Indonesia’s attempt to lure back its native talent scattered around the world through limited dual citizenship has highlighted a long-held demand of the diaspora for such a scheme before they would consider returning home. The proposed revision to the citizenship law would mark a major shift for a country that has largely allowed only single citizenship since independence in 1945. Currently, children of mixed marriages can hold dual citizenship until they reach 18 years of age, when they are...
Back in 2009, when China’s economy was expanding at about twice today’s pace, a little-known private firm made a quiet bet on uncharted territory: Indonesia. The company was on a quest: to secure nickel, a vital industrial metal used in stainless steel production and, increasingly, to power advanced batteries. That bet proved lucrative. By leveraging Indonesia’s vast nickel reserves – the world’s largest – and securing greater control over upstream supplies, Tsingshan Group has grown into a...
We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Indonesia’s plan for a rival to Singapore starts to take shape Indonesia wants to build a financial centre to rival Singapore, Hong Kong or Dubai, but analysts say the real work of persuading global investors has barely begun. 2. Japan voters ‘pretty angry’ with PM...
The two men, who are accused of favouring foreigners for their events, allegedly violated immigration laws.
Indonesian police are investigating the unexplained death of a man whom local media reported managed the household of detained former anti-corruption prosecutor Febrie Adriansyah, adding a new layer of scrutiny to one of the country’s most sensitive corruption cases. The man, identified only as Sutrimo, was found unconscious on Thursday on the grounds of Mordent Beauty Clinic in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, before being taken by ambulance to Muhammadiyah Taman Puring Hospital where he was...
We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. After Apple leak, has India lost ground in its supply chain race with China? In the wake of a cyberattack on a local Apple partner, insiders say India has a long way to go before challenging China as a manufacturer. 2. China wants unique access to minerals with Indonesia offer, analyst says China...
Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo has stepped down from his role, Indonesia’s State Secretariat Minister Prasetyo Hadi said on Monday, a surprise move analysts said could rattle investors worried about the central bank’s independence and the country’s fiscal management. President Prabowo Subianto has accepted Warjiyo’s resignation, the minister said ahead of the opening of financial markets in Jakarta. Destry Damayanti, a senior deputy governor at BI, has been appointed as interim governor....
Tax breaks used to be enough. Not any more. Analysts say a new generation of investors is prioritising legal certainty and regulatory stability over incentives – and Asia’s most successful international financial centres will be those that successfully secure trust. All of which carries repercussions for Indonesia’s plans to build its first international finance centre, after lawmakers passed a law on Tuesday giving the project the green light. Enforceable contracts, predictable regulation and...
Indonesia wants to build a financial centre to rival Singapore, Hong Kong or Dubai, but analysts say the real work of persuading global investors has barely begun. Parliament’s passage of the enabling legislation on Tuesday laid the legal foundation for the hub, marking a milestone in President Prabowo Subianto’s push to attract more foreign capital into Southeast Asia’s largest economy and lift growth towards 8 per cent by the end of his term in 2029. Yet observers caution that the centre,...
A fire has torn through a traditional village in the Sukabumi Regency of Indonesia's West Java province.
Punjab Police remains committed to dismantling organised crime networks and ensuring that fugitives hiding anywhere in the world are brought to justice, Police DGP Gaurav Yadav said
Bali has “aura” and political titan Luhut Pandjaitan wants to channel it to transform Indonesia’s famed resort island into an international financial centre. But President Prabowo Subianto’s special adviser and economic tsar is not relying on subtle nods to Gen Z slang to sell paradise. Instead, he conjures up a striking image to make his case. A friend recently sent him a photograph of kamikaze drones lighting up the skies over Abu Dhabi, accompanied by a plea: help us get out. Indonesia,...
A tornado tore through an industrial site in Batam, Indonesia, ripping roofing from workshop facilities and sending helmeted workers running for cover as weather officials warned that unstable conditions could trigger further sudden storms. The short-lived wind vortex, described locally as a puting beliung, struck VME Process in Tanjung Sengkuang, Batu Ampar, at about 10am on Wednesday, damaging workers’ shelters and scattering construction materials across the site, according to Indonesian...
At least 12 babies have been trafficked from Indonesia to Singapore, but what will happen to them remains unclear.
Indonesia’s push to rewrite its copyright law for the age of artificial intelligence has opened a new front in the battle between news publishers seeking compensation for their work and technology companies warning against overreach. At stake is who gets paid when AI systems and digital platforms use news, images, software and other copyrighted works – and how much human involvement is needed before AI-assisted output qualifies for legal protection. Last week, the House of Representatives said...
The Philippines’ push to establish a cross-border grid with Indonesia marks an increasing urgency to secure energy security amid soaring electricity costs and another step towards a long-delayed regional power network. While analysts hail the move as a crucial step to address domestic energy woes and unlock potential interests between neighbours, they also point to geographical and supply-chain challenges. The Philippines’ Department of Energy last month said that efforts were under way to...
In April 1955, amid the Cold War, 304 representatives across 29 Asian and African nations convened in Bandung, Indonesia, to discuss the principles of a more complex future world order. Among them were India, China and host Indonesia. While India would go on to champion the non-aligned movement at the 1961 Belgrade Conference, Mao Zedong’s China and Sukarno’s Indonesia were more sceptical of the colonial, Western order. Then the more US-sympathetic Suharto seized power in Indonesia in 1966....
