Tag: Joko Widodo

More than 190 million Indonesian voters are heading to the polls for an election that will test the country's democracy. Read more: Indonesia election puts Islam on the ballot The all-important presidential vote is a remake of the 2014 contest, with incumbent Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, once again going up against former general Prabowo Subianto. Jokowi won the 2014 election with 53% of the votes, and ran his campaign by promoting Indonesia's social plurality, while promising to boost the economy and improve infrastructure. This time around, Subianto hopes to edge off Jokowi by running on a platform of law and order, combined with conservative Islamic values. Jokowi hopes Amin can help bring in more conservative, traditional, and rural voters. "Religious regulations are used as political tools, especially in local areas, to strengthen support among an incumbent leader's constituency prior to an election," Ray Rangkuti, from the Indonesian politics watchdog Lingkar Madani, told DW. However, the parliament is decisive in creating the field for presidential elections. Sixteen parties are competing in the 2019 parliamentary elections, but Indonesian voters are also somewhat forced into voting for establishment parties. And once in parliament, parities who want to put a candidate on the ballot must have at least 20% support in the current parliament, or alternatively have won at least 25% of the vote in the latest election. Jokowi's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) won 19% of the vote in 2014, the largest party in parliament, but still under the threshold to field a candidate without a coalition.

The launch of the country’s maiden MRT system in Jakarta has regrettably descended into political bickering, with the elections right around the corner, between allies turned-rivals President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, particularly on the issue of fares. Their supporters also jumped into the ring, with Jakarta Council speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Gerindra Party politician M. Taufik each proposing low fares. They eventually reached a compromise, setting the fares between Rp 3,000 (21 US cents) and Rp 14,000, depending on the distance of the trip. Jokowi, who is seeking reelection, has also claimed credit for the MRT, saying the modern transportation mode would not be here without him as Jakarta governor and his then-deputy, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama. The unnecessary politicization of the MRT only shows the shortsightedness of our elite, while in fact the megaproject is a long-term investment with the aim of serving the public well and solving mobility problems facing metropolitans. Jakarta still has to raise a lot of money to fi nance the second phase of the MRT’s north-south lane and east-west route. It will take the eff ort of several presidents, governors, MRT Jakarta directors and thousands of workers to complete the dream MRT system. And don’t forget the subsidy that millions of taxpayers have to bear and the land many residents have to give up to realize the MRT. It may also take about the same time to build the east-west route connecting Cikarang in Bekasi and Balaraja in Tangerang, but just recently Jokowi said he wanted the project to go in parallel with the second part of the south-north lane’s construction. A lot more work will have to be done and for this reason everybody, especially politicians, has to put the MRT beyond politics.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo deserves the highest praise for his appropriate pursuit of resource nationalism. These detractors deliberately ignore the legal fact that under Indonesian law, mines operating under a contract of work (CoW) serve as both contractor and investor. Hence, the government cannot “simply take over” mining operations in the event that the FI contract is not extended beyond 2021, because FCX has the legal right to take home all mining equipment and other fixed assets of its Indonesian subsidiary. Taking over the FI mine after the CoW ends without paying due compensation to Freeport as mutually agreed would land the government at the international arbitration court and isolate Indonesia as a pariah of the international community. The FI divestment was a normal business transaction between the government, through state-owned mining holding company PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum), and FCX, as required by the law. Judging from the step-by-step process and the comprehensive due diligence the state financial comptroller (internal audit) and the Attorney General’s Office conducted on the deal, we can rest assured that the acquisition was clean and free of any malfeasance. Most important for FCX is that the deal secures a 20-year extension of FI’s operations through 2041, and guarantees fiscal and legal certainty under a special mining license protected by the 2009 Mining Law. Yet more important is the copper smelter, which will be built in Indonesia as one of the key requirements of the new mining license, and which will in turn allow the government to ascertain the gold content of the mine’s copper concentrates. The fact that Inalum was able to purchase the acquisition with the proceeds of $4 billion global bonds is another proof that the transaction was clearly commercially viable. A word of caution, however: FI’s production output — and consequently its profit — will most likely decline in the first two years following the divestment.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said investors were in a wait and see position ahead of the presidential and legislative elections in 2019 as they were concerned about the possible impact of the political events on the country’s economy. He explained that investors were also still waiting for the result of the presidential election, which would likely be a rematch between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Prabowo Subianto. “Investors are particularly concerned about the policy. Will there be any policy changes if President Joko Widodo wins? And what about if Prabowo wins?” he said in Jakarta on Thursday as reported by kontan.com.id, adding that the wait and see position affected the country’s economy. However, he expressed optimism that the impact of “the year of politics” was not so significant. He called on the media to help ensure that the “year of politics” did not cause worry and uncertainty among the people. He also expressed hope that whoever won the election would have a positive impact on the country’s economy. He said the Federal Reserve hinting at further increases in its reference rate had also affected performance in the financial sector in other countries, including Indonesia, with the rupiah still under pressure. (bbn) Topics : jusuf-kalla, year-of-politics, wait-and-see-stance, investors