Southeast Asia 2024-

Southeast Asia

CIA World Factbook Indonesia
Britannica: Indonesia

27 August
Sri Lanka’s Dissanayake a strong contender for president with his alliance’s focus on working class
(AP) — A political alliance centered on the working class has emerged as a strong contender in Sri Lanka’s presidential race, announcing itself to be the agent of change that millions of people called for when an unprecedented economic crisis led to disillusionment with traditional political parties.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of National People’s Power alliance and its presidential candidate, says he’s serving those who were part of public protests that ousted then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022. Protesters blamed Rajapaksa for an economic collapse that resulted in severe shortage of essentials such as fuel, cooking gas, medicines and food.

25 August
Rohingya refugees mark the anniversary of their exodus and demand a safe return to Myanmar
(AP) — Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar who live in sprawling camps in Bangladesh on Sunday marked the seventh anniversary of their mass exodus, demanding safe return to Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
The refugees gathered in an open field at Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar district carrying banners and festoons reading “Hope is Home” and “We Rohingya are the citizens of Myanmar,” defying the rain on a day that is marked as “Rohingya Genocide Day.”
On Aug. 25, 2017, hundreds of thousands of refugees started crossing the border to Bangladesh on foot and by boats amid indiscriminate killings and other violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

23 August
Ratification of Indonesian election law changes delayed as protesters try to storm parliament
Thousands of protesters attempted to storm Indonesia’s parliament Thursday, tearing down a section of fence and throwing stones at police and forcing the legislature to delay a vote on controversial changes to election laws that could further enhance the political influence of outgoing President Joko Widodo. Parliament was to meet in an emergency session to overturn one decision on election procedures made by the country’s Constitutional Court and amend another. Protesters held banners and signs, while others started fires and burned tires. The Constitutional Court court on Tuesday dismissed a challenge to an age limit that prevents people younger than 30 from running for regional governorships, which would prevent Widodo’s 29-year-old youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, from running in a regional contest in Central Java’s legislature.

19 August
Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ)
(Bloomberg) A Chinese businessman persuaded officials to establish a special economic zone in a remote part of Laos. The gamblers arrived first. Then came the drug runners and human traffickers.
a vast development project founded by a Chinese businessman named Zhao Wei. Outwardly it resembles a midsize Chinese city; it even has an airport, with a soaring terminal that Zhao hopes will eventually welcome international flights. In interviews and on Chinese social media, he’s said one of his top priorities is to help the Lao people, who are among the poorest in Southeast Asia, “and to provide a bigger contribution to the country’s economic and social development.”
Behind the glassy facades, however, more is going on. The GTSEZ operates as a self-governed enclave, and for the better part of a decade investigators have warned that it’s a hub for criminal activity of every description—a legal no-man’s land.

17 August
Thailand’s democracy takes two steps back
The Move Forward Party is dissolved, the prime minister is removed — but the country remains a critical American ally.
Thailand’s fragile democracy suffered two major setbacks this month at the hands of an unaccountable, all-powerful court whose rulings cannot be appealed. The latest developments once again show the limits of the Biden administration’s attempt to put democracy promotion at the center of its foreign policy, especially when democratic regression happens in a U.S.-aligned country that serves as a crucial bulwark against China’s rising influence.

15-16 August
Indonesia’s New Jungle Capital Is a Work in Progress
Indonesia’s new capital faces a murky future
(Bloomberg CityLab) The planned city of Nusantara is intended to be outgoing President Joko Widodo’s biggest legacy: a new center for the Indonesian government, which will be free of the overcrowding and flooding that afflict the current capital city of Jakarta
But two years after construction broke ground — and ahead of Independence Day on Saturday, when the new capital will be inaugurated — city plans mapped onto satellite imagery from mid-July show roads still unpaved and buildings unfinished. Much of the government area, in fact, consists of dirt and standing water. As Chandra Asmara, Yasufumi Saito and Christopher Udemans report, the $29 billion megaproject has failed to attract significant investment and has been plagued by delays.
Nusantara: Celebrations planned in Indonesia’s costly ‘symbol of progress’
The new capital is the pet project of outgoing President Joko Widodo and is taking shape on the island of Borneo.
(Al Jazeera) Nusantara, the new capital city of Indonesia, will host Independence Day celebrations on Saturday, as the country looks to a future without Jakarta as its capital.
Will Indonesia’s new capital city ever be finished?
Arthur Sullivan
(DW) Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara, is set to be inaugurated this week. Plenty of questions linger around this symbol of the country’s economic ambitions, from it being largely unfinished to doubts over funding.

