What happened at the forum
In Jakarta on Thursday, Hashim Djojohadikusumo addressed hundreds of business leaders, including Anindya Bakrie and Franky Widjaja. He spoke as the president's special envoy and as chairman of the advisory board at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"I've been tasked by the president to help ensure this doesn't spiral out of control," he said. He called the situation "very, very serious," warning that if foreign investors exit the market, the rupiah could fall further, overseas borrowing would get pricier, and the outcome could be "a disaster and catastrophe for the Indonesian economy."
Why regulators and MSCI raised alarms
Earlier this month, MSCI warned it may shift Indonesia to standalone status - a harsher move than it had earlier considered - pointing to unclear ownership issues and the risk of collusive trading across one of Southeast Asia's largest stock markets. Regulators are responding by tightening oversight, surveillance and enforcement.
Following MSCI's Oct. 15 statement, Indonesia's Financial Services Authority issued penalties to more than a dozen entities linked to market-manipulation violations. Widjaja ultimately controls PT Dian Swastatika Sentosa, one of the companies ensnared in the enforcement sweep. Hashim urged an immediate halt to "deep frying" stocks, a term used for coordinated trades that push prices sharply higher with little link to a company's fundamentals.
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The stakes for portfolios and the rupiah
Hashim said some estimates suggest a two-step MSCI downgrade would trigger outflows strong enough to drive the rupiah to 22,000 per dollar. "This would have an extraordinarily negative political impact," he said.
He also pointed to the broader hit to households, noting that "there are 32.7 million Indonesian citizens who hold brokerage accounts" and that they are "extremely dissatisfied" as stock values have fallen. Hashim, himself a wealthy businessman who has long backed his older brother both politically and financially, also noted that the next presidential election is slated for 2029. In plain English: cleaner trading and a credible market matter for your portfolio, the currency and policy stability.
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