Day: January 16, 2024

Outgoing president Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo admitted he just knew about substantially low index of higher education in Indonesia vis-a-vis Vietnam and Malaysia in a meeting with a forum of university leaders on Monday (Jan 15). He promised to organize a meeting, presumably with cabinet members, to take necessary policy to address the issue. What has he done in nine years in office?

We’ve reported about an impeachment attempt on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo from the so-called Petition 100. Apart from the impeachment attempt, there are some lawsuits filed against the President and his eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is running in the 2024 presidential race as Prabowo Subianto’s running mate. Those lawsuits have been submitted by some ex-1998 activists together with the advocates from Tim Pembela Demokrasi Indonesia (TPDI) or the Indonesian Democracy Defense Team as their lawyers. TPDI is strongly affiliated to the ruling party PDIP.

Christmas celebration organized by ministry of state-owned enterprises has drawn criticism from civil society groups and netizens. In the event, minister of state-owned enterprises Erick Thohir indirectly issued statement ‘endorsing’ Prabowo Subianto, a president candidate. Prabowo was the only president candidate invited to the event.

Maruarar Sirait a.k.a Ara, the son of former secretary general of the ruling party PDIP Sabam Sirait, announced his resignation from PDIP last night (Jan. 15). Ara revealed that he left PDIP because he chose to follow President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. This should not be a surprise given Ara’s close relationship with some major business families in the country. What are the implications?