Formas Expert: Global Challenges a Test for Indonesia

JAKARTA — The Indonesian Golden Society Forum (Formas) held a National Dialogue to formulate concrete policy recommendations for the government in facing global uncertainty, at Tarumanagara University’s campus in Jakarta on Friday evening (17/7/2026).

According to Serian Wijatno, Chairman of the Dialogue Organising Committee and also Chairman of the Formas Expert Council, the scientific forum adopted the theme “Testing the Resilience of the Indonesian Economy Amid Global Turbulence: Robust or Vulnerable?”.

A number of speakers were in attendance, including economists Piter Abdullah, Hendri Saparini, Anthony Budiawan and Wijayanto Samirin, along with the Rector of Tarumanagara University, Ahmad Sudiro, as well as several national business figures and academics.

In his opening remarks, Serian Wijatno, who is also known as a social and community observer, likened Indonesia’s current economic situation to a ship battling a storm on the open sea, caused by geopolitical conflict, technological disruption and the weakening of people’s purchasing power.

“There is a wise saying that calm seas never produce skilled sailors,” he said in a statement to the media in Jakarta on Saturday (18/7/2026), offering an allusion to the current state of the economy.

He stressed that these global challenges are a real test of national economic resilience.

Therefore, he continued, the dialogue was deliberately designed in a critical manner to produce economic policy recommendations that are realistic, clear and can be immediately followed up with concrete action by policymakers, rather than merely serving as academic discourse or an ordinary theoretical discussion.

Echoing Serian’s remarks, the Chairman General of Formas, Yohanes Handojo Budhisedjati, explained in his introduction that this initiative was taken in response to a phase of economic instability and inflation that has begun to trigger recession across various domestic sectors.