Indonesian President Joko Widodo met Tesla's CEO Elon Musk in SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, discussing potential investments and technology, Indonesia's government said in a statement.
The meeting between the two came after a round of working-level discussions on a potential investment in Indonesia's nickel industry and supply of batteries for electric vehicles, Indonesian officials said.
And with Jokowi meeting Musk in person, Indonesia is showing its seriousness in expecting Tesla to invest its clean energy initiatives in Indonesia.
In other words, Indonesia is expecting Musk to have his companies invest in a number of sectors, including aerospace.
Indonesia, the massive archipelago in Southeast Asia is rich in minerals. Among the many, the country is among the world’s biggest nickel producers.
In 2020, nickel mines in Indonesia produced an estimated one million metric tons of nickel. This figure makes Indonesia the leading producer of nickel from mines worldwide.
Nickel is a lustrous, silvery-white metallic element, considered among the most common elements on Earth. However, pretty much of this metal is located far within the Earth, requiring heavy digging and processes to extract the element from its alloy form.
Among its many uses, nickel is a very versatile metal needed in various industrial, military, aerospace, marine, and architectural means.
And in this case, nickel is also commonly used in batteries.
Jokowi is keen to develop a nickel-based electric vehicle industry in Indonesia, in an attempt to lure billions of dollars of foreign investors’ money to the country. Knowing that Indonesia is sitting on top of a huge resources of many more materials other than just nickel, Jokowi wants companies like Tesla, to produce battery components and assembling electric vehicles, in Indonesia.
This comes when global automakers have been scrambling to secure supplies of battery materials and reduce their reliance on China.
In the past, Musk has also urged Musk to consider a rocket launch site in Indonesia.
In short, Jokowi's visit is to have Musk explore investment opportunities in the resource-rich Southeast Asia country.
During the meeting, Jokowi also invited Musk to visit Indonesia.
In response, Musk said he is looking forward for that.
Musk revealed that he is very interested in the future of Indonesia, saying that the country has a great potential for some collaboration with Tesla and SpaceX.
"I think Indonesia has a great potential. And I think that we are going to collaborate through Tesla and SpaceX," he said.
The richest person on Earth also said that he is planning to visit Indonesia in November, thanking the Indonesian government for the invitation.
"Hopefully in November," the Indonesian government quoted Musk.
“I guess he has great interest to come to Indonesia soon and I have invited him to visit Indonesia,” the President said, as quoted on his Cabinet Secretariat website post.
It's worth noting that the meeting between Jokowi and Musk had been arranged a month before by the country’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, in the hopes of getting Tesla to invest in Indonesia.
In other words, the President's visit is a follow-up to the Luhut's meeting with Musk discussing future cooperation on investments, innovations, and technology.
It is undeniable that Elon Musk has managed to captivate many people around the world.
From his desire to form a human colony on Mars by sending humans and establishing settlements on the red planet, to create a sustainable energy source where humanity can generate electricity without having to rely on fossil fuels, as well as creating a method of electric transportation that is cheaper than many others in the competition, Musk became a world trendsetter.
With his crazy ideas that are wild and futuristic, he is loved by many generations.
Not only that he is considered brilliant, and that he managed to master several topics and industries, Musk's status as the richest person in the world also adds to Musk's credibility tremendously.
Other companies he operate, include Neuralink, SolarCity, The Boring Company, and also Twitter.
Among other reasons, these are the reasons why Jokowi's visit to the U.S. to meet Elon Musk was met with both praise and criticisms.
It was an honor to meet at Starbase and discuss exciting future projects!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2022
Before meeting Musk, Jokowi travelled to Washington, where he attended a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, as well as with other leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Jokowi is to host a summit of the Group of 20 big economies in Bali in November.
And visiting Musk at one of his companies' headquarters was part of the President's extended visit in the U.S.
Jokowi's visit to the U.S. to meet Elon Musk in Texas created much more buzz than his meeting with Joe Biden, because the meeting was met with both praise and criticism.
For example, one political observer said that the meeting was only made to create a sensation, and that Musk has shown little interest, based on how he met the President in Texas.
Jokowi is regarded as "begging" Musk. What's more, critics said that the meeting may not matter much since Indonesia' implementation of various technologies is still a far cry from what Tesla and SpaceX need as requirements.
It's an entrepreneur who should come and visit a country leader, not the other way around, many people said.
This was also stressed by one influential figure at the Indonesian Ulema Council, who said that sometimes, being rich is more important than having power.
"It's good to be rich and powerful for good. However, it's even higher if you have knowledge, you can be rich and powerful," he criticized on a tweet on Twitter.
He suggested that Jokowi was willing to meet Elon Musk in person because Musk is rich and influential.
Others commented that Jokowi's visit is because Indonesia is among those countries affected by the rising price of energy due to political tension, especially caused by Russia invading Ukraine. And Jokowi wanted to solve that problem by inviting Musk to Indonesia through investment, as a way to lure in more dollars to the country.
On the other hand, the meeting also caught the attention of Malaysia, Indonesia's neighboring country.
In Malaysia, its citizens have seen how the country had a staggered national automotive policy due to the years of corrupt practices from Malaysian Automotive Institute (MAI) that decided to rebrand itself. And during this time, Indonesia has surpassed Malaysia by a large margin when it comes to automotive policy and also the electric vehicle "race."
And Jokowi's meeting with Musk is considered by many in Malaysia, as a nail to the coffin.
If Musk considers to invest in Indonesia through Tesla and SpaceX, this would push the country far ahead of Malaysia in terms of battery manufacturing plant and electric vehicle infrastructure. This would no only bring plenty of jobs, but also business links and even more money.
Some Malaysian netizens also commented the meeting, suggesting to trade their country leader, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri, with Jokowi.
