Bob Elson, the Australian historian who wrote Indonesia: A History of an Idea, has expressed his puzzlement at what he sees as a gap between Indonesia in the international arena and Indonesia at home.

Over the coming years, trillions of dollars of new business investment are set to pour into hazard-exposed regions of the world. How the private sector — accounting for up to 85 percent of this total investment — decides to allocate these funds will largely determine whether economic losses from disasters will continue
to escalate.

Corruption is one of the greatest challenges facing our nation today. Despite many efforts to combat corruption and the fact that hundreds of high-ranking government officials and politicians have been convicted and imprisoned for graft, white collar crime seemingly remains unbeatable in Indonesia.

The Islamic radicalism that evolved after the 1998 reform depicts a revival of Islam. Unfortunately, this resurgence also indicates a cultural and historical decline of Islam in Indonesia. The re-Islamization process in this matter is of course contrary to the nature of Islam in Indonesia which is cultural, tolerant and substantive.

As you finish reading this article, some 75 people — near or far — will have died from hypertension. Am I exaggerating? Not at all, as globally, about 15 people lose their lives per minute due to hypertension and, therefore, if you need five minutes to read this article, 75 people would have lost their lives to this so-called silent killer within the duration.

The reform era, marked as it has been by political openness, has given ample room for Indonesians to promote democracy as a rule in the political life of the nation.

We are pleased that the Pew Research Center’s new report, The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics & Society, has attracted the attention of The Jakarta Post and its readers. The cross-national survey was a mammoth endeavor entailing more than 38,000 interviews in 39 countries across Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

The recent drama revolving around the arrest and killing of suspected terrorists in Jakarta, Banten, Bandung, Kebumen, Kendal, Lampung and Batam suggest that Indonesia’s efforts to curb terror the threat are still facing serious challenges, which stem from violent groups as well as an imperfect approach to dealing with the issue.

Supporters of the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) must hate the Internet right now. The party has long been a target of online mockery for its perceived self-righteousness. But in the past, it always managed to prove its critics wrong, until the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested and detained its former leader, Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, on corruption charges.

The opening of the Papua separatist organization’s Free Papua Movement (OPM) office in Oxford, UK, has been met with mixed reaction. Some are calling on the Indonesian government to take tough actions against the British government while some others are standing up for the right of freedom of expression.