The sixth President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), who is also the supreme leader of Democratic Party, talked about the state of relationship between the outgoing President Jokowi and President-elect Prabowo Subianto during his speech at the Gala Dinner of Bloomberg CEO Forum in Jakarta on Wednesday (Sep. 4). SBY also took the opportunity to deliver a suggestion to Prabowo to separate the Ministry of Environment & Forestry (KLHK).

Three pairs of governor and vice governor candidates will compete against each other in this year’s gubernatorial election in Jakarta. They are Ridwan Kamil-Suswono from KIM Plus coalition, Pramono Anung-Rano Karno from PDIP, and independent candidates Dharma Pongrekun-Kun Wardana. With all due respect to the independent candidates, however, many believe that the race in Jakarta will be mainly between Ridwan-Suswono and Pramono-Rano.

PKB, under the leadership of Muhaimin Iskandar, has announced a short list of its new management lineup for 2024-2029 period on Wednesday (Sep. 4). There is not much changes in the new lineup compared to the previous lineup for 2019-2024 period, except now Vice President (VP) Ma’ruf Amin has a stronger position and influence within the Party.

Vast majority of listeners to the radio talk at Elshinta News with Yunus Husein, head of a working group for legal reform, were pessimistic on president elect Prabowo Subianto’s recent ‘commitment’ to establish a special force, well-funded by the State, to hunt down corruptors to Antarctica. 

Java Island might be the main battleground between candidates from KIM Plus and PDIP (the likely opposition) because of its huge population. Still, there are interesting battles outside Java, particularly in resource-rich provinces in Sulawesi, Sumatra, Kalimantan, North Maluku, and Papua.

The simultaneous regional head elections (Pilkada) will be held on November 27, 2024. The prospective candidates for governor and vice governor, regent and deputy regent, and mayor and deputy mayor have all registered themselves during the registration period from August 27 to August 29. In this article, however, we are going to focus on the gubernatorial elections, which arguably are the most anticipated ones as the public has been actively involved in a heated discourse related to it.

PDIP, the largest political party in Indonesia, has lost the opportunity to relaunch the political career of its cadre, former Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama a.k.a Ahok, in this year’s simultaneous regional elections. At the same time, PDIP successfully gained the opportunity to launch the political career of its new cadre, Andika Perkasa, a former Military Commander (Panglima TNI).

There’s a possibility that the outgoing President Jokowi carries out a limited cabinet reshuffle if Pramono Anung and Tri Rismaharini, the two ministers from PDIP, tender their resignation. Pramono is now running as a governor candidate in Jakarta, while Risma is running as a governor candidate in East Java.

Pope Francis is set to land at Soekarno Hatta international airport in the coming hours for a three-day historic visit. He becomes the third pope visiting Indonesia after Paul VI (1970) and John Paul II (1989). He was scheduled to visit Indonesia in 2020, but postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.