There must be Australian tourists who want more than beers in Bali and wish to learn about Indonesia and its people.

Whoever and wherever they are, they somehow miss my radar. Instead, the contact is with Europeans, mainly Germans and Dutch, who are impressed and make an impression as they search for experience.

They vary from backpacking couples through early retirees with kids off their hands, and oldies with energy beyond their years.

Many follow a circuit starting from Yogya for its culture, then on to Bromo for the climb and Mt Ijen near Banyuwangi close to the Bali ferries and the source of this story. Map above. The blue are to the West is not sea but East Java.

Small-scale tour operators are realising that one size doesn’t fit all and they need to refine offerings to meet the market.

Here’s an example – a klinik hutan (forest clinic)’ (above) on the lower slopes of Ijen where high school students and a few locals collect leaves, roots, flowers and bark to make traditional medicines called jamu.

They don’t just promote the cures, they also show how the ingredients are collected and processed.

Finding such sites would be impossible without a guide, preferably one with a four-wheel drive and a smattering of English, though that’s not necessary if the visitors are tolerant, polite and have cellphones that can translate voices.

One of the many delights is meeting otodidaks, youngsters teaching themselves English from YouTube videos and keen to practice with visitors, though often needing encouragement to overcome shyness.

The limited English taught in school tends to focus on grammar, so the learners fear making mistakes.

These entrepreneurs are trying to enlarge the offerings to stays with villagers and trekking in the dense mahogany forests.

They are still working out ways to market their offerings and plot walking trails with signage in English, the language familiar to almost all Europeans, often at a level far above the average Okker.

Small forest enterprises like the clinic are dotted around the national parks but rarely known outside the villages.

In another forest I came across two men melting scrap metal over a campfire to make small figurines they sell to city shops. A torn blue tarpaulin for shade was the only clue to their workshop.

Batik workshops in the cities are getting popular and an example of what can be done. Coffee and tea plantations often show tourists how their produce is prepared.

Wood carvers and stone masons are rare, usually practising their ancien hand-down crafts as hobbies.

How to find such people and places? Show interest, ask around. Government tourist agencies are great at showing factory products but seldom know of grassroots outfits.

Then spread kind words through social media.

Australians fearing the hatred of foreigners reciting the slime from ignorant and / or vindictive politicians can rest easy.

The villagers I meet rarely know about the world outside. Which is just as well. Imagine trying to explain that I have no links and only deep contempt for a leader who thinks there are “no good Muslims”, and that the Koran teaches hatred for Westerners.

Some of the more disgusting Okkers may treat our neighbours with disdain, but they treat us with friendship, as individuals only carrying curiosity in our backpacks and respect with our handshakes.

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##

OLD GLORY AGES OUT, WUXING HONGQI STAYS AND JESUS COMETH

Medan, the principal city in North Sumatra with the world’s tallest (61 m) Jesus nearby, is about to lose its US Consulate, which one commentator called “diplomatic negligence”. The office has been there since 1949, Jesus for just two years.

Washington apparently thinks this city of 2.5 million within the city limits isn’t important, though it faces the Malacca Straits.

Beijing has a different view and will keep its ConGen office.

Do we also think it’s, er, strategic and important enough to fly the Oz flag in this huge resource-rich area?

No. We have only four offices in the nation next door – the embassy in Jakarta, and consulates-general in Bali, Makassar and Surabaya.

In the US we have six plus the embassy

Just a reminder: “No country is more important to Australia than Indonesia.”

Who said so? Better ask what politician, left and right, hasn’t proclaimed, hand on heart, tears welling as they dash to Soekarno-Hatta after a day in the smog.

LOOKING DOWN

In Singosari, (aka Singhasari) and about ten km north of Malang, stand a pair of colossal Dvarapalas-- guardians of royal cemeteries. They’re believed to date from the mid 13th century and are the largest in Indonesia. They have cousins in Sri Lanka.

Nearby are the remains of the funerary temple of King Kertanegara (1268 — 1292), the last ruler of the Singhasari dynasty, whose assassination led to the Majapahit era, the golden age of Java.

The giants are 20 metres apart and more than fearsome figures. They were also protectors of nature and sources of fertility for farming,

The preservation of cultural sites is supposed to be the responsibility of the national Ministry of Culture and Heritage Agency, but the quality of care varies wildly. Here, for example, housing has been allowed close - and this Dvarapala peers down with contempt on passing vehicles from behind a fence in a suburban backyard.

The well-preserved Candi Kidal in Tumpang is flanked by a chicken farm; visitors can marvel only briefly before the foul stench overpowers.

The Dvarapala were ‘discovered’ in 1803 by a Dutch administrator and later visited by Sir Stamford Raffles and recorded in his two-volume History of Java (1817).

They’re 3.8 m tall and each probably weighs around 40 tonnes, carved from a single piece of andesite volcanic rock - fortunately too big to loot. Otherwise they might be living as unhappy ex-pats in Leiden or the British Museum, struggling to understand English from their native Javanese.

How they got to this site is a mystery. Maybe they walked at night - the area is rich in magic beliefs along with the inspiring remains.

CUSTOMS DUTY OR DISINGENUITY

“On top of physical infrastructure, inefficient customs regulations also complicate the possible implementation of upgraded trade agreements.

“Indonesia’s customs have long had a reputation for complicated permit and certification processes, a lack of digitalisation and data integrity, and the politically charged implementation of restrictions and prohibitions on goods.”

Arrizal Jaknanihan is a researcher for the ASEAN Studies Program at The Habibie Centre in Jakarta.

STARK STATS

“Australia’s Asia capability has not been a whole of government priority for more than a decade. (Ouch)

“The Commonwealth currently sets no objectives, collects little data and does not seek to coordinate efforts across the Australian education system to build Australia’s Asia capability.

“The Department of Education told this inquiry (Federal Inquiry into Building Australia's Asia Capability) that it is ‘agnostic’ as to whether Australian students study Asian languages.

“As a result, the institutions that build Australia’s Asia capability now face an existential crisis.

“The statistics are stark.

“ Domestic enrolments in Southeast Asian languages at Australian universities have fallen by 75 per cent between 2005 and 2024. Barely 500 of the one million domestic Australian university students are studying Indonesian language, fewer than when Menzies was PM.”

So let’s change the cliché to match the facts: Quoth theologian Dr Bernard Adeney-Risakotta:

“Indonesia is the most important country in the world about which most people know practically nothing.” - and care less, as the stats above prove.

Indonesians call it kemunafikan. We’d say hypocrisy, if we could find the courage.

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If the consideration of consequences is a sign of maturity, then Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto is not scoring well.

Thumping desks is not the style of reason.

The leader of the world’s fourth most populous nation with more Muslims than any other state – yet unknown to One Nation boss Pauline Hanson – is a former general with a fearsome reputation and questionable career – a shoot first and ask questions later sort of guy.

No recriminations, no need to say ‘sorry’ when the man at the top was his father-in-law.

When Soeharto quit office in 1998 after 32 years of autocracy, Prabowo’s protection also walked away.

The commander of Kopassus special forces was cashiered, reportedly for insubordination and the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists -13 are still missing.

Banned from Australia and the US for alleged human rights abuses while crushing dissent in East Timor and West Papua, he fled to exile in Jordan, divorced and disgraced.

But his ego was boundless, and he returned to his homeland seeking the Republic’s top job.

Two years ago the electorate said OK, seduced by a man who shouted, thumped desks but said he’d reformed; his reputation for having a low flash point was yesteryear.

He wanted to help the wee folk and feed the sick kids with free good food. But his Makan Bergis Gratis had not been well considered; costs had blown out, corruption was in the unwashed food trays and thousands sickened.

Education money-boxes were raided to balance the budget

The anger rose beyond the ‘usual suspects’ to the articulate middle classes.

In the past he would have ordered the military and police to clobber heads and terrify dissenters.

He tried that a year ago this month, and grossly amplified public anger to the point where the dissenters found spines. Not all were Commie low-life, playthings of unnamed overseas dark forces.

Voters are now better educated and rather like the democracy they’ve enjoyed this century till now. Prabowo still hasn’t realised that although batons and tear gas satisfy his nature, there are more subtle tools available, like controlling transportation and banking.

All have unintended side effects.

When Universitas Indonesia students planned to head to Central Jakarta to meet other campus crowds to protest the growing militarisation of their nation’s administration, they hired 24 buses.

But they never arrived as the drivers had been told they’d lose their jobs if they carried the students. The source of this order has not been revealed.

The students got to the protest anyway by casually hiring and packing bemo minibuses, so another tactic was needed.

Organised demos in Indonesia usually include hand-out light snack boxes. One of the organisers, Supriyo, had an account with the ironically named state bank Mandiri (independence) holding Rp 80 million (AUD 6,300) that he said was for student refreshments.

The bank blocked his account, suggesting it had been “instructed by authorities.”

The bank’s shares tumbled, and hundreds of its 35 million customers spoke out, including many big corporations saying the security of their accounts had been threatened.

Prabowo has long been able to frighten the obedient wong cilik (wee folk) who reasoned that the man in charge must know best.

That’s not how the oligarchs who run Indonesia think. When the quiet men (women are rare in this space) speak, the President must listen or risk a second banishment.

##

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This article is from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which is not this newsletter’s favourite source. That’s because of its funding and thinking. See here: https://www.aspi.org.au/about-us/

You won’t find ASPI among the wee newsletters forever begging for funds to keep its editor and her dog alive - their money comes from the Feds and the arms industry so its 36 staffers get properly paid. It may be a place for ideologues, though not volunteers.

This article is included because it’s an overview of Oz-RI relationship as seen down the sights of its latest weapons. Its claims should be challenged.

To be clear: Indonesia Now believes handshakes and hugs lead to security, and friendship is the best form of defence

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Few bilateral relationships matter more to Australia than the one with Indonesia, and few have changed as much over the past 25 years.

It is almost forgotten that Australia’s Cold War defence strategy was built around an assessed threat from Indonesia. That assessment shifted in the 1970s, but in the past two decades, the relationship has deepened to the point that Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has said there is ‘no more important partner for Australia than Indonesia.’

