Talking Indonesia Talking Indonesia

Indonesians have a saying that you’re not properly satisfied until you’ve eaten rice (belum kenyang kalau belum makan nasi). But in recent weeks the price of rice has hit record highs, meaning that this daily serving of rice is becoming out of reach for some.

In 2023 an EL Niño weather pattern across Indonesia made it the hottest year on record, leading to drought conditions and impacting rice production, with delayed harvests and low yields. Since late last year rice prices have continued to climb and with Idul Fitri approaching, prices for basic foods - including rice - are spiking to historic levels. Media reports show people queuing for hours at markets and President Joko Widodo has committed to providing 10 kilograms of rice a month to low-to-middle income households. The government claims that national rice stores are sufficient, but close observers note that cartels and collusion within the industry are also playing a part. At the same time - and an issue highlighted in the recent election campaign - over one in five Indonesian children under the age of five are affected by stunting due to poor nutrition.

What is the current state of food production and food security in Indonesia, especially when it comes to rice, and what part does the past play in policymaking about the present? Why is the rate of stunting in children and poor nutrition still at such high levels? How can Indonesia’s food policy respond?

In this week's episode Jemma chats with Associate Professor Jamie Davidson from the Department of Political Science and the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, where he is leader of the Cluster ‘Food Politics and Society’. Jamie’s research compares the politics of rice policy in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

In 2024, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales and Tito Ambyo from RMIT.

Image: Workers are seen at a Bulog rice warehouse in Medan, North Sumatra, on 28 February 2024. (ANTARA FOTO/Fransisco Carolio/foc)

How do religious minorities fare under the constitution and blasphemy laws in Indonesia? The Indonesia Constitution seems to guarantee religious freedom so long as you believe in an almighty god. However, there are many real-life cases where it seems this is not enough. Add to this blasphemy laws, which have existed since the 1960s, and we can see that Indonesia has legal tools that can be easily weaponsised against individuals who express views that fall foul of the religious majority around them.

In this podcast, Elisabeth Kramer talks to Dr Al Khanif about the state of religious rights and freedom of expression, and how jural traditions, the interpretations of laws based on historical and social norms, have made it even more difficult to assert these rights.

Dr Khanif is the head of the Center for Human Rights, Multiculturalism and Migration at the University of Jember.

In 2024, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales, Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University and Tito Ambyo from RMIT.

Caption: Thousands of people protest remarks made by Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama on 4 November 2016. Photo by Akbar Nugroho Gumay for Antara.

In the early 20th century in Sumatra, a movement of young women writers were finding new ways to express their identities, build communities and achieve their dreams. Soenting Melajoe was the first newspaper for women published in West Sumatra during the colonial era in the Dutch East Indies. The newspaper was a part of a larger constellation of people working together to help women find education and employment through writing and crafts like weaving.

Tito Ambyo’s guest is Bronwyn Beech Jones, a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, and a recipient of the Hansen Scholarship in History. Her completed PhD, called Textual Worlds: Rethinking self, community, and activism in colonial-era Sumatran women’s newspaper archives, looks at how women and girls from Sumatra articulated their experiences and conceived of themselves, their communities and aspirations in Malay language periodicals published between 1912 and 1929.

In 2023, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Tito Ambyo from RMIT,  Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales, Dr Jemma Purdey from Monash University and Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University.

Energy transition

In the recent national elections, the candidates paid surprisingly little attention to one of the greatest challenges Indonesia and the world at large is currently facing – that of climate change. At the same time, for more and more Indonesians, climate change induced natural disasters like droughts, storms and floods are increasingly impacting their lives.

Indonesia has committed to the Paris Agreement to limit global warning to 1.5 degrees Celsius and signed up to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2060, including peaking emissions from the energy sector by 2030. Reaching these targets will have a lot to do with how it transitions from a reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. For a nation on a steep growth trajectory that includes downstreaming and elevated productivity, and with large coal reserves at its disposal, this is a massive challenge. What are Indonesia’s stated commitments and ambitions towards an energy transition away from fossil fuels? Does it have a plan to get there? What will it take?

In this week’s episode Jemma Purdey chats with Wicaksono Gitawan, Just Energy Transition Associate at Yayasan Indonesia CERAH, an Indonesian non-profit organization working to advance the energy transition policy agenda in Indonesia.

In 2024, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales and Tito Ambyo from RMIT.

Image: Suralaya coal-fired power plant in Cilegon, Banten Province, ANTARA/HO-PLN

Prabowo has exceeded expectations to claim victory in 2024 Indonesian presidential election.

What do our Talking Indonesia's co-hosts think about the result? Who are the winners and losers? What were the most interesting aspects of the campaign behind Prabowo’s success? And how did a pack of cigarettes save our co-host, Tito Ambyo, from possible jail time in the Suharto era?

In this episode of Talking Indonesia, the co-hosts Jemma Purdey, Lis Kramer, Jacqui Baker and Tito Ambyo get together to chat about the election result, their analysis plus their hopes and fears for the future of Indonesian democracy. 

In 2023, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales, Dr Jemma Purdey from Monash University, Tito Ambyo from RMIT and Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University.

Photo by Adi Wibowo/Antara.

Faris Al Fadhat - Big Business

Conglomerates are the main players in the Indonesian economy, controlling core industries like agribusiness, banking and property and telecommunications. They are often built over multiple generations of a single, often ethnic Chinese, family.

Indonesia’s biggest conglomerates - Sinar Mas Group, Royal Golden Eagle, Lippo group and Salim group - and their their owners are household names. Their businesses have an immeasurable impact on the daily lives of Indonesians: from the soap they use to wash the dishes, to the phone credit they use, and even to the hospitals they attend.

Over the past two decades, Indonesia’s biggest conglomerates have emerged not just as domestic oligarchs but increasingly as regional players. This has come about through a series of acquisitions and joint ventures, but also through expansion enabled by the ASEAN regional economic architecture.

To help us understand how Indonesian big business has transformed Indonesia and is now reshaping our region, Jacqui Baker chats with Faris Al Fadhat, Senior Lecturer in the Department of International Relations at the Muhammadiyah University Yogyakarta. Faris is the author of the 'Rise of International Capital: Indonesian Conglomerates in ASEAN' and his new book 'Expansi Kapital', which was published by Kompas Publishing (2023).

In 2024, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, Dr Jemma Purdey from Monash University, Tito Ambyo from RMIT and Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales.

Photo by Julien from Flickr.