Edition 117: Jul-Sep 2014 - Inside Indonesia: The peoples and cultures of Indonesia

Business and politics in Indonesia

Prabowo and Bakrie at Senayan Rally- Mietzner

Eve Warburton The worlds of private business and public office are deeply enmeshed in contemporary Indonesia. At the national level and down into the districts, democratic institutions are brimming with opportunities to extort money. From elections, to party leadership ballots, to budget processes in the parliament, it can seem like Indonesia’s entire democratic system works on a foundation of business transactions. These same transactions lubricate the world of business, providing companies with access to government contracts, licenses and sometimes even regulatory reprieve. A patronage system of incessant backscratching between state officials and business elites appears to undergird Indonesia’s political economy.

Indonesia's economic and political transformation has been remarkable, now the challenge is to deliver rapid, broad-based improvements in living standards

Warburton 1 Prabowo and Team at Senayan Rally Credit Liam Gammon

Democratic institutions are increasingly burdened by the illicit transactions and collusive practices of politico-business elites

Sugar Group financed the election of Lampung’s new governor to secure the renewal of its land leases

Sugar Group membiayai pemilu gubernur baru Lampung supaya dapat menjaminkan perpanjangan sewa tanah

Indonesia’s unions are engaging in electoral politics in unprecedented ways in an attempt to balance the influence of business

Deforestation, rent seeking and local elections in West Kalimantan

The ubiquity of corrupt forest licensing demonstrates the close relationship between business, politics and environmental destruction

Indonesia needs political reform, not just legal prosecution, to eradicate corruption in palm oil plantations

Rosser 1 Billboard Mataram April 2014 resize

Can the industry’s political and financial resources continue to stall important regulatory change?

Perceptions of political influence on the Indonesian Supreme Audit Agency’s governing board continue to challenge its need for independence

Business and politics in Indonesia

A development policy agenda for a new administration

The business of politics in Indonesia

Lampung’s sugar-coated elections

Pemilu Lampung yang berlapis gula

Balancing business

Deforestation, rent seeking and local elections in West Kalimantan

Business and politics in Indonesia’s expanding palm oil sector

Challenging times for big tobacco

The politics of audit

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