FM Senator Penny Wong and friends

ASPI, marking its 25th anniversary this week, has occupied a distinctive place across this period of change – one shaped by the joint fight against terrorism, expanding trade and shared interests in regional stability and defence cooperation.

ASPI has held open a space between policymakers, researchers and practitioners in both countries, keeping conversations alive even when official relations faltered.

ASPI has been a steady contributor to the intellectual and institutional life of the relationship.

Formal agreements such as the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and the Jakarta Treaty provide the architecture, but the relationship depends on sustained non-government engagement, policy dialogue and think tank networks that furnish continuity and stability.

Here, ASPI made its mark by building institutional knowledge and pressing Australian policymakers to see Indonesia as more than simply a neighbour.

In ASPI’s first decade, its Indonesia research was concerned above all with understanding the country in a post-Suharto era.

The 2002 Bali bombings transformed Australia’s security relationship with Indonesia, yet ASPI recommended cooperation that reached beyond a shared terrorist threat.

Joint counterterrorism work was only a band-aid to deeper wounds: sensitivities around Timor-Leste, where Jakarta saw Canberra abet the loss of its then youngest province, had already ruptured defence ties and unravelled the 1995 Agreement on Maintaining Security.

Even so, ASPI sought common ground, publishing a report that gathered Indonesian and Timorese perspectives alongside Australian ones.

Arguably, ASPI’s most important contribution in this period was ideational. The 2008 report Seeing Indonesia as a normal country: implications for Australia, launched by then foreign affairs minister Stephen Smith,.

It confronted Australia’s tendency to view Indonesia through episodes of instability, terrorism and crisis rather than as a large, democratising neighbour with its own interests and ability to choose.

By addressing perception – one of the deepest problems in the relationship – ASPI helped lay the intellectual basis for deeper cooperation in defence, development and trade and became a bridge of trust.

The second phase, from 2011 to 2016, was defined by work to reinforce relations and manage tension. This was soon tested when in 2013, Edward Snowden exposed that Australian intelligence had wiretapped president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and several other senior officials.

This revelation plunged relations into crisis. The 2015 executions of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, members of the Bali Nine drug smuggling ring, further strained the relationship.

ASPI’s analysis created room to think about how Australia might rebuild trust without abandoning its own positions.

Its earlier work on police cooperation had shown how collaboration might mature beyond counterterrorism. Meanwhile, as Indonesia’s power grew, ASPI produced a report in 2015 analysing its military modernisation.

Beyond research, the organisation’s 2013 Australia–Indonesia Next Generation Defence and Security Forum deepened ties between practitioners and experts.

The 2016 Lombok Dialogue, co-convened with the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia and building on that year’s inaugural defence and foreign ministers’ meeting, showcased ASPI’s role.

The relationship’s restoration was demonstrated when Yudhoyono, whose phone had been tapped three years earlier, delivered the keynote at ASPI’s 2016 Defence White Paper conference.

The third phase, from 2017 until today, has seen sustained strategic dialogue on shared concerns. Defence is still the focus.

In the work leading up to February’s Jakarta Treaty, ASPI staff pressed for practical, feasible cooperation in capacity-building, joint exercises and maritime security.

But alongside defence, ASPI’s work on Indonesia has expanded to cover climate security, cybersecurity and hybrid threats. Its collaboration with the University of Indonesia, supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, produced Indonesia’s first virtual cyber diplomacy course.

The emphasis has shifted from understanding each other to solving shared problems and building capabilities, including through capacity-building workshops, professional development programs and private engagements with officials on both sides.

ASPI has also produced two podcast series on the bilateral relationship: SBY’s Tears in 2021 and What’s in a Name? in 2022, interviewing prominent Australians and Indonesians.

People-to-people engagement has remained central. The organisation’s roundtables, seminars, and flagship events, such as the annual Defence Conference and the Sydney Dialogue, have welcomed prominent Indonesians.

They have included former vice foreign minister Dino Patti Djalal, former National Resilience Institute head Andi Widjajanto, prominent defence thinker Curie Maharani and former presidential candidate Anies Baswedan.

ASPI has also hosted many senior officials from Indonesia’s foreign ministry, defence ministry and national defence council. It has equally drawn prominent Australians, such as former defence minister Linda Reynolds and Special Envoy for Indian Ocean Affairs Tim Watts.

ASPI has also hosted Indonesian fellows, including an army fellow, and today employs four staff members of Indonesian descent. This expertise helps ensure ongoing understanding of Indonesia’s role within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.

Across 25 years, ASPI has played a pivotal part in the Australia–Indonesia relationship. It has helped shape Australian perceptions of Indonesia, strengthened channels of communication and built institutional understanding across traditional and non-traditional security issues.

Following the Jakarta Treaty, which marks a new high point in the bilateral relationship, ASPI is well placed to continue leading the way as a strategic think tank that supports the future development of Australia–Indonesia cooperation.

Source: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/aspi-at-25-shaping-australias-relationship-with-its-most-important-neighbour/

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Duncan Graham

More than eight decades is usually a lifetime for humans, though only a flick-away for cultures.

On this day in 1945, the charismatic leader Soekarno proclaimed independence from more than three centuries of Dutch colonialism.

Japan had just lost the Pacific War after atomic weapons had been detonated over two cities and the whole world was changing. But the arrogant Netherlanders assumed they could just return to ‘their’ East Indies and restart their administration and exploitation.

How little they understood the land they’d held for more than three centuries, and the deep desire for Merdeka, the freedom of its occupants. With the shameful help of the British, the Hollanders, who had been defeated in Europe by the Germans and occupied for five years, moved back to the cities they’d abandoned in 1942.

But this was now Indonesia and the world had changed.

After four years of guerrilla warfare and the deaths of thousands, the Hague capitulated in late 1949. But Indonesians regard the Soekarno speech on a house veranda in Jakarta as the start of independence.

Sadly, the house was demolished long ago, apparently because it blocked the view from buildings behind

Which is why the Republic’s streets are flapping with banners, bunting and red and white flags, and incidentally helping improve citizens’ health.

Indonesia is the only nation in Southeast Asia – and one of the few left in the world - which allows advertising of tobacco products, giving it the tag of ‘Big Tobacco’s Disneyland’.

This is partly because Jakarta hasn’t ratified the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC),

Which is why Indonesians of all ages can see alleged sportsmen in newspaper and TV ads promoting an addictive product that kills an estimated 225,000 users every year.

But this week the suckers get a respite as the street ads are shrouded by the happy banners celebrating the nation’s birthday. A rare event - capitalism eclipsed.

The Australian government and its foreign affairs agencies will congratulate Indonesians, though the sad fact is few outside this group will know or care, like Pauline Hanson.

The One Nation leader who wants to be the next PM couldn’t name the President next door, dismaying educated and informed citizens, though not Hanson’s followers.

Prabowo Subianto (a Muslim, though his mother was a Protestant) runs a state with more Muslims than any other nation, and PH loathes the second largest faith on the planet. So who cares about his name?

Last month the Australia Indonesia Association published a report from the Parliament’s standing Committee on Education examining Australia’s teachings of Indonesian language and culture.

It commented: “It’s often said that there is no country more important to Australia than Indonesia. If this is so, there is no country more important for Australia to understand than Indonesia.

“Instead, we are on track to lose the sovereign capability to teach the language of our northern neighbour. The consequences will be immediate.

“Australia’s Asia capability has not been a whole of government priority for more than a decade. While Australian statecraft in Asia has never been more active than it is today, the pipeline building the capability that enables it is in crisis.”

If the mainstream parties are indifferent, Senator Hanson is among the like-minded.

That doesn’t include this website. Its supporters and the author. We wish our friends and neighbours a great day and share in your achievements.

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,

Upcoming is National Day – a time to peer back with pride and look ahead to a better Indonesia.

With respect, Pak Prez, I’m sure you are distressed at the present you’ve inherited and determined to bring in change.

You lead the world’s fourth-largest nation with a wealth of resources, the envy of your neighbours.

There are multiple ways of measuring achievement – school leaver rates, tertiary qualifications, graduates in the workforce, and so on, so we’ll use just this agency.

It ranks the top three as Iceland, Switzerland and Norway. They appear in most lists along with Canada, Singapore and Denmark.

So how about Indonesia? This is what the World Bank said a few years ago:

‘The Indonesian school system is immense and diverse. With over 50 million students and 2.6 million teachers in more than 250,000 schools, it is the third largest education system in the Asia region and the fourth largest in the world, behind only China, India and the US.’

The old in-joke runs: ‘If you’re waiting for public transport or a new education policy, the bus will become second.’

In the past decade the Indonesian government has focused huge resources on education – a service that has to get 20 per cent of the national budget.

That doesn’t mean it’s racing ahead. A few years ago the policy was decentralisation so schools were released from Jakarta edicts to develop their own methods.

It worked in some areas where staff were innovative, though tragically it also allowed corruption to expand. Now the policy is to centralise the spending.

So here in 2026, Indonesia’s education system ranks 67th out of 203 countries, mid-tier between Albania amd Serbia, based on ‘early childhood, literacy, math, science, and college completion metrics.

SPELL IT OUT, DOCTOR

Enough data, let’s have some robust writing. British-US scientist Dr Elizabeth Pisani used to be a foreign correspondent journalist before she switched careers to epidemiology and public health.

In 2014 she published Indonesia Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation that’s still on Indonesian bookshelf shelves – an essential and funny guide to the Republic. She also wrote about education – a sample of her scathing observations here.

‘It’s not the international comparisons that really matter. What matters is that three-quarters of those Indonesians who are still in school at age 15 don’t have the basic maths skills they need to function in society.

‘Two thirds don’t have enough science to get by effectively in the modern world, and one in five can’t read well enough to perform basic tasks in the workplace.’

Yes, there have been improvements since then, but too few

Every so often I have chance encounters with ordinary folk who speak English, a skill rarely needed in their jobs. When asked where they learned, a common answer has been the flicks, YouTube and phone chats – in other words ‘autodidaks’.

They are bright, determined – and the future if encouraged and applauded.

