In the course of Indonesian civil service history, there have only been a few figures who managed to combine entrepreneurship drive with political panache in leading a province laden with natural resources and agricultural produce. Rusli Zaenal’s rise into prominence has always inspired the people of Riau, his dedication and devotion to the people have become a hallmark that many heads of province would start to emulate.

Born in the small village of Sungaibolak, along the river of Indragiri, a picturesque place with its meandering river, palm plantation and mangrove forests, his childhood was marked by fond memories of fishing on a small dug canoe and a strong bond to religious activities.    

His leadership skills were evident during his school days and well into his professional life, beginning with his appointment as the head of PT Mohairson Pekanbaru. Seven years after graduating from university, he was entrusted with the task of leading the Gapensi Riau, a professional association, while at the same time fulfilling his duty as secretary for the Commission B of the Riau Regional Parliament. Thanks to his talent, leadership and experience, he served as the Regent of Indragiri Hilir soon afterwards. He was elected first as the Governor of Riau in 2003 and re-elected in 2008, a testament of such an enormous support from the people of the province.  

“Everything fell into place almost naturally and I never intended to reach this or that position, it simply happened one after another and there is no turning back,” the affable governor recalls his ascendance to governorship, “In my second term now, the priorities are summed up in what we termed as K2I, which basically focuses on our attempts to reduce poverty, improve human resources and develop infrastructure. We want to improve people’s welfare in general, and this can be measured from the job opportunities, poverty alleviation effort, human development index and household income. The unemployment rate has declined since 2004 from 15,25% to 8,2 % in 2008. Our poverty alleviation campaign has recorded a success from previously 14,67 % in 2004 to 10,63% in 2008. The current Human Development Index for Riau is 71, ranking third on the national level and we record a gross domestic product that improves every year. The economic growth of Riau is very encouraging, on average above the national and Sumatra region figure and between 2003 to 2008, it has been recorded at slightly more than 8%.”

“The economic growth has been driven by the enormous progress in investment. We understand that private and public investment will play a significant role in regional development, and this investment will serve as the leverage for the accumulation of more private investment,” the father of two discloses while elaborating, “To attract investment, the government of Riau has provided a pro-business environment, consisting of pro-business government, pro-business society and pro-business regulation.”

“In order to support this initiative, we have implemented a set of inward-looking policies, geared to create a favourable climate for investment, by way of launching an expedited licence issuance service, the establishment of investor complaint service board on Provincial level and a coordinating team for creating such investment climate, as well as stimulating every regency and municipality within Riau to compete in providing the best services for investors,” the avid golfer adds.  

Riau has enormous untapped potentials in many sectors, leading the government to run their outward-looking set of policies intended to promote its potentials. Some of the strategies and policies in investment policies include the establishment of Badan Pelayanan Perizinan Terpadu Provinsi Riau, an institution to provide integrated services in issuing investment licenses. More than a government agency, it also serves to showcase Riau’s successful attempts to promote transparency in government practices and in the reduction of bureaucratic procedures. Working on the same intention to court investment, the government has also issued a number of revised regional regulations.

The Riau Investment Summit in 2007 was attended by 211 potential foreign and domestic investors, resulting in 15 investment commitments and cooperation in the form of MOUs with the total investment value exceeding USD 564.5 million or equivalent to Rp. 5.1 trillion.    

As one of the regions with large coal reserves, the government has embarked on the road show to promote it in many functions such as exhibitions conducted in many venues: Sumatra Expo, Purna MTQ and BKPM Jakarta. The coal potential will also be geared to generate electricity, as evidenced by the Mulut Tambang Peranap Cerenti project, estimated to provide 2 x 100 MW electricity. With electrification rate currently 38% and still below the national average, utilities such as electricity, is one of the areas in dire need of investment, a significant one to assist the development of industry in the long run.

The fertile land of Riau is home to many large plantations, contributing significantly to the national revenue. Out of the 2.701.403 hectares of land for plantation, the most dominant commodities  are: Crude Palm Oil (CPO) with the currently developed land encompassing 1.530.150 hectares, the rubber plantation that spread across 514.469,72 hectares and coconut plantation of 475.555 hectares.  The government is now in full swing to introduce programmes to give an added value to such valuable export commodities, an effort that certainly requires a significant amount of investment as well.      

A number of breakthroughs have also been implemented during his administration, with Good Governance serving as the major guidance. “Transparency is one of the requirements if a government body or corporation wants to secure progress. We have systematically implemented transparency in all employee levels, for instance in the well-coordinated programme execution meetings or the employee recruitments. To put it briefly, everything is conducted in an open, systematic way and involves all related stakeholders, with coordinated and continuous evaluation to improve development and governance in the future,” he asserts on the importance of Good Governance.

Some of the activities that promote transparency include the e-government initiative, an inseparable part of the development which has also been implemented and is currently running well. A V-SAT network between the government of Riau and all the Regency/Municipality has been established, including the data communication network, teleconference, internet and intranet, connected to the mainframe of the Ministry of Home Affairs central communication network. The website of Riau (www.riau.go.id) exposes all matters concerning the local government, providing abundant information on the land whose native language, the Bahasa Melayu Riau, has been adopted to become the national language, Bahasa Indonesia.  

The entrepreneurship drive of Rusli Zaenal, an energetic leader who thinks the sky is not the limit, is visible through the establishment of Riau Airlines. With the ISO 9000 -2000 and the Category I from the Department of Transportation, its status of being in the same category of other national airlines is therefore affirmed. It also received accolades from the Angkasa Pura for On Time Performance Airlines in 2007 and during the Coordinated Meeting between the governors of Sumatra, Riau Airlines was entrusted as part of the Sumatera Air links.  With the line up of three units of BAE AVRO RJ 100, four-engine steadily superior aircrafts that is the choice of the presidential air force, along with five units of Fokker 50, Riau Airlines is ready to serve the route within Riau province, connecting the trans-Sumatra and trans-Indonesia route before serving some international destinations.

“Riau Airlines is the only airlines owned by a province in Indonesia. We gear it up to become the Malay Bridge and we expect it improve its services, as well as generate revenue for the benefit of the Riau people. I am confident that as part of the Spirit of Riau this endeavour will take us to the Riau Vision of 2020,” he concluded.