The political constellation is changing rapidly after the resignation of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (SMI). A day after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) aceepted SMI’s resignation to take up a new job as a Managing Director of the World Bank, the President immediately met with leaders of political parties of the coalition and ministers from the elements of the political parties. The essential agreement of the meeting was to form a joint secretariat.
it is hard not to associate the formation of the joint secretariat with several political events, such as SMI’s resignation plans, rampant tax cases and, some legal cases involving some politicians, especially politicians from the Golkar Party, as well as raising the issue of rights that are related to expressing an opinion by the Parliament Century case. At this point, the coalition’s presence has sparked controversy and invited suspicion that the occurrence of transactional politics and political cartels.
This edition of the Indonesian Update also raises some important themes from several fields. On the economy and finance, it discusses the global economic conditions in the aftermath of the Greek crisis and the economic impact of the resignation of Sri Mulyani Indrawati. On political affairs, it talks about the passage of Law No. 14/2008 on the Disclosure of Public Information and the bureacratic reform after the resignation of Sri Mulyani Indrawati. On social affairs, it talks about higher education tuition fees in the 2010/2011 academic year and four years of the Sidoardjo mudflows.
