made the diaspora feel rewarded and appreciated, people like Sehat Sutardja — who is chief executive and co-founder of Marvell Technology Group, the third-largest fabless semiconductor company in the world — and Iwan Sunito — an Indonesian-born property tycoon in Australia and chief executive of Crown International Holdings Group — will invest in the country.

“We are already an investment grade and our economy expected to grow robustly. Our market is huge. So it’s not a matter of if, but when [for the diaspora to invest in the country],” Chatib said, though argued that diaspora don’t have to necessarily come home to contribute to the country’s development. “Let them be a brain hub and part of the production network, they can be our link to the world.”

Andi Sie agreed, arguing that the diaspora can serve as link for investment, access to global market and global customers, and an indispensable brain power.

With the recent ambitious push in creative industries, for example, Indonesia would certainly benefit from its excellent talents overseas, young people who help animate and create the special effect of blockbusters like Shrek, Transformers, Spider-Man, the Terminator, Iron Man, and the Adventures of Tintin.

While many see this as “brain drain,” expert warns against jumping too fast to a conclusion.

“When we define brain drain as something that has adverse effect to a country’s economy, then there is no brain drain in Indonesia,” said Ariane Utomo, a research fellow that focus on education and labor force at the Australia National University.
(December 18, 2012. Hermawan Lim)