Policy
Politics in Indonesia is based on a multiparty democratic system, with the President at the center as head of state and government. The country adopts a presidential model of government with a bicameral structure, i.e. a legislature composed of two chambers. The President, elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term, performs executive functions, while the Parliament, comprising the Assembly of People's Representatives and the Council of Regional Representatives, legislates.
On February 14, 2024, tens of millions of citizens of the world's third-largest democracy exercised their right to vote for a new president to replace Joko Widodo, popularly known as "Jokowi", who was at the end of his second term as president. The winner of the Indonesian presidential election, Prabowo Subianto, the 72-year-old Indonesian Defense Minister, won 58.6% of the vote, with a turnout of around 80%. Prabowo is related by marriage to one of dictator Suharto's daughters, and held a high rank in Suharto's army, associated with human rights violations. In 1998, he was dismissed from the army for masterminding the kidnapping of student activists. Prabowo is committed to continuing the development work initiated by Jokowi, focusing on infrastructure (especially ports and transport), security and defense. He will take office as President after Joko Widodo's term ends in October 2024.
Jokowi's tenure at the helm of Indonesia has been marked by the country's transformation into one of Southeast Asia's most remarkable economic success stories. Under his leadership, initiatives such as a universal healthcare system were introduced, over 1,000 kilometers of roads and highways were built, and the country's economy recorded respectable annual growth of around 5%. Elected President of Indonesia in 2014, and re-elected for a second five-year term in 2019, Joko Widodo was the first leader from the people rather than the military in the country's history. He has raised expectations and promised significant change, notably in the fight against corruption and the improvement of infrastructure. Although he succeeded in completing many infrastructure projects, his efforts to combat corruption were overshadowed by a major controversy. His appointment of his son, 36-year-old Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as Vice President of Indonesia was criticized. Despite the fact that Gibran did not meet the age requirement of 40, the Constitutional Court, headed by the president's brother-in-law, made an exception by allowing the candidate to run for vice-president if he had previously held a regional elective post, which was the case for Gibran.
Economy
Once the jewel in the crown of the Dutch colonial empire, Indonesia abounds in natural resources, from oil to timber and Java's famous coffee. After going through difficult times due to the wars of independence, the country was little industrialized before 1965. However, the advent of the New Order under Suharto spurred impressive economic growth, making Indonesia a major player in Asia and reinforcing its position as a respected power. Thanks largely to oil revenues, Suharto had financed a vast policy of major projects, aided also by the Green Revolution, which enabled Indonesia to modernize its agricultural sector. The commercial sector was dominated by Chinese and Indochinese, favored by the regime but resented by less wealthy Indonesians. The rupiah was very stable, and the number of poor people was falling significantly; Indonesia was one of those middle-income countries; foreign investment was strong, the manufacturing sector was developing... The miracle collapsed in 1997, when the economic crisis shook Asia, revealing the structural weaknesses of Indonesian growth, notably corruption and the weakness of the banking sector, already undermined by the fall in oil prices in the 1980s. Along with Thailand and Korea, Indonesia was one of the countries hardest hit by the crisis and the spectacular devaluation of the rupiah, which particularly affected the middle classes and the poorest. Indonesian companies laid off many of their employees overnight, with no unemployment benefits. At the same time, commodity prices soared, and entrepreneurs left the country with their foreign currency, which they invested in more economically secure countries. The rupee collapsed as a result of speculation and massive capital flight. It was a tragedy. While Indonesia had succeeded in reducing the number of people living below the poverty line, all the efforts made in recent years were quickly undone. The country quickly sank into recession; from being a "lower-middle-income economy", Indonesia suddenly became a "low-income economy". Unemployment officially reached 15% of the working population. But this figure did not take into account the very large number of Indonesians, mostly of peasant origin, who until then had been working in small street jobs: street vendors, becak drivers, garbage collectors, etc. The mass lay-offs of salaried workers in turn dried up the resources of this floating workforce, which the state actively encouraged to return to the countryside, because of the instability and potential for revolt it represented. But all the evidence suggests that the rural fabric did not have the economic means to absorb this new population. The rising price of oil, in particular, led to the terrible riots of 1998.
Today, Indonesia is gradually returning to growth, but it will take time to fully overcome the lingering repercussions of the currency crisis. The fight against poverty is one of the government's priorities. But the economic and macro-economic landscape is improving: whereas in 1998 the recession was such that growth was -13%, the country has returned to positive rates, of the order of +3.7%, and inflation appears to be under control.
