Search results

Characterized by its long coastline, massive deforestation, food insecurity, and high reliance on coal and fossil fuels, Indonesia is particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. While it is critical to accelerating green transition for its population, Indonesia's progress in achieving net zero also bears global significance due to the country being the fourth…

2023 revealed a quiet but booming relationship between Taiwan and Indonesia, and 2024 looks to be similarly robust. More educational exchanges, more technology collaboration projects, and more Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan are planned.

In practice, religion (agama) in Indonesia has been paradoxically interpreted exclusively; religion must have monotheistic belief, written scripture, prophet, and international recognition… Among the implications are the exclusive accommodation of six "official" religions (Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Christianity, and Islam) by the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) and the exclusion of Indonesian indigenous religions from the … Continued

On Tuesday 19 February, AIIA NSW welcomed Professor Simon Butt to speak on judicial dysfunction in Indonesia. Professor Butt's extensive history as a consultant on the Indonesian legal system and his experience as Professor of Indonesian Law and Associate Director of the University of Sydney's Centre for Asian and Pacific Law have cemented his status […]

The people of Rempang and Galang Island, Batam City (Kepri Province) Indonesia, have been living in an atmosphere of anxiety for the last few months. The development of new island economic areas for which the government seems increasingly willing to ignore the people in its search for investments has created trouble for the new investors.

This year features a record number of elections world-wide. More than 200 million Indonesians just voted in the traditionally high turnout one has come to expect in the world's third largest democracy. So what do the results mean? What national …

Thousands of people in Indonesia and Malaysia rallied over the weekend to show their support for Palestinians amid Israel's ongoing war on Gaza.

The historic Makassan-Yolngu relationship between Indonesian fishermen and Australian First Nations peoples is often overlooked. In moving forward, acknowledging and reviving trepang diplomacy is crucial for the strengthening of the modern-day Australia-Indonesia trade relationship.

Australia and Indonesia share many interests, including upholding international law and norms, particularly on questions of sovereignty. With China's ongoing assertions in Indonesian waters, new diplomatic space has opened to consider boosting ties to encompass a Special Strategic Partnership.

Indonesia stands at a pivotal moment in its quest for a sustainable energy future. With ambitious targets to elevate the proportion of sustainable fuels in its energy matrix, the nation seeks international collaboration as a linchpin in its trajectory toward success.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo will meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Sydney this week on his third (and possibly last) state visit to Australia, a country he once referred to as being Indonesia's 'closest ...

By Stasja Koot, Lubabun Ni'am, Chantal Wieckardt, Roderick Buiskool, Nadya Karimasari, Joost Jongerden Introduction Ecotourism in Sumatra, Indonesia, is driving processes of privatization and commodification. Here we explore how and why this happens by analysing recent ecotourism developments in the buffer zone to the east of the Mount Leuser National Park (MLNP). The close interaction … Read more Privatisation and commodification: Ecotourism as capitalist expansion in Sumatra, Indonesia

In the second of his series on the global election scene, Colin Chapman looks at controversial elections taking place in February. The one likely to have the biggest impact globally, and in Australia, is the Indonesian presidential and legislative elections.

