The week of 25\u201331 May 2026 was bookended by solemnity and ceremony:\nthe nation mourned the passing of a distinguished soldier-statesman,\nmarked the eve of Pancasila Day with reflection on national identity,\nand grappled with a raft of consequential economic policy shifts, all\nwhile the international order continued its turbulent unravelling in\nways that Indonesia can scarcely afford to ignore.<\/p>\n
A Nation Bids Farewell to Ryamizard Ryacudu<\/strong><\/p>\n The most emotionally charged story of the week was the death of\nretired General Ryamizard Ryacudu, former Army Chief of Staff and\nDefence Minister under President Joko Widodo, who passed away at RSPAD\nGatot Soebroto Hospital in Jakarta on the afternoon of Sunday 31 May at\nthe age of 76. The outpouring of tributes was immediate and extensive,\ndrawing together political figures across generational and partisan\nlines. Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who had appointed\nRyamizard to senior military command, described him as a \u201ctrue\nstatesman-soldier\u201d and recalled with particular emotion his swift\ndeployment of military engineers to construct Bailey bridges in the\naftermath of the 2004 Aceh tsunami, restoring access to devastated\ncommunities within days. Former Vice President Jusuf Kalla praised his\ncontributions to national security, while Presidential Staff Chief\nDudung Abdurachman, who served under him, called him a \u201cprofessional\nwarrior\u201d and spoke of profound personal loss.<\/p>\n What distinguished the tributes was a recurring emphasis on\nRyamizard\u2019s humanistic approach to soldiering. During operations in\nAceh, he famously instructed his troops that the local population was\nnot the enemy \u2013 a philosophy that, according to multiple colleagues,\nhelped rebuild trust between the military and civilians in one of\nIndonesia\u2019s most conflict-scarred provinces. Former TNI Commander Gatot\nNurmantyo recalled that Ryamizard turned \u201cimpossible\u201d projects into\nreality, including the establishment of the Raider units and the\nreconstruction of Aceh\u2019s road network. President Prabowo Subianto, who\nshared military academy memories with Ryamizard \u2013 including being made\nto climb power poles together as punishment for forgetting the Sapta\nMarga oath \u2013 attended the state military funeral at Kalibata National\nHeroes\u2019 Cemetery on 1 June. His passing closes a chapter in the\ngeneration of officers who shaped post-New Order military reform.<\/p>\n Prabowo\u2019s Paris Diplomacy and the Italy\nConfusion<\/strong><\/p>\n While the nation mourned, President Prabowo had only just returned\nfrom a four-day state visit to France, where he held talks with\nPresident Emmanuel Macron and secured four new commercial agreements\nspanning energy security, trade, and defence cooperation. The visit, his\nthird to Paris this year, produced concrete outcomes: confirmation of\nRafale fighter jet deliveries, a joint military exercise under the\nPegasus Mission scheduled for September 2026, and progress on the\nIndonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. The deepening\nof the Indonesia-France Comprehensive Strategic Partnership reflects\nPrabowo\u2019s clear intent to position France as Indonesia\u2019s primary\nEuropean interlocutor \u2013 a relationship rooted in shared defence\ninterests, technology transfer ambitions, and what multiple analysts\ndescribed as genuine personal rapport between the two leaders.<\/p>\n The visit was, however, briefly overshadowed by an information\nmuddle. Social media reports and a statement from Gerindra spokesperson\nSugiat Santoso suggested the trip would also include stops in Italy,\nAustria, and Hungary. The Government Communication Agency\u2019s head\nMuhammad Qodari and the Presidential Palace both denied any additional\nofficial visits, confirming the itinerary was confined to France. The\nepisode, minor in itself, nonetheless illustrated the persistent gaps\nbetween the administration\u2019s communication machinery and its party\napparatus \u2013 a structural tension that has recurred throughout Prabowo\u2019s\nfirst year in office.<\/p>\n The DHE SDA Policy: Tightening the Foreign Exchange\nGrip<\/strong><\/p>\n Perhaps the most consequential policy development of the week came\nnot from the palace but from the Finance Ministry and Danantara.\nEffective 1 June 2026, Indonesia\u2019s new DHE SDA regulations require\nexporters of natural resources to repatriate foreign exchange earnings\ndomestically \u2013 100% for non-oil and gas exporters, held in domestic\nbanks for at least 12 months, and 30% for oil and gas producers for\nthree months. The policy is accompanied by a 0% income tax incentive for\ncompliant placements, compared to the standard 20% rate.<\/p>\n Simultaneously, the government launched PT Danantara Sumberdaya\nIndonesia (DSI) as the mandatory reporting and oversight channel for\nexports of coal, crude palm oil, and ferroalloy, with the CEISA 4.0\ncustoms platform used for compliance. Coordinating Minister Airlangga\nHartarto framed the initiative as a direct response to years of\nunder-invoicing, transfer pricing, and capital flight \u2013 the Finance\nMinister notably named all 10 of Indonesia\u2019s largest CPO exporters in a\nrandom sample as having used Singapore shell companies to undervalue\nshipments.