The recent furore over Singapore Technologies Telemedia's purchase of a major stake in Indonesia's Indosat is just a case of domestic political bickering, a former Indonesian minister said yesterday. Former trade minister Arifin M. Siregar stressed during his luncheon address at a forum organised by the Institute of South-east Asian Studies that Indonesia was open to foreign investments.

He said that opportunistic politicians, keen on strengthening their base and undermining President Megawati Sukarnoputri's party, were trying to use the rumblings over the deal – as expressed in demonstrations by some company employees – to their advantage.

"They realise that this is not popular with some people and hence some politicians want to use it," he said. In his talk, he said that Indonesia will in fact focus on making this year a "year of investments".

Singapore's ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh, who had raised the STT question, said he was glad that Indonesia still welcomes investments, despite recent criticisms of the deal in the Indonesian Parliament and demonstrations by Indosat workers.

"I hope that Indonesia's message to the rest of the region and the world – that it welcomes investments – will be heard loud and clear," Prof Koh said.