The school operational assistance (BOS) fund has been put forth as a possible financing source for Prabowo Subianto's free school lunch program, the presumptive winner's key campaign promise. However, the proposal has met with stiff opposition, particularly from teachers' associations that believe using the fund will hinder further improvements to teachers' welfare and the quality of Indonesia's education.

President Joko ''Jokowi'' Widodo is entering the final months of his second and final term, with presumptive winner Prabowo Subianto set to be inaugurated in October this year. Although he is constitutionally required to leave office after spending the last 10 years at the helm, Jokowi’s influence in the country’s political landscape looks to remain intact for the foreseeable future.

The longstanding trend of granting key roles in state corporations to supporters of presidential and vice-presidential hopefuls has resurfaced. This time, members of the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka national campaign team (TKN) have been appointed as independent commissioners in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), drawing criticism for alleged political favoritism over merit-based qualifications.

The row between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party or Struggle (PDI-P), could move into a new round, this time with much bigger political stakes, if the House of Representatives goes ahead with its plan to launch an inquiry to look into allegations of impropriety in last month’s general elections.

As the electoral dust settles and Prabowo Subianto looks certain to win the presidency, the focus has now shifted to the intricate process of coalition-building. The public is anticipating Prabowo’s next move to consolidate power before he takes over from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in October.

With less than eight months left in office, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo changed his cabinet team once again to welcome Democratic Party leader Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono on board as agrarian and spatial planning minister, replacing Hadi Tjahjanto, a long-time Jokowi ally who was promoted to the coordinating political, legal and security affairs minister post.

As President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s ramped up the rice social assistance program for 22 million poor households in January ahead of the general election, premium rice disappeared from modern retailers. Responding to the scarcity, the President ordered the National Food Agency (Bapanas) and the State Logistic Agency (Bulog) to flood the market with rice from state reserves.

We have entered a new era. Until recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has largely been operating in the background - quietly automating processes and improving performance. Yet the unprecedented adoption curve of generative AI represents an explosive change in how humans interface with technology, through natural language and conversation. This is not just a seismic wave, but a tectonic shift that will alter how we live, and work, forever.

Quick counts conducted by a number of survey institutes just after the voting on Feb. 14 found presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka garnered the majority of the votes to avoid a runoff. The superiority of the former army general in the quick counts went hand in hand with his persistent dominance in the opinion surveys in the run-up to the elections, despite several controversies, particularly surrounding Gibran’s candidacy.

The impact of the 2023 social assistance (bansos) program on the national economy has been reflected in Statistic Indonesia's (BPS) most recent national economic growth report. Whereas government expenditure experienced rather extreme fluctuations between Q3 and Q4 of 2023, which is during a period of aggressive social assistance (bansos) programs, household consumption remained steady, raising concerns over the effectiveness of bansos in boosting the people's purchasing power.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is literally struggling to retain its top position in next week's general election, with surveys putting it just ahead of the Gerindra Party. The surveys also show that parties campaigning on an Islamist agenda are further losing ground, but then all elections in the past have always been dominated by secular-nationalist parties.

Rumors that Finance Minister Sri Mulyani will resign from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo's cabinet have emerged just weeks before the 2024 general election. Despite denials from President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and several ministers, speculation about Sri Mulyani's departure has weakened the rupiah and led to significant divestment by foreign investors from Indonesian government securities.

Mahfud MD is stepping down from his job as coordinating minister for politics, law and human rights, citing the need to prevent a potential conflict of interests given that he is running for the vice-presidential office in the Feb. 14 election. But with the election just two weeks away, his decision is not likely to be followed by other state officials running for other offices, even though they are just as equally conflicted.

Illicit money could be finding its way into campaigns for the 2024 general election, as the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) recently found that money from overseas had flown into the accounts of 21 unnamed political parties. Totaling Rp 195 billion (US$12.4 million), 30 percent of the funds are said to have originated from shell companies.

Critics said as the President, who oversees and is responsible for the electoral process, Jokowi should stay above the fray. One staunch criticism comes from Jusuf Kalla, his vice president in his first term in 2014-2019, who said Jokowi was in violation of his oath of office.

The Indonesian government has major work ahead for its electric vehicle (EV) ambitions as fewer than 1,000 units of fuel-based motorcycles were converted to electric ones in 2023, falling far short of the 50,000-unit target. For 2024, a more ambitious target of 150,000 units has been set, a feat the government hopes to achieve through a multitude of approaches. Concurrently, the government appears to be prioritizing investments from foreign carmakers to boost the domestic adoption of electric cars.

