Gainers of 2025 (1): Japfa Comfeed
Amidst economic slowdown, it’s hard to find companies with strong financial performance last year, not only in terms of sales and net profit, but their investments and contribution to the job market.
Quiet (mass) layoffs (7)
Nippon Indosari Corporindo (ROTI), famous with its Sari Roti—market leader in mass bread, booked net profit of Rp158.5 billion last year, down 29% from 2024 on lower sales revenues and squeezed margins.
Quiet (mass) layoffs (6)
Bank UOB Indonesia booked net profit of Rp1.53 trillion last year, skyrocketed 2765% from 2024, among others due to aggressive efficiency measures. This bank has dismissed over 650 workers in the past two years.
Mandatory education spending becomes a budget loophole
The Constitutional Court is now confronting a case that could redefine the meaning of Indonesia’s constitutional commitment to education. A petition challenging Law No. 17/2025 on the 2026 state budget questions whether President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program has been funded by effectively repurposing money meant for education. At stake is not just the legality of one program, but the integrity of a constitutional safeguard designed to protect the nation’s future.
The politics of imported truck procurement
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Sufmi Dasco Ahmad has called for a postponement of the plan to import 105,000 vehicles from India, which were intended to support logistics transportation for the Red-White Village Cooperative (KDMP). The inconsistency between the proposal and President Prabowo’s stated pledge to prioritize domestic industry has been cited as the justification. But beyond this reasoning, what truly prompted the government to suddenly apply the brakes after the commitment had been made?
Update on the PDNS corruption case
Nearly a year after the suspects were first named, the case has now entered a more decisive legal phase. Prosecutors have formally demanded prison sentences of up to 10 years for several defendants, including seven years for Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, along with fines and restitution. The prosecution also confirmed that the estimated state losses reached more than Rp140 billion, reinforcing earlier suspicions that the irregularities were not administrative errors but systemic corruption.
The latest on Pertamina corruption case
A watershed moment has arrived in the long-running corruption case tied to Indonesia’s state-owned energy giant, PT Pertamina. In a series of verdicts delivered in late February 2026, a Jakarta Corruption Court has sentenced several key figures in what prosecutors have portrayed as one of the most serious corruption cases in Indonesia’s modern history — not merely for the scale of alleged losses, but for what it reveals about legal accountability in sectors critical to national sovereignty.
Consistently undervalued Astra
Shares of Astra International (ASII), a diversified business group with interest in agriculture, automotive, finance, healthcare, heavy equipment, iCT, mining, and property, ended higher by 1.13% on Thursday (Feb 26) even when the company reported over three percent decline in net profit.
Quiet (mass) layoffs (5)
State bank BRI, second largest in terms of total assets, added around 1,000 employees last year to its total workforce of 82,192 by the end of the year, but Astra International (ASII), the largest employer in the country, dismissed 4,045 employees to 196,021 people by the end of 2025.
A hiccup in pickup truck hullabaloo?
Joao Angelo de Sousa Mota, CEO of Agrinas, who dropped his resignation last year after openly criticizing Danantara, openly defended the policy to import 105,000 pickup trucks from India even after ‘strong man’ Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, deputy chairman of President Prabowo’s Gerindra Party, asked for temporary suspension, pending examination by Prabowo himself upon returning home from weeks of overseas trip.