President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (second from left) pays a visit to sneakers exhibition Jakarta Sneaker Day at Senayan City mall, Central Jakarta, with his eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka (third from left).

Analysis: Invisible VP Gibran under pressure, eclipsed by his father Jokowi

Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka is facing mounting pressure, mostly for underperformance, in the seven months since taking up the job. The latest sign of tension in his relationship with President Prabowo Subianto was when the latter asked former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to represent him at last week’s funeral ceremony of Pope Francis in the Vatican. This is a job normally reserved for the VP. There was no explanation for why Prabowo gave the assignment to Jokowi, Gibran’s father and the country’s president from 2014 to 2024.

8 hours ago

Opinion premium

Analysis: US cites QRIS as trade barrier, but US payment model unfit for Indonesia

Indonesia’s efforts to strengthen trade ties with the United States have hit an unexpected roadblock, centered on the country’s QR code-based payment system—Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS). The U.S. government has classified QRIS as a trade barrier, arguing that it has curtailed the dominance of Visa and Mastercard in Indonesia’s payment ecosystem, where both compa...

2 days ago

Opinion premium

Analysis: District judge’s arrest for graft revives old political drama

The arrest of a Jakarta district judge has sparked public outcry and spotlighted the long-standing decay of institutional trust in the judiciary. On April 11, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) apprehended South Jakarta District Court head Muhammad Arif Nuryanta on allegations that he had accepted Rp 60 billion (US$3.5 million) in bribes in exchange for a favorable ruling for three defendan...

3 days ago