Hatta Rajasa’s National Mandate Party (PAN) nominates two directors of PT Arthindo Utama, a company controlled by Hatta’s family, as lawmakers in South Sumatra and Riau election area respectively. Prabowo Subianto’s Gerindra Party also nominates commissioner of PT Kiani Lestari, a company controlled by Prabowo.

Governor of Jakarta, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, is known for his ability to reach and connect with various stakeholders. He is capable of bringing multiple interests together to successfully achieve a common goal. This was evident early in his term with the successful relocation of the Tanah Abang squatters. In the process, the Governor emphasized the backing of the police and the military. We were shown footage of TNI members painting the sidewalks of Tanah Abang market in televised reportage. It was a clear display of Tanah Abang as the triumph of cooperation. But that got me wondering about something else: where’s the TNI with Jokowi and the possibility of his presidency?

Aburizal Bakrie’s Golkar Party nominates Siti Hediati Haryadi (Titiek), former wife of Prabowo Subianto, as lawmaker candidate in election area of Yogyakarta, hometown of her late father Soeharto. She competes Suhardi, chairman of Prabowo’s Gerindra Party, and Hanafi Rais (son of former MPR speaker Amien Rais) from National Mandate Party (PAN) in this area.

Limas Centric Indonesia (LMAS) is not an attractive stock. Rarely traded, the stock returned to the ‘cushion price’ of Rp50 on Wednesday (Jan 29). At this price, LMAS only has market capitalization of around Rp39.4 billion, less than half of its equity as of September 2013 and only about one-ninth of its total assets.

The Jakarta Post published an article titled ‘Jero cooked up scheme to pay off politicians’ as its Page 2 Headline this morning. Koran Tempo, meanwhile, published an article titled ‘Widodo insists the bribe money was sourced from messenger of Boy Thohir’. These articles are connected on one issue: bribery scandal surrounding oil and gas sector.

Some people would look at Indonesians’ love of gadgets, technology consumption patterns, and social media utilization rate as indicators of the country’s modernity. But that’s only one dimension of Indonesia. Access to technology does not always mean departure from antiquated traditions or beliefs. Some Indonesians still believe in mysticisms and consequently the power of shamanism. We have covered this topic in relation to consumerism before. But today, we’ll look into the role of shamanism in politics, especially in relation to the politics of 2014.

We all know by now that the Governor of Jakarta, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, is the man of the hour. He’s that great of a magnet that foreign media too are interested in covering his activities. A few days ago journalists from France 2 followed the Governor around town, and then before that Haslinda Amin of Bloomberg interviewed him during his now-iconic field visits (locally referred to as blusukan). The Governor was also covered by the New York Times. This is just to mention the few big ones. But are we giving him too much credit? Will he be that great leader that some people think he could be?

The motivations of politicians participating in the 2014 election, vying for a seat in the House of Representatives (DPR), may not always be something obvious to us. There are those who are genuinely seeking to serve the country, and then there are those who are perhaps seeking for more income opportunities. Those of the latter would be willing to “invest” a lot of money for a future of rent seeking. The question is, from where did they get the money? If it’s not all theirs, what would happen if they lose the competition?

Surya Paloh’s NasDem Party nominates Dr Kurtubi, the famous oil and gas ‘observer’, as lawmaker candidate in the election area of West Nusa Tenggara. He competes, among others, Lalu Mara Satria Wangsa, spokesperson of Bakrie Family, from Golkar Party in the province, home of copper-gold mine of PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT).

Topjaya Group is a famous name in consumer electronic market as main partner of Toshiba in Indonesia. It has two companies in the sector, namely PT Topjaya Sarana Utama and PT Topjaya Antariksa Elektronik. The group, like others, however, has expanded into other business sectors, including palm oil, timber, and mining.