Jefferson is a Senior Analyst at the Indonesia Programme. His research mainly covers Indonesia’s parliamentary politics, regional elections, and foreign policy. Prior to joining the Indonesia Programme in September 2019, he obtained an M.Sc degree in Asian Studies at the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and graduated with first class honours in History at the National University of Singapore. His undergraduate thesis was on Singapore’s early foreign policy entitled “Riding the Israeli Tiger: The Singapore-Israel Relationship (1965-1974)”. He have published articles in various outlets, including New Mandala, The Diplomat, and The Jakarta Post.

Commentaries

• Renewables and Job Creation: Indonesia’s Solution?

  19 February, 2021

• Indonesia’s National Mobilisation Strategy: Growing Deeper Roots?

  09 February, 2021

• Pancasila Guidance Bill: Tweaking Indonesia’s Ideology?

  08 July, 2020

• After Jokowi’s First Term - Jokowi’s New Cabinet: Guiding Two Visions of Indonesia to 2024

  24 October, 2019

• Jokowi After the First Term - Indonesia’s KPK: Clipping Its Anti-Corruption Wings?

  25 September, 2019

• Jokowi After the First Term - Reinstating the Broad Guidelines of State Policy: Tipping the Power Balance?

  09 September, 2019

Journal Articles

• “Characterising Independent Candidates in Indonesian Local Politics” (with Dedi Dinarto) in Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 2020. 1-27

Op-Eds

• “How Indonesia’s EV Plans will Shape Its Relations with the US and China” (with Dedi Dinarto), South China Morning Post, 7 July 2021
• “4 Reasons Why More Indonesian Military and Police Officers are Running for Regional Elections” (with Dedi Dinarto), The Conversation, 10 March 2021
• “Why the Singapore-Indonesia Reciprocal Green Lane is Necessary” (with Dedi Dinarto), Channel News Asia, 26 October 2020
• “Indonesia’s COVID-19 Response Pivots to Support Economic Recovery”, The Diplomat, 23 July 2020
• “The Heart of Maritime Asia: Indonesia’s Economic Strategy, the Geopolitics of Development, and an Assessment of its Foreign Policy”, Italian Review of Geopolitics (in Italian), 1 June 2020
• “Can Indonesia’s Fight against COVID-19 Overcome Troubled Central-Regional Coordination?”, New Mandala, 28 April 2020
• “Assessing a Potential Coronavirus Lockdown in Indonesia”, The Diplomat, 26 March 2020
• “Omnibus: Need for Caution in Adopting Chinese Labour-Intensive Model”, The Jakarta Post, 9 March 2020
• “The Natuna Sea Incident: How Indonesia is Managing its Bilateral Relationship with China”, The Diplomat, 15 January 2020
• “Jokowi’s Macron Moment: Moving Fast or Moving Together?”, New Mandala, 1 January 2020
• “Burgeoning India-Indonesia Relations: Beyond Historical Nostalgia and Towards Strategic Convergence” (with Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy), The Diplomat, 8 October 2019