Catriona Croft-Cusworth

The topics likely to be covered in bilateral talks reflect Jokowi's domestic-first agenda.

The time of year is approaching when Indonesia's major cities are suddenly emptied of millions of their inhabitants, before being just as suddenly filled with even more people than before. This phenomenon is known as 'mudik'; the tradition of city-dwellers returning to their rural hometowns at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to spend Idul Fitri (Eid-al Fitr) with family.

Indonesia and Singapore verged on a diplomatic spat this week over a collection of islets renamed the 'Funtasy Island' eco-resort. Meanwhile, Jakarta governor Ahok discovered that he has a million friends but still a few enemies, while President Jokowi established a new public holiday and was named among the most effective world leaders in Twitter diplomacy. Gedung Pancasila, scene of Sukarno's Pancasila speech of 1945.

Aside from the joys of diversity and learning from people different to ourselves, one of the benefits of living in a multi-religious society is that sometimes the holidays overlap. In Indonesia, there are six officially recognised faiths, and their holy days are marked as public holidays by all.