A total of 687 pairs of regional head candidates, including President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s Gibran Rakabuming Raka and his brother-in-law Bobby Afif Nasution, have registered themselves to their respective local election commissions (KPUDs) to run in the 2020 simultaneous regional elections. What’s worrying is the lack of discipline of the supporters of the said pairs in following health protocols. It is important to note that the KPUDs have found 37 regional head candidates with COVID-19.

The ruling party PDIP has failed to participate in the 2020 gubernatorial election after Mulyadi, the governor candidate that PDIP had endorsed, unexpectedly rejected the Party’s endorsement. Mulyadi, who is a Democratic Party politician, has the backing of a coalition of Democratic Party and PAN, which is more than enough to provide him with a ticket.

Speculations continue on who would become the next police chief given that the current Chief of the National Police (Kapolri) General Idham Azis would soon enter mandatory retirement in January 2021. Learning from the past, a succession process could begin next month should President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo decide not to extend Idham’s term for another year.

The Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto, who is also the chairman of Gerindra Party, met with Vice President Ma’ruf Amin at the latter’s official residence on Thursday (Sep. 3). Prabowo, in his capacity as the leader of the Food Estates development, discussed the Project with VP Ma’ruf Amin. That said, details on the Project are still limited. The question is still, who will get what in this project?

The ruling party PDIP has decided to endorse Eri Cahyadi—who is known as the right-hand man of the popular Mayor of Surabaya Tri Rismaharini—and his running mate Armuji in the 2020 city election of Surabaya, the capital city of the East Java province. Surabaya has...

The Chairperson of the ruling party PDIP Megawati Soekarnoputri wonders why the people in West Sumatera province do not like her political party. One can understand why Megawati asked such a question. PDIP has been struggling to get votes in the province from one...

Many blame the Central Government for the rise of new cases of COVID-19 infections in Indonesia. Those blaming the Government believe that the Government’s decision to ease the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) in favor of reopening the economy was the cause. Some experts even suggest the Government reinstate the restrictions. But as we’ve mentioned before, lack of discipline in implementing health protocols and lack of supervision from the regional administrations are the biggest challenges to control the pandemic, and none talk about it.

Apart from collaboration with China and United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia is also working with South Korea to develop a candidate vaccine for COVID-19 through a cooperation between Kalbe Farma (KLBF) and Genexine Inc. The vaccine candidate developed by Kalbe-Genexine is expected to go through the second phase of clinical trial in Indonesia this month.