https://www.scmp.com/rss/515406/feed Joseph Rachman is a freelance journalist covering Indonesian and Asean news. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Crouching between the clear mountain stream and the rice field in Bali’s Ubud, Kasida cupped a tiny jewel-like red onion just pulled from a grassy verge which serves as a pantry for his restaurant Locavore. The onion is just one of the many local produce used at the restaurant that specialises in sustainable dining, as food and wellness emerge as a key driver of Bali’s tourism-dependent industry still recovering from the pandemic. Renowned as the Isle of the Gods, Bali’s reputation as a tourist... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3245629/bali-bets-wellness-experiences-and-sustainable-dining-spur-tourism-recovery?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3245629/bali-bets-wellness-experiences-and-sustainable-dining-spur-tourism-recovery?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Dec 2023 01:00:19 +0000 With the world’s eyes glued to the ongoing Cop28 climate conference in Dubai for decarbonisation vows to save the planet, Indonesia – home to 40 per cent of global geothermal resources – is keen to trumpet its potential to harvest energy from the Earth’s crust. Geothermal energy is a renewable resource captured by drilling holes that are many kilometres deep to tap heat radiating from the planet’s molten core. The best sites for the process are where tectonic plates meet and white-hot magma... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3243731/indonesia-eyes-phenomenal-geothermal-power-potential-amid-renewable-energy-push-cost-concerns-remain?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3243731/indonesia-eyes-phenomenal-geothermal-power-potential-amid-renewable-energy-push-cost-concerns-remain?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Dec 2023 05:01:07 +0000 Indonesia will generate 44 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2030, details of a US$20 billion US and Japan-driven investment deal promised on Wednesday, dangling the prospect of saving tens of millions more tons of carbon emissions within the next seven years. The plan, designed by the G7 to help Indonesia’s decarbonisation as part of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), only provides enough money to retire two coal-fired power plants of Indonesia’s 118 plants. But it should... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3239977/indonesia-bank-g7-investment-deal-make-huge-emission-savings-boost-green-transition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3239977/indonesia-bank-g7-investment-deal-make-huge-emission-savings-boost-green-transition?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2023 12:00:29 +0000 Indonesian presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, the former governor of Jakarta, and his running mate Muhaimin Iskandar, chairman of the Islam-based National Awakening Party (PKB), may have been the first team to register for next year’s election but they are still considered the weakest in a three-horse race to succeed incumbent Joko Widodo. Anies and Muhaimin put their names before the elections commission on Thursday, formalising their intention that they had first announced in early... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3238650/indonesia-2024-election-can-anies-baswedan-upset-odds-and-convince-voters-he-moderate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3238650/indonesia-2024-election-can-anies-baswedan-upset-odds-and-convince-voters-he-moderate?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Oct 2023 11:00:12 +0000 Indonesia’s move to import rice from neighbours like China and Thailand to control a “serious” surge in prices is leading to backlash from domestic producers, highlighting Jakarta’s dilemma in balancing the interests of farmers against consumers, observers say. State food procurement agency Bulog will import 2.3 million tonnes of rice this year to blunt the impact of the El Nino weather pattern, as hot weather in key growing regions across Asia threatens harvests. Indian export controls are also... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3236509/indonesias-rice-dilemma-persists-even-eased-import-curbs-amid-high-prices?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3236509/indonesias-rice-dilemma-persists-even-eased-import-curbs-amid-high-prices?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Oct 2023 09:30:09 +0000 The rapid political rise of President Joko Widodo’s younger son is a sign of the Indonesian leader’s desire to influence the outcome of the coming election and build a political clan, even if it leads to tensions within his ruling Indonesian Party of Democratic Struggle (PDI-P), analysts said. Kaesang Pangarep, 28, was a member of the small Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) for only two days when he was appointed its chairman on Monday. The Singapore-educated political novice told reporters that... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3236035/indonesia-election-2024-could-rise-jokowis-political-clan-boost-prabowo-subiantos-chances?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3236035/indonesia-election-2024-could-rise-jokowis-political-clan-boost-prabowo-subiantos-chances?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Sep 2023 01:30:20 +0000 Indonesia’s inability to tackle air pollution in Jakarta means the capital city’s 10 million people will continue to confront smog for years to come, environmental activists said, blaming ineffective legislations, unreliable emission data and politicians’ interests in coal plants for the worsening problem. Last week, Jakarta was declared to have the world’s worst air quality by Swiss tech firm IQAir – President Joko Widodo’s monthlong cough was even attributed to the city’s pollution... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3232088/jakartas-very-bad-air-pollution-persist-due-government-foot-dragging-green-groups-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3232088/jakartas-very-bad-air-pollution-persist-due-government-foot-dragging-green-groups-say?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Aug 2023 01:30:10 +0000 Australia’s Lynas, the world’s largest producer of rare earths outside China, predicts plenty of growth as it capitalises on the West’s efforts to end its dependence on Chinese minerals, despite there being a rocky road ahead. Its CEO Amanda Lacaze also told This Week in Asia she hoped Malaysia, where the company has had a manufacturing plant for a decade, would be poised to seize opportunities emerging amid ongoing shifts in the industry – a vital sector for the green transition – and hinted... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3230867/australias-lynas-weighs-its-malaysia-operations-future-us-rare-earths-option-emerges?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3230867/australias-lynas-weighs-its-malaysia-operations-future-us-rare-earths-option-emerges?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Aug 2023 01:30:11 +0000 American, Chinese and Russian navy ships are due to join exercises in Indonesian waters on Monday to drill responses to humanitarian disasters, in a rare moment of cooperation during a rancorous period of diplomacy and heightened defence competition across the Asia-Pacific. Indonesia, which deftly handled last year’s G20 meeting in Bali in the shadow of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is playing host to the Komodo naval exercises in the Makassar Strait until Thursday. The event comes days after... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3222952/indonesia-host-great-power-rivals-china-us-rare-joint-naval-exercises?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3222952/indonesia-host-great-power-rivals-china-us-rare-joint-naval-exercises?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Jun 2023 05:06:11 +0000 Ganjar Pranowo runs Indonesia’s third-largest province, has powerful political friends to emboss his popular appeal and is often billed as the natural successor to President Joko Widodo, if elections due in February 2024 go his way. But 10 months is a long time in politics as the governor of Central Java can attest, after his support for a ban on an Israeli football team from competing in a Bali competition spectacularly backfired, taking a chunk from his poll ratings. Still, Ganjar has powerful... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3219578/indonesia-election-ganjar-faces-delicate-balance-megawati-backed-path-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3219578/indonesia-election-ganjar-faces-delicate-balance-megawati-backed-path-power?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 May 2023 06:00:10 +0000 A little-known section of the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) could allow carmaker Ford to cash in on electrical vehicle (EV) subsidies while using nickel and cobalt refined in partnership with Chinese companies, a This Week in Asia analysis of the legislation has found. The IRA offers tax credits worth US$7,500 to encourage companies to develop battery and EV supply chains in the US and countries with which it has free trade agreements (FTA). To qualify, 40 per cent of critical... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3216756/could-carmaker-ford-while-partnering-chinese-firms-cash-us-electric-vehicle-policy-loophole?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3216756/could-carmaker-ford-while-partnering-chinese-firms-cash-us-electric-vehicle-policy-loophole?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Apr 2023 09:00:22 +0000