Ian Wilson

Indonesians raise anime pirate flag in protest as nation marks independence A Japanese cartoon pirate flag has been raised across Indonesia as a sign of growing frustration with the government.

Why would a strongman government be rattled by a cartoon flag? Some comment for Aljazeera on the One Piece phenomenon and how it's triggered a deeper paranoia within the Prabowo administration www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/...

Gangster populism: political impediment or strategic asset for Prabowo? Paramilitary mass organisations (ormas) have re-emerged in recent months as volatile high-profile actors, prompting concerns over the potential resurgence of informal coercive practices under Prabowo’...

A new piece on gangster populism in Prabowo's Indonesia
indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/gangster-pop...

An Election to End All Elections? | FULCRUM Indonesia’s upcoming presidential and legislative elections will take place against a backdrop of increasing party and legislative buy-in to the idea of downsizing the scale of direct elections. Wh…

Worth re-reading last year article by @iwilson69.bsky.social
fulcrum.sg/an-election-...

For those in Perth, on next week

SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia Vol. 40/1 (March 2025) | ISEAS Publishing SOJOURN is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to the study of social and cultural issues in Southeast Asia. It publishes empirical and theoretical research articles with a view to promoting and diss...

New article. Observing grassroots engagements with electoral politics I argue top-down polarization in Indonesia bares little resemblance to how identity is experienced in heterogeneous urban contexts,with marginal gropups engaging in polarisation strategically
bookshop.iseas.edu.sg/publication/...

Ketua PBNU di DPR: Sogokan untuk yang Hak Dibolehkan Sebagian Ulama Meski sebagaian ulama membolehkan. Ketua PBNU Ulil Abshar Abdalla berharap pendapat ini tidak dipakai karena bisa jadi celah bagi KPK bertindak.

From the team that brought you halal coal mining, a religious rationalisation for bribes. www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/202...

"Other states will have taken note."

"Drones will bomb your home, then burn you alive in the tent you set up to protect your family from the cold. Israel did all of these things to the people of Gaza while the leaders of the world looked on, and it did them with the full political and military support of the United States.

We Have a Ceasefire Deal, but This Isn’t the End The widely reported agreement must hold. We haven’t begun to understand the full scope of the horrors Israel wrought. And Palestine is still not free.

"What Israel has done to Gaza may herald a new era of state violence with no rules and no crimes. Everything is permitted, and nothing will be prosecuted. No child is off-limits to the snipers. Missiles are programmed to home in on hospitals and doctors....
www.thenation.com/article/worl...

Ricuh Ormas PP Vs GRIB di Blora, Polisi: 12 Orang Luka Polisi turun tangan terkait ricuh ormas Pemuda Pancasila (PP) dan Gerakan Rakyat Indonesia Bersatu (GRIB) Jaya di Blora. Polisi menyebut ada 12 korban luka.

In 2019 Pemuda Pancasila and other ormas, backed by the police, collaborated to contain GRIB. Having consolidated and with their patron now president, GRIB will be pushing hard to expand recruit in new regions. Conflicts of this kind are likely to become more frequent.
www.detik.com/jateng/berit...

Talking Indonesia: regional elections In this week's episode, Dr Jacqui Baker chats with Dr Ian Wilson to assess what the regional elections round up tells us about how power is being reorganised in Indonesia today.

On the latest Talking Indonesia podcast I chat with Indo-Pacific Research Centre colleague Jacqui Baker on Indonesia's regional elections and shrinking parameters of contestation against a backdrop of elite calls for returns to direct appointments.
indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/talking-indo...

Akhir dari Pilkada? Prabowo lempar usul Kepala Daerah dipilih DPRD DPR pernah menghapuskan Pilkada langsung pada tahun 2014 namun gagal setelah protes besar dari masyarakat.

As predicted, Prabowo has wasted no time in advocating for ending direct election of regional heads. Emphasis, here at least, placed on the 'financial burden' of elections in possible wedge of popular democracy vs his expensive populist programs, aka free lunch
www.cna.id/indonesia/ak...

