The Australian Prime Minister’s visit to Makassar underscores the importance of a part of Indonesia which is a focus for the Australia-Indonesia Centre’s economic and social research projects.
Politics
By going to Jakarta so early in his prime ministership, Anthony Albanese is practising what he preached during the election campaign about the importance he intends attaching to Indonesia.
Indonesia is considering holding joint military exercises with the U.S. on the Natuna Islands, near China’s self-proclaimed territorial line.
Australian leaders regularly echo Paul Keating’s famous line that “no country is more important to Australia than Indonesia”.
Indonesia’s oldest party Golkar has formed a coalition with two smaller parties, in a move that analysts view as endorsing its party chief as a presidential candidate.
In late March, two Indonesian activists, Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti, were named suspects in a defamation case under Law No. 19 of 2016 on Information and Electronic Transactions (the so-called ITE Law).
As plans to move the capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan Province gather pace, locals are reacting with horror: The plan is to erect a new metropolis on lands that for centuries have nourished their customs and traditions.
After more than a decade of advocacy by gender activists, Indonesia’s national legislature (DPR), passed a landmark law on sexual violence on 12 April, six years after deliberations began.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Twitter that his Indonesian counterpart had invited him to attend the summit of Group of 20 (G20) major economies to be held in the Southeast Asian country later this year.
Indonesia’s ambassador to Australia has defended Jakarta’s plan to have Russia at this year’s G20 summit in Bali, comparing it to Tony Abbott inviting Vladimir Putin to Brisbane in 2014.
The House of Representatives has agreed on the bill on the establishment of three new provinces in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua which will bring the total number of provinces on the island to five.
we will try to revisit the Indonesia government’s communication strategy from the aspect of public diplomacy in an effort to promote the “5 new Bali” project to international community, especially in the momentum of the Indonesian G20 Presidency.
Indonesia’s next general elections are not until 2024 but the country’s oligarchic political elites are already manoeuvring to maintain their grip on power, and some don’t want to face the polls in two years.
Demonstrators urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the invasion immediately. The protesters concluded the military invasion could lead to various serious human rights violations. Most of the war victims were also civilians, especially women and children, the demonstrators said.
While the Indonesian economy has been recovering ever since the second quarter of 2021, there is some concern that Indonesia will experience a small first quarter hiccup.
The swearing-in ceremony for the leadership team of Indonesia’s largest Islamic organisation, Nahdatul Ulama (NU), was notable for a significant absence.
