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Abstract
It is an exciting time to live in Indonesia. The country has just muddled the 2008 financial and the subsequent recession with flying colors. Unlike countries in the region that rely heavily on export, Indonesia was not greatly impacted. Growth has remained stable, making it one of the fastest growing major economies in the world. The country has just peacefully elected its legislative representatives and president in 2014. After 10 years in opposition, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia-Perjuangan, hereafter abbreviated as 'PDI-P') won 18.95% of the total votes on April 2014, gaining the most seats for a single party. Joko Widodo, the former mayor of Surakarta, burst into the national political scene, first as the governor of Jakarta and finally winning the presidency on July 2014.
The rise of Indonesia's political and economic prestige puts it in the club of emerging powers. Indonesia is by far the most influential member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is now a member of the G-20 major economies. There were even discussions that Indonesia deserved to be the "I" within the grouping of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). The peaceful parliamentary and presidential elections set Indonesia apart from other young democracies. Impatient with the ensuing caprice, the military toppled civillian governments in Egypt and Thailand, while new leaders came to take up positions in Indonesia with no violence. It is also worth noting that while other young democracies still struggled with communal insurgencies and separatism, Indonesia has achieved stability on these fronts. Although Papua remains restive to this day, violence between Aceh and Jakarta has ceased and the country's counter-terrorism efforts have largely been successful.