Forbes has came out with its routine Rich List for 2014. If you click Indonesia in the list, you will get 19 Indonesians in the list of 1645 billionaires. Strange that Anthoni Salim, Widjaja Family (SInarmas), and Wonowidjojo (Gudang Garam) are not in the list at all. Can we say that Chairul Tanjung (CT Corp) is richer than Anthoni Salim?

The capital city of Jakarta is famous for its traffic gridlocks. At its worst, it could take one 3 hours to brave through a one-kilometer stretch with one’s car. Increasing car ownership has only made things worse. Gridlocks are happening even more frequently. Luckily, for those who need to arrive to things on time, there’s an alternative mode of transportation: the ojek.

Today’s trial of Rudi Rubiandini, former head of SKKMigas, is expected to generate more interesting issues surrounding the alleged bribery in oil and gas sector. The court summons Karen Agustiawan, CEO of state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, and Febri Prasetyadi, consultant to Panca Amara Utama (subsidiary of Surya Esa Perkasa/ESSA) and former assistant to president director of Adaro Indonesia.

Eka Tjipta Widjaja, tsar founder of Sinarmas Group, is now in his 90s, while his children from the first wife (Teguh Ganda, Frankle, Franky, Mukhtar, and Indra) are already in mid-late 50s. While key decisions are still in the hands of the second generation, their children have been groomed to hold key positions in companies according to their father’s roles.

In this issue, we highlight Ramayana & Co, one of business groups based in tourism island of Bali. Ramayana is known for its convenience store oulet Minimart, supermarket Pepito, Ramayana Hotel, etc. What will the group do next?

Covering the Jakarta Government is a lot of work because of all the moving parts that journalists have to get a hold of. We have to always make a decision on whether to follow Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo patrolling the city, or to stay at the City Hall and follow up on issues with key officials. It’s a choice we always have to make, and this is a good thing because the moving parts represent the Jakarta Government doing their job. The question is: are they doing it right?

The more we look into the names of legislative candidates from Islamic parties the more confused we are at their choices. They’re either old names (with considerable political baggage), or household names (that often seem oddly placed in electoral districts bound for a clash of titans). What does this say about the state of Islamic parties?

Yesterday, we talked about the challenges that Islamic parties are currently facing, and how they seemed to have used the appeal to popularity in hope of ramping up their electability. This is reflected in Islamic parties’ list of legislative candidates, who are either existing lawmakers, cabinet members, public figures, or celebrities. Why bother working to shape a candidate and make them popular if you can tap those who are already famous?

Five Islamic political parties will participate in the 2014 elections, and all five of them are struggling to improve their electability, as demonstrated by the results of various surveys. But despite the challenges, all five Islamic parties seem to be confident with their odds. They’ve advanced a lot of current lawmakers, cabinet members, public figures, and also celebrities as vote getters in their lists of legislative candidates. So, let’s find out who the candidates are.