When global index provider MSCI warned in January that Indonesia risked being demoted from emerging to frontier market status, it unleashed a wave of volatility, sell-offs and wild trading swings. Six months on, Jakarta’s investment chief argues the real story is not about whether the country can earn investors’ trust. “For Indonesia, this is not about short-term market status,” Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani told This Week in Asia in written replies to questions. “It is about building a...
Indonesia’s long-stalled gas project in the North Natuna Sea is stirring back to life, with its new operator confirming that activities have resumed at a strategically sensitive field after years of commercial uncertainty and pressure from China. Prime Group, the Indonesian company that took over operatorship from Britain’s Harbour Energy, told This Week in Asia that “activities associated with the Tuna PSC have resumed in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements”. The PSC –...
An Indonesian court has sentenced Lie Siu Luan to seven years in prison for leading a baby trafficking ring.
Two hours from the tourist beaches of Bali, slavery is alive and well on the Indonesian island of Sumba, where people are still born into bondage. They work from dawn to dusk without pay, are passed on in marriage, and are sometimes beaten and raped by their masters. Yet most are resigned to their fate because their status “cannot be wiped away”, as one young slave – or ata – Kanisius Kanyali Hambarita said. Slavery has been illegal in what is now Indonesia for more than 160 years, but it...
Five passengers, including a seven-year-old girl, were rescued from a passenger boat that sank in Indonesia.
When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was laid to rest in Tehran earlier this month, Indonesia, home to more Muslims than any other nation on Earth, decided to send only its ambassador – at first. The decision raised questions not only about Jakarta’s non-aligned foreign policy but also the tensions at the heart of President Prabowo Subianto’s prized “good-neighbour” diplomacy. One former Indonesian ambassador called the minimal initial presence “a slap in the face” for Iran and asked whether Washington...
Indonesia is pushing ahead to transform the holiday island of Bali into an international financial centre, with its parliament set to debate new laws this week while a key conference set out targets and cited models such as Hong Kong as an example. Minister of Investment and Downstream Industry Rosan Roeslani, who heads state-owned sovereign wealth fund Danantara Indonesia, said the financial centre was part of Jakarta’s efforts to establish itself as a trusted destination for investors seeking...
Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs is drafting educational material aimed at discouraging what officials call the spread of “LGBT culture”, after a presidential regulation listed the issue among the country’s non-military security threats. Officials said the content, which was still under discussion, could be included in religious education in regular and Islamic schools, as well as Friday prayer sermons, family development programmes and other religious events. The government has said...
Police seized 74kg of gold bars and $20m cash in various currencies.
Modi’s tour of Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand reveals a broader Asia Pacific strategy.
Reports of sweeping lay-offs at Tokopedia, the Indonesian e-commerce giant majority-owned by China’s ByteDance, have renewed concerns about Southeast Asia’s largest digital economy as analysts warn the country’s tech winter shows few signs of easing. The cuts have also raised questions over the future of one of Indonesia’s best-known home-grown digital champions, with analysts saying Tokopedia’s deeper integration into ByteDance’s ecosystem could shift more technology, product and strategic...
Indonesia’s attempt to keep children aged under 16 off social media platforms deemed high risk has quickly become one of the world’s biggest tests of online safety regulation, with more than 4.8 million suspected underage accounts removed or deactivated in the first three months of enforcement. For President Prabowo Subianto’s government, the figures are an early sign that major platforms are falling in line with its policy aimed at making the digital world safer for children. Communications and...
The case highlights the problem of child trafficking in Indonesia and raises questions about how Singapore fails to detect it.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's initiative has been criticised for misdirecting resources to affluent regions.
Indonesian authorities are widening their investigation into a case of suspected identity and research fraud at an overseas medical conference, which has exposed gaps in academic oversight and revived concerns about abuses in the nation’s system of publication-driven promotion for academia. The Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology has set up a team to examine papers previously published by the alleged perpetrators, saying action would be taken if they were found to have used...
PM describes the initiative as a major step towards strengthening educational ties and benefiting students across the ASEAN region
Singapore and Indonesia’s latest push to trade low-carbon electricity could become more than a bilateral energy deal, with analysts saying it might offer Southeast Asia a practical test case for a regional power grid that has long struggled to move from ambition to implementation. The cooperation, centred on electricity-import deals and cross-border interconnector projects, is also expected to strengthen Singapore’s energy security and help the city state reach its sustainability goals, while...
India will supply Indonesia with long-range missiles, an Indian official said on Tuesday as their leaders agreed to deepen ties in defence, critical minerals and other areas. President Prabowo Subianto is hosting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jakarta during a three-day state visit, with a deal on the BrahMos missile system topping the agenda. An agreement for “cooperation on BrahMos system” was struck during the visit, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on...
Indonesia said in March that it had entered into an agreement with India to procure the BrahMos missile system
The BrahMos missile deal with Indonesia came after India inked similar pacts with Vietnam and the Philippines
PM Modi said he will hold discussions with President Subianto “aimed at adding even more momentum to this partnership across diverse sectors”
PM Modi said he will hold discussions with President Subianto “aimed at adding even more momentum to this partnership across diverse sectors”
‘My visit to Indonesia and Australia in the Eastern and Southern Indian Ocean, respectively, followed by New Zealand, will further strengthen India's Act East Policy’, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi
The case against Gojek founder Nadiem Makarim stemmed from a laptop deal during his term as Indonesia's education minister.
A video of an Israeli flag being grabbed off two young men in Indonesia has gone viral.