Richard van der Schaar is an academically-trained Indonesia expert with a decade-plus focus on - and experience in - the Indonesian economy and business (trade and investment). With comprehensive knowledge about Indonesia's investment climate and the 'way of doing business' in Indonesia (including the cultural aspects) as well as having a wide network to rely on, he guides and assists foreign investors in achieving their investment ambitions in Indonesia. The combination of having (1) academic expertise on Indonesian cultures, societies and histories, and (2) expertise on - and experience in - Indonesia's investment climate and business culture is a very valuable and complementary combination to achieve positive results.
He has been fascinated by Indonesian cultures and history since the very first time he stepped foot on Indonesian soil in mid-1998, just one month after Indonesia's second president, Suharto, was forced to step down from office at a time when the Asian Crisis ravaged through the country. He decided to do his Bachelor and Masters degrees in Southeast Asian Studies at Leiden University (the Netherlands) with a major focus on Indonesian society, history and linguistics.
After successfully finishing his MA degree he temporarily taught Indonesian languages and cultures at the Volksuniversiteit in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), while increasingly becoming aware of the economic potential of Indonesia in a world where the economic gravity point was rapidly shifting to the East. With having had a profound training in Indonesia's macroeconomic history at university, he started to delve into the contemporary economic conditions of the country and through frequent visits to Indonesia established a network within businesses and government circles.
Since 2013 he has been permanently based in Jakarta and is frequently contacted by international media to share his views on economic, political and social developments in Indonesia. Journalists can reach him through +62(0)8 788 410 6944 (including WhatsApp). He can also act as speaker at events or give presentations to boards/workers in companies.
| Organization | Indonesia Investments |
| Business Consultancy | |
| Position | Managing Director |
| Expertise | Investment & Business Strategies | Investment & Business Environment | Macroeconomics & Politics | Cultural Studies |
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Indonesia is known for being home to the world’s largest Muslim population. More than 230 million Indonesians – which is about 88 percent of Indonesia’s total population – are categorized as Muslim. In fact, nearly 13 percent of all Muslims in the world, today, live in Indonesia. These are very impressive numbers and surely impact heavily on Indonesian society, the economy, and politics.
Discussing minimum wages is always a sensitive issue. Workers long for rapid growth of their monthly wages as many of them encounter difficulties in making ends meet in their daily lives. In fact, those whose salaries are close to the minimum wage tend to be near-poor and uneducated, particularly in developing nations such as Indonesia, and therefore both their present conditions and their future perspectives are far from bright.
Although the signs were there in the past couple of weeks, it still came as a surprise to us that defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto made the last-minute decision to throw his support behind Indonesian President Joko Widodo. It effectively means that his Great Indonesia Movement party (or Gerindra) – previously the biggest opposition party – has now joined Widodo’s coalition, and thereby handing Widodo a massive majority in national parliament.
While Indonesian President Joko Widodo emphasized the importance of unity among the Indonesian people on the latest Independence Day (17 August 2019), developments in East Java – that occurred several days before Indonesia’s Independence Day – and subsequent protests and violence in Papua had the exact opposite effect. What explains the upsurge in tensions between Papua and Indonesia?
In early May 2019 Indonesia’s statistics agency (in Indonesian: Badan Pusat Statistik, or BPS) announced that the nation’s economic growth pace was recorded at 5.07 percent year-on-year (y/y) in the first quarter of 2019.
