Mengintip Ketimpangan Ekonomi antar Wilayah

Dimuat di Bisnis Indonesia, 3 Mei 2012

Pada 6 Februari 2012, Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) merilis data Produk Domestik Bruto (PDB) Indonesia untuk tahun 2011. Salah satu isu yang diulas dalam publikasi ini adalah kontribusi pulau-pulau besar terhadap pembentukan PDB. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa masih terjadi ketimpangan antar wilayah di Indonesia, sehingga diperlukan langkah-langkah strategis untuk mengatasi persoalan tersebut. 

Kontribusi Jawa terhadap PDB sebesar 57,7 persen. Ini berarti, lebih dari setengah PDB Indonesia disumbang oleh Jawa, sedangkan lima pulau besar lainnya, yaitu Sumatera, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku dan Papua, dan Bali dan Nusa Tenggara hanya berkontribusi sebesar 42,3 persen. Jika ditilik kontribusi Jawa terhadap PDB, terdapat tiga provinsi yang memberikan kontribusi paling besar terhadap PDB, yakni DKI Jakarta (16,5 persen) , Jawa Timur (14,7 persen), dan Jawa Barat (14,3). Ini berarti, kontribusi DKI Jakarta terhadap PDB lebih tinggi dibanding Kalimantan dan Sulawesi yang masing-masing hanya sebesar 9,7 persen dan 4,6 persen. Bahkan bila kontribusi dua pulau tersebut terdapat PDB dijumlahkan, kontribusi DKI Jakarta masih lebih tinggi.

Ketimpangan antar wilayah tampaknya merupakan fenomena lumrah. Bank Dunia, dalam publikasi World Development Report 2009, menyatakan bahwa produksi terkonsentrasi di kota-kota besar, provinsi-provinsi utama, dan negara-negara kaya. Ketimpangan wilayah terjadi di dalam suatu negara dan antar negara. Di Mesir misalnya, Kairo berkontribusi lebih dari setengah terhadap pembentukan PDB. Padahal, luas wilayah Kairo hanya 0,5 persen dari total wilayah Mesir. Di level antar negara pun terjadi ketimpangan. Amerika Utara, Uni Eropa, dan Jepang dengan jumlah penduduk kurang dari 1 miliar jiwa, ternyata menguasai ¾ kekayaan dunia.

Ketimpangan antar wilayah merupakan persoalan serius di Indonesia, sebagaimana dipaparkan pada data di atas. Akan tetapi, kebijakan-kebijakan pemerintah untuk memeratakan hasil-hasil pembangunan, atau setidaknya menciptakan pusat-pusat pertumbuhan baru di luar Jawa, belum begitu tampak berhasil. Aliran investasi masih terpusat di wilayah-wilayah yang memang masuk dalam kategori maju. Jika ditilik secara finansial, suatu proyek infrastruktur yang dikerjakan oleh swasta pastinya akan digarap di wilayah-wilayah yang menguntungkan. Proyek pembangunan jalan tol misalnya, akan lebih banyak digarap di Jakarta atau kota-kota besar lainnya dibanding wilayah lain. Akibatnya, pertumbuhan ekonomi hanya terjadi di wilayah-wilayah tertentu, sedangkan wilayah lainnya tertinggal karena minim pihak swasta yang tertarik untuk berinvestasi, terutama dalam pembangunan infrastruktur.

Tentu pembangunan infrastruktur merupakan kewajiban pemerintah, baik level pusat maupun daerah. Infrastruktur meliputi banyak aspek, tapi setidaknya bisa dibagi dua, yakni infrastruktur fisik dan non-fisik. Infrastruktur fisik meliputi jalan, jembatan, pelabuhan, bandara, bendungan, jaringan air bersih, dan lain-lain. Infrastruktur ini diperlukan dalam aktivitas ekonomi.. Ketersediaan infrastruktur merupakan salah satu daya tarik bagi investor. Pasalnya, infrastruktur dapat memberikan kemudahan dalam melakukan aktivitas ekonomi, serta yang paling penting adalah dapat meminimalkan biaya. Selain infrastruktur fisik, yang tak kalah penting adalah infrastruktur non-fisik, meliputi pendidikan, kesehatan, dan pelatihan keterampilan. Pada prinsipnya, infrastruktur non fisik ditujukan untuk menyediakan sumber daya manusia yang mumpuni, sehingga memiliki kapasitas dalam mengelola sumber daya ekonomi menjadi produk yang bernilai tinggi. Jika sumber daya manusia tersedia, baik secara kualitas maupun kuantitas, investor akan tertarik untuk melakukan aktivitas ekonomi di daerah tersebut.

Upaya Pemerintah

Pemerintah Indonesia berupaya mengurangi ketimpangan antar wilayah dengan memfokuskan pembangunan di Kawasan Timur Indonesia (KTI). Fokus pembangunan ini merupakan strategi untuk meningkatkan pertumbuhan ekonomi di KTI, agar mampu sejajar dengan kemajuan ekonomi di Kawasan Barat Indonesia (KBI).