Rarely have they learned formally, getting the essential language through their own efforts, rarely from the two-hours of repetitious grammar from unqualified teachers,

There are around 4.500 unis in Indonesia, public and private; none are in the world’s top 190. No surprise that the rich and influential send their children overseas to study.

That’s what your family did when you were an ankle-biter.

Now you’re the Prez. Your successors want your help – our help – to get the education they need here and now to make a better world

This is the concern of all decent people who marvel at this country’s potential and are desperate to see it achieved – as you are.

##

Is Indonesia facing an upcoming Constitutional crisis? That question is being asked by millions as a verified video circulates of a Cabinet meeting. Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka is seen sitting apart from his boss, President Prabowo Subianto. Ho hum? No way. In the nation next door, protocols are pearls.

Prabowo has tried to sell the separations as “technical” regarding teleprompter use, as though this is untried tech. Few are buying.

Prabowo is a disgraced military man, a shouty extrovert with a dirty mouth; Gibran is a quiet introvert, a thoughtful small-town entrepreneur. The critical issues are age – there’s a 36 year difference – values, policies and why Gibran is now VP.

Prabowo is already five years past the 69-year life expectancy for Indonesian men. He wins villagers’ laughs by swearing and smearing critical journalists as londo ireng, a Javanese insult for indigenous Indonesians who sided with the colonial Dutch early last century.

No names or evidence, of course. The Trump tactic of showing muscle by besmirching all.

If Gibran got the job, could he do it? Mmmm. Would he want to? Probably not.

They were a bad fit from the start almost two years ago when the results of the earlier election were ratified - winning 58 per cent of the 204 million registered voters in a three-way contest. The turnout was 82 per cent.

After two five-year terms, the nation’s seventh president Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo was constitutionally banned from further office. Prabowo had tried for the job three times before, and once for VP, usually hammering authority.

He looked like a leftover from last century before many voters were born.

This time he ran a slick campaign that resonated with the poor and middle classes - free meals for school students.

The Svengalis plotting election tactics thought Gibran would appeal to young voters and make the oldie look cool. Even better – he was Jokowi’s son.

How he got to within a heartbeat of the top job was typically Indonesian – through the family.

Just one snag: The Constitution says VPs have to be over 40.

How about an exception? Who better to say ‘yes’ than Anwar Usman, Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court and, conveniently, Gibran’s uncle. He obliged.

The judge was later demoted by the court’s Honorary Council for a “severe ethical violation” but his decision stood.

Prabowo immediately started shaping the Republic into a macho machine, running the world’s fourth most populous country (288 million) like an army.

Instead, the short, plump Prabowo, already five years past the 69-year life expectancy for Indonesian men, wins villagers’ laughs by swearing and smearing critical journalists as londo ireng, a Javanese insult for indigenous Indonesians who sided with the colonial Dutch early last century.

No names or evidence, of course. The Trump tactic of showing muscle by besmirching all.

First the new Prez put ministers into boot camp to teach them how to salute. Next priority – arms.

Huge demands remain on the health and education budgets – yet the state will spend US$ 450 million on refurbishing a 40-year old gifted Italian aircraft carrier, and US$ 8 billion on French fighter jets. The archipelago is believed to be free of international threats.

There were vacancies aplenty in government agencies after Jokowi, and scores of generals close to retirement. Their skills didn’t matter provided they unquestionably obeyed orders

The latest move in militarising society is having soldiers involved tax collection. Separation stayed under Jokowi.

Prabowo’s marriage and career crashed in 1998 when he was cashiered for disappearing arrested students. He was banned from Australia and the US over allegations he’d abused human rights while commanding special forces in East Timor and West Papua.

Gibran’s tertiary education in management was in Singapore and reportedly a short time in Sydney on a uni preparatory course but didn’t graduate. We have no yarns of wild nights in Pitt Street.

Back in the small Central Java town of Solo where Pater was mayor, Gibran started a catering business, Chilli Pari, then moved into event management. He became mayor when Jokowi moved to Jakarta.

Eleven years ago, Gibran married bank accountant Selvi Ananda. A Catholic, she had to convert to Islam to wed. She shuns the jilbab. They have two kids.

The family looks like a template for today’s middle-class Indonesia, moderate, educated, progressive but not too adventurous.

His suburban life collides with Prabowo’s elite schooling in KL and London; Papa was economist Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, a Trade and Industry Minister under First President Soekarno.

The P and VP aren’t even in the same parties. Gibran calls himself an ‘independent ‘. He’s not listed with Gerindra (Great Indonesia Movement), a right-wing nationalist party founded in 2008 and run since by Prabowo.

Seizing five million hectares of allegedly illegal private oil plantations smells like socialism, a deterrent for investors.

Irony abounds. Prabowo is big in business, particularly with the oligarchs that drive the nation. His backer and younger brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo is a dollar billionaire running the multi-sector holding company Arsari Group that’s into plantations, mines and whatever rolls a rupiah.

Has Gibran been seduced into corporate cronyism? He’s not saying. His boss fears the media apart from the favoured few. The VP seems indifferent, ignoring invites from journos, including this writer

Instead we got a six-minute video with the uncool title Young Generation, Demographic Bonus, and the Future of Indonesia aimed at the workforce, 70 per cent of the population aged between 15 and 64.

Media on the left commented: “Most viewers have dismissed Gibran’s monologue on youth’s crucial role in realising the government’s much-touted vision of Golden Indonesia 2045 (the centenary of the Republic) as overly flowery, lacking substance and an exercise in attention seeking.”

Indonesia Uni political observer Dr Aditya Perdana blamed: “…lingering resentment over (the) presidential election and Gibran’s call for the younger generation to work hard, which is the exact opposite of what Gibran has done.”

According to Constitutional law experts, booting a VP needs a two-thirds vote of the national parliament after convictions for offences against the State, like treason, bribery and corruption – Indonesia’s endemic disease.

Gibran doesn’t seem to fit the list, but anger at his appointment remains. A group of senior retired military officers has threatened legal action.

A law journal reported: “The three presidential impeachments that have occurred in Indonesia were not judicial impeachments, but political impeachments.”

Before Dad and his mates brought him into the abattoir of politics, Gibran was labelled a “young entrepreneur” and “internet savvy”. In those days he sometimes smiled.

Has Mr Gloom retained the skills and energy to start again? After all, he’s not yet 40.

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Reuters counted Trump using ‘Communism’ 81 times in two weeks of speeches, leading some Australians to predict the distraction is accelerating.

It’s not too alarming to announce a tsunami of reheated Cold War anti-Communism rhetoric destined for our peace-loving peoples, so beware.

The ABC TV weather map should plot the red wave as it heads into the recently discovered Pacific.

It can avoid Indonesia as the 1965 -66 genocide fixed that worry, pleasing Australian PM Harold Holt with this supposed witticism:

“With 500,000 to one million Communist sympathisers knocked off, I think it is safe to assume a reorientation has taken place.”

So no probs with the archipelago and the Indian Ocean. The events have been buried along with the gore-soaked memories. The army helped with trucks, lists and weapons. Thank god the victims weren’t humans.

It couldn’t happen again – the military are caring and always on the people’s side

THE ENEMY WITHIN

A home clean-up is essential. In the metal jungle of my workshop, I found three hammers and two sickles, fortunately before the Purity Committee arrived to search. The tools have been moved to separate shelves, never to co-habit.

Further scrabbling revealed awkward alliterations, such as “spanners” and “cycles”. They get together only occasionally, but need to be watched.

We have suspect non-white sheets and pillowcases – they’ll have to go along with my wife’s underwear.

DOMESTIC DETAILS COUNT

The kitchen can be a bad place for plotters aka workers.

Spiders with sinister faces lurk in uncleaned corners. Giant dark hands claw at slim mothers shielding fearful white kids – how can she get on with the cooking with so many hazards?

An inventory of the cupboards will start soon, tearing off labels that say ‘Made in China’. If embedded in the metal, an angle grinder can be useful.

Disguising smartphones’ state of origin will be tricky, but the most patriotic will bin them fast before they send location details back to Beijing.

Get that BYD back to the dealer and demand a swap for a petrol Toyota. That may be costly, but it’s the principle that matters.

We’re democrats, not totalitarians, so buy local, even if they don’t make the things you want at double the price and half the quality. Better to go without and be crushed under the oppressor’s heel than lose our God-given freedoms.

If you’ve been distressed by this story and need someone to talk to, call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36.

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Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is losing popular support, his children’s breakfast program inedible, and the military lurking. Duncan Graham reports from Indonesia.

In pop culture, dictatorships die in a clash of armies and ideologies wielded by ferocious leaders. In Indonesia, the reality will not be gore-soaked battlefields, but dirty kitchens, rotting meals and the sight and sounds of kids writhing on school floors, gripping their guts in a mess of vomit and the stench of diarrhoea.

Two years ago, the cashiered former general Prabowo Subianto won the presidency with 58.6% of the vote by promising a free nutritious school meal programme, Makan Bergizi Gratis.

His pledge was welcomed, and his reputation soared. He put military men in charge to feed mega millions, then left the country on overseas jaunts. What should have been a Nobel Prize garland for fighting malnutrition and widespread stunting (up to 20% in some areas) has become an albatross.

Hygiene has been vile– more than 34,000 youngsters suffered food poisoning, thousands were hospitalised, some sent to emergency, but no reported deaths.

Three top MBG directors have been charged with alleged corruption estimated to cost the state US$640 million a year. Spending has been reckless. Almost 22,000 new electric motorbikes have been seized by the authorities,

with 414 kitchens exposed as fictitious.

To make up the losses, top-ups were lifted from an already skint education budget. The Constitutional Court has stopped this plunder.

Prabowo Subianto (PS) became synonymous with MBG, his flagship policy now in tatters. What voter would continue to support a leader who hurt the nation’s children he promised to cure?

Nothing to eat see here…

An MBG meal - Photo Erlinawati Graham

The President reacted by claiming the percentage of those affected was small, and the programme was still finding its footing. To recover his reputation, Prabowo is compounding errors by turning the democracy next door into a military state.

Australian legacy media favouring Washington and London news means readers may not know that Indonesian youngsters are frequently protesting on the streets of Jakarta, confronting shields and batons, tear gas and water cannons.

