History

Under the IDEA label, various discussions on a limited or open scale were held. Academics, students, NGO activists and journalists gradually began to get used to the discussions and discourses that developed in IDEA which were critical, open and sometimes experimental.

Although it began to be known by the public as a nursery for critical thinking, IDEA did not get through its first year easily. In fact, the following year, IDEA activists who were still students at the time of its founding, one by one left Yogyakarta to work after college. The organization's pulse slowed down. However, thanks to the presence of a younger generation of activists, the pulse remained.

In 1998, coinciding with the political upheaval in Indonesia, a new generation of IDEA activists became involved in street political activities demanding fundamental changes to the foundations of democracy in Indonesia. At the same time, the backgrounds of student activists in the IDEA community became increasingly diverse; economics, political science, and geography.

In 1998, IDEA's activities slowly shifted from discussions and intellectual struggles to more concrete actions, without abandoning its intellectual character. The issues that IDEA cared about also became more focused; namely the issue of handling corruption and state financial policy.

Along with the selection of the focus, IDEA's association is increasingly widespread both among NGOs and funding agencies that often require legality. To facilitate relations with external parties, it is not easy for IDEA to maintain its status as one of the wings of the Merdeka Foundation.

So, after going through a telephone discussion with the founders of the Merdeka Foundation, Agam Fatchurrochman, Dati Fatimah, Deddy Heriyanto, Revrisond Baswir and Wahyu W. Basjir registered IDEA with a notary to obtain a legal entity for the foundation in 1999. This decision was taken considering that the umbrella institution of the Merdeka Foundation had never worked de facto since its establishment, whereas the name IDEA was much better known.

Despite having its own legal entity, IDEA's growth apparently requires various adjustments because various pillars and institutional bases are not yet perfect. In such conditions, IDEA's activities and programs can indeed continue to be managed, but various obstacles cause many things to not be done immediately.

Until an agreement was reached to make IDEA more flexible and open with adequate pillars of democratic decision-making. Thus, the legal status of IDEA changed from a foundation to an association with the name of the IDEA Association (Institute for Development and Economic Analysis). The change also included replacing the preposition of with for to give a more active character to the acronym IDEA.