Economy - Indonesia at Melbourne

Why are more Indonesian university graduates jostling for menial jobs?

Indonesia now has two familiar images of graduate hardship, each with its own distinctive colour: the graduate in a green ojol (online motorcycle-taxi) jacket, and the graduate in an orange PPSU vest. They are usually told as separate stories. But both point to the same condition: graduates working in jobs that do not require the qualifications they spent years acquiring.

Prabowo’s managed coercion is reshaping Indonesia’s political-economic order

Analysis, Economy, Policies, Politics

Prabowo’s regime has demonstrated that the state retains a latent, potent capacity to dictate the terms of economic accumulation. But this does not imply the erasure of Indonesia’s elite networks, but rather a structural rearticulation of their relationship with the state. While the oligarchs are currently forced to adapt to these centralising arrangements, their compliance should not be mistaken for permanent submission.

Indonesia’s economic centralisation under Prabowo

Analysis, Economy

The question for Indonesia today is whether Prabowo’s unbridled centralisation will deliver the sustained economic growth that it promises, or merely build new institutions that distort the coordinating work of markets. Economic centralisation certainly offers more command over the nation’s wealth and a stronger hand in bargaining with the world, but any policy is only as good as the hands that work it.

From founder to prisoner: is Nadiem's verdict the end of regulatory trust?

Analysis, Economy, Law, Policies

No one should be surprised if, slowly but surely, Indonesia keeps sliding off the shortlists of major allocators - not because its market has shrunk, but because its institutions have stopped underwriting it.

What the New Order's failed clove monopoly tells us about Prabowo's single-door export policy

Analysis, Economy

On 20 May 2026, addressing a House of Representatives (DPR) plenary in Jakarta, President Prabowo Subianto announced that exports of strategic natural resource commodities - palm oil, coal, and ferroalloys - would now be handled through a single door: the state-owned enterprise PT Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia (DSI).

When silence speaks: Indonesia and the future of the e-commerce moratorium

Analysis, Economy, Policies

Ultimately, the issue is not simply whether Indonesia supports or opposes the proposed e-commerce tariffs moratorium. It is also about how Indonesia navigates a changing global trade landscape where rules are now increasingly shaped outside traditional multilateral forums.

Danantara and the return of the 'jago' economy

Analysis, Economy, Society

The 'jago' economy is the mode of economic governance that the Prabowo Subianto administration seems to be institutionalising through Danantara, the huge sovereign wealth fund it established in 2025.

Can Indonesia survive energy crisis as Iran war sends oil prices through the roof?

Economy

This is the moment of truth for the Prabowo administration. Poor policymaking could turn the energy crisis into a severe cost-of-living crisis, triggering social unrest and political instability. The government urgently needs a robust strategy to cushion the economy from internal and external pressures

Illegal and unfair: Indonesia should not ratify Donald Trump’s tariff deals

Analysis, Economy, Foreign Policy

Even without the bombshell Supreme Court decision, there are major problems with the Indonesia-US tariffs agreement.

Posted in: Economy