(JAKARTA, INDONESIA) — Soon after voting ended in the world's fourth-largest country and third-largest democracy, Prabowo Subianto is claiming a knock-out blow winning more than half the vote and the necessary number of provinces to eliminate both his challengers.According to unofficial tallies, which have been historically accurate, Prabowo has garnered 58% of the vote in today's contest. The official count will not be announced until mid-March and his opponents have yet to concede defeat.Nevertheless, highly popular incumbent president Joko Widodo (Jokowi)'s backing for the former special forces commander, and active undermining of his own party's candidate Ganjar Pranowo, is a big reason for the ostensibly lopsided result. But the famously temperamental Prabowo's clever rebranding as a cute and cuddly grandpa seems to have helped quite a bit, too.Arriving in Jakarta just as the three-day "quiet period" was beginning spared me all the raucousness of the election campaigning. But the billboards of the three candidates — Anies Baswedan, Ganjar Pranowo, and Prabowo — were prominently plastered across the city. The few everyday folk I spoke to seemed to favor the former general. A young hotel housekeeper told me she voted for Prabowo (as did almost all her friends and family) as he was "a strong leader, and honest." Reports here speak of the youth vote as being a big factor in the result. Much of the U.S. commentary has pointed out that Prabowo was once banned from entering the U.S. for his links to a military unit accused of human rights atrocities. To that the feisty general might say: get over it. After all, the United States was forced to lift the ban on his entry after Jokowi — after beating Prabowo in a bitterly-fought election in 2019 — invited him to become his defense minister. Now that Prabowo is likely to become president, such musings are chiefly academic. While my interlocutors in town seemed worried about democratic backsliding in the country (and this has been apparently underway for a couple of years), relatively few voters appear swayed by this concern. And in an increasingly multipolar world, Washington is less able to influence how other countries choose their leaders, and tell them how they should govern. For his part, as president Jokowi has focused relentlessly on economic growth and domestic issues, though he also skillfully steered Indonesia's G20 presidency in the turbulent wake of the Ukraine war. Under him Indonesia has not only prospered, but also put into place a tough industrial policy, including limiting or banning the export of certain valuable natural resources, such as nickel. This encourages these resources to be processed in-country, which helps grow and sustain economically valuable industries that require these resources, such as electric vehicle parts, thereby diversifying and strengthening the Indonesian economy.The European Union has responded by taking him to the WTO, and the United States has not been exactly enthusiastic on these "downstreaming" policies. But China has played ball, building ore-processing plants in the country. Beijing has also built shiny new infrastructure, most prominently a new "Whoosh" bullet train from Jakarta to Bandung.Meanwhile, Jakarta has not expressly taken sides in the U..S-China tussle. This is hardly surprising. Non-alignment (or bebas dan aktif — free and active — as the Indonesians call it in Bahasa) is a core Indonesian grand strategy principle. Indonesia was a foundational contributor to the idea of non-alignment in the Global South, with the famous 1955 Bandung conference being held there. Even under the authoritarian leader Suharto, who tilted toward the United States, Indonesia maintained strong relations with arch-communist Vietnam. Though China was shunned by Suharto — and the Chinese-Indonesian minority treated poorly — it all seems in the rear-view mirror in today's Indonesia. China is Indonesia's biggest trade partner and among its biggest investors. Hoardings commemorating the Chinese new year are visible in parts of the city and the community is much better integrated than in the past. Furthermore, when it comes to Russia, Indonesian social media has been rife with sympathy with Moscow on the Ukraine war. What will Prabowo's foreign policy be like? His past record indicates that the ex-general is much more a strong-willed, if volatile, pragmatist than an ideologue. Today, this means a continuation of Jokowi's policy record of economic growth and the development of domestic industry and infrastructure. Thus business-friendly relations with Beijing, as also attempts to attract more American investment and trade, will continue.Prabowo is also far more exposed in his youth to the world than was Jokowi when he was sworn in. The former general has lived in Europe and Singapore and was trained by the U.S. military. Which means that Indonesia under him could be somewhat more vocal on regional and international issues than it has been. Recall Prabowo's bold play on a Ukraine peace plan at the United Nations last year. Nevertheless, unless Washington makes a big deal of past human rights issues (unlikely), there are opportunities for incremental strengthening of ties. Military exercises between the two have been on an upswing lately. Indonesia has also softened its earlier opposition to AUKUS and refrained from joining BRICS, partly keeping relations with Washington in mind.Trade relations are something to watch however, with Washington's new focus on imposing labor standards on its major trading partners. This is not always welcome in Global South capitals which see lower labor costs as a comparative advantage. Unlike the United States these days, Indonesia is also very comfortable with trade integration. It was the most important ASEAN member leading the RCEP process and continues to lead in shaping the implementation of the world's largest trade agreement. Should there be a Republican in the White House next year, issues such as trade deficits could loom large. Indonesia also seeks a critical minerals agreement with the United States and hopes to benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act's clean energy subsidies, but it will be a long haul to get there.As long as Washington understands that Indonesia is committed to a non-aligned rise, there is much scope to deepen ties. Indonesians see their relations with other major powers as being defined on their own merits and not as a byproduct of any other relationship. That ought to be a good basis for moving forward.

China's incursions into Indonesia's Exclusive Economic Zone have underscored the threat to the country's interests. While a quiet military modernisation has been ongoing, Indonesia would be served by joining India and Australia in a trilateral defence agreement.