Showing 1 - 10 of 15
Keeping politics in the family
News, Karishma Vaswani, Published on 28/08/2024
» Politics is increasingly returning to being a family business in Southeast Asia, despite its large and vibrant democracies. It's a worrying trend. Power is at risk of being concentrated in the hands of an exclusive club of entrenched clans. That will disproportionately disadvantage the region's dynamic youth who are getting more frustrated with nepotism.
Capital idea, Indonesia. Now for some reality
News, Daniel Moss, Published on 21/08/2024
» Capital cities don't just happen. They develop slowly over decades, perhaps centuries, before resembling their creator's dream -- if they ever do. Indonesia is discovering such massive endeavours are hard work and prone to delays. Economics has an annoying habit of intruding.
Strongman Prabowo learns who really calls shots
News, Daniel Moss, Published on 27/06/2024
» There really is no such thing as a free lunch, even for an emerging market as successful as Indonesia. The incoming president, a former general, has talked boldly about turbo-charging growth and sounded dismissive about long-standing spending rules. If only he could just order investors around like a regiment.
Cue another erratic new leader
News, Karishma Vaswani, Published on 16/02/2024
» In a closely watched contest, the unofficial quick count results are now out and strongly suggest a landslide victory for the man who is poised to be Indonesia's next president: former fiery special forces commander Prabowo Subianto, who was also, for a time, the son-in-law of the archipelago's ex-dictator Suharto.
The silver lining of Widodo's big economic miss
News, Daniel Moss, Published on 15/02/2024
» By his own standards, Joko Widodo has fallen well short of a major economic goal during his decade leading Indonesia. Growth has been laudable in a neighbourhood where the pace of expansion is undergoing a long-term slowdown, but nowhere close to the outgoing president's lofty ambitions. That's a pity, because part of Mr Widodo's attraction as a candidate in 2014 was his image as a self-made businessman, an outsider who could nudge the country towards achieving its much-promoted potential.
Prabowo gets a TikTok makeover
News, Karishma Vaswani, Published on 12/12/2023
» Indonesians will get a chance to hear from their presidential and vice-presidential hopefuls in the first of five televised debates this week. The theme of the discussion is, among other issues, human rights. It should provide an opportunity for voters in the world's third-largest democracy to probe the calibre and character of the front-runner for the country's top job.
Indonesia's Asean chair faces challenges
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 03/01/2023
» Over the course of 25 years of democratic transformation that followed the Suharto era, whenever Indonesia served as the Asean chair, new ideas and plans seemed to mushroom.
Honour models for democracy
News, Editorial, Published on 18/12/2022
» Since the 1998 ouster of the dictator Suharto -- who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for over three decades -- the world's fourth most populous nation has undergone a series of rapid changes. Once dependent on foreign aid to exercise its basic functions, Indonesia has firmly established itself as a major economic player in the Asia-Pacific region, with the distinction of being the only Southeast Asian economy to be included in the Group of 20.
Prayut counts on his allies
News, Aekarach Sattaburuth and Mongkol Bangprapa, Published on 20/02/2022
» Since assuming office in 2019 Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has faced down tough challenges including a plot to overthrow him from power in a no-confidence debate in September last year.
Youth inclusion a must in governing
News, Editorial, Published on 08/11/2020
» As Myanmar gears up to hold its second election since its transition to democracy began in 2011, the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) -- with its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi -- looks set to retain its majority in the quasi-civilian regime. However, its projected victory hides the growing divide between its younger and older members, which, if left unaddressed, poses a risk to its ability to effectively run the government.