Derailed by the Budget

Although Sofyan Djalil, Indonesia's minister of national development planning, rushed to Tokyo on Sunday evening, September 27, he failed to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Japanese leader was attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Instead, on Tuesday at the end of September, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga met with Sofyan. The envoy bore news from President Joko Widodo: the Indonesian government had made a decision regarding the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project. However, since the government preferred a fully business-to-business arrangement that does not involve any state funding, Indonesia would forgo the Japanese proposal. China's offer seemed more suitable.

October 13, 2015