Backgrounder

House inquiry may pave way for new round in Jokowi-Megawati fight

The row between President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party or Struggle (PDI-P), could move into a new round, this time with much bigger political stakes, if the House of Representatives goes ahead with its plan to launch an inquiry to look into allegations of impropriety in last month's general elections.

Prabowo-Gibran campaign team named as SOE commissioners

The longstanding trend of granting key roles in state corporations to supporters of presidential and vice-presidential hopefuls has resurfaced. This time, members of the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka TKN have been appointed as independent commissioners in SOEs, drawing criticism for alleged political favoritism over merit-based qualifications.

Edition

February 23, 2024

Cabinet shake-up poised to strengthen Prabowo’s coalition

With less than eight months left in office, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo changed his cabinet team once again to welcome Democratic Party leader Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono on board as agrarian and spatial planning minister, replacing Hadi Tjahjanto, a long-time Jokowi ally who was promoted to the coordinating political, legal and security affairs minister post.

Prabowo targets energy subsidies to realize free lunch program

Presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto is poised to gradually roll out his campaign promise of a free lunch program once he assumes office later this year. However, funding for the program poses a challenge, and Prabowo's camp reportedly plans to address this by reducing energy subsidies.

Edition

February 16, 2024

Quick counts show Prabowo victory

Quick counts conducted by a number of survey institutes just after the voting on Feb. 14 found presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka garnered the majority of the votes to avoid a runoff. The superiority of the former army general in the quick counts went hand in hand with his persistent dominance in the opinion surveys in the run-up to the elections, despite several controversies, particularly surrounding Gibran's candidacy.

Retail stocks empty as Jokowi distributes rice to 22m families

As President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's ramped up the rice social assistance program for 22 million poor households in January ahead of the general election, premium rice disappeared from modern retailers. Responding to the scarcity, the President ordered the National Food Agency (Bapanas) and the State Logistic Agency (Bulog) to flood the market with rice from state reserves.

Edition

February 9, 2024

Final debate: Last chance to sway the hearts of swing voters

The 2024 presidential election debates concluded on Sunday, which saw the three presidential hopefuls zero in on matters of education, social welfare and policy inclusiveness, among other topics. The final debate wrapped up on an anticlimactic note as the candidates maintained a relatively amiable atmosphere in their last attempt to win over undecided and swing voters.

Bansos drives government, household consumption steady

The impact of the 2023 bansos program on the national economy has been reflected in BPS most recent national economic growth report. Whereas government expenditure experienced rather extreme fluctuations between Q3 and Q4 of 2023, which is during a period of aggressive bansos programs, household consumption remained steady, raising concerns over the effectiveness of bansos in boosting the people's purchasing power.