Backgrounder

Jokowi pulls all stops to stop Anies from winning Jakarta race

Surveys may put former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan as the most popular figure if he runs for reelection for the same job in November, but he will not win it, and may not even be able to contest it, if President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has anything to do with it.

Shopee, Google investigated for monopoly allegations

Indonesia's antitrust agency, the KPPU, has accused e-commerce firm Shopee and tech giant Google of engaging in monopoly practices. Shopee, accused of monopolizing its courier services, has since closed its case by agreeing to make changes to its services. On the other hand, Google, accused of monopoly through its GPB System, has only just entered its phase of court hearings.

Edition

June 28, 2024

Will Jokowi hold sway over regional elections even after stepping down?

With four months left in office, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has already consolidated his political influence for the next five years. Apart from president-elect Prabowo Subianto pledging to carry on the current government's programs and having his eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka assume the country's second-highest office, Jokowi has also been manuevering between political parties after parting ways with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

OJK loses court battle to Kresna Life, again

The OJK has suffered another legal setback against Kresna Life Insurance. This defeat took place at the PTUN on June 14, where OJK's appeal to maintain the revocation of Kresna Life's license was overturned. The OJK is now contemplating a cessation appeal, which could result in the legal enforceability of the overturned license revocation of Kresna Life if they are unsuccessful.

Edition

June 21, 2024

Prabowo’s Gaza initiatives make for good optics at home, abroad

President-elect Prabowo Subianto has come up with a few ideas about what Indonesia can do to help Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been under siege by the Israeli military for over eight months. These ideas depart somewhat from the line taken by the administration of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and while it's questionable whether they would be taken up at all, they make for good optics both at home and abroad.

Morgan Stanley downgrades RI stocks over Prabowo’s fiscal policies

Indonesia's president-elect Prabowo Subianto plans to fund his campaign promises by increasing the Indonesian debt-to-GDP ratio by 2 percentage points annually, potentially reaching 50 percent by the end of his term. In response to this unprecedented fiscal policy, Morgan Stanley downgraded its evaluation of Indonesia's equities to "underweight," forecasting short-term economic uncertainty.

Edition

June 14, 2024

Prabowo’s synchronization team made up entirely of Gerindra elites

After dropping the idea of setting up a transition team, president-elect Prabowo Subianto has come up with a so-called synchronization task force comprising entirely of elites from his Gerindra Party. Its job: To synchronize the moves of the incoming and outgoing governments. It's a transition team in all but its name, but it skirts the contentious issue of who should lead it.

Muhammadiyah’s fund withdrawal from BSI reveals financial strength

Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, has decided to divert trillions of rupiah funds from state-owned Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI), the country's largest sharia bank, to other sharia banks. This move has raised concerns about its impact on BSI but also reveals the financial strength of the Islamic organization that many were unaware of.