New Straits Times
09 February 2015
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- Indonesia’s Challenges Ahead
Indonesia’s Challenges Ahead
AS Indonesia’s ties with its Asean neighbours change to adapt to the new political-economic realities of the region and beyond, it has to be remembered that the country’s challenges are fundamentally and primarily domestic.
The posture that has been adopted by the Jokowi-Kalla government may give the impression of an increasingly assertive and confident Indonesia on the rise, but when one takes a closer look at the internal structures and institutions of the Indonesian state, and consider its complex political-economy, one sees that domestic economic concerns will probably be the real driver as far as Indonesian policy-making goes for the years to come.
Such a view was articulated most succinctly by the former minister for trade Mari Pangestu, who had served in the Ministry of Trade for seven years and then as minister for tourism for three, during the two successive periods of leadership under former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Speaking at the LKY School of Policy Studies in Singapore recently, she outlined the major economic and developmental challenges that Indonesia will face for the rest of the decade.
…Farish A. Noor is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and visiting fellow at ISIS Malaysia.
GPO / Print
Last updated on 01/12/2015
