On 14 September 2014, 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 topics such Indonesia’s fuel subsidies, economic growth in 2015, monetary policy of Bank Indonesia, the Anas Urbaningrum corruption case, emerging Indonesian companies on a global scale, and more.

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Former Chairman of the Democratic Party (Partai Demokrat, PD) Anas Urbaningrum could face 15 years in prison and a fine of IDR 500 million (USD $42,372), or an additional five-month imprisonment, as the Indonesian prosecution finds him guilty of accepting bribes related to several government projects that are (partly) financed by the state budget. In addition to the above, the prosecutor also demands that Urbaningrum compensates the state by reimbursing the IDR 94.2 billion and USD $5.3 million he obtained unlawfully.

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On 7 September 2014, 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 topics such Indonesia’s fuel subsidies, August inflation, July trade balance, the conflict between the government and Nusa Tenggara Newmont, Jero Wacik’s possible involvement in a corruption case, and more.

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Indonesia has jumped four places in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index 2014-2015. In the latest edition Southeast Asia’s largest economy is ranked 34th (from 38th in last year’s edition of the index). Since the 2012-2013 edition, when Indonesia was ranked 50th, the country has risen steadily. The Global Competitiveness Index measures the institutions, policies, as well as factors that set the sustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosperity among 144 countries around the world.

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Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik has been named a suspect in a corruption case by the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Allegedly, Jero Wacik was involved in the case that led to a seven-year prison sentence for former Head of Indonesia's oil & gas regulator SKKMigas Rudi Rubiandini (for money laundering as well as accepting bribes from Singapore-based Kernel Oil Pte Ltd and Indonesia-based Kaltim Parna Industri in return for awarding a lucrative tender to sell oil).

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It took about six hours for Indonesia’s Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi) to read out the lengthy 300-page verdict in the case that was filed by defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, who claimed that the result of Indonesia’s July 2014 presidential election was invalid due to large-scale violations and fraud that allegedly occurred during the voting and counting processes. During the read out it became increasingly clear that the Constitutional Court would reject Subianto’s claims due to a lack of evidence.

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The security status in Jakarta has been raised one day ahead of the ruling of Indonesia’s Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi) on Thursday (21/08) as the Jakarta administration anticipates public protests. The Constitutional Court will decide on defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s claims that the election result of Indonesia’s July presidential election was influenced by massive fraud and violations (in both the voting and counting process). According to the official result Joko Widodo won with 53.15 percent of the votes.

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Today (06/08), the first session of defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s legal challenge started. Based on data from the General Elections Commission (KPU), Indonesia’s July 2014 presidential election was won by Joko Widodo (Jokowi) with 53.15 percent to 46.85 percent of the votes. However, Subianto claims that the KPU’s outcome was influenced by fraud and other violations, leading to 50 million troubled votes in more than 200,000 Indonesian polling stations, and therefore challenges the result at the Constitutional Court.

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The structure of tax revenue in Indonesia has not changed in the past decade resulting in the country’s still low tax-to-GDP ratio of between 12 and 13 percent. Emerging countries such as Indonesia typically have a low tax-to-GDP ratio as the government’s financial management is inadequate (and plagued by corruption). However, it is important for Indonesia to raise this ratio in order to have more funds available to finance the budget deficit, infrastructure development, healthcare, education and other social programs to combat poverty.

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The performance of the Indonesian rupiah exchange rate and stocks has been impacted by defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s withdrawal from the General Elections Commission’s electoral process on Tuesday (22/07). Although the Commission (KPU) has not publicly announced the outcome of the 2014 presidential election yet, Subianto’s response is a clear sign that rival Joko Widodo - as expected - has won the election. Subianto claims that the KPU is corrupt and will challenge the outcome in the Constitutional Court.

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Liberalization of trade and investment among the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members should be expanded and governments should refrain from using any protectionist measures. Meanwhile, the private sector plays an important role in the economic expansion of the Asia-Pacific and governments should create a conducive investment climate for this sector. This was the main message conveyed in the speech of John Kerry, US minister of foreign affairs who replaced Barack Obama at the APEC Leader Summit.

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Late on Tuesday evening (13/08), the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Rudi Rubiandini, head of the Upstream Oil and Gas regulatory special task force (SKK Migas) for allegedly accepting bribes amounting to USD $400,000 from Kernel Oil Pte Ltd, which is headquartered in Singapore. Four other people were also arrested in connection with this case. Rubiandini is currently being questioned by the KPK. The institution has one day to determine Rubiandini's legal status.

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Apart from the five tax incentives that I have mentioned in a previous column, the Indonesian government also intends to ease two other tax rules in order to boost investments in Indonesia from 2014 onwards. These are the tax holiday and tax allowance. Relaxation of the tax holiday involves an alteration to the period as well as the size of the investment, and relaxation of procedural difficulties. Relaxation of the tax allowance involves the revision of the number of sectors that are eligible and a relaxation of procedures in the form of tax clearance.

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In my previous column, I outlined the emergence of a new and promising class of Indonesian consumers that is most likely to bring a positive effect on the country's economic growth in the years ahead. I also pointed out that the level of prosperity of a population is an influential factor towards the state (and future) of democracy in a country: the wealthier a population becomes in terms of per capita GDP, the longer the life expectancy of its democracy will be.

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Last Saturday, the Democratic Party (PD) selected Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the new chairman of the crumbling political party through an extraordinary congress in Bali. Yudhoyono thus replaced former chairman Anas Urbaningrum, who resigned from his post last month after being accused of involvement in a corruption case. It will be Yudhoyono's task to repair the image of his PD party, while still performing his duties as president.

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Yesterday Lembaga Survei Indonesia (LSI), a leading Indonesian public opinion research institute, published the result of a survey that indicated Megawati Soekarnoputri is leading the poll to become the country's next president in 2014. In the survey she is closely followed by Aburizal Bakrie and Prabowo Subianto. This preliminary result can be regarded negative as these names are 'products' of the old regime and thus will not support further democratization.

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Despite the fact that Indonesia reported the world's third-highest GDP growth in 2012 (behind China's 7.4 percent and Saudi Arabia's 7.1 percent), supported by rising consumption by a burgeoning middle class and significant increased foreign direct investment, the country's performance in terms of competitiveness is disappointing. It is cheaper to import products from countries that contain competitive businesses than to produce them in Indonesia.

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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has nominated Agus D.W. Martowardojo, currently serving as Finance minister, to replace Darmin Nasution as governor of Bank Indonesia, Indonesia's central bank. Nasution, who has been governor since September 2010, will see his term end in May this year. To become the next governor, Martowardojo still needs approval of Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR), and that might be a bottleneck.

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Just a few years ago, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (in Indonesian Partai Demokrat or PD) enjoyed huge popularity among Indonesia's population. More than one fifth of the electorate voted for the 'Democrats' in the 2009 parliamentary election, a notable achievement in Indonesia's pluralistic society. In particular, the party's hard stance towards corruption was likened by the people. Now, however, the party crumbles under its own weight.

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