Unofficial ‘quick count’ results show incumbent president nearly nine points ahead
Joko Widodo looks likely to have secured a comfortable win over his rival in Indonesian elections, according to unofficial “quick counts”.
The counts, conducted by several credible polling agencies, show the incumbent president ahead of his political rival, the former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto, by almost 9 percentage points.
Continue reading...As elections loom in one of south-east Asia’s only true democracies, some wonder whether the president has done enough
Five years ago he was south-east Asia’s democratic poster boy, Indonesia’s Obama. His face plastered across Time magazine with three words: A New Hope.
When Joko Widodo, or “Jokowi”, was elected president of one of the only true remaining democracies in the region it was a moment of triumphant vindication – proof that outliers could trump an entrenched oligarchy, that an ordinary Indonesian could make it.
Continue reading...PM urges president Joko Widodo to show respect for Australia over the planned early prison release of alleged mastermind
Indonesia’s security minister says the decision to release alleged Bali bombing mastermind Abu Bakar Bashir is being reviewed, hours after Scott Morrison urged president Joko Widodo to show respect for Australia.
The minister, Wiranto, told a hastily called news conference on Monday night that Widodo had asked him to coordinate a review of all aspects of the planned release.
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