Suharto’s former ruling party Golkar, which for years has stood by Setya Novanto in the face of a string of corruption scandals, is moving quickly to distance itself from the House speaker and party chair who they now see as an electoral liability following his arrest by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) last week.

Having skillfully used his political power and influence to dodged the law a in series of corruption scandals dating back to 1999, House speaker and Golkar Party chair Setya Novanto – dubbed by the media as ‘Mr Teflon’ – may finally face justice.

More than 40 people died after a fire ripped through a fireworks factory in a satellite city of Jakarta with bodies incinerated as they tried to escape from the back of the building.

Having pledged to put aside the religious and ethnic divisions which paved the way for his victory in the Jakarta elections, newly inaugurated Jakarta Governor Anies Baswaden has instead began his term by triggering a storm of criticism after declaring in a speech that it was time for pribumi (indigenous Indonesians) ‘to be the hosts in our own land’.

Dubbed by the media as ‘Mr Teflon’ for skillfully using his political power and influence to avoid indictment over a series of corruption scandals dating back to 1999, to the delight of other lawmakers but anger and disbelief among the general public, House speaker and Golkar Party chair Setya Novanto has once again managed to dodge the law.

Amid growing public scepticism about the official version of events, speaking at an army sponsored showing of a film on the alleged communist coup attempt in 1965, TNI chief Gatot Nurmantyo, seemingly unaware of the irony, quoted from Indonesia’s left-wing founding president Sukarno who famously said, ‘Wear the red coat and never forget history. It will make and change who we are’.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has been conducting a series of sting operations this year which have netted scores of low-ranging government officials across the country.

Amid a renewed push to weaken the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) after it named House speaker Setya Novanto a suspect in the high-profile e-KTP corruption scandal, Indonesia’s corrupt and lazy lawmakers are now accusing the anti-graft agency of only conducting sting operations (OTT) against low-ranking state officials.

While Indonesia’s politicians like to tout grandiose plans to make Indonesia food self-sufficient by 2045, a combination of soil degradation, the conversion of agricultural land for industrial and commercial use and poor advancement of farming methods and infrastructure has instead resulted in agriculture’s share of GDP falling to only 13.45% in 2016 from 22.09% in 1990.

Many believe that the Saracen news syndicate, which is under investigation for spreading slanderous and divisive news reports, is linked to the same political forces that brought down Jakarta governor Basuki ‘Ahok’ Purnama on trumped up blasphemy charges.

With a politically charged House inquiry plus an acid attack on a KPK investigator times the obvious reluctance by police to investigate the case multiplied by the suspicious suicide of a key witness, the massive electronic ID card corruption scandal is starting to resemble a TV crime drama.

Indonesia’s opportunistic politicians have accused Malaysia of waging a ‘psy-war’ against Indonesia following a misprint in which the Indonesian flag was printed upside down in the promotional materials distributed at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games opening ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.

Critics say that Indonesia’s politicians need to stop blaming democracy for rising religious intolerance and instead look at how government policies themselves have empowered and emboldened conservative and fundamentalist religious groups.

The House of Representatives’ budget committee is claiming ignorance over an alleged plan to increase the House’s budget allocation and use some of it to construct a new building.

Social observers say the political elite’s tendency to resort to verbal abuse (kekerasan verbal) and unsubstantiated accusations against political rivals reinforces social prejudices and leads to social friction and conflict.

According to a report by Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), sixty-one village heads across Indonesia were arrested in 62 different corruption cases in 2016.

In a much publicised meeting last week, Gerindra Party chairperson Prabowo Subianto (right) and Democratic Party chairperson Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (left) met for informal discussions over a lunch of fried rice at Yudhoyono’s private residence.

The niceties observed during the Idul Fitri holiday season will be short lived with PDI-P politician Masinton Pasaribu (left) leading the charge for an inquiry into the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK, chaired by Agus Rahardjo right) and limiting the anti-graft body’s powers to investigate and prosecute corruption cases.

Many will be wanting front row seats in the long awaited bout between political heavyweight Setya Novanto and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) which on Monday finally declared the scandal-prone speaker of the House and Golkar Party chairperson a suspect.

In an attempt to reign in radical Islamists being mobilised against him by his political rivals, President Widodo issued Monday a government regulation in lieu of law allowing it to ban organisations that oppose the official state ideology.