In the high-stakes arena of Indonesian politics, presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka seem to have made strategic and calculated attempts to secure victory after one round in next month's election. Their most recent bold political maneuver was the much-awaited inclusion of East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa in their campaign team, which many believe will significantly impact their electoral bid. Khofifah's alliance with Prabowo and Gibran will be crucial for the pair to win the battleground in East Java and clinch the presidency in a single round.

The Indonesian government has decided to raise the portion of its state budget for fertilizer subsidy, one of the Joko “Jokowi” Widodo administration’s last actions ahead of the upcoming 2024 elections. The decision brought attention due to it being in contrast with the second period of President Jokowi’s government, which had previously opted to cut fertilizer subsidy. It also raised concerns that the decision was done with political motives ahead of the elections, with some doubting its effectiveness to the country’s agriculture.

Anyone looking for a clue about the direction of Indonesia’s defense and foreign policy in the next administration would have been utterly disappointed when these issues were brought into the spotlight in Sunday’s presidential debate.

The occupational safety and health (OSH) standard at the nickel-focused Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) is under scrutiny after explosions blasted in Tsinghan subsidiary Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel’s (ITSS) nickel furnace located in the industrial park. The deadly incident adds to the series of OSH incidents in the industrial park, raising concerns over its OSH regulation implementation.

While polls have indicated that the Indonesian presidential race will most likely be a two-round affair because three pairs are contesting, the leading ticket in electability ratings maintains that winning the election outright in February is still possible.

By signing an “integrity pact” with a group of conservative ulamas (Islamic scholars), presidential candidate Anies Baswedan may be gaining some extra votes. But he could also lose the support of a large segment of voters who are not comfortable with the group’s Islamist agenda.

Chinese tech firm ByteDance’s social media subsidiary TikTok has bought a controlling stake in Tokopedia, Indonesian tech company GoTo Gojek Tokopedia’s electronic commerce (e-commerce) platform. The corporate action led to the reentry of TikTok’s integrated online shopping service TikTok Shop after it was booted from Indonesia by a ministerial regulation that bans social commerce (s-commerce). The transaction looks set to be a major shift in the Indonesian online retail market, but it also raised concerns about foreign firms’ domination.

The first round of the 2024 election debates organized by the General Elections Commission (KPU) took place on Tuesday, following the latest survey results that showed nearly 29 percent of the respondents remained undecided about their choice for the Feb. 14 election.

Less than a month after President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo officially initiated the construction of the government's fertilizer industrial area in Fakfak regency, West Papua, controversy has loomed over the National Strategic Project (PSN). At the center of the controversy is Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia and his associates, whose ties with the project have raised concerns about conflicts of interest.

Moving the capital city from Jakarta to Nusantara in East Kalimantan may seem like a done deal, but now the costly project, conservatively put at about US$35 billion, is being put to the popular test for the first time.

PT Waskita Karya (WSKT) and subsidiary Waskita Beton Precast’s (WSBP) failure to pay bond payments has once again entered the spotlight as bondholders, the majority of whom are insurance companies and pension funds, rejected a debt-restructuring proposal by WSKT that would extend a payment deadline by up to 10 years through a scheme of 3.5 percent interest on the principal.

Public trust in the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) may have hit a record low after the Jakarta police named the antigraft body's chairman Firli Bahuri a suspect for allegedly extorting former agriculture minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo. To regain the much-needed credibility, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo suspended Firli and appointed Nawawi Pomalongo as an interim leader, but the move did little to help the KPK regain ground.

Vale Canada, a subsidiary of Brazilian mining firm Vale, and Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM), a unit of Japanese conglomerate firm Sumitomo Group, have finally agreed to divest parts of their stake in Vale Indonesia (INCO) to Indonesian state-owned mining holding company Mineral Industri Indonesia (MIND ID). The initial deal was inked with the signing of a Head of Agreement (HoA) on the sideline of the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting, bringing MIND ID to be one step closer to becoming INCO’s controlling shareholder.

The campaign teams of the presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs are confident they can win the Feb. 14, 2024 race in only one round. However, although one of the tickets, namely Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, slowly approaches the 50 percent mark in opinion surveys, experts maintain that the presidential election will most likely carry on to a runoff.