Foreign aid has been controversial. There are several prickly issues. Aid effectiveness and donor-recipient relations are among them. In academia, there is no consensus on aid effectiveness and donor-recipient relations in the already rich academic literature on foreign aid. This paper examines donor-recipient relations and aid effectiveness in the context of Japan's aid policy for Indonesia and Jakarta Commitment. We briefly examine Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Indonesia and its ripple effect. Then through analyzing the function and structure of Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), we try to draw an outline of donor-recipient relations in Indonesia and review Jakarta Commitment to get an indicator of future directions relating to donor-recipient relations. Following these, we try to present several proposals to address the present challenges and criticisms.