Their gripes are many: the MBG scandal, price hikes, military involvement in civilian affairs and economic mismanagement. The rupiah has collapsed more than ten per cent in the past year.

Prabowo has said it matters not because “everyday citizens” don’t use greenbacks; “the macroeconomic panic remains confined to wealthy urban elites and global travellers.”

Live rounds have yet to be fired in the demos; Should that happen, as it did in 1998, killing four uni students when Prabowo’s former father-in-law Soeharto was in power – expect a revolution.

The teens and twenties have discovered Prabowo is yesteryear, not the harmless dancing grandpa promised in the 2024 election campaign.

Instead, they’ve got a cruel former general and special forces commander, cashiered for his alleged human rights abuses in East Timor and West Papua, banned in Australia and the US, facts ignored by the voters.

Indonesia’s Clark Kent ripped open his shirt to reveal a Supercon beneath, turning 75 this October. He rules a nation where more than half the citizens are under 32 and can flick a smartphone message faster than their elders can turn a book page.

Age should not be a disadvantage unless hardened by an inflexibility of attitude and action. This is where Prabowo fails.

The military threat

One NGO has started a petition, The Dangers of Remilitarisation for Democracy, signed by 58 civil society organisations, arguing:

“The military is essentially trained and educated for war, not to carry out political, economic or power interests … that deploying active-duty military members in civilian affairs risked undermining professionalism.”

Another scandal came with boot camps for staff with the government’s Merah Putih (Red and White) retail convenience shops. Five candidates died through exposure and harsh training, yet the programme continued. In Prabowo’s stores, shelf packers need to learn how to salute customers.

Indonesia has the biggest military in the region outside China, 400,000 ‘active land personnel’, plus 65,000 in the navy and 35,000 in the air force – with double as reservists.

In well-organised societies, school leavers have career choices based on their interests, be they lovers of learning seeking academia or hands-on tradies.

Not all military recruits are the untethered. Some join for the free training, housing and a job where imposed discipline is better than individual decision-making.

Others have bought the service-to-nation rhetoric of politicians with bone spurs, but all like guns. It takes a worrying personality to squint down the sights of an M16 and carelessly end the life of a fellow human they’ve never known.

All nations that collect data on returned vets reveal a suicide rate twice that of civilians. Health studies have shown that many are racked by guilt about what they did and saw.

A fragile democracy

Prabowo’s policies are damaging a society that only became a democracy at the start of this century. Last year it was labelled ‘flawed’ by The Economist Intelligence Unit in a review of 167 nations. Indonesia came 59th.

Soeharto’s 32 years in power were marked by brutality and widespread official fraud, earning his nation the international title Soeharto Inc. Yet Prabowo made him a National Hero.

Soeharto propaganda poster - ‘the smiling general’

The first job once Prabowo was behind the wheel was to select reverse and plot the way ahead through the mirrors. Next, make Indonesia shine big on the world stage to match its rank as the fourth most populous nation and a thrusting economy.

Since taking office in October 2024, Prabowo has made 54 trips abroad to 29 separate nations, usually striding down red carpets through parades of bayonets. It’s his favourite playground.

Without local consultation, he joined Donald Trump’s Board of Peace and offered his nation’s services as a mediator in the US-Iran war. Pakistan got the job.

At first, electors enjoyed watching a toughie at the top shouting warnings about unnamed foreign threats. His latest distraction is an education campaign against “LGBTQ Western culture”, mixing gays with terrorism, radicalism, drugs and gambling.

Prabowo backing on the wane

He soon had a claimed 80% public backing.

No longer. Pollsters now reckon he’d lose heavily if there was another election this month. Wrote one ANU academic: “Prabowo’s mandate has been rented rather than earned, specifically by being bought back with handouts as opposed to good governance.”

Senator Hanson should relax – this is unlikely to start a flood of refugees. Unlike the Chinese and Scots, Javanese rarely like relocation; their proverb rindu kampung halaman expresses homesickness.

The prez has made the minor umrah pilgrimage to Mecca while on a state visit to Riyadh. The South China Morning Post claimed Prabowo, who comes from a multi-faith family, was “trying to cultivate an image as a Muslim.”

If designed to make him look caring, it didn’t work. The Asian Trump is better known for his belligerence and bombast than faith.

Although a factor in his unpopularity, the food poisoning is the decider; the memory of writhing bodies being soothed by distraught parents praying the sirens are for their ambulance.

First published in Michael West Media, 8 August 2026: https://michaelwest.com.au/no-weet-bix-the-breakfast-that-may-bring-down-a-president/

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MWM is dedicated to the public interest. Our focus is investigations into big business, particularly multinational tax avoidance, banking and the energy sector.

by ROSS TAYLOR: Perth

Nadiem Makarim is one of Indonesia’s best-known entrepreneurs. The founder of Gojek transformed urban transport by harnessing Jakarta’s vast army of motorcycle riders to provide fast, inexpensive travel through one of the world’s most congested cities.

His success made him one of Indonesia’s wealthiest businessmen before earning him a cabinet post under former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Today, Makarim finds himself in jail following a major corruption investigation over a school textbook procurement scheme – allegations he vigorously denies.

A former general under president Suharto, President Prabowo Subianto has long attracted scrutiny over his commitment to liberal democratic principles. Bloomberg

The case has sent shockwaves through Indonesia’s business community and unsettled international investors. For many Indonesians, however, it is about far more than one corruption investigation.

Makarim is widely regarded as close to Jokowi and his son, vice president Gibran Rakabuming Raka. Some Indonesian political observers therefore question whether the prosecution also reflects the increasingly bitter struggle for influence within Indonesia’s political elite. Whether those suspicions are justified or not, the perception alone has heightened concerns about Indonesia’s political direction.

The timing is significant. Whether the case is simply about corruption or reflects deeper political rivalries, it comes at a pivotal moment under President Prabowo Subianto.

For Australian companies operating in Indonesia, or those investing in its rapidly expanding resources sector, the implications are significant.

Prabowo entered office promising to lift Indonesia’s economic growth to seven per cent annually – a rate widely regarded as necessary to create jobs for the millions of young Indonesians entering the workforce each year. Achieving that target, however, will require more than ambitious promises. It will demand structural reform and a fundamental reshaping of Indonesia’s economy.

Before his election, Prabowo signalled that one of those changes would be a much greater role for the state. Central to his vision is increasing government influence over exports of Indonesia’s key commodities – including coal, nickel, critical minerals and palm oil – supported by the launch of the state investment agency Danantara in June of this year.

Supporters argue this approach will allow Indonesia to capture more value from its vast natural resources while reducing the influence of powerful business interests. Critics fear it risks concentrating unprecedented economic power in government hands and creating fresh opportunities for what Indonesians know as KKN – corruption, collusion and nepotism.

For Australian companies operating in Indonesia, or those investing in its rapidly expanding resources sector, the implications are significant. Greater government involvement may deliver efficiencies, but it also increases political risk if commercial decisions become driven by political priorities rather than market forces. Economic centralisation has been accompanied by political consolidation.

Prabowo is no newcomer to Indonesian politics. After three unsuccessful presidential campaigns, he finally secured the nation’s highest office. His first year has suggested a determination to consolidate authority as much as govern. His observation that “democracy is very tiring” has done little to reassure those already concerned about Indonesia’s democratic trajectory.

Neutralising political opposition

His cabinet has expanded into one of the largest in Indonesia’s history. More significantly, senior figures from almost every major political party now hold ministerial positions. Rather than nurturing a robust parliamentary opposition, Prabowo has effectively absorbed much of it into government.

Imagine an Australian prime minister appointing senior Liberals, Greens, Nationals, One Nation representatives and several teal independents to cabinet – not to build national unity during a crisis, but to neutralise political opposition. Such an arrangement would be extraordinary in Canberra. In Jakarta, it has become a defining feature of Prabowo’s governing style.

His military background continues to shape perceptions. A former general under President Suharto, Prabowo has long attracted scrutiny over his commitment to liberal democratic principles. His increasingly centralised style of government, combined with a significant expansion of Indonesia’s armed forces, has inevitably prompted questions about the country’s long-term democratic health.

Foreign policy presents a similarly complex picture.

Prabowo’s slogan of “a thousand friends, zero enemies” has translated into a pragmatic, if sometimes contradictory, foreign policy. Indonesia has deepened engagement with China and Russia while joining BRICS, yet has simultaneously strengthened defence co-operation with Australia and cultivated a warm relationship with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Opportunities and uncertainty

For Canberra, this balancing act creates both opportunities and uncertainty.

Australia needs a stable, prosperous Indonesia. No bilateral relationship is more important to Australia’s long-term security than that with its giant northern neighbour. As strategic competition intensifies across the Indo-Pacific – particularly with China’s growing regional influence and continuing uncertainty over American foreign policy – Indonesia’s importance will only increase. Yet strategic interests should not prevent honest conversations about democratic governance.

If Indonesia continues down a path of increasing political and economic centralisation, weakening institutional checks and diminishing space for dissent, Prabowo will ultimately have to deliver the economic growth he has promised. If he succeeds, many Indonesians may accept a more centralised style of government. If he fails, the consequences for political stability could be profound.

Australia’s interests are clear. We need Indonesia to succeed economically, remain politically stable and continue as a democratic partner. But if those objectives begin to diverge, Canberra will face one of the most difficult foreign policy dilemmas of the coming decade.

That dilemma may arrive sooner than many Australians expect.

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First published in the AFR 7 August 2026: https://www.afr.com/world/asia/prabowo-s-political-direction-is-a-big-risk-for-australia-20260806-p60lws

Not a jail: Fortress Australia Jakarta – the image we project abroad

One of the great ideas of civilisation started in Italy about seven centuries ago.

A nation would send a prominent citizen to live in another country, and the other country would reciprocate. Officials at the highest levels would represent their states in negotiations from trade to defence and just about everything in between.

They’re expected to use their contacts to alert ministers back in their home country, head off strife where possible, and ideally dampen down any rising issues. They can help expats in trouble, though usually only with lists of lawyers and hospitals.

