November 21, 2009 • 1:20 pm
| Evan A. Laksmana | Jakarta, 21 November 2009 |
Apart from the intense drama, the recent saga between the Indonesian National Police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) also tells us something about the deeper dynamics unfolding in Indonesian politics.
Perhaps the most obvious is the growing “digitisation” of public pressure. A decade ago, public resentment could only be significantly felt if it had evolved into massive nation-wide rallies on the streets. Today, many can simply air their political discontent online without having to leave home.
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Filed under: Politics
November 11, 2009 • 7:52 pm
| Evan A. Laksmana | 10 November 2009 |
Is Indonesia’s democracy really blooming? If you read the English-speaking press, you might think the answer is a resounding yes. Papers in London and New York have applauded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s cabinet picks and hailed his government as a post-authoritarian success story. Democracy is consolidating and the economy is growing, they say, thanks to Yudhoyono’s stewardship over the past five years. Why else would more than 60 percent of the electorate have voted for him in recent elections?
If you read the local press, however, a very different narrative emerges.
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Filed under: Politics
November 2, 2009 • 2:08 pm
| Evan A. Laksmana | Jakarta, 2 November 2009 |
We are now only less than a month away from the UN summit on climate Change in Copenhagen to hammer out a new post-Kyoto deal to save the planet.
Meanwhile, recent reports show that in Southeast Asia, one of the most susceptible regions to climate change, more than 750,000 people have died between 1998 and 2009 from natural disasters.
Indonesia too will soon see firsthand the increases in the severity of drought, flooding, forest fires, rising sea level and extreme weather conditions.
Yet, with this impending disaster, the then defense minister Juwono Sudarsono said recently his department had no specific national security agenda for climate change.
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Filed under: Civil-Military Relations, Defense Management
