President-elect Prabowo Subianto has come up with a few ideas about what Indonesia can do to help Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been under siege by the Israeli military for over eight months. These ideas depart somewhat from the line taken by the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and while it’s questionable whether they would be taken up at all, they make for good optics both at home and abroad. They also shed light on the kind of leader Indonesia can expect he takes charge in October.

Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, has decided to divert trillions of rupiah funds from state-owned Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI), the country’s largest sharia bank, to other sharia banks. This move has raised concerns about its impact on BSI but also reveals the financial strength of the Islamic organization that many were unaware of.

After dropping the idea of setting up a transition team, president-elect Prabowo Subianto has come up with a so-called synchronization task force comprising entirely of elites from his Gerindra Party. Its job: To synchronize the moves of the incoming and outgoing governments. It’s a transition team in all but its name, but it skirts the contentious issue of who should lead it.

Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Authority head Bambang Susantono and his deputy Dhony Rahajoe took Indonesia by surprise with their sudden resignations. This unexpected development raises suspicions about ongoing construction challenges at IKN, potentially leading to their departure. Given that the completion of Indonesia's new capital heavily depends on private sector investment, their resignations might signal concerns about the project's feasibility to potential investors.

After concluding the general election, Indonesia is now preparing another political battle in the simultaneous regional head elections scheduled for Nov. 27, with 37 gubernatorial, 451 regency and 93 mayoral posts on the line. Major parties and power brokers are testing the water before the General Elections Commission (KPU) closes registration of candidates on Aug. 19.

President-elect Prabowo Subianto is exploring alternative protein sources to dairy milk for his signature free school lunch program. He is also redefining the program by adopting a more flexible approach while remaining true to its core essence and objectives. This flexibility is crucial due to the country's geographical challenges and, more importantly, the shortage of raw materials needed to support the original program.

While Indonesians have become more religiously conservative, most of them shunned Islamism in the February general election, as indicated by the failure of the United Development Party (PPP), the country’s oldest Islamist political party, to win any seats in the national legislature for the first time in its 51-year history.

The fourth amendment to the 2003 Constitutional Court Law is about to be added to the growing list of bills that, despite much public backlash, are to be passed into law under the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. The proposed amendments will likely chip away at the judiciary’s independence and thus leave it vulnerable to political influences.

The House of Representatives plans to accelerate the law-making process of several controversial bills during the lame-duck period before its term ends on Oct. 1. The politicians are intent on revising specifically the Broadcasting Law, the Constitutional Court Law, State Ministries Law and Indonesian Military (TNI) Law that would help them consolidate their power, unfortunately at the expense of democracy, before the Oct. 20 succession of administration.

President Joko “Jokowi’’ Widodo’s ambition to relocate the national capital to Nusantara in East Kalimantan as his signature legacy will hinge on his success in holding a ceremony to mark Indonesia’s independence anniversary on Aug. 17 in the new city. The major hurdle to the plan is moving thousands of civil servants to Nusantara in a relatively short time.

President-elect Prabowo Subianto is pushing for a big government for when he takes over the helm in October, but it is not so much because he has ambitious big programs to run, but more because he needs to parcel out cabinet posts to political parties, individuals and institutions that helped him win the February election. As if that is not enough, Prabowo is inviting some of the political parties that had supported rival candidates in the race to join his ruling coalition, so he has even more strategic government jobs to give out.

While deindustrialization in Indonesia remains a matter of debate, the recent closure of shoe manufacturer PT Sepatu Bata’s only factory in the country has sparked new concerns. The government has assured that Indonesia’s manufacturing industry is still healthy.

The initiative to form a presidential club may be dead on arrival, not only because at least one of the two former living presidents will likely oppose the plan but more importantly, because none of the three candidates for membership has the statesmanship qualities deserving of being on a council of supposedly wise men/women.

The Indonesian government is in the process of passing a regulation to establish the Indonesia Tourism Fund (ITF). The fund will be used to support various major tourism events that can create multiplier effects, such as music concerts. One of the methods being considered to collect money for the fund is from airfare by charging a tourism fee, which will likely increase flight ticket prices. The plan sparked objections from business players in the Indonesian tourism sector, including the country’s airline industry, as well as advocates of consumer rights.

The National Awakening Party (PKB) and the NasDem Party, two parties that nominated Anies Baswedan in the Feb. 14 presidential election, have decided to join the winning side of Prabowo Subianto. The entry of the two ex-rivals will allow Prabowo to enlarge his coalition and secure majority parliamentary support, but on the flip side it may cause complexities in allocating ministerial posts as rewards in his incoming cabinet.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo recently welcomed Apple CEO Tim Cook to the State Palace, as the United States tech giant and the Indonesian government look to expand collaboration with one another. The two discussed multiple matters, including Jokowi’s desire for Apple to build a manufacturing facility in the country and invest in the future capital city, Nusantara (IKN).

Unsurprisingly, the Constitutional Court put an end to all election result disputes by rejecting the legal challenges put forward by losing presidential candidates Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo. In two separate five-to-three majority rulings on Monday, the justices upheld the landslide victory of president-elect Prabowo Subianto and his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

The Indonesian government has refuted Israeli reports that it is actively seeking to normalize diplomatic ties with the State of Israel. Said reports suggested that Indonesia's alleged pursuit of such a normalization is tied to the Southeast Asian country’s ongoing efforts to join the multilateral Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), of which Israel is already a member. Indonesia sees entry to the economic forum of developed nations as a pivotal phase in its journey to become a developed country.

Politicians capitalized on Idul Fitri holiday last week to embark on silaturahmi (kinship) visits in the name of coalition building. This year, Prabowo Subianto paid visits to key allies while talks of an imminent meeting between the president-elect and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri have spread.

The government recently approved 14 new national strategic projects (PSN), including Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) 2 and Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) in Banten, both of which are developments by publicly listed property companies. However, with these projects set to be funded by private investors, questions have been raised regarding the reasoning behind their inclusion as PSNs.

Both losing presidential candidates, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, are demanding nothing less than a revote in their appeal to the Constitutional Court, claiming that the Feb. 14 election should be invalidated and the results annulled because of problems with the nomination of the running mate of the winning candidate.

The financially troubled Indonesian Export Financing Agency (LPEI), known as Indonesia Eximbank, has suffered from another round of bad debts, resulting from fraud. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati recently submitted a report of fraud at the bank involving four borrowers, amounting to Rp 2.5 trillion, to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). More problems are expected to be revealed as more borrowers also fall under the AGO’s investigation.

It is by far the least powerful job among the country's highest state political institutions, but for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the position of House speaker may be a consolation prize after emerging as the party with the most votes in the February general elections. But even this is not automatic, depending upon the dictates of other parties.

Defense minister and presumptive president-elect Prabowo Subianto attended the Mandiri Investment Forum 2024 as keynote speaker last week, a role that would normally be performed by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. The keynote speech that ran for over an hour, discussed a litany of topics, ranging from the messiness of democracy in Indonesia to the country’s extremely low tax ratio and the low contribution of government spending to GDP.

Most political parties automatically extend the term of their chairman if they have performed well in a general election. Yet, this rule does not seem to apply to Golkar, which, under chairman Airlangga Hartarto, saw its tally of votes increase in last month’s legislative election to come second. Although his term is good until December, the race for the chairmanship is already heating up, including calls for an earlier extraordinary congress to settle the issue.

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.