As the Australia-Indonesia relationship shifts away from aid and development, and as the Asia-Pacific region continues to prosper, it is inevitable that business ties will take a bigger place in the spotlight. We will see closer collaboration between large Australian and Indonesian businesses, penetration of SMEs, and investors on the hunt for opportunities. However, entrepreneurs in both countries believe it is still difficult to convince individuals to invest across the border, find the right talent and cut through the red tape.

The next generation needs to understand the investment climate, bilateral trade opportunities, and cultural nuances of doing business in both countries. This cannot be taught at universities and can only come from substantive, on-the-ground experience and learning from those that have experience in the field. Simon Collier Dixon, Director of Astra International, one of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates, believes the relationship is not where it needs to be and doing business across borders is difficult. Young professionals need to begin engaging early to create long-lasting friendships which are important in business relationships. Simon will be sharing his experiences as keynote speaker at the CAUSINDY gala dinner.

When Tommy Tjokro of Bloomberg TV Indonesia realised how vibrant the Indonesian economy was becoming, he jumped on the opportunity to immerse himself in the investment opportunities. Tommy will be moderating the Economics and Trade panel, discussing the next growth drivers, how the government and private sectors can collaborate more closely, and how business will be pursuing these new opportunities.

Sinthya Roesly, Chief Executive Officer of the Indonesia Infrastructure Guarantee Fund (IIGF), works at the heart of the partnership between government and business and is responsible for developing an area which is critical to Indonesia’s growth – infrastructure. Sinthya will provide her views on the investment climate and how public-private partnerships can be scaled up by collaborating more closely with technical advisers like Australia.

The big Australian businesses in banking and mining have already made headway in Indonesia, while real estate and agriculture are trending business areas among Indonesia’s elite in Australia. The next step is getting small-medium enterprises to engage in the bilateral relationship by finding new markets and leveraging talent. The first step is creating a positive regulatory environment in which these businesses can grow. This is something that Sati Rasuanto, Managing Director of Endeavor Indonesia, is passionate about. SMEs provide people with jobs and will help transform Indonesia’s economy from low productivity industries like agriculture to higher value-add services like e-commerce and technology. In addition to her current role at Endeavor, Sati will be drawing on her previous experience as Chief of Staff to Gita Wiriyawan. As part of CAUSINDY’s political debrief panel, she will be talking about the policy decisions the incoming government needs to make to foster this growth.

As the bilateral relationship is slowly finding its feet, moving away from aid and development towards commerce and trade, we need to ensure that skills, understanding and experience continue to grow. The next generation should be able to understand how to engage in long-term, sustainable business partnerships and this year CAUSINDY will provide 30 young delegates with that opportunity.

We’re excited to open up a limited number of additional places for the general public to join this year’s panel on Portrayals in the Media, featuring Fairfax’s Michael Bachelard, PortalKBR editor Citra Dyah Prastuti, Tempo’s International Editor Purwani Dyah Prabandari,
Dr Ross Tapsell and moderated by news anchor and journalist Beverly Gunawan, SCTV/Liputan6.

Panellists will discuss the role played by mass media and social networks in shaping public opinion, the role of major media outlets in influencing election outcomes, and the growing importance of social media for election campaigns.

Register for this event →

The event will take place at 4pm on Sunday, September 14, at a location in central Jakarta to be confirmed next week. To express your interest in this event, please register using our online form. Places are available for the first 100 attendees to register, so get in early!
We’ll be providing free artisan coffee by One Fifteenth and other snacks for guests to enjoy before the 4pm start.

We are pleased to announce that John Riady and John Denton will be taking part in CAUSINDY 2014 in a special debate which will explore everything from doing business in Indonesia and Australia, to navigating politics and attitudes towards investment. Both Johns have experience in the government, private and educational sectors, which will make for very interesting insights during the debate.

Mr Riady is Director of several companies across the media, property and investment industries, including Berita Satu Media Holdings, Lippo Group and as Editor in Chief of Jakarta Globe. He is also a prominent figure in higher education as Dean of and Professor of Law at Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH). CAUSINDY delegates can look forward to unique insights from Mr Riady on what it takes to build and run successful businesses in Indonesia.

As CEO and Partner of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Mr Denton has been involved in shaping the Australian Government’s policy on how Australia engages with its neighbours as an advisor on the “Asian Century” White Paper. He is also well versed in doing business in Indonesia and visits Jakarta regularly in partnership with Indonesian law firm Soemadipradja & Taher. Mr Denton was a speaker at CAUSINDY last year in Canberra where he entertained the audience with stories on negotiating trade deals and trying to solve humanitarian issues. We look forward to welcoming Mr Denton back to CAUSINDY in Jakarta.

About John Riady

John Riady is an Indonesian lawyer, professor, social entrepreneur, and businessman. He is currently Dean and Professor of Law at UPH (Universitas Pelita Harapan) Faculty of Law, one of Indonesia’s leading universities; Editor at Large of the Jakarta Globe, an Indonesian English language newspaper; Director of Berita Satu Media Holdings, a diversified Indonesian Media Conglomerate; and Director of the Lippo Group.

Born in New York City, John spent his early childhood in the United States, before returning to Jakarta at the age of four. John was educated at Georgetown University where he majored in Political Philosophy and Economics. He also received his MBA from the Wharton School of Business–graduating as a Palmer Scholar–and a Juris Doctor from Columbia University Law School.