Nuclear costings are a distraction Today's announcement on nuclear is a distraction from Australia’s ongoing fossil fuel use and production.

Today's announcement on nuclear is a distraction from Australia’s ongoing fossil fuel use and production.

It comes just one day after the approval of a 50 year extension to Australia’s largest fossil gas export plant – Woodside’s North West Shelf facility.

Indonesia’s Prabowo steers strategic middle path amid China, US rivalry Indonesian President Prabowo heralds new focus on foreign policy, but balancing Beijing and Washington will continue.

Prabowo's energetic approach to Indonesia's 'free active' foriegn policy may cause anxiety for Australian government & security elites yoked to US strategic interests and desire for hegemony in the region, even as the spectre of Trump unpredictability looms. Some coment for AJ.
aje.io/yf0exl

History Indonesian I' by Slamet. Linocut print, 1994. Given to me by the artist in 1994 when he and other Indonesian left activists visited Perth, sponsored by Maritime Workers Union, for discussions on pro-East Timorese solidarity and the anti-Suharto struggle. Found it cleaning out an old locker.

Looking like a first round victory to PDIP-backed candidate Pramono Anung in Jakarta's governor elections, but with the lowest election participation rates on record at just over 50% down from 72%+ in 2017. Similar low turnouts elsewhere aroind the country

Out in Jakarta Bay. Over the past year, our research consortium has been working with communities in North Jakarta, Central Java, and Pari Island on the front line of the climate crisis, understanding its impacts on their lives, how they are adapting and the avenues for contesting damages and loss

‘Jokowi still wants action’: Indonesia polls a test of ex-leader’s clout The country’s former president is back in the political spotlight campaigning for candidates in regional elections.

Seemingly unable to 'lengser keprabon madeg pandito', Jokowi continues to play politics campaigning for govt-backed candidates in Jakarta & Central Java. The result likely to be interpreted, in part, as reflection of his political shelf-life. Some comment for SCMP. www.scmp.com/week-asia/po...

thanks!

2024/97 “More Competition, Less Opposition: Indonesia’s 2024 Regional Elections” by Ian Wilson Indonesia’s regional elections scheduled for 27 November will be the largest in the nation’s history and the first to extend to all the country’s provinces, regencies and cities.

Indonesia's regional elections will be its largest to date. Constitutional court rulings in August supported a diverse electoral landscape however cartel-like party coalitions and deal-making have operated to constrain the parameters of contestation. Some comment:
www.iseas.edu.sg/articles-com...

Politik Jatah Preman: Ormas dan Kuasa Jalanan di Indonesia Pasca Orde Baru - Marjin Kiri Didasarkan pada riset lapangan yang intens dan panjang, buku ini menyuguhkan analisis komprehensif mengenai hubungan yang berubah antara kelompok-kelompok preman dengan pihak berwenang dan kekuasaan p...

The Indonesian version of my politics of protection racket book has just been reprinted by MarjinKiri. Lots on the background of Indonesia's new president, and his network of gangs and gangsters. Hoping to make progress on new book on politics of coercion next year
marjinkiri.id/product/poli...

go.bsky.app/VEkiiYW

Belum ketemu Prabowo/Jokowi, belum bisa dianggap calon pemenang, kata Bahlil.

Still looking for Southeast Asia watchers to add to my SEA Starter Pack! bsky.app/starter-pack...

@arielheryanto.com

Academics trying to figure out how to link the latest global crisis to their most recent publication

Nothing recent, though will be writing something substantive on new formations of gangster-militarism in Indonesia over the course of next year. There's been some interesting work on those convergences in the US i.e. work by Travis, Thierbach-McLean. The book 'New Demagogues' also good.

Great, trims banget!

So far so good, tetapi konten/diskusi politik Indonesia masih sepi di bluesky, sepertinya. Ada yg punya list atau starterpack? Trims