Tenggara Backgrounder June 21

Legal battle continues, without a fight

Overview - In their last-ditch effort to change the result of the 2019 presidential election, losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and running mate Sandiaga Uno are seeking every avenue to convince the Constitutional Court that electoral fraud in a “structured, systematic and massive” manner did happen and cost them the victory.

 
PDIP-P desperately seeks Megawati’s successor

Overview - The winner of the 2019 legislative election, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has decided to move its congress forward to August from April 2020. 
The party claims the earlier schedule will enable it to consolidate its strategic agenda with that of the government, but one popular hypothesis of the motive behind the decision is the urgent need for its own regeneration. Megawati Soekarnoputri, the party’s paramount leader, looks certain to lead the party for another five years but has to find the right person to succeed her.

Repatriating former IS combatants, who’s responsible?

Overview - Following the declaration of the Kurdish-led forces’ victory over the Islamic State (IS) group last May, thousands of jihadists and their families have been living out of the Al-Hol camp in northern Syria, exceeding the facility’s capacity of 10,000 people. Their way home, however, is not easy as they must go through several steps of screening by government institutions dealing with security, counterterrorism, immigration and foreign affairs.

Trump’s trade war spreads to other Asian countries

Overview - When people discuss United States President Donald Trump’s trade war, they tend to think about the renegotiation of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, or the escalating trade dispute with China. However, it is not widely known that Trump’s trade war has spread to other Asian countries, such as Cambodia, India and maybe Indonesia.

BI prioritizes macro stability over short-term growth

Overview - On June 20, Bank Indonesia (BI) announced to keep its seven-day reverse repo rate (BI 7-DRR) at 6 percent, defying demand from the business community, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati to stimulate short-term growth through a rate cut.

Pertamina, Aramco have three months to solve dispute

Overview - After being suspended following a valuation issue, a US$6 billion refinery project to be developed by state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina and Saudi Arabian energy producer Saudi Aramco in Cilacap, Central Java, may continue soon. This agreement is expected to resolve a valuation dispute between the two parties over the next three months, until the end of September 2019.

Masela sees lights at end of the tunnel

Overview - After being delayed for 20 years since its discovery, Masela block in Maluku is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel after Upstream Oil and Gas Special Regulatory Task Force (SKK Migas) chairman Dwi Soetjipto and INPEX Indonesia president director Shunichiro Sugaya signed earlier this week a head of agreement (HoA) on the development of the Abadi field in the block.