JCI Pressured, Rizal Taufikurahman INDEF: Financial System Governance Must Be Improved

JAKARTA - The plunge in the Composite Stock Price Index (IHSG) on January 28-29, 2026 after the announcement of Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) the day before was the focus of many parties.

The dynamics triggered trading halts up to 2 times, and had an impact on the resignation of five officials of the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on January 30, 2026.

Researcher at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) Rizal Taufikurrahman assessed that the collapse of the JCI should not only be highlighted by its statistics. However, how do stakeholders, namely the Indonesia Stock Exchange and the Financial Services Authority, in maintaining the credibility and stability of the Indonesian financial system.

"How it turns out, all this time our financial system management is fragile and must be improved," he said when talking to Eddy Wijaya in the EdShareOn podcast which aired on Wednesday, February 11, 2026.

As is known, MSCI in its report mentioned three issues in the Indonesian capital market. Namely, the unclear ownership structure of shares, the low effective free float which often does not reflect real liquidity, and indications of coordinated stock trading which undermines market fairness.

This is not the first time that the Indonesian capital market has been hit by negative signals from international institutions. In addition to MSCI, the governance of the Indonesian capital market has also been highlighted negatively by Goldman Sachs and recently, by global credit rating agency, Moody's Ratings.

According to Rizal, the rules of the game in the Indonesian capital market must be enforced. This governance improvement must be carried out by meritocrats who have no interest in the political context.

"Governance is closely related to the person (who runs it). Not the one who is popular but the professional, strong in technical, understands the practice, resistant to intervention, consistent with the tupoksi, and can maintain the market," he said.

What also needs to be improved is the transparency of the Indonesian capital market. OJK must ensure that the practices of the Indonesian capital market industry are in accordance with international standards in order to attract global investors. This means that manipulative practices such as gorengan stocks and insider trading must be wiped clean from the stock market. "If there is no transparency, (shocks) in the short term can recur again because the conditions in it (the system) are still fragile," said Rizal.

Regarding the optimism of the Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa regarding the JCI which could "to the moon" to the level of 10,000, Rizal considered it a big challenge. Moreover, if the government chooses officials who do not meet the expectations of the market.

"I think Mr. Purbaya may have forgotten, the foundation of the market is actually because of credibility. Even though the JCI is slowly rising, but if the factors that affect the market are not improved, then the condition will be very difficult," he said.

Rizal added that there are many factors that determine the Indonesian capital market. Not only the financial sector or macro, but also the real sector that helps maintain the credibility of the capital market. The weakening of the JCI itself can affect foreign investment in the domestic real sector.

"You can have such an opportunity if it is not immediately improved. Because if the liquidity in the market is heavy, the banking is heavy, the interest rate is high, the investor's accessibility is also difficult, investors (think) it's better to go to other countries," he said.

The ultimatum from global index provider Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) regarding the status of the Indonesian capital market is nothing short of a danger alarm for the Indonesia Stock Exchange. From MSCI's statement on January 27, 2026, Indonesia is threatened with a downgrade from emerging market status to frontier market equivalent to Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, and Vietnam, and potentially losing investment capital of up to IDR 1,000 trillion.

This negative signal triggered the plunge in the JCI which experienced a trading halt for two days after the MSCI release.

"The status of an emerging market certainly has limitations when attractive investors enter. The market is more limited. So we have to remain in the emerging market status to be on par with global standards, such as China and India," explained researcher at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) Rizal Taufikurrahman to Eddy Wijaya in the EdShareOn podcast which aired on Wednesday, February 11, 2026.

The turmoil in the Indonesian capital market actually started in October last year. Namely when MSCI mentioned about its clients complaining about the quality of Indonesian capital market data. The peak was at the beginning of this year, MSCI froze the opportunity to increase the weight of Indonesian stocks, and indirectly asked for improvements in stock market transparency if it did not want to be downgraded to a frontier market.

Rizal added that if the status of the Indonesian capital market fell to a lower level, the impact would spread systemically to the real sector, through banking.

This condition is certainly not expected because it can suppress economic growth which the government targets to reach 6 percent by the end of 2026. Therefore, according to Rizal, the government must immediately restore investor confidence in the Indonesian capital market.

"Now our capital market must be maintained so that its status remains emerging. So what? The liquidity is fast, then the capital outflow can also be held. If the status of the market is emerging, we are free to play anywhere," said Rizal. He added, the government must be serious about correcting this.

"Because foreign investors know (about the condition of the Indonesian capital market) from reading the report (MSCI)."

Eddy Wijaya is a podcaster born on August 17, 1972. Through the YouTube account @EdShareOn, Eddy interviewed many national figures ranging from state officials, legal experts, political experts, national politicians, to local celebrities.

The man with a characteristic right cheek dimple is also a nationalist who is an activist for the marginalized and social observers by helping the community through the Wijaya Peduli Bangsa Foundation. He is also active in the field of sports by serving as the Chairman of the Indonesian Equestrian Sports Association (Pordasi) Pacu and also served as Deputy General Chairman of the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) East Jakarta.

Eddy also served as an Advisory Board of the Indonesian Chinese Social Marga Association, 2022-2026 term of office. His ideas were formed because of his hard work to be independent from the age of 13 to be successful as he is now. For Eddy, the working world is not as smooth as imagined, failure and rejection are common. This is what makes him hold fast to the tagline "Success is only a matter of time". (ADV)