Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo admitted on Monday that event organizers had been struggling to hold concerts and international sports championships in Indonesia due to bureaucratic red tape.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of Indonesia's digital event licensing system, Jokowi revealed some behind-the-scenes information about the MotoGP Mandalika motorcycle racing tournament. Jokowi claimed that MotoGP Mandalika had to secure 13 permits to host the race, many of them going by the name of “recommendation letters”.

“Starting from an approval letter from the village [government], and they had to get recommendation letters from the provincial and central motorbike associations, the police force be it at the subdistrict, regional, and national levels. They even had letters of support from the local hospital, fire department, customs office, and so on,” Jokowi said in Jakarta.

He added: “If I were the event organizer, I would feel like fainting before the race even begins, and there could be more recommendation letters. I might even run out of money before the event takes place. These are all facts.”

According to Jokowi, organizers of music concerts and sports events face similar problems. The president also remembered when the country lost the “Swiftonomics” opportunity to Singapore. Close neighbor Singapore got to host a 6-day Taylor Swift concert and became the only ASEAN stop for the American pop star. 

“How tough it is to be an event organizer in Indonesia,” Jokowi said.

Having a permit does not automatically mean that an organizer can hold their events in Indonesia. 

“I have also heard complaints of events getting canceled even though the organizers already had the permits. It is not just once or twice that something like this happened, I don’t even know why. They said it was because of ‘security issues’. Well, it should be the police’s job to maintain security,” Jokowi said.

In response, Indonesia is now starting to digitally provide its event permits as a means to cut bureaucratic red tape. 

Jokowi claimed that this freshly launched system should be able to help event organizers lower costs and enable a more transparent licensing process. 

Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno recently said that the new digital licensing system would help reduce ticket prices by 20-25 percent. For reference, ticket prices for international artist concerts can reach millions of rupiahs in Indonesia. Ticket prices for Coldplay’s 2023 Jakarta concert ranged between Rp 800,000 ($48.7) to Rp 11 million. The minimum wage in Jakarta currently stands at around Rp 5 million.