Posts with tag: Featured Article
K-pop and the presidential election: Anies Baswedan riding the Korean Bubble
2024 Indonesian Elections, Media, SocietySocial media has become the key battle ground as candidates try to curate and amplify their image with younger voters. Nowhere is this changing online campaign landscape more evident than presidential candidate Anies Baswedan’s recent foray into K-pop fandom through the X (Twitter) account Anies Bubble.
Campaign costs impeding women’s political representation in Indonesia
2024 Indonesian Elections, Gender, PoliticsThere are several factors frustrating women’s political representation including voter beliefs about women’s leadership, gendered processes of candidate selection in political parties and the low numbers of women holding senior positions in the civil service. However, the possibility of improving women’s political representation in the upcoming February 2024 elections will also depend on overcoming arguably the biggest impediment to their election: money.
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest democracies, but it’s weaponising defamation laws to smother dissent
Law, Natural ResourcesTwo former coordinators of one of Indonesia’s most prominent human rights organisations have escaped conviction in a defamation case brought by a powerful government minister. While their astonishing acquittal is welcome, the case marked a bleak new low for freedom of expression in one of the world’s largest democracies.
Best of 2023
Top StoriesThe new year has arrived and it will be a particularly important year for Indonesia as the country heads towards a general election on 14 February. To celebrate the year just past, we have pulled together this short list of the articles and podcasts you found most interesting in 2023.
Prabowo Subianto: Indonesia’s perennial strongman recast as the adorable grandpa
2024 Indonesian Elections, PoliticsPrabowo's political trajectory is a case study of resilience and reinvention. Throughout his long career he has faced accusations of war crimes, incompetence and even treason – and yet his detractors have never managed to end his political influence. This is due, in part, to Prabowo’s ability to repeatedly adapt his image. But as the 2024 election approaches, it is his most recent persona – that of an adorable grandpa for Indonesia’s Generation Z and millennial voters – that could be his most savvy.
Coldplay controversy: Islamic hardliners driving Indonesian cancel culture
Religion, SocietyReligious protesters and police clashed outside the Coldplay concert at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on 16 November. Attempts to cancel public figures are becoming a common occurrence in Indonesia. But what motivates these religious hardliners leading Indonesian cancel culture?
Values-based or transactional? Comparing the foreign policies of Indonesia’s presidential candidates
2024 Indonesian Elections, Foreign PolicyIndonesia has long been known for what it calls its ‘free and active’ (bebas aktif) foreign policy. This policy has endured – but that doesn’t mean we should assume continuity in Indonesian foreign policy when there is a change of president.
Unpacking Indonesia’s Just Energy Transition Roadmap
Economy, Environment, Policy in FocusAs part of its obligations under the Just Energy Transition Partnership, Indonesia released a Comprehensive Investment and Policy Plan that details a roadmap for reaching peak emissions in 2030 and becoming net zero by 2050. It was written with an eye toward making Indonesia’s renewable energy sector more attractive to private capital. But is it politically feasible?
Indonesian military back in the bureaucracy: the return of dual function?
2024 Indonesian Elections, LawOn 2 October, Indonesia passed a new civil service law – known as the ASN law – that reopens the door for the police and military to again take a more active role in Indonesian politics. With a presidential election just around the corner, does this new law signal impending electoral interference?