Palembang – Indonesia will fail to attract any foreign direct investment (FDI) next year if chaos occurs in the general elections, prominent businessman Sofyan Wanandi said.

Foreign investors would then think that saving their money in banks was better than investing it, he told a seminar on creating harmonious industrial relations.

According to Wanandi, foreign investors would come back to Indonesia after all national agendas had been accomplished.

If economic growth in 2004 proved to be higher than this year, it would not be because of foreign investment but because of the 24 political parties that would participate in the elections, he said.

The parties would need goods like new cars and banners to be used in their campaigns.

Meanwhile, chairman of the South Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Plantation Companies Association, Syamsir Syahbana, said the lack of foreign direct investment in the country might also have been caused by the absence of legal certainty.

Another factor was extra costs the businessmen must pay illegally in provinces, he said, adding that 14 regional government regulations in South Sumatra had created problems for investors.