American Indonesian Chamber of Commerce
Politics in Indonesia is about to become a whole lot more interesting. Late last Friday while President SBY was in DC --after addressing the UN Global Climate Change Summit in NY--Indonesia's Parliament voted to end the direct election of district heads, mayors, and provincial governors. Touted in 2004 as a further improvement and maturation of Indonesia's
I have been watching the rupiah flirt with 12,000, remembering 1998 time when it dropped from 2400 to 15,000, and the long period in 2010 and 2011 when it was steady at 8,800-9200. Its tough to see the currency move lower and growth rates in the 5% range when its generally known that Indonesia's population
On January 12, Indonesia’s mineral export ban came into effect with an unexpected kicker: an export tax on copper concentrates. As predicted, a last minute compromise allowed them to be exported but soon after it was revealed that the Finance Ministry contradicted the thrust of the exemptions by imposing a graduated export tax that goes
Its amazing and somewhat anxiety producing to watch both the US and Indonesia democracies struggle over structural reforms. An inflection point seems to have simultaneously been reached in each country, with each nation's future depending on their implementation. In America's case its primarily the troubled rollout of a new and improved healthcare system as
A commonly held view of Indonesia's recent, more protectionist policy decisions (i.e. mineral export bans, beef and horticulture import restrictions, mining divestment rules) is that they are motivated by populist politics leading to the 2014 election. Followers of this view say that once the election is over, Indonesian policymaking will somehow shift back to
Political PartiesFor many years I have been a member of Columbia University’s Southeast Asia seminar, a fantastic group of scholars, writers, and a few private sector representatives. We recently hosted a young scholar from the Australian National University, Marcus Mietzner, who has lived in Indonesia and closely follows the development of political parties. Mietzner
Indonesia heads into 2013 with continuing questions for foreign companies within an overall atmosphere of solid 6% -6.5% economic growth. The blemishes --if handled well--will not take away from the rosy complexion. Those looking for stimulative reforms that would smooth the path for foreign companies may have to wait until the next Administration or look