In the generations since the famous Austrian Foreign Minister Klemens von Metternich dominated 19th-century European politics, ambassadors and embassies have expanded, become formalised and are now considered essential. They must speak and write with great care and attention to detail.

Australia has around 100 senior diplomats abroad in Embassies, High Commissions and other offices.

In Indonesia, we have Consuls General in three provinces and an Ambassador in Jakarta. His responsibilities have been enlarged, according to this 24 July media release from the Embassy about a reading centre in Makassar:

‘Launched by the Australian Ambassador to Australia, Rod Brazier, and the Australian Consul-General in Makassar, Todd Dias …’

Presumably that should read ‘Ambassador to Indonesia’. It’s a minor error and happens in PR offices and newsrooms all the time, though usually picked up by fact-checkers and sub-editors.

If they miss, responsible organisations would speedily publish a correction.

Though not the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, the largest mission Canberra has overseas with 500 staff who apparently don’t read their employer’s handouts. Or if they do, they can’t be bothered to tell the careless scribe to correct the error.

It was spotted by a reader who has made enough boo-boos of his own, including misspelling his own name, but thought it kind to send a gentle note to public affairs, one journo to another. We’ve e-mailed before.

The embassy lived up to its reputation for arrogance by ignoring the note and the need for a correction.

The alert was repeated in a personal message to Glen Askew, the ConGen in Surabaya who is known by this journo. Other correspondence has made it through his junk mail folder, so it must have been seen to be disregarded.

After a fortnight, the error remains online. At one level it’s a piffling slip of a preposition in a story of little interest. Being slighted is a standard for journos dealing with officials. The media is no place for the thin-skinned.

The issue is the failure to correct a release after 14 days; this suggests a level of inefficiency that reflects badly on the professionalism of our flagship mission.

Suggested slogan: Indifference is our business.

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

Prabowo’s electoral mandate is not enough to earn Indonesia’s trust

Emba Emba

In 2024, Prabowo Subianto won Indonesia’s presidency with the biggest mandate in the country’s history. Yet amid eroding public trust and wavering market confidence, Prabowo cannot afford to rely on his electoral mandate for the remainder of his term.

Prabowo took office in October 2024 with 96 million votes, though even that victory was not entirely his own making. Outgoing president Joko Widodo’s implicit backing was widely credited as decisive and ‘the X factor’ behind the result.

His public trust rating has fallen from 85.3 per cent at his October 2024 inauguration to 75.1 per cent by March 2026, but the reality has been more volatile than a simple decline suggests. After nationwide unrest in August 2025, a separate measure of his approval crashed to 58.9 per cent, then recovered to nearly 80 per cent by January 2026, boosted by cash and food handouts to more than 35 million households. By July 2026, his approval rating had fallen to just 51.1 per cent.

Prabowo’s mandate has been rented rather than earned, specifically by being bought back with handouts as opposed to good governance. Indonesia’s Free Nutritious Meal program (‘Makan Bergizi Gratis’, or MBG) is a clear example of this strategy. Prabowo said MBG has reached more than 60 million people — enough to ‘feed the entire population of South Africa every day’. Yet support for the program is ‘broad but shallow’.

Independent monitors recorded that more than 37,000 students suffered from food poisoning since its launch. Even so, MBG’s 2026 initial budget — Rp 335 trillion (US$19.8 billion) — was nearly five times its 2025 allocation. The budget was later cut by Rp 67 trillion (US$3.7 billion), yet this was done on Prabowo’s directives to improve fiscal efficiency and was completely unconnected to the food poisoning cases.

Part of the reason the safety problem remains unfixed lies in who runs the program. The National Nutrition Agency (BGN), the agency responsible for feeding tens of millions, was staffed predominantly with retired military officers and was headed by an entomologist, Dadan Hindayana. The military was managing 452 MBG kitchens, with police engaged to build a further 1500.

When questioned in parliament, Dadan justified the appointments by saying BGN needed people who could work extra fast to reach regions. Speed, not competence, is the governing value in a system where appointees are rewarded for pace rather than results.

Beyond BGN, the same appointment logic shapes the wider cabinet. Prabowo assembled the largest cabinet since 1966, and at least 23 retired military officers hold cabinet-level posts, many with personal ties to Prabowo. Other posts went to Gerindra Party loyalists and family, including his own nephew as Vice-Minister of Finance. The same logic extended to state enterprises, where Gerindra campaign officials and confidants were named commissioners at Pertamina and other major state firms.

Such appointments persist because checks and balances are weak, giving administrations a discretion that merit-based systems are meant to remove. Parliament would normally be the check on that discretion, but with a coalition spanning over 80 per cent of seats, it has been neutralised, leaving independent researchers and civil society as the most consistent source of accountability. Yet in April 2026, Indonesian academics who criticised the government were reported to police, one of them for suggesting Prabowo should be removed from office.

This governance pattern is not only eroding public trust. It is unsettling markets too. Moody’s and Fitch both revised Indonesia’s credit outlook to negative in March 2026, citing policy uncertainty and weakening institutional frameworks.

The country’s currency, growth and equity numbers all tell the same story. The rupiah breached Rp 18,000 per US dollar for the first time in its history in July 2026, weaker than during the Asian financial crisis. Prabowo reassured Indonesians that there was no need to worry about the weak rupiah because ‘villagers don’t use dollars’, despite the fact that the pricing systems of items such as fertiliser and medicine are undoubtedly shaped by the exchange rate.

The World Bank projects Indonesia’s 2026 growth at 5 per cent, below the government’s 5.4 per cent target. The stock market has also plunged 34 per cent since January 2026, one of the worst performances of any major index worldwide. Frustrations over inequality and declining living standards fuelled protests that swept dozens of Indonesian cities in August 2025 — the economic slide since has only deepened that pressure.

As his current low approval rating already shows, rented trust does not last, and Prabowo already knows it. Handouts are cheaper and faster than institutional reform, and nothing about his first two years suggests he sees reason to choose the harder path while the easier one keeps working, if only for a while. On current evidence, the safer bet is that his government keeps renting voter trust rather than earning it.

Emba is a PhD candidate at the Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.

<editor=eastasiaforum.org@mg.eastasiaforum.org>

Perry Warjiyo (above), governor of Bank Indonesia, resigned unexpectedly this week, citing unspecified personal reasons. He had been in the role for seven years and had two years to go before his term expired.

His resignation sent stocks and the rupiah falling, reflecting investor concerns about the independence of the country’s central bank, said a report in Nikkei Asia.

The story asked if his resignation had been related to the declining value of the rupiah. It had hit multiple record lows and had been Asia’s worst-performing currency this year.

President Prabowo Subianto had reportedly rebuked Perry in May for failing to protect the currency, the story said. Since then, the bank had raised its policy rate three times – by 100 basis points to 5.75 per cent.

But concerns over the bank’s independence had already been aroused by the appointment, in February, of Thomas Djiwandono (above) to a deputy governor’s post, the story said. He is Prabowo’s nephew.

The Diplomat said Senior Deputy Governor Destry Damayanti would be acting as governor until a replacement was found. The replacement would be chosen by parliament from three candidates put forward by Prabowo.

The resignation came at a difficult time for the economy, the story said. The rupiah was now trading at a lower level than at any time since the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98.

“The bigger issue is how Perry’s resignation might compound investors’ growing skepticism about the Prabowo administration’s economic stewardship,” The Diplomat said.

“[The bank] has been under pressure to support Prabowo’s economic policy, which aims to achieve an annual GDP growth of 8 per cent per year for the rest of his term.”

Ratings agencies had expressed concern over Perry’s resignation – and over the inclusion, on the same day, of the state asset fund, Danantara, in the decision-making processes of the top-level Financial System Stability Committee, The Jakarta Post said.

It quoted Martin Petch, vice-president of ratings at Moody’s, as saying the change of leadership could have a bearing on credit implications, depending on the future credibility of monetary policy.

George Xu, Asia Pacific sovereign ratings director at Fitch Ratings, said the rupiah might come under extra pressures because of the latest developments.

Perry Warjiyo, governor of Bank Indonesia, resigned unexpectedly this week, citing unspecified personal reasons. He had been in the role for seven years and had two years to go before his term expired.

His resignation sent stocks and the rupiah falling, reflecting investor concerns about the independence of the country’s central bank, said a report in Nikkei Asia.

The story asked if his resignation had been related to the declining value of the rupiah. It had hit multiple record lows and had been Asia’s worst-performing currency this year.

President Prabowo Subianto had reportedly rebuked Perry in May for failing to protect the currency, the story said. Since then, the bank had raised its policy rate three times – by 100 basis points to 5.75 per cent.

But concerns over the bank’s independence had already been aroused by the appointment, in February, of Thomas Djiwandono to a deputy governor’s post, the story said. He is Prabowo’s nephew.

The Diplomat said Senior Deputy Governor Destry Damayanti would be acting as governor until a replacement was found. The replacement would be chosen by parliament from three candidates put forward by Prabowo.

The resignation came at a difficult time for the economy, the story said. The rupiah was now trading at a lower level than at any time since the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98.

“The bigger issue is how Perry’s resignation might compound investors’ growing skepticism about the Prabowo administration’s economic stewardship,” The Diplomat said.

“[The bank] has been under pressure to support Prabowo’s economic policy, which aims to achieve an annual GDP growth of 8 per cent per year for the rest of his term.”

Ratings agencies had expressed concern over Perry’s resignation – and over the inclusion, on the same day, of the state asset fund, Danantara, in the decision-making processes of the top-level Financial System Stability Committee, The Jakarta Post said.

It quoted Martin Petch, vice-president of ratings at Moody’s, as saying the change of leadership could have a bearing on credit implications, depending on the future credibility of monetary policy.

George Xu, Asia Pacific sovereign ratings director at Fitch Ratings, said the rupiah might come under extra pressures because of the latest developments.

Concerns aroused over Bank Indonesia’s independence

Perry Warjiyo, governor of Bank Indonesia, resigned unexpectedly this week, citing unspecified personal reasons. He had been in the role for seven years and had two years to go before his term expired.

His resignation sent stocks and the rupiah falling, reflecting investor concerns about the independence of the country’s central bank, said a report in Nikkei Asia.

