Madéwāśraya: A Day I Will Carry
26 September 2026, I stood inside something older than memory. The main day of the Madéwāśraya ceremony at Pura Tuluk Biyu Batur. From the first light of morning until deep into the night. I have lived in Indonesia for more than thirty years. I thought I understood what devotion looks like here. Yesterday taught me […]
Why Most Foreign Buyers Choose the Riskiest Property Deal in Bali
There is a moment, early in every foreigner’s Bali property search, when someone leans across a table and says: “Just take the lease. It’s easier.” It usually is. And that single piece of advice—repeated in villa lobbies, in agent WhatsApp groups, and in the comment sections of expat Facebook pages—is, I think, where it all […]
Indonesia’s Spatial Planning Bill Signals a New Era of Land Governance
Bali does not sit still. The rice terraces shift by season. The coastline moves a little further each year, eaten by tide and concrete alike. And now, quietly, in the committee rooms of Jakarta, the very legal architecture that decides what can be built where – and by whom – is being rewritten too. I […]
Indonesia’s New Finance Minister: What Suahasil Nazara’s Appointment Means for the Market
On September 14, President Prabowo Subianto swore in Suahasil Nazara as Indonesia’s new Minister of Finance, replacing Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa after just over a year in the post. It’s the second finance ministry change in roughly twelve months – Purbaya himself only took over from Sri Mulyani Indrawati in September 2025 – and it comes […]
Indonesia Broadcasting Law Amendment: Key Impacts on Foreign Digital Platforms
Jakarta is rewriting an old law for a medium it was never written for. Law No. 32 of 2002 on Broadcasting was built for a different world. A world of transmission towers and licensed frequencies. A world where “broadcasting” meant something you could point to – a station, a signal, a studio with a sign […]
The Numbers Behind the Headlines: What Bali’s Crime Data Actually Shows
A follow-up to yesterday’s piece on data-led regulation and the FDI reporting gap Yesterday’s piece argued that Bali’s investment problem is a data problem – that blanket enforcement against foreign investors is being applied where targeted, evidence-based regulation would do better. The same argument holds, arguably even more starkly, when it comes to the parallel […]
Indonesia’s Citizenship Bill: What It Means for Families & Investors?
Thirty years in Bali teaches you to read Indonesian law the way you read tide charts—slowly, suspiciously, and never at face value. When the House of Representatives (DPR) began deliberations on the new draft revision to the Indonesian Citizenship Law (Law No. 12/2006), I read it twice: once for what it explicitly states, and once […]
Indonesia Finally Writes the Rulebook. Now Comes the Hard Part
For three years, Indonesia’s Personal Data Protection Law sat there like a promise half-kept. Law No. 27 of 2022 gave the country its first comprehensive data protection statute. A milestone, everyone said. And it was. But a law without implementing regulation is a house without doors – you can see the shape of it, admire […]
Is Bali on the Right Track with Foreign Investment?
Bali is at a crossroads again. This time it’s not about beaches, or traffic, or the price of a coconut in Canggu. It’s about who gets to invest here, and how. The Part We All Agree On Let’s start where there is no argument. Foreigners abusing the system. Investors hiding behind a PMA to get […]
Australia’s New Tax Reality: Why Bali May be Back on the Table for Investors
Australia has just rewritten the rules on property investment. From 1 July 2027, the tax settings that have anchored the “Australian property dream” for a generation – negative gearing and the 50% CGT discount – are being dismantled. For Australian investors weighing where their next dollar of capital should go, that shift changes the comparison […]