Land acquisition remains a major obstacle to infrastructure development in Indonesia. Full-scale construction of the USD $4 billion Batang plant, a 2 GW coal-fired power plant in Central Java, is waiting for the final ruling of Indonesia's Supreme Court near the year-end. This court case is an important one as it will be the first court case to test Indonesia's Law No.2/2012 on Land Procurement for Development in the Public Interest (known as the 'Land Acquisition Act'). The Batang plant is a public-private partnership (PPP) project.

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During his state visit to the USA, Indonesian President Joko Widodo told US President Barack Obama that Indonesia intends to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. Currently, 12 countries have joined the TPP, including the USA and Japan, thus creating the world's largest free trade area (an area that covers about 40 percent of world trade). By many analysts the TPP is regarded a counterbalance to the big economic influence of China.

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Paket kebijakan ekonomi kedua Indonesia di bulan September, diumumkan pada hari Selasa (29/09), menerima sambutan yang lebih hangat dari para pelaku pasar dibandingkan dengan yang pertama (diterbitkan pada 9 September), dibuktikan dengan rebound saham dan penguatan nilai tukar rupiah kemarin. Paket kebijakan terbaru Indonesia mencakup pemotongan pajak bunga untuk para eksportir, percepatan perizinan investasi untuk investasi di kompleks industri, dan pelonggaran pajak untuk impor barang-barang modal kompleks industri dan industri penerbangan.

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Presiden Joko Widodo, dikenal dengan panggilan Jokowi, akan mengumumkan paket kebijakan ekonomi kedua pada hari Selasa (29/09) di Istana Negara di Jakarta sesuai dengan pernyataan Menteri Koordinator Bidang Perekonomian Darmin Nasution. Menurut laporan, paket kedua akan berfokus terutama pada mendongkrak daya saing ekspor Indonesia dan daya tarik Indonesia sebagai tempat tujuan investasi.

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Ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the two-day policy meeting which starts today (16/09), the US dollar continues to appreciate against most currencies, including the Indonesian rupiah, as investors remain cautious ahead of a possible US interest rate hike. By 09:36 am local Jakarta time, the rupiah had depreciated 0.29 percent to IDR 14,450 per US dollar according to the Bloomberg Dollar Index, a fresh 17-year low.

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On Wednesday afternoon, Indonesian President Joko Widodo unveiled some details of the new economic policy package, involving major deregulation measures, that had been announced last week by Chief Economics Minister Darmin Nasution. This package aims - on the medium to long term - to boost Indonesia’s sluggish economy.

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Indonesia telah membatalkan pengembangan jalur kereta berkecepatan tinggi antara Ibukota Jakarta dan Bandung (Jawa Barat) karena Presiden Joko Widodo memutuskan bahwa Indonesia tidak membutuhkan sebuah kereta yang bisa mencapai kecepatan lebih dari 300 kilometer (km) per jam untuk rute yang relatif singkat (150 km) di antara kedua kota. Selain jarak yang pendek, juga akan ada sekitar 14 stasiun yang didirikan di antara dua stasiun terminal, mengimplikasikan bahwa kereta ini perlu direm berkali-kali sebelum bisa mencapai kecepatan maksimumnya.

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The government of Indonesia is still busy preparing the policy package that was announced last week by Chief Economics Minister Darmin Nasution. Earlier it was reported that this stimulus package, expected to be finalized this month, involves deregulation and tax holidays designed to boost economic activity in Indonesia as well as to attract foreign currency inflows. The government will also look at how it can provide incentives to accelerate smelter development in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

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Beberapa minggu lalu, telah dilaporkan bahwa Presiden Indonesia Joko Widodo meminta Menteri Tenaga Kerja & Transmigrasi Hanif Dhakiri untuk merevisi draft peraturan (dibuat di tahun 2013) yang mengharuskan para ekspatriat lulus tes penguasaan Bahasa Indonesia sebagai persyaratan mendapatkan izin kerja. Menurut Widodo, peraturan ini akan mengurangi daya tarik iklim investasi Indonesia.

