2020 was the year no one could have imagined or predicted in 2019. The COVID-19 has indeed disrupted, influenced and even altered many aspects of human lives. Nevertheless we belive 2021 is going to be a better year. What can we learn from 2020? How should Indonesia prepare for in 2021?
Continue reading
Following the contraction at -5.32% in the second and -3.49% in the third quarter of 2020, Indonesia’s economy has fallen into recession. Nevertheless, World Bank and IMF came with positive news as they predicted Indonesian economy to expand between 4.8% – 6.1% next year. The arrival of vaccine in Indonesia also increases public confidence that Indonesia’s economy will soon recover. However, economic rebound still depends on various factors, including politics. What would Indonesian economic and political landscape looks like next year? When will our economic activities return to normalcy? What kind of policy breakthroughs are needed to spur reforms and transformations for a resilient recovery?
Continue reading
Pandemi Covid-19 telah mengubah perspektif pemerintah maupun pelaku industri dalam berbagai aspek, terutama dalam menjamin ketahanan kesehatan publik, pembangunan ekonomi, dan stabilitas politik. Di bidang ekonomi, setidaknya ada dua implikasi yang harus dicermati dalam mengantisipasi perubahan akibat dampak pandemi. Pertama, pandemi ini telah mendorong evaluasi terhadap global supply chain yang selama ini terpusat di beberapa negara tertentu.
Continue reading
As if COVID-19 and the economic recession were not enough, the world today has to bear with a wrangle between France and the Islamic world, sparked by controversy over President Emmanuel Macron’s recent statements about Islam. Macron made his comments after the gruesome beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad to his students as part of a class discussion.
Continue reading
COVID-19 has reinforced the strategic role of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in navigating regional resilience in a time of crisis. The pandemic demonstrated the use of technology in practice to keep business, governments, and societies running. However, every country has a different capacity in utilizing ICT to respond to COVID-19. How does ASEAN address this ‘digital gap’? How does the Master Plan of ASEAN Connectivity 2025 help in strengthening digital connectivity in the region? How has COVID-19 shifted the digital landscape in Southeast Asia thus far? What are the key challenges in transforming towards a more digitized community?
Continue reading
After almost a decade in the making, the world’s largest free-trade bloc has finally been finalized in the direst of times. As the world faces an economic recession, RCEP delivers new hopes for its signatories to rebuild better, and most importantly, bounce back stronger in overcoming the threats posed by the pandemic. Bringing together major players of Southeast Asia, Asia Pacific, and Oceania, the signing of this historic pact indicates that countries are searching for hope in surviving the pandemic through multilateralism.
Continue reading
Global Town Hall is a 15-hour marathon discussion where world leaders and high-level experts will discuss on the theme, “Rebuilding from the COVID-19 World.” The conference will discuss the state of the world beset by the COVID-19 crisis, evaluate policy challenges and lessons learned, and gather ideas for future direction, especially in terms of how to rebuild the world economically, socially, environmentally, diplomatically and even geopolitically. Global Town Hall is organized by a consortium of 12 reputable think-tanks from around the world and will be watched by a global audience.
Continue reading
The current pandemic may well engender longer lasting and more fundamental social and economic effects, such as risk-aversion and the shift from “mass culture” to that of the “revolt of isolationism”. In the economic sphere one of the implications of the current crisis may be greater investment into “social distancing” undertaken in areas such as transportation, education, retail trade, restaurants and catering, etc. The sudden transformation of demand resulted in the emergence of qualitatively “new demand” that remains largely unsatisfied, along with the disappearance of sizeable tracts of “old consumer demand”.
Continue readingAll nations of the world are awaiting the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Needless to say, it seems that the coronavirus will stay with us for a long time to come. This pandemic has taken more than one million lives and affected more than 40 million individuals. It is an unprecedented period where leaders of the world race to create strategies to protect their nation against further spread of the disease – a time where governments are pushed into crisis management mode, struggling to maintain the delicate balance between saving lives and livelihoods. A period requiring, more than ever before, solid engagement, communication, cooperation and sharing of ideas between nations to prepare for post-pandemic economic and social recovery.
Continue reading
In welcoming the 30th anniversary of the ASEAN-China relations next year, FPCI Research & Analysis department conducted a public survey about the ASEAN-China relationship from June until October 2020. The survey is titled “ASEAN-China Survey 2020: Assessing the Present and Envisioning the Future of ASEAN-China Relations.” The survey involved 1000 respondents from 10 ASEAN Member States and coming from five segments of the general public: government officials, academia, business community, civil society, and students.
Continue reading