The story asked if his resignation had been related to the declining value of the rupiah. It had hit multiple record lows and had been Asia’s worst-performing currency this year.

President Prabowo Subianto had reportedly rebuked Perry in May for failing to protect the currency, the story said. Since then, the bank had raised its policy rate three times – by 100 basis points to 5.75 per cent.

But concerns over the bank’s independence had already been aroused by the appointment, in February, of Thomas Djiwandono to a deputy governor’s post, the story said. He is Prabowo’s nephew.

The Diplomat said Senior Deputy Governor Destry Damayanti would be acting as governor until a replacement was found. The replacement would be chosen by parliament from three candidates put forward by Prabowo.

The resignation came at a difficult time for the economy, the story said. The rupiah was now trading at a lower level than at any time since the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98.

“The bigger issue is how Perry’s resignation might compound investors’ growing skepticism about the Prabowo administration’s economic stewardship,” The Diplomat said.

“[The bank] has been under pressure to support Prabowo’s economic policy, which aims to achieve an annual GDP growth of 8 per cent per year for the rest of his term.”

Ratings agencies had expressed concern over Perry’s resignation – and over the inclusion, on the same day, of the state asset fund, Danantara, in the decision-making processes of the top-level Financial System Stability Committee, The Jakarta Post said.

It quoted Martin Petch, vice-president of ratings at Moody’s, as saying the change of leadership could have a bearing on credit implications, depending on the future credibility of monetary policy.

George Xu, Asia Pacific sovereign ratings director at Fitch Ratings, said the rupiah might come under extra pressures because of the latest developments.

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First published in Pearls & Irritations 1 August 2026 by DAVID ARMSTRONG

https://pearlsandirritations.com/post/2026/08/instagram-generations-win-japans-security-drive-and-albos-undiplomatic-insult-asian-media-report/?utm_source=pi_news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-2026-07-31

Hansonism, like Trumpism and other similar cruel, racist and nationalist phenomena it resembles overseas, is a cancer on modern society. Far from promoting or coming out of any sort of Australian ethos, present or past, it is an alien idea appealing to the worst instincts of the individual.

Its nihilism and bitterness pitch citizen against citizen and reduce the power of the community to advance its interests by agreed common action. It deserves to be rejected and defeated on its merits and eradicated for good.

Its culture of meanness, exclusion and cruelty should be rejected as unAustralian, unworthy of any of the classes and types of people we really are.

Jack Waterford is a former editor of The Canberra Times

For the full piece see: Pearls & Irritations, 28 July 2026

https://pearlsandirritations.com/post/2026/07/labor-cannot-small-target-its-way-past-hanson/?utm_source=pi_news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-2026-07-27

28 Jul 2026

AMANDA HODGE ASIA-PACIFIC CORRESPONDENT ADDITIONAL REPORTING: DIAN SEPTIARI

28 Jul 2026

Indone­sian Pres­id­ent Prabowo Subi­anto’s approval rat­ing has crashed to 51 per cent in new polling, a decline of more than 30 points in nine months as the Middle East crisis and his own admin­is­tra­tion’s per­ceived eco­nomic mis­man­age­ment hits home.

The res­ult is a dis­astrous show­ing in a coun­try where pres­id­en­tial pop­ular­ity rat­ings tend to remain buoy­ant, with ques­tions over elect­ab­il­ity gen­er­ally per­ceived to more accur­ately reflect how a leader is trend­ing.

Just 51.1 per cent of respond­ents were sat­is­fied with the Pres­id­ent’s per­form­ance, while 46.9 per cent were dis­sat­is­fied in the July sur­vey, a steep decline from 81.2 per cent sat­is­fac­tion in Novem­ber 2025 and 66.4 per cent in late early March.

The new polling by Sai­ful Mujani Research and Con­sult­ing – a rel­at­ively rare event under the Prabowo admin­is­tra­tion – coin­cided with yet more bad news for the Indone­sian eco­nomy with the resig­na­tion of cent­ral bank gov­ernor Perry Warjiyo, two years before the end of his second term, expec­ted to fur­ther rattle investors amid con­cerns over the bank’s inde­pend­ence.

Min­is­ter of State Sec­ret­ary Pra­setyo Hadi told local media on Monday Mr Perry had resigned mid­way through his second term for “per­sonal reas­ons”.

Mr Pra­setyo said Mr Prabowo had accep­ted the gov­ernor’s resig­na­tion and “also expressed his deep­est grat­it­ude and highest appre­ci­ation for (his) ded­ic­a­tion dur­ing his approx­im­ately seven years of lead­ing Bank Indone­sia”.

Mr Perry’s depar­ture comes only weeks after Bank Indone­sia raised bench­mark interest rates three times over four weeks in May and June by a cumu­lat­ive one per­cent­age point to 5.75 per cent in an attempt to sta­bil­ise a declin­ing rupiah. Under Indone­sian law, his deputy, Destry Dam­ay­anti, will take on the role of act­ing gov­ernor until a per­man­ent appointee is announced.

Ms Destry said the cent­ral bank would “con­tinue to … main­tain the sta­bil­ity of the rupiah, pre­serve the sta­bil­ity of the pay­ment sys­tem, and con­trib­ute to safe­guard­ing fin­an­cial sys­tem sta­bil­ity in sup­port of sus­tain­able eco­nomic growth”.

Indone­sia’s par­lia­ment recently passed con­tro­ver­sial amend­ments grant­ing itself powers to remove cent­ral bank gov­ernors, and also expand­ing the bank’s man­date to include an oblig­a­tion to foster growth and job cre­ation.

The move heightened con­cern that the admin­is­tra­tion was chip­ping away at the bank’s inde­pend­ence, just months after Mr Prabowo’s nephew, Thomas Dji­wan­dono, was appoin­ted a deputy gov­ernor of Bank Indone­sia in Feb­ru­ary, spark­ing spec­u­la­tion he was being groomed to take the top job.

Mr Perry’s week­end resig­na­tion has sent those rumours into over­drive, prompt­ing ana­lysts to warn the move could exacer­bate grow­ing inter­na­tional mar­ket con­cerns over the dir­ec­tion of the South­east Asia’s largest eco­nomy.

Angus Mack­in­tosh, an ASEAN spe­cial­ist at Aletheia Cap­ital in Singa­pore, told Reu­ters: “A lot will depend on who takes over. If Prabowo’s nephew (Dji­wan­dono) steps in, the mar­ket will regard this with sus­pi­cion, given this is a cru­cial tech­no­cratic post and BI should remain inde­pend­ent.”

Centre of Eco­nomic and Law Stud­ies chief Bhima Yud­hi­stira said Mr Perry’s resig­na­tion was a “major blow to the coun­try’s mon­et­ary sec­tor”, and appeared to be a res­ult of polit­ical pres­sure.

Air­langga Uni­versity eco­nom­ics pro­fessor Rahma Gafmi said Mr Perry’s resig­na­tion could trig­ger more short-term rupiah volat­il­ity, and that his depar­ture could not be viewed in isol­a­tion from mount­ing polit­ical pres­sure on the cent­ral bank’s lead­er­ship to assume moral respons­ib­il­ity for mac­roe­co­nomic uncer­tainty.

Indone­sia has one of the world’s worst per­form­ing cur­ren­cies, thanks in part to the gov­ern­ment’s bal­loon­ing oil sub­sidies bill and big-spend­ing pri­or­it­ies such as a free-meals pro­gram.

While the ongo­ing Middle East crisis and rising oil prices have hammered the Indone­sian eco­nomy, many ana­lysts say those external shocks have been exacer­bated by poor domestic policies, and that the coun­try is now facing a crisis of con­fid­ence.

That view was reflec­ted in Monday’s SMRC polling, with nearly half (49.4 per cent) of those sur­veyed describ­ing the cur­rent national eco­nomy as bad or very bad, and only 15.7 per cent view­ing it pos­it­ively – the low­est such fig­ure recor­ded in seven years of SMRC sur­veys.

Just 13.5 per cent of respond­ents viewed the coun­try’s polit­ical con­di­tions pos­it­ively, com­pared to 42.8 per cent with neg­at­ive per­cep­tions, while 37.6 per cent said law enforce­ment was poor, com­pared with 26.4 per cent who gave it pos­it­ive marks.

Both indic­at­ors have markedly deteri­or­ated since late 2025, reflect­ing a broader decline in con­fid­ence across major aspects of gov­ernance.

Global index pro­vider MSCI tem­por­ar­ily stopped adding Indone­sian stocks to its emer­ging mar­ket indexes in Janu­ary due to insuf­fi­cient trans­par­ency, and warned it would down­grade Indone­sia to fron­tier status if those trans­par­ency issues were not sat­is­fact­or­ily addressed by Novem­ber.

A more pos­it­ive rat­ings review out­look last month by S&P helped calm the mar­ket, but Mr Perry’s depar­ture is expec­ted to cre­ate more eco­nomic uncer­tainty.

Indone­sian Pres­id­ent Prabowo Subi­anto’s approval rat­ing has crashed to 51 per cent in new polling, a decline of more than 30 points in nine months as the Middle East crisis and his own admin­is­tra­tion’s per­ceived eco­nomic mis­man­age­ment hits home.

The res­ult is a dis­astrous show­ing in a coun­try where pres­id­en­tial pop­ular­ity rat­ings tend to remain buoy­ant, with ques­tions over elect­ab­il­ity gen­er­ally per­ceived to more accur­ately reflect how a leader is trend­ing.

Just 51.1 per cent of respond­ents were sat­is­fied with the Pres­id­ent’s per­form­ance, while 46.9 per cent were dis­sat­is­fied in the July sur­vey, a steep decline from 81.2 per cent sat­is­fac­tion in Novem­ber 2025 and 66.4 per cent in late early March.

The new polling by Sai­ful Mujani Research and Con­sult­ing – a rel­at­ively rare event under the Prabowo admin­is­tra­tion – coin­cided with yet more bad news for the Indone­sian eco­nomy with the resig­na­tion of cent­ral bank gov­ernor Perry Warjiyo, two years before the end of his second term, expec­ted to fur­ther rattle investors amid con­cerns over the bank’s inde­pend­ence.

