The Reformist Podcast has just released a new episode on our YouTube channel on reforming Indonesia’s justice system. We sat down with Rifqi Assegaf, an expert staff member at the Corruption Eradication Commission and a former member of the Supreme Court’s judicial reform team.

In our conversation with Rifqi, he spoke about the structural and bureaucratic reforms made to the Indonesian justice system over the past three decades after the 1998 Reformasi and the systemic challenges that continue to linger despite efforts to eradicate them.

Perhaps his most inspiring tale was at the peak of Reformasi. After the collapse of the authoritarian New Order regime, Rifqi, a recent Law graduate at the time, marched with his friends—fresh out of school—to the Supreme Court with a set of demands and a blueprint for reforming the country’s judiciary.

Not only did the Court accept their demands, but it also opened its doors for these students and other representatives of civil society to repair the broken system from within.

Moments like this are why The Reformist exists: to unveil hidden stories from actors who were, and are still present in changing Indonesia, one meaningful reform at a time.

However, while inspiring and certainly noteworthy, Indonesia’s justice system today remains faulty at best and neglected at worst.

With the unjust indictments of hundreds of students and activists, intra-governmental overreach in the judiciary, and legal impunity for attacks on human rights defenders, much more still has to be done to uplift Indonesia’s rule of law.

If you would like to learn more about the ins and outs of our country’s justice system, listen in on this episode and share your thoughts on the state of our country’s “rule of law”.

Find more reform stories from in- and outside of the system on our YouTube channel: The Reformist. Subscribe to get notified when a new episode is released.

What reform stories should we cover next? Who should we invite to our studio? Comment below or reply to our email!

Is it true that healthy food in Indonesia is more expensive compared to unhealthy ones, like, say, ultra-processed food? If you go to a local supermarket and look at the price tags, it is sadly true. But do you know that when you buy and consume unhealthy food, there is a price that you pay that is not written on your receipt?

In the latest episode of The Reformist Podcast, our hosts Afu Utami and Rayestu spoke with Romauli Panggabean, an environmental economist from WRI Indonesia and the Knowledge Generation Lead of Koalisi Sistem Pangan Lestari (KSPL). They discussed how there have been ‘hidden costs’ behind our food system – something we all pay with our health, the environment, and the welfare of those working along the supply chain that puts food on our table.

KSPL and WRI’s study showed that the problems in our food system have cost all of us up to 622.3 billion US dollars (that’s about 45.4% of our GDP!). These hidden costs have made around 140 million Indonesians (about half our population) unable to access healthy food, because the system has made it seem more expensive.

Listen to this episode for more interesting findings – there could be many things that you’ve been taking for granted that surprised you.

Enjoy the episode!

Kind regards,

The Reformist Desk

We’re glad to be back on air with The Reformist Podcast’s first episode of 2026!

This time around, we’re talking about something closely related to a potentially groundbreaking reform in Indonesia’s energy sector.

After meeting India’s PM Narendra Modi last year, President Prabowo Subianto went home and pledged to add 100 GW of solar energy into Indonesia’s energy mix in the following decade. His administration followed this up by promising that 80 GW would be generated throughout 80,000 village cooperatives (Koperasi Merah Putih) nationwide. Is this even possible?

In this episode, we spoke to to Nikit Abhyankar, an adjunct professor in energy technology and policy from UC Berkeley, to learn how India was able to raise its solar capacity by 40-fold from 3 GW in 2014 to 135 GW in 2025.

Stay until the end to learn five key lessons from India’s solar energy revolution!

PS. We recently released an article on the 100 GW solar energy ambition. Have a read here, we think it’s a great companion to the podcast.

Well, enjoy the episode!

Kind wishes,

The Reformist Team

The Reformist Podcast is back with another episode featuring a reformist ‘SEAbling,’ this time from Malaysia, Co-Founder and President of Parti MUDA Amira Aisya.

In this episode, Amira tells the story on her origins as a fiery student activist to becoming, at the moment, the ONLY female party leader in Malaysia. Her story of managing a young and idealist party lays the framework on how similar vehicles of change across democracies can balance political pragmatism while still remaining true to their values.

This episode gets right to the elephant in the room: can MUDA stay true to its ideals in a system that is well versed in turning reformists into conformists? We’ve all seen this before: a youth-led party rises, enters the arena, and becomes the very thing they once denounced.

Will MUDA be the one to break the cycle?

Enjoy the episode!

Kind regards,

The Reformist Team

Last week, we were invited to host a live podcast session in the annual “Ideafest” with a very special guest: historian and author David van Reybrouck.

In this episode, our hosts Rayestu and Afutami spoke with David about how Indonesia’s struggle for independence (‘Revolusi,’ which is also the title of David’s book) and the years that followed were nothing short of iconic; inspiring leaders and independence movements across the Global South.

From the class segmentation of the Van der Wijk steamship (that mimics the Dutch colonial system), to the historic Asia-Africa Conference, follow David as he untangles the web of colonial relations through the act of storytelling, and how the youth of today can replicate the same fire for change.

The energy in the room was electric! We had a great time hosting this session, and now we are excited for you to experience it too.

Enjoy the episode!

Kind wishes,

The Reformist Team

Dear readers,

The Reformist Podcast is finally back on YouTube! We’re excited to share with you a special edition where our hosts Afu Utami and Rayestu spoke with Pita Limjaroenrat, Thailand’s former Move Forward Party leader, a reformist icon whose victory as elected Prime Minister got overturned and then he got banned from politics for 10 years.

