When Indonesian President Joko Widodo came to power two years ago after a closely fought election, he faced an opposition majority in the legislature bent on obstructing him. Today the tables have turned.

Joko’s coalition now holds some 67% of the parliamentary seats after two key coalition parties switched allegiance in a move attributed to his astute political manoeuvring.

… “Indeed, constrained within a tangle of oligarchic politics, Jokowi has to do what needs to be done to advance his political goals,” wrote Emirza Adi Syailendra, an analyst with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.