Rowing Against the Tide? Batam’s Economic Fortunes in Today’s Indonesia

Abstract

This Trends will examine the reasons for this unexpected turn of events. Following this introduction, the second section will look at the establishment of BIDA and the early development of Batam’s export-oriented industries. The subsequent section will examine the recent down-turn in the island’s economic and investment performance. The fourth section will analyse some of the underlying causes for this situation. The fifth section will set out some recent initiatives that have been implemented in response to the island’s declining economic fortunes, and the final section will look at options for the future.