Sprawling queues for subsidised rice highlight plight of Indonesia’s poor
Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters In the afternoon sun, dozens of Indonesians, mostly women, gather in a snaking queue to buy bags of subsidised rice, their arms poking through a metal gate to grab tickets assuring them a spot to make a purchase. The temporary bazaar run by state food procurement agency Bulog in the city of […]
Essay: Prabowo Subianto is poised to succeed in lifelong quest to become Indonesia’s president. This is why it’s so worrying
In an article first published on The Conversation, TIM LINDSEY, director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society at the University of Melbourne, looks at Subianto’s road to become president and what kind of leader he will be…
Indonesia’s Prabowo claims victory after presidential election rout
Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto declared victory in Wednesday’s presidential election after unofficial results showed him trouncing rivals in his third shot at the top job in the world’s third-largest democracy. Former special forces commander Prabowo clinched about 58 per ent of votes according to unofficial “quick counts” by four independent pollsters, […]
StrangeSights: Valentine’s Day voting in Bali; a museum for lost relationships; and, a happy ending for matchstick Eiffel Tower…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Indonesians vote to replace President Jokowi, candidates call for clean election
Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters Indonesians cast their ballots on Wednesday across the South-East Asian archipelago in an election headlined by the race to succeed President Joko Widodo, whose influence could determine who takes the helm of the world’s third-largest democracy. Nearly 259,000 candidates are contesting 20,600 posts in the world’s biggest single-day election. A woman votes […]
Huge rallies in Indonesia as candidates finish election campaign
Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Indonesia’s presidential contenders packed final rallies in the capital Jakarta and the Central Java city of Solo on Saturday, ahead of the world’s biggest single-day election. Candidates enter a cooling-off period on Sunday, running through election day on Wednesday, when voters will choose among three contestants […]
Indonesia: Generative AI faces major test as Indonesia holds largest election since boom
KATE LAMB, FANNY POTKIN and ANADA TERESIA, of Reuters, report ahead of next week’s vote…
More than 130 Rohingya arrive in Indonesia’s Aceh
Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters Over 130 Rohingya landed on the shores of Indonesia’s Aceh province on Thursday, an official at the UN refugee agency said, the latest in a series of such arrivals that have drawn controversy in the South-East Asian country. The Rohingya, a persecuted religious minority in Myanmar, have faced rejection and hostility from […]
Essay: More than four billion people are eligible to vote in an election in 2024. Is this democracy’s biggest test?
NICHOLAS REESE, principal fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne School of Government, provides – in an article first published on The Conversation, a rundown of just some of the significant elections that will shape the world in 2024…
Indonesian protesters storm refugee shelter calling for deportation of Rohingya
Banda Aceh, IndonesiaReuters A large crowd of Indonesian students stormed a convention centre housing hundreds of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in the city of Banda Aceh on Wednesday, demanding they be deported, Reuters footage showed. A city police spokesperson in Banda Aceh did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Two suspects, a Bangladesh […]