Foreigners may in future stay, own property in RI : minister

Antara News, Friday, January 8, 2010 01:29 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Foreigners in Indonesia may in the future be given the right to stay and own property in the country so they can contribute to the national economy, Public Housing Minister Suharso Manoarfa said.

"Our old perspective with regard to foreigners must be changed. If so far only foreigners who have already contributed to investment are allowed to stay, now any foreigner should be given the freedom to stay and thereby we will be attracting more and more investment," Monoarfa said here on Thursday.

Government Regulation (PP) No.41/1996 on foreign ownership of property was made in the past when Indonesia did not adhere to an open economic system. Now, with the advent of the free trade era, the regulation had become obsolete or useless, he said.

If foreigners were given the freedom to stay in Indonesia, it would have a positive impact on economic growth and investment. Therefore, Manoarfa said, PP No41/1996 would be changed in May 2010.

Moreover, Indonesia`s neighbors such as Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia had already given foreigners the freedom to buy property in the countries, he noted.

Manoarfa also said foreign ownership of property was an interesting issue and the government had assigned the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and the State Secretariat to explore it further.

The government wanted the matter to be studied academically first and eventually to become a topic of dicussions by the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and the State Secretariat, he said.

Meanwhile, the minister said, he had asked law experts to find a proper definition of the right of foreigners to own property in Indonesia.