Indonesia welcomed 11.4 million international visitors in the first nine months of 2025, an increase of 10.2% from the corresponding period last year. Vietnam, meanwhile, welcomed over 15.4 million visitors in the same period, grew significantly by 21.5% from the same period last year.

IT resellers (software and hardware) Metrodata Electronics (MTDL) and Multipolar Technology (MLPT) reported 9% and 10% revenue growth respectively in the first nine months of 2025. The difference, Metrodata shares were flat, while Multipolar already gained 300% year-to-date. Looks like that conglomerates met President Prabowo Subianto few months back should have at least one ‘highly inflated stock’ to support the composite index (IHSG).

Dato Tahir and James Riady are in-laws. They were among eight businessmen invited for a ‘small group meeting’ with President Prabowo Subianto at the State Palace few months back. Tahir owns Mayapada Hospital (SRAJ), while Riady is linked to Siloam Hospitals (SILO). 

Jusuf Kalla, former vice president and one of South Sulawesi’s most influential businessmen, called the ongoing 16.4-hectare land dispute in Tanjung Bunga “a robbery’. He was not merely defending his family’s corporate assets. He was asserting Makassar’s right to economic sovereignty against a decades-old dominance of Jakarta-based conglomerates.

Sariaatmadja Family (Emtek Group) closed down marketplace services at bukalapak.com (BUKA) early this year. Riady Family (Lippo Group) closed down mataharimall.com seven years earlier. Tokopedia was initially acquired by Gojek, but then ByteDance (parent of TikTok) took over the e-commerce platform early last year. Hartono Family, the richest in the country, remains in the business through Blibli, trying to survive competition from TikTok and Shopee. At what cost?

According to a recent report by the non-government organization JPPI, there have been a total of 16,109 food poisoning victims in the last ten months, starting from the launch of the MBG program on January 6 until October 31. Strangely enough, the number only kept increasing, even after the government took several evaluation steps to improve the implementation of this disastrous program.

Malaysia, once again, is one step ahead of Indonesia. Italia’s Eni and Malaysia’s Petronas had recently signed a binding agreement to form a joint venture company, combining some of their oil and gas exploration and production assets in Indonesia and Malaysia.

After several years of delay, CABINDO Poultry Sdn Bhd (CABINDO), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysian food giant Cakaran Sdn Bhd, and its Indonesian partner, Salim Group, decided to implement the joint venture for a fully integrated poultry business.

Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa revealed that the government’s flagship CoreTax system still suffers from “design flaws” and unresolved access issues, it underscored a hard truth about Indonesia’s digital transformation: we are still outsourcing our sovereignty.

Integrated poultry players listed on IDX clearly set their sights on implementation of the MBG program next year. With tripled State budget to US$20 billion, major players hired more workers and boosted investments in fixed assets.