Former Indonesian Minister of Tourism (2004-2011) as well as former Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (2011-2014) Jero Wacik was sentenced to four years in prison and a IDR 150 million fine by the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court on Tuesday (09/02) as he was found guilty of being involved in two embezzlement cases. Wacik is yet another example of a high positioned Indonesian politician that sees his career ended by a corruption scandal and prison sentence.

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In the latest annual Corruption Perceptions Index, compiled by Transparency International (a Germany-based politically non-partisan institution), Indonesia's ranking improved to 88th (from 107th in last year's edition). As such, Indonesia continues to rise through the ranks of the index. Although this is a very encouraging development, it needs to be emphasized that the nation is still plagued by a high degree of corruption. Transparency International's index measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians.

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Today (09/12) millions of Indonesians head to the ballot boxes to vote for new regional leaders i.e. nine provincial governors, 36 mayors, and 224 district heads. These elections are important as the process of decentralization in the post-Suharto era has transferred considerable authority and power to the regions. As such, the regions now have a larger role and greater responsibility regarding economic development. Around 100 million people are eligible to cast a vote in the world's third-largest democracy. Today, 9 December 2015, has been declared a public national holiday.

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The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) will complete its investigation into the alleged fictitious trading of coal mining firm Sekawan Intipratama's shares later this week. Results will be presented to the Financial Services Authority (OJK). The case led to the one-day suspension of trading activity of three Indonesian brokerages (Danareksa Sekuritas, Reliance Securities, and Millenium Danatama Sekuritas) on Wednesday 11 November on claims that they manipulated the miner's shares. Trading in shares of Sekawan Intipratama has been suspended since 9 November after the firm's shares tumbled 64.68 percent in a two-week period.

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In the World Happiness Report 2015, released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network on Thursday (23/04), Indonesia ranks 74th in terms of citizens’ happiness. The report measures the degree of happiness in 158 countries around the globe by using six variables: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption. Although Indonesia climbed two spots in the 2015 Happiness Index, the country still trails behind regional peers.

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The recently exposed case that involves illegal fishery, abuse and even alleged slavery on and near the remote island of Benjina (East Indonesia) has taken another turn after a key witness in the case was found dead in a hotel in Central Jakarta over the weekend. Yoseph Sairlela, adviser at Indonesia’s Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, was beaten to death according to local media. Indonesia's National Police stated that it suspects the murder is related to the ‘Benjina-case’. The ministry requested police protection for other key witnesses.

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Indonesian authorities said that divers have located the black box recorders of Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 on Sunday (11/01). Ships involved in the search operation picked up strong ping signals less than 0.6 miles from the location where the tail of the AirAsia aircraft was found. However, divers have not been able yet to collect the black box (which contains crucial flight data) due to the strong undercurrent. Moreover, the black box is stuck under debris at about 30 to 35 meters below sea level.

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On 11 January 2015, Indonesia Investments released the latest edition of its newsletter. This free newsletter, which is sent to our subscribers once per week, contains the most important news stories from Indonesia that have been reported on our website in the last seven days. Most of the topics involve economic matters such as the performance of Indonesian stocks and the rupiah, an update on palm oil and coal, Indonesia’s subsidized fuel policy, but also topics such as flight schedule violations and Islamic radicalism.

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Although Indonesian rescuers are still searching for the black boxes, casualties and other remains of Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 that crashed tragically in the Java Sea on 28 December 2014 en route from Surabaya (East Java) to Singapore, some preliminary findings have already been presented to the media. These findings do not involve the accident itself but rather involve massive violations that were exposed as a consequence of the AirAsia tragedy. Apparently, 61 flights (involving five Indonesian airlines) lack the necessary permits.

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Indonesia has suspended several officials in connection to the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 disaster after preliminary results of the investigation indicate that the AirAsia airplane was not authorized to fly on Sundays (hence detecting a flight schedule violation). The AirAsia plane went down in the Java Sea on Sunday 28 December 2014, en route from Surabaya (East Java) to Singapore, presumably killing all 162 people on board. Authorities have barred the airline from flying this route until the investigation is over.

