President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has appealed to all diplomats to act like salespeople. During his election campaign he also outlined his vision, focusing on people’s economic welfare, in particular in rural development, agriculture, fisheries, marine resource development and infrastructure.

Countries around the region as well as the US, France and Australia are joining the search over the Java sea.  The Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people, disappeared on Sunday shortly after leaving Surabaya in eastern Java on its way to Singapore.

ActionAid, Oxfam and World Vision voice concern at ‘unprecedented’ cuts that divert focus from disaster preparedness programs

A combination of the most delicious select dishes from tropical Indonesia, traditional dances, a fashion show of traditional attire and soothing music tunes — it was cultural diplomacy at its very best.

Indonesia announced last week that it will scrap visa on arrival fees for Australians in an attempt to boost the number of visitors to the country. While this may lead to a small increase in Australian tourists visiting Bali, what the government really needs to do to increase people-to-people exchange to make it easier for young people to work and study in Indonesia ultimately facilitating deeper economic, political and cultural relations.

Public diplomacy is a key pillar of a country’s foreign policy toolkit. (...) Indonesian leaders have tended to focus their attention on other foreign political elites through foreign policy initiatives like the Bali Democracy Forum and interfaith dialogues rather than promote cultural diplomacy.

Iriana Widodo is our latest First Lady and since last Monday she began her new era as the Ibu Negara of the world’s third largest democracy. People say behind each great president, there is a great first lady – and behind her is a great team.