Turning Batam into a special economic zone
2 minutos President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, seemingly frustrated by the long issue of legal uncertainty in Batam, near Singapore, decided last Wednesday to end the 17-year-long dualism of authorities on that island by putting the Batam Development Authority entirely under the Batam administration. This decision will pave the way for the long-delayed political and bureaucratic process of turning Batam, now a free trade zone, into a special economic zone (SEZ). During Soeharto’s authoritarian and centralised administration until the late 1990s, Batam had thrived as Continue lendo→