Within the past decade or so, Tesla has grown from a relatively obscure boutique electric sportscar manufacturer into arguably one of the largest players within the global electric vehicle (EV) market. Similarly, it’s CEO Elon Musk has also been regarded as one of the world’s most lauded and contentious visionaries, with a net worth resting at a whopping $264.6 billion USD.
Which is why it comes to no surprise that many countries are vying to work alongside the pioneering automotive juggernaut, while an increasing number of competing car manufacturers turn to following in Tesla’s footsteps to electrify their own range of vehicles. And among the interested countries includes our neighbours, Indonesia, who have previously attempted to broker an arrangement with the company to set up a regional car manufacturing plant.
Indonesian senior minister & businessmen meet Elon Musk at Tesla Gigafactory
And while the initial arrangement didn’t come into fruition, as PaulTan.org reports, it would now appear that interest between both parties remains fervent. This comes after Jakarta Globe reports that the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Mr Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, had recently visited Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas to meet with Elon Musk.
He was also joined by Mr Anindya Bakrie, the advisory council chairman of the Indonesia Chamber of Trade and Industry (Kadin) and scion to the Indonesian Bakrie conglomerate, which is involved in a number of industries including media, mining, and electric busses. This is in addition to Mr Pandu Sjahrir, Luhut’s nephew who is also a director from Indonesian coal miner Toba Bara Sejahtera and president commissioner of internet company Sea Group Indonesia, and Indonesian Ambassador for the United States, Rosan Roeslani.
In an Instagram post uploaded by Pandu, he said that the meeting between the Indonesian delegation and Elon had progressed smoothly.
“It was an auspicious day for me to meet Elon Musk in Austin, Texas. We are a delegation led by Luhut Pandjaitan talking about electric vehicles, renewable energy, and B20,”
“Elon is very enthusiastic about discussing Indonesia and the progress of Indonesia’s nickel and electric vehicle industries. Hopefully, this meeting can bring more high technology investments to Indonesia, and Indonesia can become an important part of the global electric vehicle industry supply chain,” he said.
Plans to invite Elon to Indonesia this November
Similarly, a Facebook post shared by Mr Anindya Bakrie expressed similar sentiments from the meeting and showed photos from the delegation’s meeting with the billionaire.
“Our goal is to convince Tesla to explore a potential cooperation with Indonesia regarding the supply and processing of nickel as a raw material for making Battery Cells based on good and sustainable ESG (Environment, Social and Governance).”
“On this auspicious occasion, we also presented the G20/B20 program to Elon and have invited him to join the International Advisory Caucus B20 and attend the B20 event that will be held in mid-November.” he said.
While the meeting has been unanimously well-received by Indonesians, Malaysians have also taken upon themselves to ring in the momentous meeting with praise for our neighbours. Some have also lamented the Malaysian government’s perceived failure in drawing in international conglomerates such as Tesla to invest in Malaysia.
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