Indonesia's GDP is estimated at nearly US$1.2 billion, and GDP per capita at around US$4,300. While the secondary industrial sector accounts for the lion's share of GDP (almost 50%), it is still agriculture that employs the largest number of people: around 42% of the country's workforce of some 100 million (for a share of GDP of just 14%). By 2023, Indonesia's trade balance was in surplus, with exports worth 222 billion US dollars and imports 164 billion. Between 2008 and 2018, industrial investments and transfers, mainly from Japan, China and South Korea, increased 3-fold, reaching nearly US$30 billion. The main industries are oil, natural gas, textiles and mining. The most exported agricultural products are palm oil, rice, tea, coffee, spices and rubber. Japan, the USA, China and Singapore remain the main export markets; and Indonesia imports mainly from Japan, China and Singapore.
Education
You'll soon realize that the illiteracy rate in Indonesia is extremely low, if not virtually non-existent (although it has tended to increase since the Asian crisis of 1997). Everyone reads the newspaper in the city streets, discusses the price of oil or political squabbles - an appreciable freedom after the iron grip of the Suharto regime. School is compulsory for children for 9 years (6 years in elementary school, 3 in secondary school, followed by a further 3 years for those who wish to continue their studies), and in the mornings in rural areas, you can see long lines of small children, all dressed in their uniforms, making their way to school, several kilometers away. Education is highly valued, as in the rest of Asia, and remains a factor of social success. In rural and less-developed areas in particular, it's sometimes to the pesantren that the little ones go: the Koranic school. They come in all shapes and sizes, and are generally run by the community. However, a small minority of them pose a problem, such as the Ngruki pondok near Solo, which has trained a whole generation of jihadists. Religious education is compulsory from elementary school onwards. The country's first university, Jakarta University, was founded in 1930. The main and most prestigious Indonesian universities are Universitas Indonesia in Depok near Jakarta, Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta and ITB (Institut Teknologi Bandung) in Bandung.
The children. Children in Indonesian families occupy a special place. They are cherished by their families throughout childhood, and often very well protected. In fact, having a child is everyone's ultimate goal. If you're over 20 and tell an Indonesian that you don't have any children, you'll be greeted with a sincere look of commiseration, all the more so if you're older... Traditional education and socialization are generally strict, based on respect for elders. In contrast, street children are totally left to their own devices, experimenting with everything that destroys them, especially drugs and prostitution. Garin Nugroho's film Feuille sur un oreiller(Daun di atas bantal) ( Leaf on a pillow ) accurately describes the tragedy of their hopeless existence, doomed to total failure.
The place of women
The world's largest Muslim country, Indonesia doesn't fit the cliché of the status of women under Islam. As early as 1945, with its declaration of independence, Indonesian women gained the right to vote. Admittedly, radical Islamist parties were outspoken in their opposition to Megawati's accession to the presidency, but they were very much in the minority, and so the world's fourth-largest nation was ruled for several years by a woman. If there are problems for a woman traveling alone, they are no worse than in other non-Muslim developing countries. In short, there's no reason why Madame shouldn't travel! Although the radicalization of certain Muslims is often worrying, only a minority of women in Jakarta wear the veil, a colored kerchief thrown over their hair. Full-coverage veils are rare. Outside the capital, the situation can of course be very different; but in Aceh, for example, a very Muslim province, the proportion of working women is higher than in the capital! So let's not fall into clichés; besides, Bali has a bad reputation in the rest of Indonesia. "I'd rather stay single than marry a Balinese," say some of Jakarta's young working women. Because a woman's place is generally in the home, where the man takes care of the outside chores. The mother of Indonesian feminism is Raden Adjeng Kartini, born in 1879 in Mayong, a village in the regency of Japara in Java. She came from a wealthy aristocratic family. At the age of 12 and a half, custom forced her to leave school. Young girls are obliged to live at home until they marry. Kartini regrets not being able to study like her fellow boys. She asks her father to allow her to continue her studies, but he refuses. She had to follow the rigid etiquette of the Javanese aristocracy: be motionless, silent; make only the essential gestures, walk slowly, with small steps. In 1902, the regent of Rembang asked her to marry him. She accepted, confident that her husband would be open-minded. He made her very happy. He shares her new ideas of emancipation and believes they should be spread and applied throughout society. Kartini was the first to demand women's right to education. To give life to her ideas, she opened a small school where she gave lessons to young girls of all ages. Today, Kartini is a legend. The day of her birth is now Indonesia's National Women's Day, April 21. To find out more, we recommend reading Raden Adjeng Kartini's Letters. Java en 1900, selected and translated by Louis Charles Damais, École française d'Extrême-Orient, Jakarta, 1999.
