As Indonesia continues to build downstream industries, it faces multiple challenges in becoming a developed country. Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia spoke to The Jakarta Post about investment prospects in 2023 and how the country has proven naysayers wrong along the way.

The fact that the gallery of heroes in Indonesia is so male-dominated is shocking, but hardly surprising, given how patriarchal Indonesian society has been, and still is.

At GoTo, we firmly believe that technology is the key that can power the nation into the future, especially if it benefits everyone.

With geopolitical conflicts and global economic turbulence, Indonesia’s Group of Twenty (G20) Presidency is hardly standing on steady ground. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who leads the Finance Track, shares with The Jakarta Post the twists and turns of navigating the forum this year and how it eventually delivers.      

The Jakarta Post's Tama Salim and Yvette Tanamal recently sat down with Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, co-convenor of the Group of Twenty (G20) Sherpa track, to find out what Indonesia expects from the G20 Summit.

Asian Development Bank president Masatsugu Asakawa spoke to The Jakarta Post’s Vincent Fabian Thomas recently about the bank’s views of, and role in alleviating, ongoing crises.

Josep Borrel, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, spoke to The Jakarta Post about strengthening multilateralism and address the strategic aspects of global recovery efforts.

Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara recently spoke with The Jakarta Post to discuss the country’s macroeconomic situation and state budget strategies to cushion the impact of the global inflation crisis. 

The Jakarta Post spoke with Bank for International Settlements (BIS) general manager Agustin Carstens about global inflation, rising interest in crypto and digital currencies and Indonesia’s Group of 20 presidency this year. 

The Jakarta Post spoke with Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin about strategies to lessen the impact of the COVID-19 third wave, the country’s health system and how Indonesia’s G20 presidency will improve global resilience against the virus.

The most important way to support Indonesia’s economic recovery post-COVID-19 is through research and development and human resource development.

This is actually the best solution: the US gets to leave and we have peace. The only question is whether the Taliban could prove their commitment. 

The Health Ministry has partnered with WhatsApp to provide a new chatbot service to facilitate registration for the COVID-19 vaccination program across the country.

"Speaking clearly and being pragmatic are also possible in a conservative country. We had strong support from the religious circles."

Natalia Kanem, the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), shares her views on the challenges and opportunities of Indonesia’s abundant youth population.

Indonesia has one of the world’s highest rates of tuberculosis (TB) infections. Rita Widiadana and Shobha Shukla spoke with Erlina Burhan, head of directly observed treatment short course (TB DOTS) and multi-drug-resistant TB at Persahabatan Hospital, East Jakarta, for The Jakarta Post. Erlina is also a board member of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, which will hold its 50th conference in Hyderabad, India, on Oct. 30-Nov. 2. The following are excerpts from the interview.

Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister Eko Putro Sandjojo spoke with The Jakarta Post about the government's experience in empowering villages.

Golkar won 12.31 percent of the vote in the 2019 legislative election and is projected to win the second-most seats at the House of Representatives.

"My priority is of course [finding] a solution to the problem facing our employees, who have been unpaid for the last seven months. It is embarrassing for the sports council to have this problem."

"Although I don’t always agree with the NU and Muhammadiyah 100 percent, I can say that they play an important role in protecting our pluralism. Therefore, I’m fighting for their nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize."

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Laode Muhammad Syarif talks to The Jakarta Post about current investigations and addresses criticisms against the antigraft body 

Although treatable and curable, why is tuberculosis still a daunting global public health problem?

Muhadjir Darwin, chairperson of the drafting team for the UGM Rector’s Regulation on the Prevention and Response to Sexual Violence, spoke about sexual violence on campus.

For the more liberal-leaning Indonesians, the upcoming revision to the Criminal Code (KUHP), currently being finalized by the House of Representatives and the President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo administration, is a threat to freedom. 

Ethnomusicologist Jeremy Wallach of Bowling Green University considered himself lucky to be in Indonesia in the late 1990s, when the country was undergoing political transformation following the resignation of president Soeharto in 1998. At the time, Wallach was doing fieldwork for his book Modern Noise, Fluid Genres: Popular Music in Indonesia, 1997-2001, which enabled him to witness a direct relationship between the underground music and the burgeoning opposition movement that sought to challenge Soeharto’s authoritarian regime. Returning home to the United States, Wallach wrote extensively on metal and made a name for himself as one of proponents in the rising academic movement focusing on the genre. Earlier this month, Wallach was in town to promote the Indonesian edition of Modern Noise by having a discussion at the American cultural center @america, where he spent time reminiscing about attending a punk makeshift gig on a banana farm in West Jakarta. He spoke with The Jakarta Post’s Ester Christine Natalia about the current state of the scene. Below are excerpts:  

After spending six years in Washington, DC, as World Bank managing director, Sri Mulyani Indrawati took the helm of the Finance Ministry again starting this July after being appointed by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. As finance minister from 2005 to 2010, she helped Indonesia transition from the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis and sail through the US-led 2008/2009 global financial crisis, but this time the challenges are different, she said. The Jakarta Post’s Endy M. Bayuni, Vincent Lingga, Esther Samboh and Prima Wirayani explored the thoughts of Sri Mulyani about leading a ministry that is responsible for billions of dollars of state assets and budgets and that is largely centered on the goal of creating equitable growth using state assets and fiscal tools, while at the same time reforming the ministry to better execute policies. The following are edited excerpts of the interview.

Indonesia needs to increase cooperation with China and other neighbors in combating illicit drugs, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Jeremy Douglas. He was in Jakarta to attend the UN ASEAN cooperation meeting on March 30-31. The following are excerpts from his interview with The Jakarta Post’s Sepsha D. Restiananingsih.