indonesia a country with huge potentials growing middle class and cheap labors but i got friends
they are going back to sydney for goods because things don't work out as they expect
there's a gap between reality on the ground and what looks good on the paper some fail to adapt
or refuse to adapt how things worked at the street level this video is based on their own experience
in jakarta and my own observation as well if you plan to start a business indonesia then i hope
this video will give you some insights and plan what to expect some of the things that i share
might not be great to hear but unfortunately that's the reality on the ground first unwritten
rule be prepared to pay facilitation money ask any indonesian how did they get their driving license
if they are like me then probably they just pay 99 percent of the people that i know they just pay
for the driver lenses there's no knowledge tests no driving tests if you try to follow the rules
to the letter it's not going to get you anywhere and same applies for the business you have lots of
necessary paperwork and you have done your due diligence you follow the rules to the letters
but still you hear nothing or there's always something wrong or worse you got to visit from
official i'm not going to name the institution here it seems there's always a fault in your
application so what's wrong here well welcome to the bureaucrat mentality we have a saying
why make it easy if you can make it hard we indonesian call this phenomenon
at the end of the day it's all about the money
Indonesians are master of indirect language causing you trouble is our subtle way of saying
you need to pay us more so how do you pay Uang Pelicin (facilitation money) without offending
them you can say things like tolong dibantu ya Pak (please help us to smooth things out)
and nanti ada uang rokok (i will pay you for your trouble)
next is how much do you need to pay them well every situation is different if the official
name you the price then you can negotiate it from there generally the bigger your business the more
they expect you to pay i got a friend's um he's the owner of the factory and he was expected to
pay 100 millions rupiah that's roughly around 10 000 Aussie dollars but if they don't name
the price then you just have to increase your payment until they stop causing you trouble
just to be clear what i share here is not legal but unfortunately this is what it is
if you can get what you need we are paying facilitation money and by following the rules
the letter then fantastic you can skip this video altogether now if you find yourself you need to
pay Uang Pelicin let's go to the next unwritten rules: hire a middleman to do the dirty work and
have a cctv installed as the owner you don't want to get involved with shaddy officials directly
whenever possible one because they will smell blood and they will ask for king's ransom
two you want to keep your reputation clean and intact by dirty job i'm talking about
passing the money to the shady officials not not killing or hitting someone alright and no
i'm not suggesting you need to sacrifice your employee to keep yourself clean sometimes
playing dumb will do the tricks like a friend of mine every time an official knocked on his door
he kept saying that well the boss is away i'm not the final decision maker here
if the official start to making scenes or get angry then he would politely point into cctv
sir i will get into trouble if i give you um the boss contact details please come back later
Indonesians might be god-fearing people there's nothing else they fear more than being made viral
for the wrong reasons at this point they will leave you alone when they come back later you
can tell them well this is the this is the money that you can spare at the moment because
time is tough for the business remember they don't want you to get out of the business they
want you to run the business so they can milk you also you need to do this by the middle man
or at least you need to pretend that you are not the final decision maker
when dealing with the city official there's often there's no room to maneuver unless you
have a backing from higher up third unwritten rule add Pungli to your operational costs
pungli (Pungutan Liar) or illegal charge is so endemic in Indonesia all business owners that i spoke to
include this as part of their operational costs the preman (thungs) they don't call it pungli they
call it security fees they are self-proclaimed local officials extorting money from businesses
again have cctv installed in your business premise parking lot front door or anywhere
i can't stress this enough cctv is not going to protect you from preman of course
it's just there to deter them from committing violence if things turn ugly then at least you
have the footage as an evidence unless your shop is in luxury shopping mall
or everyone i speak to they expect to get a visit from preman at least once a month
can you report that to police? yeah of course but if it's not going viral then probably they're
not going to look into that seriously unless you're a famous youtuber like me
unwritten rule number four dress to impress and guard the trust with your life kena tipu
(being deceived stabbed from the back scammed) it's one of the greatest fears that potential business
partner or client when they engage a newcomer my relative owns a public accounting practice back
in the early days he didn't have a lot of money so he always needed to scoot to the client's premise
once he got there the client the potential client asks him how did you get here he said
my car of course is parked somewhere far because i can't find the parking here
he didn't want to lie but he knew that his his chance of securing a business is pretty slim
if the potential client thinks he's not established enough he might be more tempted to
scam to stab the client from the back same story with other friends he always wears a branded shirt
and watch every time he meets someone new it's not because he loves luxury items but
it's more about like a signalling to the potential client saying that don't worry
i'm successful on my own look at my shirt look at my watch i have something to bring to the table
in their world no one wants to waste time with Mr or Miss nobody that's the irony with the shady
officials you want to look poor but with potential client or with potential business partner you want
to look rich of course dressing wells only get you so far it only gets you your foot at the door but
at the end of the day it's about trust Indonesians like to know you personally before they go into
the details of the business so don't get offended if you think that they are pretty slow because
they want to know you as a person first before they go into the business with you so that means
that sometimes having the best offer in the market is not enough take my friend for example
he was desperate he was about to go bankrupt he needed to sell his factory in pulo gadung
jakarta industrial estate he only got one offer one but he refused to take the it because the
potential buyer is a well connected man and famous for not paying up so the deal is off even though
he's really desperate for the money yes we do have rules of law and court system but if your rival is
well connected man then your case is as good as dead so keep your reputation clean the trust your
business partners and clients have in you will weather you through the bad days in the business
that's it from me guys please give it a like and subscribe if you learn something new and if you
plan to start a business indonesia then i wish you a great success thank you see you next time bye