Indonesia Indonesia Aims to Relocate Capital Out of Jakarta Over 5-10 Years (30 Apr) The cabinet of President Joko Widodo “Jokowi” announced that it intends to begin moving the government out of Jakarta on 30 April, Tuesday. The shift, motivated by increasing traffic congestion in Jakarta and...
Tech Business Grab Adds New Services to App Ecosystem; Takes Strategic Stake in Ninja Van (23, 26 Apr) Grab has added hotel reservation services Agoda and Booking.com; entertainment ticketing platform BookMyShow; and on-demand video streaming service HOOQ to its app ecosystem in Singapore. It also invested in...
Indonesia Absenteeism Fears Unfounded Amid Record Election Turnout (17 Apr) Over 154 million registered voters were estimated to have voted in the election on 17 April, putting turnout at roughly 80%. This is much higher than the turnout of 70.6% in 2014. There had been fears in...
Tech Business Go-Jek Hits US$10 Billion Market-Valuation (5 Apr) According to CB Insights, a US market intelligence company, Go-Jek, a ride-hailing app based in Indonesia, has become the country’s first “decacorn” – a privately held start-up with a valuation of ten billion dollars or more. Go-Jek received...
Indonesia Fourth Presidential Debate Excites as Election Nears (30 Mar) The fourth presidential debate between incumbent Joko Widodo “Jokowi” and Prabowo Subianto occurred on 30 March, Saturday, and covered ideology, governance, security and foreign affairs. The two candidates sparred over issues such as Indonesia’s defence budget, which...
Haze/ Resources/ EU Indonesia threatens to quit Paris climate deal over palm oil (27 Mar) Indonesian leaders have announced that they are considering leaving the Paris climate deal if the European Union proceeds to phase out palm oil in renewable transportation fuel. The announcement comes after the...
Tech Business FIS Acquires Worldpay for US$43 bn in Largest Deal Made in Payments Industry (18 Mar) Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), a US financial services provider, announced that it will purchase Worldpay, a major cards payments player in the UK, for US$43 billion. The deal is...
Indonesia Jokowi Mulls Creating New Ministries for Investments, Exports (12 Mar) President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) said on 12 March that he was considering forming new ministries to tackle declining investment and export growth figures. The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) had reported an 30% decline in foreign investment...
Indonesia Fake News Still a Concern in Lead-Up to Election (27 Feb, 12 Mar) Indonesia’s National Police is closely monitoring online activity in the lead-up to the April election, with the aim of preventing provocative fake news from triggering violence in public. Much of the fake news...
Indonesia The Second Presidential Debate – Lively Arguments, Loose Facts (17 Feb) Incumbent President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) and challenger Prabowo Subianto locked horns over energy, food, infrastructure, natural resources and the environment on Sunday, 17 February, during the second presidential debate. While Jokowi sought to burnish his...