Donald Trump is once again a topic of angry conversation in Indonesia after the frontrunner for the US Republican presidential nomination called for a sweeping ban on all Muslims from entering the United States. His remarks were of course widely criticized by officials here in Indonesia (and just about everywhere else in the world, including the US).
But it looks like Trump’s big racist mouth might do more than just get him criticized this time. It looks like it also might cause him to lose out on a huge investment deal in Indonesia.
During the Trump fiasco scandal (see above video), in which House Speaker Setya Novanto got into hot water over appearing at a Trump political press conference in New York, Setya and Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon defended their appearance by saying they had gone to meet “The Donald” to talk about his investment plans in Indonesia, which include multi-million dollar deals with MNC Group media mogul Hary Tanoesoedibjo to build luxury resorts in Bali and Bogor.
Now, HM Romahurmuziy (also known as Romi), the chairman of the Surabaya chapter of the United Development Party (PPP), said his party was calling to ban Trump from bringing any of his money to Indonesia.
“PPP calls for the rejection of Trump’s investments of any kind in Indonesia,” Romi said as quoted by Republika on Thursday.
Romi urged Trump to openly apologize and correct his statements. He then said that if the US business tycoon would not apologize, PPP calls on all Indonesian people to reject his investments.
The PPP politician said that while Indonesia needed foreign investment, it could not accept it if it came from people like Trump. He also said inflamatory statements like Trump could give rise to a “Clash of Civilizations” as predicted by academic Samuel Huntington.
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon, who, again, appeared at Donald Trump’s political press conference, said he thought the US politician’s statements were “foolish” but said it would still be a “good thing” if he invested in Indonesia.
