• Road to the 2019 Presidential Election; Visions and Missions

    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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  • Food Culture: Explaining Indonesians' Huge Appetite for Instant Noodles

    Instant noodles are very popular in Indonesia. Those who have visited a supermarket or minimarket in Indonesia must have come across a relatively big-sized section that is devoted to all sorts of instant noodle products. Those who have ever stood in line to pay at the local Indonesian supermarket may have noticed that a couple of instant noodle packages tend to be among the items purchased by customers. And those who ever watched local television may have noticed that there are a lot of instant noodle commercials on Indonesian TV.

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  • Indonesian Gov't Confused: Postpone Power Projects or Not?

    Based on the latest reports - and contrary to earlier plans - the Indonesian government will not postpone the development of 15,200 MW of power projects. Earlier the government said it wanted to delay various power projects in an effort to curtail imports, thus improve the country's current account balance and ease heavy pressures on the rupiah exchange rate.

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