President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has proposed Navy chief of staff Admiral Yudo Margono as the new commander of the Indonesian Military (TNI). The House will conduct the formality of the fit-and-proper test next week and will almost surely endorse Yudo’s nomination. The president will then install Yudo as the successor to Army Gen. Andika Perkasa.

The government has changed the formula to calculate the minimum wage for 2023 to please labor unions supporting the government but disappoint businesspeople. The new formula will result in a higher increase of the minimum wage than the existing formula, but the government caps the increase at 10 percent maximum.

The NasDem Party has made its opening election gambit by declaring former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan its chosen candidate for the 2024 presidential race. It is a strategy that could pay off handsomely if Anies goes on to win, but it is also a move that has triggered challenges to the party’s standing in the run-up to the general elections. Anies’ nomination is by no means certain. NasDem, or rather Anies, has to secure the support of at least two other parties to clinch the presidential ticket.

Indonesia has received pledges totaling US$20 billion from developed countries and global private lenders through the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), led by the United States and Japan, to help the country retire its coal power plants, bringing forward the power sector’s peak emissions target to 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The JETP scheme is complemented by another global fund led by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Indonesia’s energy transition.

Amid their string of People’s Conferences (Musra), as many as 18 representatives of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s volunteer groups have been seen embarking on a “political safari”. Recently, they met with Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto, after holding a similar meeting with Golkar Party chairman Airlangga Hartato. The move has raised questions regarding the groups’ game plan, more so considering how Jokowi has less than two years left in office.

The government finally migrated on Nov. 2 analog free-to-air TV to digital broadcasts through the analog switch off (ASO) program for almost half of 514 regions in Indonesia, including the Greater Jakarta area, after seven years of delay. The government will free some TV frequencies for other purposes, including 5G fast internet services. And yet, three TV groups challenged the ASO, arguing that the people are not yet ready.

As the current Indonesian Military (TNI) chief, Gen. Andika Perkasa, will reach his retirement age on Dec. 21, the public is anticipating who will be President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s choice of Andika’s replacement.

Democratic Party chairman Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono has been persistent in his efforts to secure a place as Anies Baswedan’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election. With the party’s electability on the rise amid intense coalition talks, Agus has redoubled efforts recently by seeking the blessing of NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has insisted on proceeding with the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed railway (HSR) project by extending the Jakarta-Bandung HSR to Surabaya in East Java, likely with the same Chinese investors, despite the financial challenge of completing the Jakarta-Bandung project, which has been bogged down with delays and massive cost overruns.

Megawati Soekarnoputri, the matriarch of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), is facing a dilemma in selecting the party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential election. The ideal choice would be a candidate who would go on to win the election, take the party to new heights and sustain the reign of the Sukarno dynasty in Indonesian politics.

Long dumped and shunned by investors, publicly listed coal miner PT Bumi Resources Tbk (BUMI), one of the largest mining companies associated with politically connected the Bakrie Group, is once again becoming a target of investors in the stock market following the entrance of the country’s premier conglomerate the Salim Group.

Political parties have been racing to announce who they will be backing in the 2024 presidential election. Most recently, the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) declared its support for Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo in the election, saying he is the most suitable to carry on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s legacy.

The Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway (HSR) test run with Chinese President Xi Jinping is only a month away, yet the project’s cost overrun has yet to be settled.

Since the NasDem Party recently declared outgoing Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan its presidential candidate, the Golkar Party might be buckling under the pressure to finalize its choice candidate too. Though the party previously maintained it would back chairman Airlangga Hartarto’s presidential ambitions, a final decision has yet to be made.

The House of Representatives concluded a plenary meeting on Sept. 20 establishing   the omnibus bill on financial sector reform as a parliament-proposed bill. The bill introduces considerable changes from the initial draft proposed by the government in collaboration with the parliament in 2020, some of which are highly contentious.

Young people aged between 17 and 39, who will make up 54 percent of voters in 2024, want a president who can make significant changes and they don’t think 70-year Prabowo Subianto, despite his huge popularity, is their man. In scenarios of two- and three-horse races involving Prabowo, they would instead vote for either Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo or Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, both 53, shows a survey by the Jakarta-based think tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). 

State-owned electricity company PT PLN recently formed four sub-holding companies, two that consolidate all its power generation assets, one that integrates primary energy management and one that develops services beyond electricity. The two power generation companies will share two new business entities in renewable energy, which are likely to be privatized.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reportedly moved to select the new Indonesian Military (TNI) chief as the current commander, Gen. Andika Perkasa, will reach his retirement age of 58 on Dec. 21 and Jokowi does not seem to consider an extension of Andika’s military service.

Presidential regulation (Perpres) No. 112/2022 on renewable energy, which had been teased since last year, is finally out. However, the reaction to the regulation has been bleak.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s supporters have figured out another way to extend his political career beyond 2024, namely by having him run as vice president.

Trouble is brewing at the United Development Party (PPP), the country’s oldest Islamist party and among the seven parties in the coalition government, after chairman Suharso Monoarfa was toppled by what appears to be a slip of the tongue that offended kiai, the elderly heads of Islamic boarding schools.

September has been marked by massive waves of street rallies, protesting against the government’s decision to increase subsidized fuel prices

The global wheat supply chain disruption induced by the Russia-Ukraine conflict has highlighted Indonesia’s dependence on wheat imports.

Die-hard supporters of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo held a congress in Bandung on Aug. 28 to keep their hopes alive for him to continue to serve the nation beyond 2024 when his current term in office ends, in defiance of the constitutional two-term limit.

House Speaker Puan Maharani is making high-profile public appearances and increasingly playing the woman card in a bid to boost her electability, which has remained stubbornly low in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has set up a team to resolve past serious human rights violations without going through courts of law, prompting some civil society organizations to accuse the government of trying to absolve the perpetrators of any guilt.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has urged state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) to enter the huge but stalled Masela gas block in Maluku to jumpstart the US$20 billion project. Many, however, have questioned the motive behind the move.

Prabowo Subianto officially confirmed his bid to run for president in 2024 at the Gerindra Party’s national leadership meeting (Rapimnas) last weekend.

Coal-supply crisis looms over the state-owned electricity company (PLN) again as businesses prefer to export their coal than to meet their domestic market obligation (DMO) amid skyrocketing commodity prices.

This year’s joint military exercise between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the United States armed forces are called “Super Garuda Shield”, indicating that the war games have been expanded to involve a total of 14 countries as well as the naval and air forces, instead of just the army.