Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo expressed his disappointment on Monday as Indonesian money flowed out of the country when Singapore became Taylor Swift’s exclusive ASEAN stop for the Eras Tour.

Singapore had enjoyed the benefits of the six-day concert deal with Taylor Swift. 

Indonesia is home to millions of “Swifties”, the nickname for the artist’s fans. According to Jokowi, there are 2.2 million Indonesian people listening to Taylor Swift on the music platform Spotify. As the country failed to host the Eras Tour, many Indonesians rushed to the close neighbor to watch the “Cruel Summer” singer in early March. Jokowi even claimed that over half of the 360,000 total attendees in Singapore were Indonesians, considering the huge fanbase.

“So there was capital outflow, as Indonesia’s money went to Singapore. We were not only losing the money on the concert tickets. But we were also losing money as people spent their money on hotels, transport, food, and beverages,” Jokowi said when launching Indonesia’s digital event permit system in Jakarta.

The president did not give details on how much money Indonesia lost due to Singapore’s Eras Tour concert.

But Jokowi claimed that many Indonesians also flew to Singapore for Coldplay -- another major economic opportunity lost. The tickets to Coldplay’s single-day Jakarta show in 2023 got sold out within just 20 minutes, and Indonesia failed to convince the British rock band to add another date.

“[Coldplay] also extended their Singapore concert from four to five, and eventually six days because they were all sold out. And I’m pretty sure over half of the concert-goers were Indonesians who lost the ticket war. … I asked the event organizer how this happened, and they admitted that it was hard to get a permit in Indonesia,” Jokowi said.

He added: “Although from what I heard, we have better sound systems.” 

Economists estimated that Taylor Swift’s concert could inject up to 500 million Singaporean dollars (around $369 million) in tourism receipts into the country’s economy. 

Singapore’s ability to secure the Eras Tour sparked reactions in the region. 

Thai Prime Minister Srethha Thavisin alleged Singapore paid Swift’s team between $2 million and $3 million per show in exchange for not stopping in other cities in Southeast Asia.

The Thai government later clarified that the prime minister’s statement should not be interpreted as jealousy towards Singapore. Filipino lawmaker Joey Salceda said that the exclusive deal was not what good neighbors should do. Chief Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan also commented on the “Swiftonomics”,  while saying that Indonesia “was not smart” for not being able to have Taylor Swift perform in the country.

“If we can book [the concert], we should have just done so. If we have to pay, then we do so. That is competition. There is nothing wrong with it. Everything [the permit process] is online now,” Luhut said back in March.

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