In a few weeks I will be visiting Indonesia for the second time this year. My mission is both commercial and cultural. Many of you may know that since 2018 AICC has been administering a foundation, the American Indonesian Cultural and Educational Foundation (AICEF), a legacy of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s when Indonesia turned away from communism and the US significantly raised its level of engagement across a broad range of fronts. Supported by large donations from AICC members at the time AICEF played an important role in providing hundreds of scholarships to Indonesians to gain graduate degrees in the US. Today that function has been largely replaced by a large Fulbright program and a significant Indonesian initiative (LPDP). Although AICEF is still involved with education, it has rebalanced its program to support more cultural exchange. Part of my trip will be to attend the Yogyakarta Asian Film Festival (JAFF) which partners, under an AICEF grant, with the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival (MNFF). Under this program each festival chooses a filmmaker who travels and screens their film at the other festival. This is the fifth year of the exchange, but the first with Yogyakarta. It’s wonderful to see a young Indonesian filmmaker experience the charms of small town and rural Vermont; often it’s their first visit to the United States. They get to hang with young filmmakers from the US and other countries, meet experienced director/mentors, and engage closely with audience members.  MNFF has recently been recognized by Movie Maker Magazine as one of the 25 “coolest” festivals in the world, noted for the warm hospitality and generosity it shows its filmmakers, who stay with local Vermont families. Similarly, most of the American filmmakers have never been to the SEA or Indonesia. JAFF arranges cultural experiences and receptions for the directors of the international films they show. The Indonesian film that was screened in August at MNFF, “Crocodile Tears”, was a poignant story of a young man who works at his family’s crocodile park trying to break away from his mother.   

The film that screens December 1 at JAFF is “Love, Chaos, Kin”, a documentary by Chithra Jeyaram. The film explores the experience of an immigrant couple from India who adopt white-presenting twins, but later discover the birth father was native American (Navaho). The couple adhere strictly to an open adoption protocol where the birth mother remains in contact with the children. In these times of extreme discord in the polity of our country, especially over immigration, this film’s subject reminds us that we all have “better angels” to follow. Director Jeyaram, also an immigrant to the US from India, and her film have been chosen by numerous film festivals to both audience and critical acclaim throughout the US, a testament to its emotional power.   

Wearing AICC’s hat I expect to meet several economic ministers, representatives of the business community, as well as AICC members based in Indonesia. I hope to take a deeper dive into the following issues:

• Impact of Trump administration tariffs and the status of the ongoing negotiations towards a final agreement
• Will agricultural commodities by exempting from the tariffs as we have been advocating
• Assessment of the aftereffects of the August 2025 demonstrations; the largest since 1998.
• Indonesia’s downstreaming policy. How far beyond metals will it extend.
• Changes to investment policy, especially for small scale investment in the form of limited partnerships.
• Fiscal policy realignment: how far along are President Prabowo’s signature programs ( Free Meals Program, establishing 80,000 village cooperatives, food and energy security, digital “sovereignty”, and the new super holding company for SOE’s Danantara) and what are their chances for success. 
• Is their truth to the commentary that Indonesia is reviving the “New Order”, the period dominated by the authoritarian regime of President Suharto, especially since President Prabowo recently elevated his position to that of a “national here”
• How are Indonesians viewing their important new role in the Middle East, where they have offered 20,000 peacekeeping troops.
• Exchange rate policy and BI’s purchases of government debt.
• Is Indonesia’s economic resilience and 5% growth still reflecting equitable growth. Is the middle class really declining as some analysts say?                                                                                                                          

I look forward to reporting firsthand on these and other issues upon my return.

(The views represented are the writer’s own and are not necessarily shared by members of the American Indonesian Chamber of Commerce)