Min­is­ter of State Sec­ret­ary Pra­setyo Hadi told local media on Monday Mr Perry had resigned mid­way through his second term for “per­sonal reas­ons”.

Mr Pra­setyo said Mr Prabowo had accep­ted the gov­ernor’s resig­na­tion and “also expressed his deep­est grat­it­ude and highest appre­ci­ation for (his) ded­ic­a­tion dur­ing his approx­im­ately seven years of lead­ing Bank Indone­sia”.

Mr Perry’s depar­ture comes only weeks after Bank Indone­sia raised bench­mark interest rates three times over four weeks in May and June by a cumu­lat­ive one per­cent­age point to 5.75 per cent in an attempt to sta­bil­ise a declin­ing rupiah. Under Indone­sian law, his deputy, Destry Dam­ay­anti, will take on the role of act­ing gov­ernor until a per­man­ent appointee is announced.

Ms Destry said the cent­ral bank would “con­tinue to … main­tain the sta­bil­ity of the rupiah, pre­serve the sta­bil­ity of the pay­ment sys­tem, and con­trib­ute to safe­guard­ing fin­an­cial sys­tem sta­bil­ity in sup­port of sus­tain­able eco­nomic growth”.

Indone­sia’s par­lia­ment recently passed con­tro­ver­sial amend­ments grant­ing itself powers to remove cent­ral bank gov­ernors, and also expand­ing the bank’s man­date to include an oblig­a­tion to foster growth and job cre­ation.

The move heightened con­cern that the admin­is­tra­tion was chip­ping away at the bank’s inde­pend­ence, just months after Mr Prabowo’s nephew, Thomas Dji­wan­dono, was appoin­ted a deputy gov­ernor of Bank Indone­sia in Feb­ru­ary, spark­ing spec­u­la­tion he was being groomed to take the top job.

Mr Perry’s week­end resig­na­tion has sent those rumours into over­drive, prompt­ing ana­lysts to warn the move could exacer­bate grow­ing inter­na­tional mar­ket con­cerns over the dir­ec­tion of the South­east Asia’s largest eco­nomy.

Angus Mack­in­tosh, an ASEAN spe­cial­ist at Aletheia Cap­ital in Singa­pore, told Reu­ters: “A lot will depend on who takes over. If Prabowo’s nephew (Dji­wan­dono) steps in, the mar­ket will regard this with sus­pi­cion, given this is a cru­cial tech­no­cratic post and BI should remain inde­pend­ent.”

Centre of Eco­nomic and Law Stud­ies chief Bhima Yud­hi­stira said Mr Perry’s resig­na­tion was a “major blow to the coun­try’s mon­et­ary sec­tor”, and appeared to be a res­ult of polit­ical pres­sure.

Air­langga Uni­versity eco­nom­ics pro­fessor Rahma Gafmi said Mr Perry’s resig­na­tion could trig­ger more short-term rupiah volat­il­ity, and that his depar­ture could not be viewed in isol­a­tion from mount­ing polit­ical pres­sure on the cent­ral bank’s lead­er­ship to assume moral respons­ib­il­ity for mac­roe­co­nomic uncer­tainty.

Indone­sia has one of the world’s worst per­form­ing cur­ren­cies, thanks in part to the gov­ern­ment’s bal­loon­ing oil sub­sidies bill and big-spend­ing pri­or­it­ies such as a free-meals pro­gram.

While the ongo­ing Middle East crisis and rising oil prices have hammered the Indone­sian eco­nomy, many ana­lysts say those external shocks have been exacer­bated by poor domestic policies, and that the coun­try is now facing a crisis of con­fid­ence.

That view was reflec­ted in Monday’s SMRC polling, with nearly half (49.4 per cent) of those sur­veyed describ­ing the cur­rent national eco­nomy as bad or very bad, and only 15.7 per cent view­ing it pos­it­ively – the low­est such fig­ure recor­ded in seven years of SMRC sur­veys.

Just 13.5 per cent of respond­ents viewed the coun­try’s polit­ical con­di­tions pos­it­ively, com­pared to 42.8 per cent with neg­at­ive per­cep­tions, while 37.6 per cent said law enforce­ment was poor, com­pared with 26.4 per cent who gave it pos­it­ive marks.

Both indic­at­ors have markedly deteri­or­ated since late 2025, reflect­ing a broader decline in con­fid­ence across major aspects of gov­ernance.

Global index pro­vider MSCI tem­por­ar­ily stopped adding Indone­sian stocks to its emer­ging mar­ket indexes in Janu­ary due to insuf­fi­cient trans­par­ency, and warned it would down­grade Indone­sia to fron­tier status if those trans­par­ency issues were not sat­is­fact­or­ily addressed by Novem­ber.

A more pos­it­ive rat­ings review out­look last month by S&P helped calm the mar­ket, but Mr Perry’s depar­ture is expec­ted to cre­ate more eco­nomic uncer­tainty.

Here’s the original source of the story:

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2026/07/26/19123771/survei-smrc-tingkat-kepuasan-publik-atas-pemerintahan-prabowo-51-persen

Professor David Reeve

How are we getting on with the neighbours? Not as good as we have been and not well enough for what should be. Like marriage, international relations need to be cossetted and cherished. Ours with Indonesia is going the other way through indifference.

Experiencing Indonesia has just been published, written by those who know about next door. The folk in that volcanic land aren’t close except in geography. For a while they were friendly. Now only one seeks love, though with little enthusiasm.

The mid-1990s was a golden time for Indonesianists. Paul Keating had engraved a tablet proclaiming that “no country was more important than the land next door” and signed a security agreement.

Among the believers was Dr David Hill at Perth’s Murdoch University. He decided to turn words into deeds with the Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS):

‘A non-profit, educational consortium to develop and coordinate high-quality, semester-long study programs at Indonesian partner universities for Australian university students.’

The idea appealed, for the electorate was receptive. Bahasa Indonesia was becoming popular for language learners, and Bali the exotic island for holidays. ACICIS was the bonding agent for the moment.

From then on it should have failed – almost everything else did. First came Krismon, the Asian economic crisis and the rupiah falling like Icarus. Then chaos as the brutal dictator Soeharto quit his 32-year reign, and his successor BJ Habibie shredded the Keating deal.

John Howard suggested a referendum on the future of the blood-stained East Timor. The nearby island had been screaming for freedom since the 1975 invasion of the former Portuguese colony by Soeharto’s thugs. Watch the Australian film Balibo (banned in Indonesia) to remember.

Howard’s idea was surprisingly accepted as Jakarta wrongly assumed the people loved Indonesian rule. But when the Timorese voted 80 – 20 for independence, army-backed militias torched the tiny island and killed as they retreated.

Australia led the 22-nation peacekeeping force INTERFET - getting fame in the Commonwealth but anger in Indonesia.

An estimated 100,000 died through famine and violence during Indonesia’s 25-year control.

The new century brought the Bali and Embassy bombs and other outrages. Boeings that had once flown full of joyful holiday makers now carried joyless crews.

Democracy came with riots, then a firing squad for Aussie drug couriers despite clemency pleas from new PM Tony Abbott who never understood the culture.

What caring parent would bless their teens studying in such a country? Would they be converted? Always eat rice? What about safety?

ACICIS survived, partly through the diplomacy now lacking in the Middle East and the influence of those who’d studied in Australia – often graduates of the original Colombo Plan.

Professor Hill’s foresight in creating the consortium kept a gateway open, though as he recalls it “tottered and teetered” for a while.

New PM Malcolm Turnbull got friendly with the latest Prez, laid-back batik-model and toll-road builder Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo. In 2020 he spoke in Parliament to great applause.

Keating may have been right – though not enough for Australians to treat Jakarta with the reverence used for Washington, even under Trump.

After ten years of negotiation, a free trade document was signed with another ugly title, IA-CEPA, the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

Maybe they just wanted to secure supplies of beef and grains because little has happened since.

The tourists were still into Bali hotels, but the students were heading elsewhere, preferring to spend their allowances and have fun in the US, the UK, China, Canada, and Japan.

There are some perennial gripes in journalism, and the weeping about unis abandoning the teaching of Indonesian language and culture brings most tears.

Another is Indonesian annoyance at “the (Australian) media’s failure to distinguish between Muslims generally and radical elements such as the Taliban.” That’s Ms Hanson’s doing.

Canberra has tried to help with its New Colombo Plan for undergrads seeking “to develop their Indo-Pacific capability and Asia literacy through immersive, structured learning and internships in the region.”

That’s 37 countries with Indonesia at the top. Our giant embassy in Jakarta crows: “Since its inception in 2014, more than 12,000 students have been supported to study and undertake internships in Indonesia, more than any other participating country”.

(The original 1950s Colombo Plan brought thousands of students into Australia for all the expected benevolent reasons, though the real purpose was to combat Communism.

After two decades, the CP shrunk as supporting nations withdrew – the US only this year. Some called it “paternalistic” and a Cold War approach to aid.

There are around 24,000 Indonesian students in Australia, not all on merit but still absorbing our values and hopefully having a good time.

This month ACICIS launched Experiencing Indonesia (ANU Press), which recounts 30 years of helping undergrads adjust to next door. It has 25 staff, offices in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Bogor and Bandung and a budget of $24 million. So far 5,000 have benefitted.

That generosity should be 50,000. The ACICIS leaders agree. But they’re up against a public that looks at Indonesia with suspicion, amplified by One Nation rants against Islam.

ACICIS Professor Dr David Reeve explained: “NCP helps fund students in Indonesia, but not for them to get there; we find study options.”

The 318-page book has many pages in abstruse and prolix prose as though this certifies the book’s academic credibility. ‘Pedagogic ensemble’ deters. ‘Adventures in squatland – Oz students tell’ invites readers.

Like tales of cramped kos (homestay) living, jumping red lights, going barefoot in lavatories and graduating through “transformative experiential learning opportunities” aka discovering the world.

For adventurous singles, that means explaining to puzzled locals asking kok sendirian – why are you travelling alone? That’s not Indonesian culture, it’s ours.Aussies going to Indonesia for any serious reason should sample some of this book – free online. Although some parts are revealing and useful, overall it feels it’s by and for the in-groups.

