Gobel and Japanese Lawmaker Tatsuo Fukuda Agree to Boost Indonesia’s SMEs and Agriculture
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JAKARTA, investortrust.id – Indonesian lawmaker and business leader Rachmat Gobel and Japanese parliamentarian Tatsuo Fukuda have agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation by strengthening Indonesia’s agriculture and small business sectors, which they view as the foundation of the country’s long-term economic resilience. The two leaders met in Tokyo on Friday, April 18, 2025, as part of efforts to expand Indonesia-Japan relations beyond government and into society-level collaboration.
Gobel chairs the Indonesia–Japan Friendship Association and leads the Indonesian Parliamentary League for Japan, while Fukuda, a prominent member of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and head of the Japan-Indonesia Association, is widely seen as a rising political star. Both serve as key figures in bridging parliamentary and civil ties between the two countries.
“Indonesia’s national economy will stand stronger if its small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and agriculture sectors are robust,” Gobel said after the meeting.
The two leaders agreed that in a volatile global economy marked by trade wars and rising uncertainty, Indonesia must secure its domestic market and avoid becoming a dumping ground for foreign goods, especially from China and Vietnam, which are facing barriers entering the United States.
Gobel stressed that sectors such as plantations, livestock, fisheries, and marine resources form the backbone of Indonesia’s social and employment systems. Therefore, the government must enact policies that actively support and prioritize these areas. He also highlighted Indonesia’s large population and abundant natural resources as core national strengths.
“With consistent domestic content requirements (TKDN), we can push both foreign and domestic businesses to invest in and build industries within Indonesia,” Gobel said.
He warned that abolishing TKDN would lead to deindustrialization, higher unemployment, and a return to exporting raw materials, while undermining Indonesia’s emerging industrial base. “If that happens, Indonesia risks becoming just a marketplace, while other nations continue their industrial race,” he said.
Gobel also criticized Indonesia’s relatively relaxed approach to import controls, noting that the country only implements 207 non-tariff measures (NTMs), far fewer than China’s 1,569 or Japan’s 1,193.
In response, Tatsuo Fukuda acknowledged Indonesia’s impressive economic growth over the past two decades and emphasized the need to now improve the quality of that growth by ensuring it benefits the wider population.
“Japan can support Indonesia by helping to strengthen SMEs and agriculture,” he said. “In Japan, SMEs contribute about 80 percent of the economy. That experience can be shared.”
Fukuda noted that Indonesia has the advantage of a large domestic market, while Japan, with its smaller population, offers technological and organizational expertise. The two countries, he said, are well-positioned to complement each other.
He emphasized the importance of human capital development to make Indonesia’s SMEs and agriculture more competitive. In Japan, SMEs are integrated into the broader industrial ecosystem, forming a pyramid structure that connects small businesses to large corporations across up to five tiers of production. Indonesia, under its TKDN policy, has begun to form a similar structure, particularly in the automotive sector. Removing TKDN, Fukuda warned, would damage this emerging industrial framework.
“Asia has its own values, recognizing diversity and seeking common ground—unlike the binary, win-lose mindset of the West,” he said. “It’s time for Asian nations to rediscover and adapt these values, combining them with lessons from elsewhere.”
Fukuda also reflected on Japan’s recent economic developments. After decades of deflation, Japan has faced inflation over the past four years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflicts, including the war in Ukraine. These changes have increased costs and forced more people to enter the workforce, even as Japan’s population shrinks.
“This situation has made us focus more on the welfare of ordinary people. We believe Japan and Indonesia can collaborate closely to address today’s global uncertainties,” Fukuda added.
Fukuda expressed hope that Indonesia and Japan would deepen their collaboration to jointly address the uncertainties of the global economy.
He noted that in Japan, small and medium-sized enterprises are fully integrated into the industrial ecosystem, forming an unbroken supply chain. SMEs serve as the foundation of a pyramid-like structure that supports large corporations, contributing even at the fifth tier of production. In Indonesia, similar developments have begun to emerge—particularly in the automotive sector—thanks to the enforcement of domestic content requirements (TKDN). Fukuda cautioned that plans to eliminate TKDN could dismantle Indonesia’s nascent industrial pyramid.