Salah satu strateginya adalah meningkatkan aliran investasi ke wilayah KTI. Investasi bisa bersumber dari pemerintah dan swasta. Untuk menarik investasi swasta, langkah yang perlu dilakukan adalah memberikan fasilitas yang menarik bagi investor, di antaranya adalah ketersediaan infrastruktur, fasilitas fiskal dan non-fiskal yang memadai, serta kemudahan dalam perizinan. Pembiayaan pembangunan infrastruktur bisa bersumber sepenuhnya dari pemerintah, atau sepenuhnya dari swasta, atau kerjasama pemerintah dengan swasta. Adapun untuk fasilitas fiskal dan non-fiskal, merupakan diskresi pemerintah, selama dinilai menguntungkan bagi negara dalam jangka panjang. Sementara itu, kemudahan perizinan kaitannya dengan kemudahan dalam mengurus proses pendirian usaha, sehingga dapat mengurangi biaya transaksi.

Pada prinsipnya, perlu diciptakan pusat-pusat pertumbuhan baru di KTI. Potensi ekonomi di KTI tentu sangat melimpah dan tersebar di berbagai wilayah. Namun, persoalannya adalah belum ada investor besar yang tertarik untuk mengembangkan wilayah tersebut, atau berusaha di wilayah tersebut karena tidak layak secara finansial. Karena itu, pemerintah perlu menyediakan berbagai fasilitas kepada calon investor agar mereka tertarik berinvestasi di KTI. []

Equity in Development

Equity is the crucial issue in economic development. As we know, development not only regards growth, but also equity, diversification of production, and reducing poverty rate. The development policy impute between welfare and growth. Growth without development means that there is no equity. Actually, growth has been followed by equity. All of people that are live in the country have to enjoy the benefit of development policy.

There is big equity problem in Indonesia. Many people still live in beneath poverty line, which is approximately 32, 5 million people. However, this data reveals that the income per capita of Indonesia is approximately IDR 30 million per year. As we know, people are categorized poor if their expenditure below IDR 250 thousand per month. What data tell us? Yeah, it tells us about the inequity in income in Indonesia. The more welfare is enjoyed only by less people.

The efficacy of economic policy from government tends to ineffective. The unevenness still happens, and unfortunately the problem is still wide. I think the government has to recognize this problem, thus undertake the pace to resolve it. If this problem can’t be resolved as soon as possible, it will create the adverse effect in our social and economic live.

I just want to underscore that the main problem in our country is unevenness between poor and rich people. In many cases, the poverty is not fate. In the inception, people can’t receive opportunity to work because they don’t have ability and capacity. This happen because they don’t have chance to study in formal and informal school. So, it is corollary if they poor. This is a modest explanation why some people poor. The government has to create opportunity, especially for poor people in undertaking study in formal or informal school. This is a solution to decrease unevenness in our country. []

Why Nation Fail?

In recent time ago, I heard conversation between Russ Robert and Daron Acemoglu in Economic Library (Econlib). This podcast program is held in every Monday and undertaken by Econlib. I am very pleasant when hear every conversation in Econlib, because all topic related with economic. Economic is my major when I study in university, so I always try to encourage myself to study economic and rehearse my ability in understanding economic concept.

One of topic that is interesting to me is Why Nation Fail?. This podcast talks about the reason why some nation failed, but other nation succeed. Actually, there are many arguments that illuminate the reason behind that. One argues that natural resource is main factor in enhancing economy, but another argues that culture is very important and determines the country performance. These arguments can’t explain well about the question.

In this book, Acemoglu and his friend try to explain the main reason why nation fail. They argue that the welfare create by incentive, and incentive created by institution. So, institution is very important for country performance. The efficacy of institution in enhance economy has been proved by many countries. Investment will be flow drastically if institution in that country is supported. If you look countries that underdeveloped, one reason is because they don’t have good institution that supports economic activity. So, one thing that must be underscored is the need for government to repair its institution if they will attract investment.

The country is fail because its institution is very bad. The investor doesn’t be attracted to invest because it’s creates great transaction cost. Conversely, if institution is supported, the investor will come and build factory in that country. []

The Impact of SEZ in Economic Development

SEZ in Indonesia is a new policy. Although government of Indonesia has decided that Bintan, Batam, Karimum as SEZ, the new SEZ has already developed again. This SEZ is based on Law 39 year 2009 about Special Economic Zone. Then, government derives into government regulation (PP No. 2 Tahun 2011) about the implementation of SEZ. These regulations underlay the implementation of SEZ. 

SEZ is aimed for enhance economic, not only economic growth, but also economic development. There are some difference between economic growth and economic development. Economic growth just regard about enhancing economy which appear in increasing GDP. While economic development talks about how government decreases poverty, absorb more labor, and diversify sector of production. SEZ is intended to enhance economic development in order to increase welfare of society. 

