Principal speaker
Associate Professor Harry Bhaskara
Old and New Faces in Indonesia's 2014 Presidential Election
Presented by: Mr Harry Bhaskara, former Managing Editor, The Jakarta Post and freelance journalist.
What kind of change will the July 9 presidential election bring to Indonesia? Will a stronger democratic institution emerge? It seems that numerous possibilities ranging from cleaner government, more autocratic government to stronger Islamist bias government are in store.
Things are still very fluid but what seems to be happening is a rapport between the nationalists and the Islamists. This is reflected by an alliance between the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the winner of the April 9 legislative election, and another nationalist party (Nasdem) plus the pluralist Islam National Awakening Party (PKB). This alliance is spearheaded by Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, a young businessman turned politician who is PDI-P presidential nominee.
On the other front is a coalition between two nationalist parties, Golkar and Gerindra, both have a strong link to former president Soeharto. This front is likely to be led by General Prabowo Subianto, former son-in-law of Soeharto.
The seven other political parties taking part in the election would likely to end up joining either one of the two coalitions. In a sense, this is a battle between “old players” and “new players” or between those who support a leader who was born in the 60s versus leaders in their 60s.
In this presentation, Harry will reflect on what possible changes the election would bring and what they mean to Australia-Indonesia relations.
Harry Bhaskara is an Indonesian journalist based in Brisbane. He was the former Managing Editor of the The Jakarta Post, and founding member of Asia News Network (comprising 23 media groups in Asian cities). Currently he contributes to a range of Indonesian publications including Kompas and The Jakarta Post. He has had fellowships at the Asia Research Center, Murdoch University, Perth, Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley and the East-West Centre, Hawaii.
- Friday 6 June 2014
- N16, Meeting Room 1.44
- Nathan campus
- 2:30 – 4.00pm
To RSVP contact Natasha Vary on (07) 3735 5322 or events-gai@griffith.edu.au by 5.00pm Wednesday4 June, 2014.
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RSVP on or before Wednesday 4 June 2014 , by email n.vary@griffith.edu.au , or by phone 37355322