An intriguing court decision in Indonesia


Indonesia’s constitutional court upheld on Monday a rule that presidential and vice-presidential candidates must be at least 40 years old. But it then carved out an exemption for younger candidates with experience in office.

Where’s the intrigue? 

  • President Widodo’s son (36) is rumoured to be eyeing a run for VP
  • A party now chaired by his other son co-filed the case, and
  • Widodo’s brother-in-law heads up the court that made the decision.

And this all fuels speculation that he’s seeking to establish a political dynasty.

Intrigue’s take: Widodo, who remains popular but is term-limited, continues to shrug off the speculation while declining (🇮🇩) to discuss the court case.

And he himself signed (🇮🇩) the electoral age limit into law back in 2017.

But we won’t have to wait long to see how this all pans out: nominations for February’s general elections open tomorrow (Thursday).

Also worth noting:

  • In explaining its exemption, the court referred to examples of leaders in France and New Zealand being elected while in their 30s.
Latest Author Articles
The last US-Russia nuclear pact ends tomorrow

Some things are good to let expire — like your ✌️free✌️ LinkedIn Premium trial, or that Salesforce subscription sending you breathless 2am emails about Q4 pipeline hygiene. But what about the last remaining nuclear treaty between the two powers still sitting on ~90% of the world’s nukes? That’s what happens tomorrow (Thursday), when the US-Russia […]

4 February, 2026
Trade, travel, and security: three key world leader trips of the week

Any travel nerd will tell you the best time to fly is right after the holidays: lower prices, quieter lounges, fewer tantrums. World leader entourages are more likely to serve the tantrums than suffer them, but several are still travelling right now so let’s look at three:  China’s year of the fire horse involves a […]

30 January, 2026
The EU’s mammoth trade deals

The EU’s Ursula von der Leyen had three things on her India to-do list this week:  Having successfully completed her list, VDL returned to Brussels, leaving the rest of us to ponder the significance of this new “mother of all trade deals”. And sure, there’s significance in the raw numbers, given it’s a free trade […]

28 January, 2026
Three big stories out of Japan: nuclear, elections and out of control bonds

When everyone’s zigging, sometimes it’s fun to zag. So let’s pivot from the world’s least-populated territory and largest island (Greenland), down to an island one sixth the size but 13,000 times more densely populated… Japan. And to add a little pizzazz, let’s do it by numbers:  Stay on top of your world from inside your […]

23 January, 2026