Why SEZ is very crucial? One of main problem in Indonesia economy is the lack of direct investment. Direct investment is one component of GDP. If direct investment increase, also it will increase GDP. Unfortunately, investment in Indonesia is still low. There are many reasons why Indonesia is very poor to attract investment. One reason is lack of infrastructure quality and quantity. Another reason is the difficulty in pursuing license from government.

In the SEZ, all obstacles which deter investment to flow to Indonesia will be undermined. Government wants to provide good environment for investor by creating zones which is easy to invest. SEZ provides that, so we hope that the economy will be enhanced not only in SEZ, but also in district and province where SEZ is built.

If there are many investor come in SEZ, it means that there are many investment in that location. For doing business, investor need factor production. So, they will absorb local people to work in their company. Another benefit when investor coming is increasing output that can be exported to foreign country. So, the SEZ exactly can enhance economy in other to create welfare to society. []

To Attract Investor by Special Economic Zone

Since globalization is take place, each country competes to develop its economy, especially to attract direct investment from abroad. They strive to create good environment for investors in doing business activity in order to make investors feel comfort, so that they would retain their money. 

Investment is much related with the attractiveness of the country. There are many factors which determine the willingness to invest, such as bureaucracy, resource potential, availability of infrastructure, social and political condition, fiscal and non-fiscal incentive, etc. Those factors will determine the willingness to invest, especially direct investment from abroad. So, every government has to focus in those factors in order to create good condition for investment. 

The government of Indonesia tries to attract investment both from abroad and domestic. The government strives to attract investor by many strategies, especially by creating special economic zone. This strategy is appertained new in Indonesia. Actually, we have had same strategies by creating special economic zone in Batam, Bintam, and Karimun. But those special economic zones are different with this one. This policy tries to make special area which is given fiscal and non-fiscal incentive, good infrastructure, and one stop services, and many other facilities. 

Special economic zone is a new policy in which Indonesia tries to implement in order to attract investors. If Indonesia can create good environment for investor, it can be easy for Indonesia to get investment. But until now, Indonesia still faces many challenges and obstacles to achieve it. Why this happen? I think that the problem is related with the lack of government role. In other words, the government of Indonesia still can’t create good environment for investment with good policy. However, there are many obstacles for investment which come from government conduct, such as the difficulty for taking license.

The idea for creating special economic zone comes from the argument that there are still many obstacles for investing in Indonesia. If special economic zone is implemented, all of obstacle will be decreased. Infrastructure will be built in line with investor need, permission process will be easy, and also government will give fiscal and non-fiscal incentive to attract investor. So, we hope that special economic zone will create more opportunity for job seeker, enhance gross domestic product, especially within province. []

Allocating Time for Writing and Reading

Since I got jobs, time to write and to read is decrease. It’s not my desire. Nevertheless, I strive to allocate time effectively and efficiently for writing and reading about anything, especially about economics. Because I work in institution related with economic policy, so that it’s appropriate if try to illuminate my point of view about economic problem. It sounds simple, but it’s difficult to do. There isn’t much time to write as well as time to read. If there isn’t enough time to read, automatically I can’t write optimally. 

My challenge now is how to allocate time to read and to write besides doing my main activity in my office. I realize that my main activity is work in government institution. But, I can ignore our habit which is always writing and reading, so that I communicate my idea about economic problem. So that, these two habits have to do simultaneously in order to improve my capacity as economist. As we know, economist has to good ability in writing as well as speaking. Economist idea is needed as advice for policy making. 

So, what I have to do in term of allocating my time effectively and efficiently for writing and reading? First, I have to pledge to myself that I will implement this commitment. Actually, I have planning about how I should write. In my commitment, I strive to write one article every day. That article about everything, although most of them is economic topic. I feel easy when I write economic topic because I have studied economic theory in undergraduate education.  Second, try to do activity as fast as possible. I mean if we can do each activity quickly, we have additional time to conduct other activities. So, I have to try myself to finish that activity well and quickly, including work in office, writing, reading, researching, etc. As a reflection, I work very lumbering. Actually I can do quickly if I focus for doing that activity. But sometimes, I don’t concentrate my mind for that activity. Consequently, it need more time for finishing. But start from now, I pledge to do one work before move to other work quickly. It can make me more quickly to finish and defeat the challenge in that activity. 

After I write this article, I will rearrange my schedule for writing, reading, and working. I work from Monday until Friday. I haven’t much time to write in those days because I go to office in the morning, then come back to home in the night. So, there is no time to write and to read again. I just have time to write and read in Saturday and Sunday. My latitude to do those activities is very limited. Perhaps I have to allocate time to write and to read when office hour is finished. Approximately 5 pm until 6 pm, I have one hour to write and to read before go home. If I can use those time consistently, it means that every day I have one hour to write and to read about economic issues in Indonesia. And also, I just want to allocate our focus to write in English, because in this time I am studying English. I will accustom myself to write in English as a preparation to take IELTS test in June 2012. So, I have one month to prepare myself in facing test. In that time, I have to learn English well. Working can’t disturb me, although it can decrease my focus to learn English. I strive to focus. [] 

NB: I apologize if there are grammatical errors. I am still studying English now.