A new chapter is engraved in the history of Indonesian railways. Japan's unshakable dominance began to be displaced by a new power, namely China. This can be seen clearly from China's incessant funding and building strategic railway projects in Indonesia, such as the Jakarta-Bandung Fast Train continued to Jakarta-Surabaya, the Trans-Sulawesi Railway Line and the procurement of a new series of KRL.
The beginning began when the proposed Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Train project in 2014, Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) submitted an offer for the investment value of high-speed trains reaching US $ 6.2 billion. Then, China appeared to offer a cheaper investment value of US $ 5.5 billion. At first Indonesia rejected both offers because they were considered too high. However, China included in their proposal that they did not ask for government guarantees or financing from the state budget, in contrast to Japan which asked for guarantees from the government. Then, PT. The Indonesia - China Fast Train (KCIC) as the project implementing company and also initiated Indonesia-China cooperation on the Indonesian rail line.
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Then, next to the Trans-Sulawesi Railway project which aims to connect various regions on the island of Sulawesi with the railway network. The project with a track length of more than 2000 km has been built since 2015, where according to the National Railway Master Plan in 2018, the Trans-Sulawesi Train is planned to connect all provincial capitals on Sulawesi Island with the priority of five lines development. This development project is a National Strategic Project as seen from Presidential Regulation No.12 of 2015. This project is valued at up to 8.25 trillion rupiah and with three companies winning the Public Private Cooperation (PPP) auction, namely PT PP, PT Bumi Karsa, and PT China Communications Construction.
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Furthermore, on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia or KAI Commuter officially imported 3 series of KRL worth IDR 783 billion from a Chinese company, CRRC Sifang Co., Ltd. They purchased three new series of KRL from the Chinese company with the type of KCI-SFC120-V. According to KCI Vice President Corporate Secretary Anne Purba said the reason KCI chose to bring three new KRL series from China was because in terms of prices more competitive than Japan and South Korea. Nevertheless, KCI also collaborated with PT INKA to procure 16 new KRL series and 19 retrofit KRL series with a total investment value of Rp.6.06 trillion. This is done as an effort to meet the service needs of Jabodetabek Commuter Line users in 2024-2025 which is estimated to be almost 1 million users per day.
After the success of the Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Train project, the government will currently conduct a feasibility study for the plan to extend the high-speed train line to Surabaya. It is planned that the construction of the Fast Train to Surabaya will be carried out in several phases through Yogyakarta. And this project will continue cooperation with China through PT KCIC. China, the world's second-largest economy, has huge financial resources to fund infrastructure projects in other countries. It is also a manifestation of China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative to build a new economic silk road by building infrastructure connectivity in key developing countries.
"The economic opportunities from cooperation between the two countries are wide open, especially nationally, Indonesia encourages the Global Maritime Fulcrum, at the same time China has a Belt Road Initiative program that wants to have a new silk road, it has offense to the Global Maritime Fulcrum, if it is linked globally, interest in economic cooperation opportunities must exist." explained in an interview with Fadhlan Nur Hakiem, S.IP., M.Si, Lecturer in International Economics, Singaperbangsa University, Karawang
"Switching cooperation is natural, because the state acts rationally, the priority is how the state can meet its national interests. If for example cooperation with country A is considered less profitable, then it is natural for the country to switch cooperation with other countries that are considered profitable. Also, if in the cooperation agreement with China there is an opportunity for technology transfer for Indonesia, then technology transfer can occur. And furthermore, with this cooperation, it can strengthen diplomatic relations between China and Indonesia. Especially in the context of the trade war with the United States, we can see that the current government has a tendency to be closer to China, with China investing a lot in Indonesia such as high-speed trains, some national strategic projects carried out by China such as nickel, diplomatically can strengthen diplomatic relations with China." further information in an interview with Fadhlan Nur Hakiem, S.IP., M.Si, Lecturer in International Economics, Singaperbangsa University, Karawang.
The shift of Indonesia's railway cooperation from Japan to China is an important event that has significant economic and geopolitical impacts. In the future, Indonesia will need to navigate its relationship with China closely to maximize benefits and minimize risks.