In the defining year of his presidency, Joko Widodo faces an incredibly difficult challenge
Originally published in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
By Ben Bland
Thursday 28 Jan 2021 | 04:47 | SYDNEY
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Ben Bland
Director, Southeast Asia Program
Lowy Institute
Areas of ExpertiseSoutheast Asian politics and foreign policy; South China Sea; regional economic trends; China-ASEAN relations; Indonesia; Malaysia; Vietnam; Hong Kong
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Indonesia's Jokowi turns politics into a family business
One-time furniture maker who fought his way to the top was meant to be different. Originally published in Nikkei Asia
By Ben Bland
COVIDcast: Tom Tugendhat on forging a “Global Britain” in the midst of Brexit and a pandemic
In this episode of COVIDcast, Ben Bland, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute, sat down with Tom Tugendhat MP to discuss the UK’s COVID-19 crisis
By Ben Bland
COVIDcast: Chatib Basri on Indonesia’s struggle with COVID-19 and its first recession since 1998
In this episode of COVIDcast, Ben Bland, the Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute, sat down with Chatib Basri to discuss Indonesia’s struggle with COVID-19
By Ben Bland
COVIDcast: Ben Bland On Indonesian President Joko Widodo, A Man Of Contradictions
In this episode of COVIDcast, Hervé Lemahieu, Director of the Asian Power and Diplomacy Program at the Lowy Institute, sat down with Ben Bland to discuss his new book
By Ben Bland
The limits of Zoom diplomacy in Asia
A whirlwind of online diplomatic speed-dating doesn’t allow the impromptu conversations where real business is done.
By Ben Bland
Indonesia's Economy Needs More Than A Reboot from Jokowi
Originally published in Bloomberg
By Ben Bland
Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia
The first English-language political biography of Joko Widodo, to be published on 1 September 2020 by Penguin Specials as a Lowy Institute Paper
By Ben Bland
Hong Kong is not dead, just entering a new phase of struggle
Originally published in The Sydney Morning Herald
By Ben Bland
Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Inquiry into the Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Australia's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
Joint submission by Lowy Institute researchers to the JSCFADT inquiry into the implications of the pandemic.
Brookings Report: Historical tensions and contemporary governance challenges in Southeast Asia: The case of Indonesia
In this report published by the Brookings Institution, Ben Bland explains why Western nations need to engage with Indonesia in its own right, not as a part of plan to counterbalance China. To do so successfully, they need to develop a much better understanding of the long-running (and ongoing)
By Ben Bland
Jokowi needs to change strategy
This article was first published in The Straits Times
By Ben Bland
China has only itself to blame for Australia's move on Hong Kong
The Australian government and its partners had no choice but to recognise the new reality in the territory and offer some of its citizens a way out. Originally published in The Guardian
By Ben Bland
Indonesia: Still caught between trade and protectionism
There is little evidence Jokowi sees trade deals as a way to drive liberalising domestic economic reforms at home.
By Ben Bland
National security law cannot erase Hong Kong's political awakening
Demosisto may have disbanded and Nathan Law fled but struggle will continue for generations. Originally published in the Nikkei Asian Review
By Ben Bland
Beijing crackdown will squeeze business
Investors will make a grave mistake by ignoring how much China's new national security law will change Hong Kong. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
By Ben Bland
Emerging From COVID: Policy Responses To The Pandemic
In this new feature, Lowy Institute experts provide policy recommendations for Australia to address issues that are critical to our nation’s — and the world’s — successful emergence from the pandemic
Emerging from COVID: Policy Responses to the Pandemic
Lowy Institute experts provide policy recommendations for Australia to address issues that are critical to our nation's — and the world's — successful emergence from the pandemic
Investors will lose as Beijing squeezes Hong Kong
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
By Ben Bland
Why Beijing feels compelled to destroy Hong Kong’s freedom
Originally published in the Sydney Morning Herald.
By Ben Bland
Hong Kong's new 'Basic Law' is that whatever China says, goes
Judges alone cannot protect territory from Beijing's heavy-handed interventions. Originally published in Nikkei Asian Review
By Ben Bland
New crackdown will deepen dividing lines in Hong Kong
Both the Chinese Communist Party and the Hong Kong democracy movement are settling in for a long and painful struggle.
By Ben Bland
The World After COVID
How will the COVID-19 pandemic change the world? Lowy Institute experts provide their analysis
COVIDcast Episode 6: Geopolitics and the pandemic
The latest episode in a podcast to discuss the implications of coronavirus for Australia, the region, and the world.
