Indonesia’s election and the future of Australia-Indonesia relations

On Wednesday 28 February 2024, the Perth USAsia Centre, in cooperation with the Indonesia Institute, hosted a briefing on Indonesia’s election results and the future of Indonesia-Australia relations.

On 14 February 2024, more than 200 million Indonesians went to the ballot box in one of the biggest single-day elections in the world. Their votes decided Indonesia’s new president and his vice, as well as members of the country’s legislature.

Indonesia is key to Australia’s future, and a central part of its economic and strategic engagement in the Indo-Pacific region. The future trajectory of Australia’s relationship with Indonesia will be significantly shaped by the make-up of the new government.

To discuss the implications of the election, we were joined by a panel of speakers including Dr Jacqui Baker and Dr Ian Wilson, both Senior Fellows at Murdoch University’s Indo-Pacific Research Centre, Dr Pia Dannhauer, Research and Program Associate at the Perth USAsia Centre, and Kyle Springer, Manager Infrastructure Advisory at EY.

The expert panel discussed a broad range of topics from what the election means for Indonesia’s democracy to how the future president might shape the country’s foreign policy and what Australian businesses can expect from a new government.