Prior to the ban (and party dissolution) his party successfully pushed some notable legal reforms, including the anti-enforced disappearance law, labour law, and marriage equality law.

Pita draws parallels between Indonesia’s and Thailand’s most fundamental problems: wealth inequalities, single-metropolis problem, education quality gap, and rampant corruption.

Yet, Pita’s attempt to push for reforms through legislative deliberations and campaigning has shown results: his party and its reformist agenda won the people’s votes, and they passed progressive laws that would help solve those problems.

It turns out, reform can happen even inside a broken system. So, what can our policymakers learn from him?

Listen to the full episode and find out!

We’re eager to hear about what you think of this episode! Comment below your thoughts - and perhaps share with us your wishlist: which reformist should we invite next?

Well, until next time - see you at the next reform!

Best wishes,

Nea Ningtyas

Managing Editor & Producer at The Reformist

Dear readers,

Since the new administration took office, people have voiced concerns (even disdain) over a number of ‘controversial’ figures being appointed as ‘special staffs’ to the President and various Ministries.

Notably, there is TV personality Raffi Ahmad (the President’s Special Envoy for Youth Development and Arts) and the more recently appointed magician-turned-podcaster Deddy Corbuzier (the Defense Minister’s special staff). While they are both megafamous entertainers, many have questioned their appointment for such a high-level post usually reserved for highly-qualified people.

This phenomenon is indeed disheartening, considering the first time Indonesia appointed ‘special staff’ was actually to employ qualified people to help the government quickly, and effectively, deliver a national mandate.

In our previous episode, you’ve heard William Sabandar’s story on the BRR, an organisation filled with professionals (who are not government officials), mandated to reconstruct Aceh and Nias after a devastating tsunami. The model of this organisation, in the corporate world known as Project Management Office (PMO), has set the precedent for every ‘delivery unit’ that comes after it, including the SBY era Presidential Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight (UKP4), Indonesia’s first official presidential delivery unit.

Coming to The Reformist Podcast to tell this story is Yanuar Nugroho,

who served as an Expert Assistant to Head of UKP4 (2009-2014) and later appointed as a Deputy to the Jokowi era Presidential Staff Office (2015-2019).

His story will change your mind about ‘non-government officials’ being employed to work for the government. Spoiler alert: the agility of the PMO model, and the work ethics of the staff, is the answer for smoother and more efficient government program delivery, as opposed to the rigid, often inefficient bureaucracy within the executive offices.

But this is a band-aid solution—what does it mean?

Listen to the full story on the 3rd episode of The Reformist Podcast with Yanuar Nugroho!

We are now available to stream on:

• Youtube, and

• Spotify

Enjoy the episode!

Best,

The Editorial Team at The Reformist.

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The Reformist Podcast is produced in association with Endgame.

Dear readers,

December last year was the 20th anniversary of the devastating tsunami that wreaked havoc in Indonesia’s westernmost regions: Aceh and Nias.

Before the tsunami, dubbed one of the deadliest disasters in modern history, Aceh has long suffered from years of armed conflicts with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). This situation had made reconstruction efforts tricky, but ten years after the tragedy, the region saw rapid development: about 500,000 displaced people were housed again.

How did we manage to rise from the despair of death and destruction amidst the delicate situation with GAM?

Coming to our studio to tell the tale behind the great reconstruction of Aceh and Nias is William Sabandar (we call him Pak Willy) who headed the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR). From his stories we learned that it is possible to handle a devastating situation and come back stronger from it. Though, indeed, it requires a great finesse to do so with grace and integrity.

📹 Watch on Youtube

🎙️We’re also on Spotify!

In this episode, you can listen to Pak Willy’s story about:

• How the government mobilized national and international resources for effective disaster relief right after the news broke.

• The structure of BRR and how it became the proto-seed of The Presidential Working Unit for the Supervision and Management of Development (UKP4).

• Anti-corruption and integrity measures to prevent mismanagement of reconstruction funds within BRR.

• Innovative fund management to ensure transparency and accountability.

• Data-driven approach so BRR could prioritize reconstruction based on real needs.

• The involvement of GAM in the reconstruction process that fostered stability and community ownership of the reconstruction process.

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The conversation we had with Pak Willy was heartfelt, enlightening, and above all perhaps hopeful. In the midst of myriads of controversial policies and mega-corruption cases dominating the news cycle lately, we hope that this episode will shine light on the fact that there have been well-meaning reformists inside the system who strived for excellence and do the public good by holding onto integrity and good governance—and that there could be more of them.

Enjoy the episode!

Best,

The Editorial Team at The Reformist.

Dear readers,

We’ve been looking forward to the day we could finally share with you the meaningful, heartfelt conversations we’ve had in The Reformist Podcast — and it is today!

The Reformist Podcast inaugural episode is now streaming on

• Youtube, and

• Spotify

(Subscribe, please)

On this first episode, our hosts Ray and Afu asked Sudirman Said, Indonesia’s Jokowi-era Energy and Mineral Resources Minister (2014-2016) about some of the most impactful reforms in the energy sector that he led throughout his short tenure.

Hear firsthand about the time when Sudirman Said was appointed minister with the mandate to eliminate the so-called ‘mafia migas’ (oil & gas mafia) and spearheaded key reforms in the energy sector.

From auditing and dissolving Petral to advancing renewable energy initiatives, driving new explorations, and many more, he takes us through the challenges, strategies, and impact of his efforts to transform the institution.

It’s gonna be an enriching 1-hour time spent – we promise!

We hope you enjoy the first episode, and see you in the next reform!

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The Reformist Podcast is produced in association with Endgame.