Indonesia’s 2024 General Elections: Competing Defence Visions and Military Priorities

084 – 28 November 2023 The authors' views are their own and do not represent the official position of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies of the S. [...] In addition to the controversy surrounding the Constitutional Court’s decision against imposing a maximum age for presidential candidates, the upcoming general elections will be fiercely competitive owing to a row between incumbent President Jokowi and the ruling party – the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) – as well as ideological criticism of existing economic liberalisation polici. [...] However, the defence ministry is likely to miss the deadline for completion owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing trade wars, and the global economic slowdown. [...] Notwithstanding a commitment in the early period of the Jokowi administration to spend 1.5% of GDP on defence, the share has remained at around 0.8% of GDP over the past 10 years. [...] In the context of rising geopolitical tensions, the incoming administration will have to find new sources of revenue to finance new priorities in the defence realm.