BANDUNG. BEDAnews.com – Commission III of the West Java Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) highlighted the quality of investment realization, assessing that it has not yet fully optimized the reduction of open unemployment. Marking the 81st Anniversary of West Java Province, Commission III of the West Java DPRD emphasized that the direction of investment policy must shift from merely chasing numbers to delivering a real impact on the people's economy.
Budi Mahmud Saputra, a member of Commission III of the West Java DPRD, stated that the high investment realization figures in West Java require a comprehensive evaluation, particularly regarding labor absorption elasticity and equitable regional distribution.
“High incoming investment figures should be directly proportional to job availability for the community. If capital realization continues to break records while issues of layoffs (PHK) and unemployment still loom, there is a structural disconnection that we must fix together,” expressed Budi Mahmud Saputra in Bandung City on Wednesday (Aug 19, 2026).
Based on investment performance data, investment realization in West Java reached IDR 138.13 trillion in the first semester of 2026, continuing the positive trend of 2025, which recorded IDR 296.83 trillion. Although consistently topping the national rankings, the proportion of labor absorption per trillion rupiah of investment is considered to be on a declining trend due to the dominance of capital-intensive and highly automated industries.
This evaluation step is deemed consistent with the direction of West Java's Regional Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMD) 2025–2029, which prioritizes the expansion of employment opportunities and the strengthening of local economic foundations.
Urging Special Incentive Schemes and MSME Partnerships
Commission III of the West Java DPRD views the fundamental challenge in West Java's investment climate as resting on the shift in capital structure toward technology-intensive sectors (capital & technology-intensive). The characteristics of such industries tend to absorb minimal local labor in massive quantities compared to traditional manufacturing or labor-intensive sectors.
To bridge this gap, Commission III of the West Java DPRD encourages the West Java Provincial Government to formulate more strategic policies that go beyond easing permit issuance by applying measurable screening instruments.
“The provincial government needs to draft targeted fiscal and non-fiscal incentive regulations for investors committed to absorbing local workforce and building supply chains alongside local MSMEs. Ease of investment must be tied to clear workforce absorption performance indicators,” he affirmed.
Budi Mahmud Saputra added that quality investment must generate vertical and horizontal multiplier effects. The involvement of local business actors and MSMEs in the supply chains of large corporations is key to ensuring that domestic and foreign capital flows are distributed evenly down to the grassroots level, rather than remaining concentrated solely in specific industrial zones.