In an ever more religiously conservative Indonesia, LGBT people are living in fear for their safety, yet they still have hope deep inside for a more tolerant community in the future.
Politics
“The challenge is getting bigger because radicalism has a growing influence on society.”
Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian has asked regional administrations to install CCTV systems.
“Sexual violence can no longer be denied. That is the victory that we have achieved [after three years of fighting]. The public and the House can no longer deny it.”
As every university student learns in their first-year international relations course, there is no global cop, no enforcer to make sure every country plays by the rules.
Several Indonesian ministries are banning job hunters in favour of what one called “normal” applicants – a move slammed as “arbitrary and hateful restrictions” by a rights group.
It might also be argued that creeping Islamisation, as much as a desire to shift the country’s centre of balance away from Java, lies behind Widodo’s plan to move Indonesia’s capital from Jakarta, in the heart of conservative West Java, to East Kalimantan.
Home Minister Tito Karnavian wants to “evaluate” direct regional elections in an “asymmetrical” approach.
Japan has offered to assist Indonesia in accomplishing its ambitious plan of relocating the national capital to the forests of Borneo.
Indonesian Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, stated that foreign policy objectives would be defined by a “four plus one formula”, to enhance Indonesia’s role in the region and globally.
Only 180,000 civil servants and 141,000 government vehicles of the city’s 10 million inhabitants and 17 million registered private vehicles are set to leave for Kalimantan in 2024.
ASEAN needs its own vision for the future of regional order. But the strategic challenges facing ASEAN now are different from the past — and different challenges require different responses.
If Jokowi spurs further disaffection and protests, the opportunity would be wide open for a new outsider politician to emerge to harness such discontent in support of their own run for the presidency in 2024.
Indonesia and Australia have a vital role to play together in guiding the diverse nations of the Indo-Pacific towards a future of peace and stability.
Indonesia must not only remove its glass ceiling, it must also foster an environment where women are encouraged to climb up the career ladder to high level positions.
The movement will not run out of steam, anti-establishment icon Manik Marganamahendra told Reuters. “We want the future to be better than today.”