15 August
39 candidates are approved for Sri Lanka’s presidential election, the highest number ever
(AP) — Sri Lanka’s elections commission on Thursday accepted applications from a record 39 candidates to run in next month’s presidential election, which will decide the course of the country’s financial reforms to survive an unprecedented economic crisis.
The commission received 39 applications and all were accepted, its head, R.M.A.L. Rathnayake, announced. More than 17 million people are eligible to vote in the Sept. 21 election.
Thirty-five candidates contested the last presidential election in 2019.
The vote is seen as a referendum on difficult economic reforms initiated by current President Ranil Wickremesinghe. The reforms have improved key economic figures, but their effects have yet to reach many ordinary people.
Sri Lanka is in the middle of a critical debt restructuring and financial reform program under a bailout program by the International Monetary Fund.

What is Indonesia’s vision for the international order?
Ahmad Rizky Mardhatillah Umar speaks to Rheea Saggar about Indonesia’s vision for, and contribution to, the international order amid growing US-China competition.
As an emerging Asian middle power, Indonesia’s notion of international order is based on a commitment to democracy and a desire for autonomy in international politics.
(Chatham House) Since declaring independence in 1945, Indonesia has envisioned itself as a major regional actor. Indonesia organized the Asian-African (Bandung) Conference in 1955 and advocated for decolonization at the 1960 UN General Assembly session. In the 1960s, it helped establish the Non-Aligned Movement and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Since the Cold War, Indonesia has consistently engaged with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), transformed ASEAN, and become a well-known promoter of human rights and democracy in the region. These active engagements illustrate its aspirations to maintain regional stability and peace and play a constructive role in international institutions. 24 July 2023

15 February
‘Winter is coming’: activists’ fears as Prabowo Subianto likely wins Indonesia election
Former son-in-law of late dictator Suharto was discharged from military over alleged abuses dating back to 1980s
(The Guardian) In the runup to the election, Prabowo was the only presidential candidate who did not attend a press freedom event and did not respond to a questionnaire by Human Rights Watch on key rights issues facing Indonesians.
As results emerged on Wednesday, Veronica Koman, a human rights lawyer living in exile in Australia, wrote on Twitter/X: “Many Indonesians are saying that they want to leave the country because Prabowo is winning – similar phenomenon to US citizens when Trump was winning. The big difference is … ours is out of FEAR.”
On Wednesday night, Prabowo told supporters “this win shall be a win for Indonesian people” as he promised to govern for everyone “whatever the ethnicity, whatever the province, whatever the religion, whatever their social background”.
13 February
Indonesia election: president criticised over alleged interference on behalf of Prabowo
The presidential office denies that Joko Widodo has interfered in the upcoming vote

14 February
Rising palm oil deforestation highlights environmental stakes of Indonesia election
(Mighty Earth) As Prabowo Subianto claims victory in Indonesia’s election, new research reveals that palm oil-driven deforestation is on the rise in Indonesia after a decades-long decline. According to a new paper, deforestation for palm oil increased 36% from 22,000 hectares in 2022 to 30,000 hectares in 2023.
At the same time, a separate Mighty Earth analysis shows hundreds of thousands of hectares of Indonesian forest under threat from ill-considered infrastructure projects and dramatically expanded nickel mining for electric vehicle batteries. The bulk of the deforestation comes from a handful of companies that have evaded forest and climate policies adopted by the Indonesian government and most major agriculture companies.
Forest and energy policies figured prominently in the election debate and will be one of the most closely watched areas of Indonesian policy.

9 January
From military leader to ‘harmless grandpa’: the rebranding of Indonesia’s Prabowo
As election looms former son-in-law of late dictator Suharto has become popular with young voters thanks to Instagram posts with cats
… Prabowo, whose running-mate is the eldest son of outgoing president , is leading in election surveys ahead of next month’s vote in Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy. A recent Indikator poll suggested he is succeeding in capturing the support of younger voters, who will be crucial in deciding the outcome of the vote on 14 February. Voters aged between 17 and 40 will account for more than 50% of the electorate, according to data from the election commission.

2 January
A New Dynasty Rises in Jokowi’s Indonesia
One of the 15 key elections to watch in 2024’s historic global vote.
(Foreign Policy) Indonesia is the world’s fourth-most-populous country, after the United States. But more voters will head to the polls on election day in Indonesia than in the United States, making the country’s Valentine’s Day vote the world’s largest single-day contest of 2024. More than 200 million people are eligible to cast ballots in Indonesia, in contrast to the under 170 million registered voters in the United States. Turnout is generally much higher in the Southeast Asian archipelago nation, too. In Indonesia’s last presidential election in 2019, 80 percent of eligible voters participated; the 2020 U.S. election saw a record-high turnout of just 66 percent.
Democracy is a young and treasured—but imperfect—institution in Indonesia. The country was governed by a U.S.-backed military dictatorship from 1966 to 1998, mostly under the notorious Gen. Suharto. Suharto’s ouster has been referred to as an “inside job” that created rules that guaranteed entrenched elites retained power. Among those rules is a requirement that a prospective presidential candidate’s party hold at least 20 percent of seats in parliament for the candidate to run—the highest such threshold in the world.