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo wants to drop the regulation that states a foreign worker needs to learn Indonesian. Today (21/08), Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said President Widodo (often called Jokowi) requested Hanif Dhakiri, Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration, to revise this regulation (that was issued in 2013). According to Jokowi the language proficiency requirement would make Indonesia’s investment climate less competitive and could therefore hamper much-needed investment.

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There is quite some controversial material to discuss after the Constitutional Court of Indonesia (Mahkamah Konstitusi, or MK) paved the way for incumbent President Joko Widodo’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka (henceforth Gibran), to team up with Gerindra Chairman Prabowo Subianto in the presidential race.

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What marked the year 2019 for Indonesia was national politics. Although in these present times each year feels like a ‘political year’ for Indonesia – as the country’s local elections are spread out across years (and in 2020 it will be the turn of voters in various parts of the Archipelago to elect nine governors, 224 regents and 37 mayors) – the year 2019 was in fact a particularly ‘huge political year’ for Indonesia because of the (general) presidential and legislative elections that were held on 17 April 2019.

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Although the signs were there in the past couple of weeks, it still came as a surprise to us that defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto made the last-minute decision to throw his support behind Indonesian President Joko Widodo. It effectively means that his Great Indonesia Movement party (or Gerindra) – previously the biggest opposition party – has now joined Widodo’s coalition, and thereby handing Widodo a massive majority in national parliament.

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Yes, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who recently won the 2019 presidential election and will therefore guide the world’s largest Archipelago in the 2019-2024 period, said the composition of his new cabinet (which is scheduled to be inaugurated in October 2019) has been finalized. But, no, he has not mentioned any names of the future ministers.

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There was a new kid on the block in national politics ahead of Indonesia's 2014 elections. Joko Widodo (often called Jokowi), gained tremendous popularity among Indonesians when he was Governor of Jakarta (2012-2014). This popularity was based on his humble background as well as his humble behavior, his eagerness to reform existing structures and patterns, and his “pro-people” attitude. Previously, Widodo (who is an ex-furniture businessman) had been mayor of Solo (Central Java) from 2005 to 2012. His time as mayor was a success. However, he would really step into the national spotlight once he had won Jakarta’s gubernatorial election in 2012.

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Indonesia Investments carefully followed developments surrounding Indonesia’s presidential and legislative elections (which were held on Wednesday 17 April 2019). Although the official results will only be announced in late May (as the General Elections Commission, or KPU, will be busy counting all votes up to 22 May 2019) we can already draw several conclusions from these events.

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On Thursday 17 January 2019 the first debate between the two presidential pairs - (1) Joko Widodo & Ma'ruf Amin and (2) Prabowo Subianto & Sandiaga Uno - took place at Hotel Bidakara in Pancoran (South Jakarta). It is the first one of a total of five planned debates between the presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the months ahead of the legislative and presidential elections that are scheduled for 17 April 2019 (although the date of the 5th debate is yet to be determined).

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We have entered 2019, which means we have entered a huge political year with the legislative and presidential elections scheduled for 17 April 2019. Indonesia is a young democracy that is maturing – hence experiences growing pains – and where various sides are engaged in a battle to get a hold of the highest political power in Indonesia.

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On 23 September 2018 the campaign period officially started for Indonesia’s 2019 presidential election. This period runs up to 13 April 2019 (while the election is scheduled for 17 April 2019). Despite the start of the campaign period it has remained rather calm between the two opposing sides: (1) incumbent President Joko Widodo with Islamic clerk Ma’ruf Amin versus (2) Gerindra Chairman Prabowo Subianto with businessman Sandiaga Uno.

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It is finally clear which pairs will compete in Indonesia’s 2019 presidential election. On Saturday August 10th, 2018 (only hours before the deadline ended), political parties officially registered their presidential and vice-presidential candidates at the General Elections Commission (in Indonesian: Komisi Pemilihan Umum, or KPU). As was widely assumed, only two pairs will compete in the 2019 presidential election. Thus, there are also two coalitions of political parties.

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