Bali may be going off the boil. The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics report shows the most popular overseas destinations in February were NZ and Japan, then Indonesia.

If we stop going, mateship could sour, and the misunderstandings multiply, aggravated by Ms Hanson’s hangups about the faith followed by more than 87 per cent of the Indonesian population.

Should a demagogue appear (Indonesia is democratic, but so is the US), we need to make this de facto drift into a de jure deal.

The ACICIS youngsters who park their prejudices with the oldies, go overseas as thoughtless teens and return as thoughtful adults, might help erase the Senator’s fatuity with facts.

First published in Pearls & Irritations, 26 July. 2026: https://pearlsandirritations.com/post/2026/07/australia-is-letting-its-indonesia-relationship-drift/

#Indonesianculture #indonesianlanguage #indonesianlifestyle #indonesianeconomy #indonesianpolitic #indonesiantravel #exploreindonesian #indonesianactraction #wonderfullindonesia #nusantara #batikindonesia #fyp #fouryourpage #indonesianfood #visitindonesia #wonderfulcultureindonesian #natureindonesia #indonesianisland #indonesianphotographer #indonesianfashion #like #substack

Unless otherwise stated, this work by Indonesia Now with Duncan Graham is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International Licence.

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G’day Bros. The plump arrives; trust you all know your gender preferences. Check my rules.

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LGBTQ+ people in Indonesia are facing growing discrimination, harassment and violence after President Prabowo Subianto classified the promotion of queer “culture” as a threat to national security.

In October 2025, Subianto issued a 70-page presidential regulation outlining Indonesia’s national defence policy.

The document listed several so-called nonmilitary threats, including illegal trafficking, the theft of national resources, terrorism, radicalism, atheism, online gambling and drug abuse.

“The promotion of LGBTQ culture” was also included.

According to the Jakarta Post, the regulation defines nonmilitary threats as activities that do not involve weapons but are considered dangerous to state sovereignty, territorial integrity or public safety.

It also instructs government ministries, state institutions and regional administrations outside the defence sector to respond to the identified threats.

Regulation Could Encourage Discriminatory Laws

Human rights advocates have warned that the classification could give authorities greater justification to introduce policies targeting LGBTQ+ people.

“The presidential regulation provides new legitimation both for the central government and regional administrations to enact legislation that penalises and discriminates against LGBTQ individuals merely because of their identities,” Albert Wirya, executive director of the Legal Aid Institute for the People, told the Jakarta Post on 7 July.

Human Rights Watch has also reported an increase in harassment and attacks against LGBTQ+ university students, particularly during Pride Month 2026.

On 7 July, the New York-based organisation said at least 10 public universities in Indonesia had recently adopted discriminatory rules and begun restricting discussions about gender and sexual diversity.

“Indonesian authorities are looking the other way during an upsurge of attacks on LGBT university students and others,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“Indonesia’s universities are contributing to the problem by discriminating against students on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.”

Religious Body Calls for Harsher Criminal Penalties

During Pride Month, the Indonesian Ulema Council, a conservative body of Islamic scholars, called for same-sex relationships to be criminalised more harshly than adultery.

The council told MUI Digital that what it described as “sexual deviation” should carry criminal penalties “harsher than the punishment for adultery”.

“Currently, there’s no punishment for LGBT. There’s no legal provision for that,” said the organisation’s deputy chairman, Kiai Cholil.

“Ultimately, when a case is discovered, the pattern is simply initiated by the regional head to provide guidance or barracks. This is because there’s no fixed sentence of years.”

Trans Women Reportedly Attacked in Bogor

LGBTQ+ people have also reportedly faced direct physical violence following the government’s classification.

Pelangi Nusantara, an Indonesian LGBTQ+ advocacy organisation, recently shared details of attacks against transgender women in Bogor, a city on the island of Java.

“A hate account called @bogorbersihlgbt recently uploaded videos showing attacks carried out against a trans woman,” the group wrote.

“The footage shows a group of men punching, kicking and dousing a victim with urine. In another video, several trans women are chased.”

The organisation said the attacks may have affected at least 15 transgender women.

“Based on the information we’ve gathered, at least 15 trans women have been attacked. Most of the victims are poor trans women who survive by working on the streets. In addition to being beaten and doused with urine, some were also stripped naked. The victims are now suffering from trauma as well as serious physical injuries.”

LGBTQ+ Identities Remain Vulnerable Under Indonesian Law

LGBTQ+ identities are not explicitly criminalised across most of Indonesia.

However, same-sex relations are illegal under Sharia law in Aceh, the country’s westernmost province. People convicted under those rules can face imprisonment of up to 18 months.

Transgender and intersex people are permitted to change their legal gender, but only after undergoing gender-affirming surgery and obtaining approval from a court.

Human Rights Watch says at least six national laws continue to discriminate indirectly against LGBTQ+ people.

These include the Pornography Law, the Marriage Law, regulations covering child adoption, the Electronic Information and Transactions Law, the Criminal Code and Ministry of Health Regulation No. 2 of 2025.

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Rights advocates warn that describing LGBTQ+ identities as a national threat risks legitimising further discrimination, encouraging hostile policies and leaving already marginalised people more vulnerable to violence.

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Footnote: The population of gays and lesbians worldwide is unknown because many keep their preferences secret, but a Yale Uni survey estimated that in the US the percentage is less than five. Translated to Indonesia that could equal ten million.

The Yale study was headlined: The ‘global closet’: Majority of world’s LGBT population hide orientation

The jails will be full if Prabowo’s rule applies, not of corruptors but of people whose genes make them seek same sex partners.

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Here’s the website with more info. Unfortunately, some – though not all – is behind a paywall.

Celebrating hate.

ABC News 18 July 2026: The Albanese government's long-awaited response to its special envoy's report on Islamophobia has rejected calls for an overhaul of counter-terror laws, focusing instead on a new education taskforce and expanded community liaison teams for police…

Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly, who is Australia’s first Muslim federal parliamentarian, said the government’s responses go to “addressing some of the most significant manifestations of Islamophobia”.

“For the very first time, the very first time in the history of this country, we have a government that is willing to recognise that Islamophobia exists,” she said.

“[The government recognises] it is dangerously close to becoming normalised, and that it has traumatising, detrimental and long-lasting effects on a significant number of Australians.”

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There’s no known record of Pauline Hanson visiting Bali. If she’s ever ventured next door, she’d have encountered the majority faith – Hinduism. It preceded Islam - by a millennium.

There are reportedly fewer than half a million adherents of the belief system she abhors and misrepresents living on the Island of the Gods. To discover Muslims as a majority, she’d need to head West across the narrow strait to Java.

In its three overcrowded provinces there are subjects aplenty, for Indonesia has more Muslims than any other nation. It’s also the third largest democracy – but in this case that term needs defining.

She’d also learn (if the word is apt), that ten per cent of the Republic’s 288 million citizens are Christian. That’s more than the population of the Great Brown Land.

It’s unlikely that anytime soon Indonesia will produce a demagogue demanding followers of Jesus be scorned and expelled from the archipelago.

The current president, who expects to be in office till 2029, sows fear with his Trump-style authoritarianism and militarism. Prabowo Subianto is a lukewarm Muslim; his late mother Dora Marie Sigar was a Protestant. So is his younger brother and financial backer Hashim Djojohadikusumo. The family is an example of religious tolerance.

The chances of the Prez vilifying his close rellies’ faith, habits and intent - and advocating for their expulsion – won’t happen.

But there’s always a chance future voters will elect someone like the Sultans of the Ottoman Islamic empire who last century persecuted, expelled and slaughtered millions of Christians during the ‘Thirty-year Genocide.’

If the leader of One Nation has a conscience and a sense of morality, it might be worth reminding her of the horrors of ethnic and religious cleansing if she wants historical models for her threats should power ever fall into her palms.

Once opened, Pauline’s Box would free more evils than those released by the curious Pandora.

Indonesians rarely talk about their momentous shame, the genocide, confirmed by Australian academic Dr Jill Melvin. In 1965 and 66, huge numbers of Indonesians were shot, knifed and beaten to death – by neighbours, former friends, even relatives.

The killers were given weapons and lists of names, and egged on by the Indonesian military backed by the CIA and applauded by an Australian PM.

On a visit to New York, Harold Holt crassly cracked: “With 500,000 to one million Communist sympathisers knocked off, I think it’s safe to assume a reorientation has taken place”. Funny, ya?

Eventually there’ll come a time when Australians start to ask how Muslim Indonesians feel about our country and culture where the rantings of a racist politician seem to get so much support? If she was spitting the same slanders about Jews, she’d be in jail.

For the last three decades, our saner middle-road leaders have chanted that there’s no country more important to us than the place next door.

Is that reciprocated?

Sadly no – it’s always been a one-way street, but the traffic flow is getting thicker the more Ms PH expresses her wishes for a return of White Australia, discoloured by Whitlam only half a century ago.

Image by photographer Fabian Muir - Urban burqa

How would we react if Indonesia produced a politician who was abusing Anzac Day, (which we expats openly celebrate in Indonesia), dehumanising Aussies, threatening us and lying about our values and lifestyles, like the ignorant Queensland Senator badmouths followers of the world’s second largest religion?

We’d certainly steer clear of Bali and the other 900 inhabited islands till tolerance prevailed, and probably demand an early delivery of AUKUS subs.

To stop this horrific possibility, the universal condemnation of the Hanson hate, aka Islamophobia, has to be driven out with the same intensity as the elimination of antisemitism.

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#Indonesianculture #indonesianlanguage #indonesianlifestyle #indonesianeconomy #indonesianpolitic #indonesiantravel #exploreindonesian #indonesianactraction #wonderfullindonesia #nusantara #batikindonesia #fyp #fouryourpage #indonesianfood #visitindonesia #wonderfulcultureindonesian #natureindonesia #indonesianisland #indonesianphotographer #indonesianfashion #like #substack

Unless otherwise stated, this work by Indonesia Now with Duncan Graham is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International Licence.

CC

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