On 9 November, the Centre for Strategic Studies hosted a free-wheeling discussion on contemporary Indonesian politics, featuring a group of Indonesian parliamentarians led by the Speaker of the People’s Representative Council, H.E. Bambang Soesatyo, and including the 2018 Kippenberger Visiting Professor of Strategic Studies Dewi Fortuna Anwar.

The discussions focused on Indonesia’s upcoming April 2019 elections, which for the first time will see presidential, legislative and regional elections all held simultaneously. The scale of this event raised some critical challenges, including how to prevent the manipulation of information, hoaxes and fake news. Discussions also addressed Indonesia’s place in ASEAN and regional issues including the fate of the Rohingya people in Myanmar.