Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has found that at least 39 former graft convicts are on the General Elections Commission (KPU) provisional list of legislative candidates (caleg), which was released earlier this month.
Drunken Republic Cartoons
August 2023
Jakarta – Under its current leadership, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has been subject to its fair share of criticism, but still it deserves the public's support when its efforts to enforce the law are met with resistance, even bullying, from a powerful institution.
The Indonesian Military's (TNI) resistance toward the arrest of a high-ranking officer and his aide by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) over an alleged graft case at the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has reignited a debate over the military's long-standing culture of impunity.
July 2023
Indonesian police last week announced that they had arrested 12 suspects believed to be members of an illegal organ trade syndicate accused of preying on at least 122 victims and selling kidneys to a Cambodian ring.
Sandro Gatra – The rate of "white group" (golput) – citizens who abstain from voting or do not use the right to vote – in elections during the reform era has tended to increase.
Sandro Gatra – At every succession of the national leadership, the oligarchy issue always come up. Oligarchy is often attached to candidates who are closely associated with entrepreneurs, the economic mafia, capitalists, foreigners or foreign investors.
June 2023
Jakarta – It will be much more difficult for Jakarta to blow its anniversary candles today than in the past, not because the number will be a whopping 496, but because it is getting harder to breathe in the capital city.
Global warming combined with the El Nino weather phenomenon has seen Indonesia recording some of the hottest weather on record this year.
May 2023
Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs Mahfud MD is urging the police to investigate an alleged leak of an upcoming Constitutional Court (MK) verdict on the electoral system.
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is expanding its investigation into the graft-ridden 4G base transceiver station (BTS) project to look into other related crimes and perpetrators.
Maria Catarina Sumarsih's world crumbled on November 13, 1998, when she received news that Indonesian soldiers had killed her son on his university campus, nearly six months after the end of a 32-year dictatorship ushered in a period of democratic reform.
Now that the 18 political parties contesting the legislative elections have submitted their candidates to the General Elections Commission (KPU), it is time for the public to directly and personally examine the candidates.
April 2023
With the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) announcing Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo (pictured centre) as its presidential candidate on April 21, the other political parties are now readjusting their positions with regard to their own nominations ahead of the 2024 elections.
Pro-government political parties are moving to build a grand alliance for the 2024 presidential election that will, if it materialises, turn the race into a three-way ticket – as has been widely predicted.
March 2023
According to the Indonesian Traditional Markets Trader Association (IKAPPI), meat imports have failed to drive down soaring beef prices amid the Ramadan holy fasting month, with IKAPPI Chairperson Abdullah Mansuri saying prices had risen to as high as 150,000 rupiah ($9.56) per kilogram.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has come under fire over allegations of massive corruption or fraud, not by her, but by staffers in her ministry. The charges are not only hurting her personal reputation, but they also undermine the credibility and public trust in the Finance Ministry.
In what seems to have become an all too familiar occurrence, on February 3 yet another fire broke out at a facility owned by the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina. This time round it was at the company's Plumpang depot in North Jakarta, with the ensuring explosion and fire killing 20 people and injuring scores of others.
Jakarta – The ramifications of a recent assault involving a Jakarta university student have extended far beyond what anyone could have expected, with the case eliciting public calls to boycott this year's income taxes because the suspect was the wealth-flexing son of a high-level tax officer.
January 2023
Out of the 215 hectares of agricultural land plots opened for the government's food estate program in North Sumatra's Humbang Hasundutan regency, the Ministry of Agriculture claims 146 hectares have successfully been planted with crops by local farmers.
So far, words do indeed continue to have their own place in the public's attention. By using words, politicians can communicate their political ideas and concepts. But when it's excessive, it is not good.