The World After COVID‑19
How will the coronavirus pandemic change the world? Lowy Institute experts provide their analysis
COVIDcast Episode 6: Geopolitics and the coronavirus pandemic
COVIDcast is a Lowy Institute pop-up podcast for anyone interested in understanding the effect of coronavirus on global politics. Each week for the next few weeks, Lowy Institute experts will sit down to discuss the implications of coronavirus for the world.
In episode 6, the Director of Lowy
By Hervé Lemahieu , Ben Bland
COVIDcast Episode 4: Crisis looms in Southeast Asia
The latest episode in a podcast to discuss the implications of coronavirus for Australia, the region, and the world.
COVIDcast Episode 4: Crisis looms in Southeast Asia
COVIDcast is a Lowy Institute pop-up podcast for anyone interested in understanding the effect of coronavirus on global politics. Each week for the next few weeks, Lowy Institute experts will sit down to discuss the implications of coronavirus for the world.
In Episode 4, Lowy Institute’s
Indonesia: Covid-19 crisis reveals cracks in Jokowi’s ad hoc politics
The world’s fourth most-populous country has a long way to go to get a grip on this challenge, its president especially.
By Ben Bland
COVIDcast - Episode 1: The global response to the coronavirus
COVIDcast is a Lowy Institute pop-up podcast for anyone interested in understanding the effect of coronavirus on global politics. Each week for the next few weeks, Lowy Institute experts will sit down to discuss the implications of coronavirus for the world. To listen to the first episode, click
Jokowi’s Canberra trip: A step ahead on a long road
The Indonesian president’s visit demonstrated the two countries’ progress together, as well as gaps that remain.
By Ben Bland
Anchoring the Indo-Pacific
A report by Premesha Saha, Ben Bland, and Evan A. Laksmana published by the Observer Research Foundation.
In conversation: Malaysia’s Foreign Minister on great power rivalry
From the South China Sea to the Rohingya crisis, Saifuddin Abdullah speaks to Lowy’s Ben Bland on Asia’s big challenges.
By Ben Bland
Beijing's tactics are driving spiral of violence in Hong Kong
If China is trying to drive wedges between the protest movement and mainstream citizens, it seems to be failing.
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
By Ben Bland
China’s Demands for Loyalty Are Bad for Business
Beijing has successfully muscled foreign companies in Hong Kong, but at what cost?
Originally published in Bloomberg
By Ben Bland
The real reason Hong Kong’s violence is a problem for the government
Originally published in the Washington Post
By Ben Bland
An island of freedom in a stormy communist sea
Originally published in The Australian
By Ben Bland
Australia-Indonesia ties: escaping the beefs about boats or Bali
Don't jinx it, but a few promising signs suggest bilateral ties could be entering a new period of relative stability.
By Ben Bland
Don’t Write Off Hong Kong’s Radicals
Beijing can’t afford to demonize and repress the young activists on the extreme edge of the city’s massive protests.
Originally published in Bloomberg Opinion
By Ben Bland
Uneasy lies the head that wears Hong Kong's rented crown
Originally published in the Sydney Morning Herald
By Ben Bland
Hong Kong climbdown eases external pressures on China
Beijing is fighting many fires at once, so taking the heat out of Hong Kong will suit Xi Jinping.
By Ben Bland
The battle for Hong Kong's soul
This is not just about a law. It is the identity of an exceptional city that is at stake.
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
By Ben Bland
The Hong Kong protests are an expression of years of pent-up anger
Originally published in The Telegraph
By Ben Bland
Hong Kong’s Moment of Reckoning
China’s encroachment on the former colony’s autonomy threatens to undermine the foundations of its economic success.
Originally published in Bloomberg Opinion
By Ben Bland
Indonesia: don’t over-react to Jakarta violence
The taint of riots shouldn’t undermine what was a free, fair and peaceful election.
By Ben Bland
Hong Kong is Set for a U.S.-China Showdown
A controversial extradition bill has exposed the region’s autonomy as a fiction.
Originally published in Foreign Policy
By Ben Bland
Jokowi - business as usual will not be enough
Originally published in Nikkei Asian Review
Indonesian strongman lost, but identity politics won
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
By Ben Bland
The World’s Most Complicated Single-Day Election Is a Feat of Democracy
Indonesia’s ability to hold free and fair polls illustrates many of the oft-hidden processes that, beyond the simple act of casting ballots, underpin democratic societies.
Originally published in The Atlantic
By Ben Bland
Four men, three Indonesian contradictions
The choice of running mate by both candidates illustrates their efforts to overcome Indonesia's size, diversity and difficulty to govern.
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
By Ben Bland
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