Relations between Indonesia and Australia have cooled considerably after it became known that Australia's Intelligence Service agency tried to follow telephone conversations of various high positioned Indonesian politicians as well as their inner circle, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife Kristiani Herawati and vice-president Boediono, for 15 days in August 2009. This information became known a few days ago due to leaked documents by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

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On Friday (25/10), the World Bank released its 'Doing Business 2014' report in which it "ranks countries on their overall 'ease of doing business', and analyzes reforms to business regulation - identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most." In total 189 countries were analyzed. Indonesia, traditionally characterized by a complex and difficult investment environment, managed to climb 8 places in the ranking. Southeast Asia’s largest economy rose from number 128 to 120 in the 2014 edition.

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Indonesia's credentials in terms of corruption eradication received another blow when Akil Mochtar, the chief justice of Indonesia's Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi), was detained by the country's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Wednesday evening (02/10). Allegedly, Mochtar accepted a bribe to influence the court's ruling on the Gunung Mas election dispute in Central Kalimantan. In this regional election, Hambit Bintih (together with Arton S. Dohong) was re-elected as district head of Gunung Mas.

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According to a new survey, the Democratic Party (Partai Demokrat), the political vehicle of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is increasingly losing popular support. The survey indicates that currently only 7.1 percent of respondents will vote for the Democratic Party in next year's legislative elections. The survey was conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and involved 1,635 respondents from 31 provinces. In combination with results of earlier surveys in the last 12 months, it shows declining support for the party.

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Although it has been in the air for a while, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) finally named Anas Urbaningrum, chairman of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (PD), a suspect in the Hambalang corruption case. This case, in which Anas is charged with accepting a bribe to ensure a contract, is the last in a series of blows to the Democratic Party, which has seen its popularity erode drastically in recent months.

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Today, the governor of the Riau province (on Sumatra), Rusli Zainal, was officially declared a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Board (KPK). Zainal is accused of taking bribes from the management of state-controlled Adhi Karya, a construction company, in exchange for a contract to build facilities for last year's National Games in Pekanbaru, the capital city of Riau. The KPK stated that they found convincing evidence to underpin its allegation.

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The corruption scandal which led to the resignation last week of Luthfi Hasan Ishak, chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) - Indonesia's fourth-largest political party - is likely to make more victims in the party, and will put the Muslim-party in a negative light. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) stated that the corruption scandal might involve more people within the PKS, including the party’s new chairman, Anis Matta and Agriculture minister Suswono.

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Today, most Indonesian newspapers opened with negative headlines concerning the country's political arena. In Indonesian politics, scandals - whether connected to corruption or other issues - are frequently reported and seriously undermine people's (both domestic and foreign) confidence in the nation's governance. In today's newspapers, three cases were center of attention and illustrate the problems within Indonesia's political elite.

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One of Indonesia's largest listed property developers - Agung Podomoro Land - saw its shares plunge 10 percent on Monday (04/04) after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the country's anti-graft agency, named the company's President Director Ariesman Widjaja a suspect in a bribery case that also involves a Jakarta legislator. Allegedly, Muhammad Sanusi, legislator of the Jakarta provincial assembly and member of Prabowo Subianto's Great Indonesia Party (Gerindra), accepted money in exchange for support related to the Pluit City project.

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West Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and South Kalimantan are the three Indonesian provinces that scored the worst in the Local Government Performance Index (in Indonesian: Indeks Kinerja Pemerintah Daerah, or IKPD). This index, compiled by Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), measures the degree of coordination and supervision within Indonesian provinces regarding policies and actions related to the prevention of corruption in the mining and energy sectors. The provinces that have the highest scores are Central Sulawesi and the Riau Islands.

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Jero Wacik, Indonesia's former Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (2011-2014) and Minister of Culture and Tourism (2004-2011), could face nine years in prison, a fine of IDR 350 million and may have to pay compensation up to IDR 18.8 billion to the government. These are the demands expressed by prosecutor Dody Sukmono at the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) on Thursday (21/01). Wacik is being accused of mishandling ministerial funds and extortion by the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

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Former Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali (who was also Chairman of the Islamic political party PPP) was sentenced to six years in jail and a fine of IDR 300 million (or three additional months in prison) by the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) on Monday (11/01). Suryadharma was found guilty of self-enrichment by deliberately mishandling state funds that were allocated to the hajj pilgrimage program covering the financial years 2010-2013.

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Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK), the central government's agency that regulates and supervises Indonesia's financial services sector, needs to hire hundreds of new staff in order to safeguard monitoring of the nation's banking sector and to enhance its early warning system in order to detect possible corruption cases. As up to 350 OJK workers are expected to return to the central bank per 1 January 2017, good monitoring of the banking sector is in jeopardy.

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Dengan kebakaran hutan yang masih membara di wilayah-wilayah pulau Sumatra dan Kalimantan, merusak lingkungan hidup tropis, sementara kabut asap beracun masih menyebar ke wilayah-wilayah lain di Asia Tenggara, menyebabkan kira-kira 500.000 kasus infeksi saluran pernapasan dan juga 19 kematian, bencana yang masih berlangsung ini telah diklasifikasikan sebagai kejahatan atas kemanusiaan. Sebuah laporan penelitian baru dan menarik, diterbitkan oleh Dr. Herry Purnomo (ilmuwan dari Center for International Forestry Research yang bermarkas di Bogor), menunjukkan hubungan antara pemilihan umum di daerah dan kebakaran hutan di Indonesia.

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Berlin-based Transparency International released the 2014 edition of its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) earlier this week. In the new edition Indonesia was ranked 107th (out a total of 175 countries), up from 114th in the previous edition. As such, Indonesia continues to improve gradually through the ranks of the index. However, with a score of 34 (out of a possible - and perfect - score of 100) the country still lags behind its regional peers such as Singapore (84), Malaysia (52) and the Philippines (38).

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One strategy of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to generate more state revenues in order to enhance investments in social and economic development of Indonesia is by improving the country’s tax collection system. As the middle class as well as number of companies that are active in Indonesia has risen rapidly in recent years, it is disappointing that tax collection targets are rarely met in Southeast Asia’s largest economy: tax compliance is low, while corruption among civil servants (tax collectors) remains a structural problem.

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President Joko Widodo’s unexpected visit to the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) on Tuesday (28/10) signals that the new president of Indonesia is serious about wiping out severe bureaucracy that causes time-consuming and difficult procedures to obtain permits, licenses and certificates in a bid to ease doing business in Indonesia for both foreign and domestic investors. Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, is eager to tackle the country’s ‘red-tape’ problem as it curtails the pace of economic growth in Indonesia.

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It took almost six hours for the Constitutional Court of Indonesia (Mahkamah Konstitusi) on Thursday (21/08) to read out 300 pages of a lengthy 4,392-page verdict in the case filed by defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, who claimed that the result of Indonesia’s July 2014 presidential election was invalid due to widespread violations and fraud that allegedly occurred during the voting and counting processes. During the read out it became increasingly clear that the court would reject Subianto’s claims due to a lack of evidence.

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