John is also a member of the NY Bar Association, and serves as Chairman of KIKAS-KADIN (the United States Committee within the Indonesian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry), member of the Columbia University Law School International Advisory Board, and the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council.

About John Denton

Partner & CEO of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, John is a global leader in three arenas; a legal expert in the areas of government, workplace relations, and international trade and investment; a national business leader and an international adviser on global policy.

John is one of three Prime Ministerial representatives on the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC); a Board Member of the Business Council of Australia (BCA); a Board Member of Asialink and Asia Society; Chairman (emeritus) of the Experts Group on Trade and Investment in Indonesia; Chairman of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Australia for more than a decade (among other important positions).

John was also an external adviser on the Federal Government advisory panel that oversaw the development of the ‘Australia in the Asian Century’ White Paper released in October 2012 and a member of the Australian Government Cabinet sub-committee for the Asian Century White Paper review process. He is now a member of the Strategic Advisory Board advising the Government on implementation of the White Paper and on emerging policy issues.

He is recognised as one of the best labour law practitioners in the Asia Pacific by Asialaw Leading Lawyers Survey and one of Australia’s best government and trade lawyers in the Best Lawyers peer survey.

With great pleasure CAUSINDY welcomes Fauzi Ichsan, managing director, senior economist and head of government relations at Standard Chartered Bank in Jakarta to speak on the Economics and Trade panel session.

Fauzi’s expert knowledge and services on economics extends far beyond Standard Chartered clients. In addition, he provides economic and market views to the Vice President of Indonesia, Minister of Finance, Bank Indonesia Governor and parliamentary commission XI on banking and finance.

Fauzi Ichsan believes it is important to identify and differentiate the various types of relationships between Australia and Indonesia. He classifies three main types of relationships: government-to-government relationships, business-to-business relationship as well as people-to-people relationship.

“The government-to-government relationship fluctuates in political disuse, however the people-to-people relationship is very strong and it has been getting stronger in the last 20 years or so.

“Because the political relationship between Australia and Indonesia isn’t good, it doesn’t mean that Indonesian’s stop sending their children to Australian universities, likewise it doesn’t mean that Australians stop going to Bali.

“So, the relationship between people-to-people and business-to-business is always stronger and steadier than the government-to-government relationship,” Fauzi Ichsan said.

CAUSINDY is looking forward to hearing more of his unique views on the bilateral economic and trade relationship between Australia and Indonesia!

Today, we’re excited to announce that Michael Bachelard, Indonesia Correspondent for Fairfax Media, will join this year’s panel on portrayals in the media. Currently based in Jakarta, Michael is a Walkley and Quill award-winning journalist with extensive experience covering politics and industrial relations.

Despite decades of official engagement, the Indonesia-Australia relationship remains underdeveloped. The media on both sides of the ocean has a role to play in addressing this by making realistic, considered portrayals of both countries. But media alone can never be enough. The only way to build real relationships is through the work of ordinary people” Mr Bachelard said.

Interested in joining CAUSINDY 2014? Applications to become a delegate are now open.

About Michael Bachelard

Michael Bachelard is the Indonesia correspondent for Fairfax media, publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age. Prior to his posting to Indonesia worked as a political reporter and workplace relations writer for 24 years.

In 2005, Michael was awarded a Jefferson Fellowship. He is also a Walkley and Quill award-winning journalist. The Walkley awards recognises excellence in Australian journalism and the Quill awards, reward excellence in Victorian journalism.

Michael is the author of two books. His most recent book ‘Behind the Exclusive Brethren’ is a non-fiction book focusing on the sect ‘Exclusive Brethren’ in Australia. Michael is a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) graduate from the Australian National University.

CAUSINDY is thrilled to announce Prodita Sabarani, the Jakarta editor of The Conversation will be speaking at ‘Transforming the relationship’, a special Q&A event. She will be joining Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Senior Advisor to the Vice President of Indonesia and Professor Tim Lindsey, Chairman of Australia-Indonesia Institute, to form a very exciting and insightful panel.

In 2011, Prodita Sabarini received the Australian Development scholarship to study a Master’s degree in Human Rights Law and Policy at the University of New South Wales. Her time in Sydney saw her work featured in The Australian, New Matilda, and broadcast on Sydney’s 2SER.

She believes forming stronger people-to-people links is the key to strengthening the bilateral relationship between Australia and Indonesia.

“The relationship between Australia and Indonesia should move beyond issues that are driven by State interest. We should instead focus on personal relationships that can build understanding between the two cultures and foster partnerships that would benefit the peoples of the two countries. Many Indonesians and Australians see each other as strangers divided by language, culture and borders. If we can see past the differences, there are great potential in partnerships in different areas such as education and research; arts and culture; as well as human rights and social justice,” Prodita Sabarini said.

Prior to her role now, she worked as an investigative reporter for the English daily newspaper, The Jakarta Post. Prodita’s experience in reporting human rights issues has landed her the title as the 2013-2014 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow. The fellowship by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) is a program dedicated to “promoting international understanding of human rights and social justice while creating an opportunity for women journalists to build their skills.”

As the Elizabeth Neuffer fellow, she has been an associate researcher at MIT’s Center for International Studies. She also attended classes in Harvard and MIT to study the root causes of religious intolerance and violence. Part of her fellowship also saw her contribute to The Boston Globe and The New York Times.

CAUSINDY looks forward to drawing from her expert knowledge on human rights and social justice at the special Q&A event, ‘Transforming the Relationship’.