Club Lunch: Resurgent or Turbulent Indonesia

Indonesia faces critical elections in 2019 and at stake are the country’s hard-won gains since 1998. Join Vasuki Shastry, author of Resurgent Indonesia: From Crisis to Confidence for a discussion on Indonesia’s future. Using religion as their electoral calling card, Jokowi’s rivals are gearing up to smear and defeat the popular President. This is a battle for the heart and soul of South-East Asia’s largest nation, between an inclusive politics and religious fundamentalism.

Vasuki Shastry was a well-known business and economics journalist in India, Singapore, and Indonesia before joining the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1998. His last assignment as a journalist was in Jakarta, where he was bureau chief of The Business Times between 1996 and 1998, covering the Asian financial crisis and the fall of President Suharto. He worked extensively on Indonesia during his stint at the IMF, starting as Asia Pacific spokesperson and in other roles. Vasuki also worked for the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) between 2001 and 2003 as head of communications. He is currently based in London and is global head of public affairs and sustainability at Standard Chartered.