Jack Ma proposed as adviser for Indonesian e-commerce development

The government has proposed that Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman of the world's biggest e-commerce platform, Alibaba, become an adviser to the forthcoming Indonesian steering committee for e-commerce development.

Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said the effort to enlist support from Asia's richest man was aimed at bringing Indonesia's big potential in e-commerce to the world market.

"I propose Jack Ma as an adviser to the steering committee, so that Indonesia may grab greater attention from the international market when they see that even Jack Ma is willing to advise us," he said in a video released by the State Secretariat on Friday.

The government, Rudiantara added, had finished Indonesia's e-commerce road map, which would be followed up by forming a special task force with a steering committee consisting of 10 ministers led by Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution.

Rudiantara was in a delegation escorting President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on an official visit to Hangzhou, China. Investment Coordinating Board chairman Thomas Lembong also joined the mission.

Thomas said Jack Ma had become one of the big investors in Indonesia after acquiring Lazada with more than US$1 billion in investment recently. The government was cooperating with Alibaba through Inamal, a commerce platform for Indonesian products on Alibaba's Tmal platform.

"We also talked about another potential partnership, as Alibaba has a big online booking platform for travel businesses, so we discussed potential co-operation in tourism, as well as support for small and medium enterprises," he said. (ags)