AIYA Links, 4th April: Politics, football and miracles

A big congratulations to AIYA New South Wales for their successful election preview event last night! We’ll have photos and a wrap-up of the event in the coming week.

In the news

• Once again, election coverage dominated the news this week. The ABC’s Helen Brown (@HBrown10) took a look at the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation’s efforts to become a political force.
• At the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter blog, Gary Hogan argues that the consolidation of Indonesia’s democracy is a modern day miracle.
• “Jokowi the party man”: AIYA’s own Liam Gammon (@Gammonator) checked in with the Jokowi campaign in Malang this week for New Mandala.
• Meanwhile, the ASPI’s Natalie Sambhi (@SecurityScholar) considers what Indonesia’s defence relationship with Indonesia might look like under a Jokowi presidency.
• Nail punches, halal ink and communal voting: Financial Times correspondent @BenjaminBland wrote about some of the more unusual aspects of Indonesia’s electoral system.
• The Wall Street Journal’s Sara Schonhardt took a look at the political landscape in Aceh, where local parties are forming alliances with their national counterparts.
• Away from the campaign, John Donovan, managing director of AFM Investment Partners says that Australia needs to “wake up” to Indonesia’s business potential. As the FT notes, Indonesia’s economy is in good shape.
• Quartz says Indonesia’s ecommerce frontier is “the world’s most perplexing” — and offers four reasons why.
• Last Saturday, Okezone took a visit to the football in Sydney, watching AFL’s Sydney Swans host Collingwood. They enjoyed the atmosphere.

On the AIYA blog

• In a new video this week, ANU visiting fellow Dr Jacqui Baker spoke about embracing risk and discomfort in cultural exchange: “no amount of ‘Asia-competence’ can triumph the simple human awkwardness of relationships”.
• Last week, we also shared a video Q&A with delegates and speakers at last year’s Conference of Australian and Indonesian Youth on the future of the bilateral relationship.

Events and opportunities

• Sydney: Applications are open for AIYA’s Asialink internship program! It’s a terrific opportunity to work with on of Austraila’s leading Asia-focussed organisations. Full details on our website.
• Melbourne: This year’s Indonesian Film Festival kicks off with a moonlight screening of Joko Anwar’s romantic comedy Janji Joni — tomorrow evening at 7pm, on Melbourne University’s South Lawn.
• Applications for this year’s Asia Pacific Week at the ANU close on Sunday.
• The Paradigm Water Project is running an IndieGoGo campaign to support its efforts to improve access to drinking water in Lombok.