<\/p>\n The policy has not been universally welcomed. The Indonesian Coal\nMining Association (APBI) warned that routing exports through a single\nstate channel could fundamentally alter the coal trade\u2019s structure,\ndisrupting the quality-consistency and legal liability frameworks that\ninternational buyers rely on. Palm oil smallholder groups reported a\nsharp drop in fresh fruit bunch prices following the announcement, with\nmarket panic driving private mills to purchase below government-set\nreference rates. The Agriculture Ministry threatened licence revocations\nfor non-compliant mills. Danantara announced that DSI\u2019s management board\nwould be revealed the following week, with a transition period running\nuntil December 2026.<\/p>\n Democratic Tensions and Civil Society\u2019s Warning<\/strong><\/p>\n A separate but significant thread ran through the week: a mounting\nchorus of concern about the trajectory of Indonesian democracy under the\nPrabowo-Gibran administration. At Gadjah Mada University, hundreds of\ncivil society organisations, academics, and activists convened a\nself-styled \u201cRepublic Conference\u201d to address what they described as\nmilitary encroachment into civilian spheres, institutional weakening,\neconomic inequality, and democratic regression. Speakers including\nformer Energy Minister Sudirman Said warned that state power had been\nreduced to an \u201celectoral machine\u201d serving a handful of families. The\nconference produced three key demands, including the drafting of a White\nPaper on pro-people economic policy.<\/p>\n The Lemhanas Governor\u2019s endorsement of the Ministry of Defence\u2019s plan\nto establish Territorial Development Battalions (BTP) across Java\u2019s\ndistricts and cities drew particular scrutiny from academics, who argued\nthe initiative blurs the boundary between military and civilian\ngovernance that post-1998 reforms were designed to enforce. SMRC founder\nSaiful Mujani went further, warning that he would call for a boycott of\nthe 2029 elections if democratic standards continued to deteriorate.\nMeanwhile, a Komnas HAM dispute over the revision of the Human Rights\nLaw \u2013 with the commission claiming it had been excluded from the\ndrafting process \u2013 added another layer to concerns about institutional\nindependence.<\/p>\n The KPK, Customs Corruption, and Legal\nAccountability<\/strong><\/p>\n The anti-corruption front produced two notable developments. The\nCorruption Eradication Commission was under pressure to explain why\nCustoms Director-General Djaka Budhi Utama had not been questioned\ndespite his name appearing in court documents related to the Blueray\nCargo bribery case, with money laundering expert Yenti Garnasih calling\nthe omission \u201cstrange\u201d and urging the Finance Minister to suspend the\nofficial. Separately, the KPK unveiled allegations against former\nPekalongan Regent Fadia Arafiq, who stands accused of mobilising\noutsourced workers to support her regional election campaign under\nthreat of dismissal \u2013 a scheme labelled \u201cpolitical outsourcing\u201d \u2013 and of\nreceiving Rp46 billion in illicit funds channelled through family\nmembers.<\/p>\n The Hanania Travel Fraud and Consumer Protection<\/strong><\/p>\n Closer to everyday life, the Hanania Travel umrah fraud case\ncontinued to expand in scale and political salience. The company\u2019s\ndirector, Ahmad Syah Farhan, was formally detained by Jakarta\nMetropolitan Police on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and money\nlaundering, with reported losses of Rp12.14 billion across at least 128\ndocumented victims. DPR members called for mandatory audits of travel\nagencies and urged the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to publish an official\nlist of accredited operators. A dedicated complaint desk was opened at\nPolda Metro Jaya for additional victims. The case has reignited\nlongstanding calls for tighter oversight of the pilgrimage travel\nindustry, an issue that recurs with depressing regularity in Indonesia\u2019s\nconsumer protection landscape.<\/p>\n Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n The week ahead will open with Pancasila Day ceremonies on 1 June, a\nmoment of symbolic significance as President Prabowo serves as\ninspecting officer and former President Megawati is expected to attend \u2013\na rare appearance that will be read, in the current political climate,\nas something rather more than a simple act of patriotism. The DSI export\nregime takes effect in earnest, and markets will be watching closely to\nsee whether the transition produces the revenue gains the government\npromises or the market disruption that industry associations fear. The\nSumbawa Island Alliance\u2019s planned provincial-status protests on 2 June,\ninvolving coordinated demonstrations across five regencies, will test\nboth the government\u2019s tolerance for regional autonomy demands and its\ncapacity to manage dissent through dialogue rather than suppression. And\nthe KPK will face continued public pressure to summon the Customs\nDirector-General \u2013 a test, in microcosm, of whether Indonesia\u2019s\nanti-corruption institutions retain the independence to pursue powerful\nfigures or merely the peripheral ones.<\/p>",
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