Indonesia Has Entered Talks With China On High-Speed Train Debt, Minister Says 

Indonesia's Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani on Wednesday, October 9, 2025, said the government has entered into discussions with China about restructuring the debt of Indonesia's high-speed train company. 

Construction of the USD 7.3 billion China-backed high-speed railway began in 2016, and it was meant to start operating in 2019. 

But the project to connect the capital Jakarta and Bandung in West Java faced problems, including land procurement issues, pandemic-related delays and ballooning costs, which pushed out its launch to 2023. 

Rosan declined to disclose details of the proposed restructuring being negotiated with the Chinese government. 

"We want a comprehensive reform, so that after we restructure there will be no more things like the possibility of default and so on in the future," Rosan said. 

Source: Reuters 

Indonesia Pushes Back Peak Emissions Target By Five Years to 2035 

Indonesia has pushed back its peak emissions target by five years to 2035, prompting officials to raise doubts over the country’s ability to reach net zero by 2060. 

Peak emissions refers to the time when greenhouse gas output hits its highest level before starting to decline. 

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s renewable energy director general, Eniya Listiani Dewi, said the government had made efforts to prevent the setback. 

The change, she added, would make it more difficult for the country to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. 

The updated target would be reflected in Indonesia’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which is to be presented at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30) in Belém, Brazil, next month. 

Eniya emphasized the need for accelerated collaboration with international partners and the adoption of new technologies to curb national emissions. These efforts were outlined in Ministerial Regulation No. 10/2025 on the country’s energy transition road map. 

"This road map ensures that all our energy resources can be optimized to reduce emissions," she said, adding that the regulation also covers the early retirement of coal-fired power plants and opens up more room for the development of renewable energy sources, including nuclear. 

However, she acknowledged ongoing challenges in expanding renewable energy, particularly in green transmission and smart grid development. 

"Renewable energy in our total mix is now 16%. The 23% target has not been reached, but thankfully it rose by two digits within a year," she added. 

Southeast Asia's largest economy has committed to cutting carbon emissions by relying less on coal and more on renewable sources of energy, but progress has been slow. 

Indonesia has continued to fall short of its annual renewable energy targets, with the latest share rising only modestly to around 16% in 2025 from 14.68% in 2024 and 13.1% in 2023. 

The lagging progress has prompted the government to revise downward its renewable energy target, cutting the share of renewables in the national electricity mix from the initial 23% by 2025 to between 17% and 19% in 2025. 

State-owned utility company PLN has set its sights on renewable energy contributing 34.3% of the national energy mix by the end of 2034, as reflected in the electricity business plan (RUPTL) for 2025–2034. 

The new RUPTL assumes the economy will grow by 8% annually by the end of 2029, which officials hope will translate into a surge in power demand at roughly the same pace. 

PLN plans to create an additional 42.6 gigawatts of new and renewable power capacity between 2025 and 2034. That is equivalent to 61% of the planned 69.5 GW of additional electricity capacity over the next decade. 

"The RUPTL was delayed by more than six months because we wanted to ensure that renewable energy takes up a much larger portion," Eniya said. 

The company will also add more fossil fuel power plants, according to the RUPTL, including 10.3 GW from gas and 6.3 GW from coal.  

Source: Jakarta Post 
 

 
ASEAN to Ink Digital Economy Pact in 2026, Timor-Leste to Need More Time 

The Southeast Asian bloc began negotiating the so-called Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) in 2023, during which Jakarta was at the group’s helm. ASEAN claimed that this would become the world’s first major regionwide digital economy agreement. 

Chief Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto revealed Tuesday, October 8, 2025, that the group had been drafting some key provisions, including on making sure that the members comply with the World Trade Organization’s rule to keep cross-border digital trade free of customs duties. The DEFA will also cover financial services, non-discrimination principles for digital products, submarine cables, and flexibility in electronic payment systems. 

"We hope we can sign the DEFA in 2026 and immediately implement the pact," Airlangga told a news conference in Jakarta. 

Airlangga claimed that estimates showed that ASEAN’s "highly dynamic" internet economy could soar from USD 263 billion in 2024 to USD 1 trillion in 2030 under a business-as-usual scenario. Having the DEFA in place is expected to cause the 2030 projections to skyrocket to USD 2 trillion. According to Airlangga, Indonesia makes up the lion’s share of ASEAN’s internet economy, contributing about USD 90 billion in 2024 and is bound to top USD 360 billion by 2030. 

What About Timor-Leste? 

ASEAN leaders are expected to gather in Kuala Lumpur later this month for the group’s summit. The forum will finally see Timor-Leste gaining its full membership -- something which the half-island nation had pursued for decades. The Jakarta Globe asked Airlangga whether newcomer Dili would automatically join the DEFA when it gets signed in 2026. The minister admitted that it would be unlikely for Dili to be part of the pact by next year. 

"We will give Timor-Leste some time to adjust its regulations. … So, no, not 2026," Airlangga commented on Dili’s DEFA entry. 

Timor-Leste officially applied to join ASEAN in 2011, but it was only in 2022 that the group "agreed in principle" to accept Dili. Stark inequality and lackluster infrastructure have set major obstacles to Timor-Leste’s ASEAN dream. 

"As Timor Leste becomes the group’s 11th member, we hope to bring our cry for unity in ASEAN, for an ASEAN that embraces everyone and not leaves anyone behind," its president, José Ramos-Horta, recently told the ASEAN for the Peoples Conference. 

Source: Jakarta Globe