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After Emirsyah Satar, Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has also named Soetikno Soedardjo a suspect in the same multinational bribery case. On Thursday (19/01) it became breaking headline news in Indonesia when the KPK announced that former Garuda Indonesia Chief Executive (2005-2014) Emirsyah Satar was named suspect of received a bribe in the procurement (by Garuda Indonesia) of aircraft and aircraft engines from Airbus and Rolls-Royce. Satar currently servers as Chairman of Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group's e-commerce platform MatahariMall.com.

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Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (abbreviated KPK) is satisfied with the decision of the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) to sentence Ariesman Widjaja, former General Director of Agung Podomoro Land, to three years in prison and IDR 200 million (approx. USD $15,300) in fines (or three additional months inmprisonment). Although prosecutors demanded a four year prison sentence and IDR 250 million in fines, the decision of the court is acceptable according to Indonesia's anti-corruption watchdog.

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One of Indonesia's largest listed property developers - Agung Podomoro Land - saw its shares plunge 10 percent on Monday (04/04) after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the country's anti-graft agency, named the company's President Director Ariesman Widjaja a suspect in a bribery case that also involves a Jakarta legislator. Allegedly, Muhammad Sanusi, legislator of the Jakarta provincial assembly and member of Prabowo Subianto's Great Indonesia Party (Gerindra), accepted money in exchange for support related to the Pluit City project.

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West Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and South Kalimantan are the three Indonesian provinces that scored the worst in the Local Government Performance Index (in Indonesian: Indeks Kinerja Pemerintah Daerah, or IKPD). This index, compiled by Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), measures the degree of coordination and supervision within Indonesian provinces regarding policies and actions related to the prevention of corruption in the mining and energy sectors. The provinces that have the highest scores are Central Sulawesi and the Riau Islands.

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Jero Wacik, Indonesia's former Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (2011-2014) and Minister of Culture and Tourism (2004-2011), could face nine years in prison, a fine of IDR 350 million and may have to pay compensation up to IDR 18.8 billion to the government. These are the demands expressed by prosecutor Dody Sukmono at the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) on Thursday (21/01). Wacik is being accused of mishandling ministerial funds and extortion by the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

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Former Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali (who was also Chairman of the Islamic political party PPP) was sentenced to six years in jail and a fine of IDR 300 million (or three additional months in prison) by the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) on Monday (11/01). Suryadharma was found guilty of self-enrichment by deliberately mishandling state funds that were allocated to the hajj pilgrimage program covering the financial years 2010-2013.

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Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK), the central government's agency that regulates and supervises Indonesia's financial services sector, needs to hire hundreds of new staff in order to safeguard monitoring of the nation's banking sector and to enhance its early warning system in order to detect possible corruption cases. As up to 350 OJK workers are expected to return to the central bank per 1 January 2017, good monitoring of the banking sector is in jeopardy.

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With the forest fires still raging on parts of the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, damaging the tropical environment, while the toxic haze still spreads to other parts of Southeast Asia, having caused an estimated 500,000 cases of respiratory tract infection as well as 19 casualties, the ongoing disaster has been labelled a crime against humanity. A new and interesting research report, released by Dr. Herry Purnomo (scientist at the Bogor-based Center for International Forestry Research), points to a link between local elections and spikes in Indonesian forest fires.

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Berlin-based Transparency International released the 2014 edition of its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) earlier this week. In the new edition Indonesia was ranked 107th (out a total of 175 countries), up from 114th in the previous edition. As such, Indonesia continues to improve gradually through the ranks of the index. However, with a score of 34 (out of a possible - and perfect - score of 100) the country still lags behind its regional peers such as Singapore (84), Malaysia (52) and the Philippines (38).

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One strategy of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to generate more state revenues in order to enhance investments in social and economic development of Indonesia is by improving the country’s tax collection system. As the middle class as well as number of companies that are active in Indonesia has risen rapidly in recent years, it is disappointing that tax collection targets are rarely met in Southeast Asia’s largest economy: tax compliance is low, while corruption among civil servants (tax collectors) remains a structural problem.

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