STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT-Jakarta. Indonesia needs to tap into renewable energy sources, particularly geothermal and solar energy sources, as one of the world’s most populous country and a major global emitter is decarbonizing its economy. “Demand and potential for renewable energy in Indonesia are soaring, it is expected that the Indonesian energy demand will increase considerably,” Economic Affairs Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto said.
PLN senior official Edwin Nugraha Putra said the state-owned electricity company had designed several strategies to transition from high-carbon energy sources. Meanwhile, Jiro Tominaga, Indonesia country director at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said changing certain policies was key to pushing Indonesia’s energy transition to achieve a 23 percent renewable energy mix by 2025. These included cutting fossil fuel subsidies, setting electricity tariffs that supported renewables and encouraging private sector investments.
Arriving at Stargate building, Elon Musk awaited Jokowi, wearing jeans and a SpaceX Earth T-shirt. Jokowi wore his rolled up white shirt and Bandung shoes, as if he was conducting his typical blusukan (impromptu visit) to meet with people. Jokowi and Musk entered the boardroom for a one-on-one discussion that lasted almost 30 minutes.
The meeting concluded with a doorstop interview announcing potential new partnerships between Indonesia and Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink. Jokowi’s visit to Brownsville, directly after attending the U.S.-ASEAN Summit in Washington, D.C., marked a special highlight of Indonesia’s attention to Texas.
As chair of the Group of 20, Jokowi’s visit to Texas amplified Indonesia’s focus on clean energy, health infrastructure, and digital and technological readiness in line with the G20 theme for 2022. For the Lone Star State, its strengths in the field of energy, health, space, and digital transformation offer renewed collaboration for Indonesia. Furthermore, Jokowi’s friendly interaction with Musk as two businessmen and visionaries has inspired more innovative cooperation, especially for the young.
Strong strides in the energy, health and digital sectors are evident. But in the area of space exploration, although the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) has been merged into the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and the national space cooperation ecosystem continues to develop, private companies like Antarexxa Global could play a powerful role in encouraging young Indonesians to dream about the stars, and better yet, lay the science and business foundations for an Indonesian space industry.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, during a House plenary meeting on Tuesday, drew attention to three major threats to the global community: climate change, monetary policy normalization, and stricter market liquidity. Minister Sri Mulyani said normalization of the monetary policy and imposition of stricter market liquidity had caused disruption globally, including in Indonesia. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine had worsened the current global geopolitical situation, which in turn posed a threat of crises, ranging from energy to food and finance.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Monday said although many countries experienced a decline in economic growth, Indonesia experienced quite good economic growth at 5.01 percent. She said high inflation, high interest rates, and weakening economic potential are currently threatening the economy of the world, including Indonesia. She said the conflict between Russia and Ukraine had led to a spike in the prices of key commodities, which led to high inflation in several countries.
Women in Indonesia are forced, at some point, to choose between career and family. As governments around the world seek to cushion the impacts of COVID-19, the role of taxation in empowering women and addressing gender disparity has been revisited.
Tax and gender are on the agenda of Indonesia’s G20 presidency this year. But Indonesia’s current taxation system is prone to be biased against women, requiring meaningful changes to promote female labour force participation.
Indonesia allowed a resumption of palm oil exports from Monday after a three-week ban, but shipments were not expected to get underway until details emerged on new rules aimed at securing domestic supplies of the edible oil. To ensure supply security, Indonesia said it will impose a domestic market obligation (DMO) policy, whereby producers are required to sell a portion of their products locally at a certain price level. Traders were on Monday waiting for details on the DMO and other rules to be made public. A Jakarta-based company said it was also waiting for details of the rules before embarking on shipments.
Political, social and cultural issues
Singapore provided more details about the reason behind its refusal to allow entry of Abdul Somad Batubara, saying on Monday that some of its citizens have been investigated for following “extremist teachings” by the Indonesian controversial Muslim preacher. In a lengthy media statement explaining the government’s stance on the issue, Singaporean Home Affairs Minister Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam said that Somad does not respect Singapore’s sovereignty by implying that the city state is part of Indonesia.
Shanmugam said Somad’s supporters have called for cyberattacks on Singapore, government websites, and social media accounts, and also called for a boycott of Singapore products and for Indonesians to stop visiting Singapore, “all because we exercised our right to deny someone entering into Singapore.” A social media user even threatened a 9/11-style attack on Singapore before his account was disabled, he said. Shanmugam said Somad was denied entry for his divisive teachings, not his religion, and that he is not the only person not given an entry permit to Singapore.
Muhammadiyah Executive Board Chair Dadang Kahmad on Monday said the Singapore government’s refusal to allow Abdul Somad to enter the country was strange. Dadang said Somad was a “moderate” figure, and not a terrorist. He said Somad’s teachings were meant for Muslims’ “internal development.”
Singaporean Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam on Monday said Abdul Somad had been on the Singaporean authorities’ radar for a long time. Singapore claimed Somad had influenced and radicalized a number of Singaporeans, including 17-year-old who believed that suicide bombing would lead to his martyrdom.
The government appears to have caved into public pressure after the U.K. Embassy in Jakarta raised a rainbow flag in honor of the LGBT community last week, eliciting backlash in conservative-leaning Indonesia. The Foreign Affairs Ministry summoned U.K. Ambassador to Indonesia Owen Jenkins on Monday to express its disapproval of the embassy’s decision to fly the flag at its Jakarta compound, a spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday, even as some experts insist the embassy had not violated any regulations.
On Monday, the ministry announced it had summoned Jenkins to express its “concern and disappointment” over the matter. “The ministry has deemed this action highly insensitive and asks the U.K. Embassy, as well as all representatives of allied countries in Indonesia, to always honor the religious, social, cultural norms, and beliefs of the Indonesian people,” the statement said. Jenkins had “noted Indonesia’s disappointment” and would relay it to London, the statement continued.
Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi did not need to overreact to the raising of the rainbow flag by the U.K. Embassy in Jakarta, and summoning the U.K. Ambassador to Indonesia Owen Jenkins is a disgraceful diplomatic move. The ministry’s “fussiness” was clearly a mistake. Our constitution expressly states how every citizen has the right to equal treatment, legal protection, and mutual respect.
The Indonesian government must respect the British government, which respects LGBT+ rights. The government’s response to the rainbow flag raising is proof that we are still “allergic” to differences. The message we are sending is that Indonesia is not yet ready to become “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” (Unity in Diversity).
Recently Deddy Corbuzier apologized for his May 7 podcast with the provocative title “Tutorial on how to be gay in Indonesia”, which triggered a huge brouhaha. His apology and removal of the podcast drew criticism from LGBT groups as it gave the impression that “the sentiment and discrimination were justified.” Initially, I was pleasantly surprised when I read that Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Coordinating Minister Mahfud MD asked, “What law do you want to ensnare Corbuzier and LGBT perpetrators?”
Was he actually defending the LGBT community? Then, I saw that what he actually wanted to imply was that Indonesia needed a law to regulate what some deem to be deviant LGBT behavior. As for religion, there are actually no verses that unambiguously condemn homosexuality.
By condemning LGBT identities, reactionary Muslims are giving Islam a bad name. Why can’t they learn to be like the Prophet Muhammad, who was admired for defending marginalized groups and peoples? What does it say about us as Indonesians who claim to be ruled by law but instead are ruled by ignorance, hatred, and a denial of science — certainly of evolutionary science (Red/many sources).
