Political soap opera

Kid: The next episode in the presidential election dispute soap opera right Dad?

Following weeks of political drama after Prabowo Subianto refused to concede defeat in the July 9 presidential election and his failed attempt to contest the result in the Constitutional Court (culminating in his supporters trying to breach a police blockade with Unimog trucks), another squabble between the political elite has erupted over legal impunity for lawmakers and leadership of the parliament (the MD3 law) and the election of the next Jakarta deputy-governor.

Kompas - August 30, 2014

Smart people pay tax

Smart people (find it hard to) pay tax – a campaign slogan to encourage people to pay tax. Sign reads 'Tax collection service'.

With the government pleading poverty over costly fuel subsidies and lower-than-expected tax revenues, critics say that the delegation of tax collection to regional governments, overlapping regulations on land and property (PBB) along with bureaucratic red tape and corruption make it difficult for many people to pay tax even if they want to.

Kompas - August 20, 2014

Panjat pinang

Kid: All the best for August 17 Mr!

Prizes read: Human rights, fuel [prices], poverty, culture of corruption, law [enforcement], sectarian conflicts.

Joko Widodo (centre), who will be confirmed as Indonesia's next president if as expected the Constitutional Court rejects rival Prabowo Subianto's (left) electoral challenge on August 22, faces a myriad of challenges not unlike the popular Independence Day game Panjat Pinang where contestants have to scale a slippery tree trunk to reach prizes at the top.

Kompas - August 16, 2014

Freedom!

Man: Freedom!

Independence Day celebrations on August 17 marking 69 years since Indonesia won independence from Dutch colonial rule will be muted this year with many parts of the country suffering from blackouts due to government restrictions on the sale of subsidised fuel.

Kompas - August 15, 2014

New threat

Garuda Pancasila, I am your supporter, a patriot of the proclamation, ready to sacrifice for you... (from the nationalist song Garuda Pancasila).

With no major terrorist attacks for several years and the Australian funded anti-terror unit Densus 88 having little to do except kill pro-independence activists in West Papua, the government has found a new threat to the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) in the form of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria after reports that a handful of Islamic militants have travelled to Iraq to join the ISIS.

Kompas - August 9, 2014

Fake websites

Kid: There are false oaths, false promises, fake surveys, false teeth... what else Dad... oh yeah, fake websites!

Man: Usually... it's because the owner's aren’t real!

The government has blocked several websites which have been imitating popular news portals and publishing negative reports about presidential candidate Joko Widodo and extolling the virtues of rival Prabowo Subianto who is challenging Widodo's election victory in the Constitutional Court on the grounds that the entire election was flawed.

Kompas - August 2, 2014