In this episode, of the Asia Pacific Business Forum Podcast, we speak with SD Darmono, one of Indonesia’s influential business figures and the architect of the country's Special Economic Zone strategy. As founder of the Jababeka Group, Darmono helped transform a vision from the early 1990s into a thriving industrial city—creating over a million jobs through partnerships with 2,000 companies from 36 countries.

 

His work created what he calls. “A cut and paste” model for development across the Indonesian archipelago, linking industry, infrastructure, and education. Known for playing the long game, Darmono pointed out, “If you take the analogy of Hong Kong, after 100 years, who benefitted more, the UK or China?”