The Australia-Indonesia Centre (AIC) congratulates all new ministers in President Joko Widodo’s first administration. We wish them well as they use their individual and collective wisdom to guide Indonesia towards growth, prosperity and equality. The lineup of experience is impressive. Of special note is the appointment of Ibu Retno Marsudi as the first female Foreign […]
The book is a reminder that contemporary Indonesia is full of paradoxes, sometimes moving painfully slowly, at other times moving with almost terrifying speed. Some Indonesian entrepreneurs – the ones who build cities – like saying “We build the boat while we sail” Selamat malam. It is an honour to be invited to speak tonight. […]
That Jokowi is a good man is not in dispute. Even his rival Prabowo does not contest this point. The question is whether Jokowi will be a good president. As it was with his predecessor this turns on two axis: his personal capacity for top-level leadership and the composition of his cabinet team. The first […]
Jakarta is a city that knocks you around in the first year. If you survive that, use what you have learnt in year two, then invariably, Indonesia becomes the country that you can’t let go of. When I arrived in Jakarta in late 2010 for my posting in the ABC bureau as the Australia Network […]
At a conference on people-smuggling in Jakarta in mid-February, retired lieutenant general and former trade minister Luhut Panjaitan suggested Australia needed to reclaim “trust” if it wanted to rebuild relations with Indonesia. Not surprisingly, Panjaitan, a veteran of the invasion of East Timor, reminded the small audience of the loss of trust Indonesians felt over […]
It wasn’t that long ago that the world was mesmerised by the rise of Japan. I remember well the repercussions in the United States and elsewhere over Japan’s state-directed capitalism. Japan was, in the 1980s, the market to emulate. The Japanese had just-in-time management. Employees were loyal and highly productive. Japanese business models spread internationally […]