Back in 1996, when I spent three whole months of journalism work in Vietnam, I wrote some articles published by Bisnis Indonesia, the largest business paper in the country. In one of the articles, I reminded policymakers that Vietnam would surpass Indonesia in manufacturing if the country doesn’t seriously preparing infrastructure and superstructure (industrial discipline).
Read MoreThere’s an interesting update on power sharing in the next cabinet between political parties within Prabowo-Gibran’s coalition. The President-elect Prabowo Subianto himself is reportedly targeting to finalize the new cabinet lineup on Oct. 15, or five days before his inauguration.
Read MoreGoing east. More industrial parks have been developed in Central and East Java in the past few years to take benefit from improved infrastructure and lower average wages than peers in West Java, which remains the largest manufacturing base in the country.
Read MoreThe new House of Representatives/People’s Consultative Assembly (DPR/MPR) and the new Regional Representatives Council (DPD) for 2024-2029 period have been inaugurated altogether. The new leadership of DPR, MPR, and DPD, including the new faction leaders of political parties in the DPR/MPR, have been appointed as well. Some names among them, however, raised concern about the growing danger of nepotism.
Read MoreIt has been quite a while since the last time we reported on PT Visi Asia Media Tbk (VIVA), the parent of TVOne and part of Bakrie Group. Back then, we already knew that the company suffered too many losses already and since then nothing special happened, until the beginning of this year. One of VIVA creditors filed a lawsuit for Suspension of Debts Payment (PKPU) to the Commercial Court at the Central Jakarta District Court and requested that VIVA and several of its subsidiaries restructure their debts. This application was accepted and now the company is in the PKPU period, far from the media coverage. The process by far recorded verified debt amounted to over Rp8 trillion and the group now has until November 2024 to convince its creditors. In the midst of this process, VIVA filed another lawsuit against 14 parties, most of them are investment managers, and the court proceedings are ongoing.
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