As the Strait of Hormuz crisis exposes the fragility of global oil, Indonesia’s path to true energy sovereignty lies not in its oil wells, but in its electric vehicle revolution.

In recent years, Indonesia has witnessed a series of policy reversals that, taken together, raise important questions about the consistency of its reform agenda.

Highly exposed to shocks originating in the US, Global South countries often have to align their monetary policies with America’s, in order to maintain currency stability and manage dollar-denominated debts.

Indonesia’s ambitious vision for a trillion-rupiah creative economy is being strangled by a procurement system that still treats imagination like unskilled labor. The criminalization of videographer Amsal Sitepu exposes a dangerous value blind spot that must be fixed before the state’s bureaucracy bankrupts its own future.

History and research both show that the ocean can be used as a catalyst for building peace, even in the most unexpected places and amid the sharpest geopolitical tensions.

ASEAN is drowning in its own bureaucracy while the region’s nuclear stability begins to fracture. To survive, the bloc must abandon its "do everything" approach and reinvent itself as a lean, security-focused guardian of a nuclear-free Southeast Asia.

The rush toward EV and biofuel adoption risks shifting Indonesia’s ecological burden from coal chimneys to indigenous forests. True energy sovereignty lays not in massive corporate permits but in the resilient, community-led models already thriving in the heart of the archipelago.

If Indonesia withdraws from Lebanon in reaction to the death of the three peacekeepers, we are essentially saying their sacrifice means nothing.

When the responsibility for insisting on basic ethical limits falls to private companies, the systems meant to protect the public interest from potentially dangerous technologies have clearly failed.

Every trillion spent compensating for global fertilizer price spikes is a trillion not invested in making Indonesian agriculture resilient.

The latest blunder of the Trump administration has essentially pushed key allies, including the Philippines, toward rethinking their relations with China, especially where energy is concerned.

Real progress for women in Indonesia requires moving past ceremonial greetings and toward structural reforms that dismantle patriarchal barriers and unlock the full economic power of the female workforce.

Elections are not enough to uphold democracy and civilian supremacy; civilian authority must be sustained by competence, integrity and delivery.

While the world watches oil prices and insurance premiums in the Strait of Hormuz, 20,000 seafarers are trapped in a humanitarian crisis unfolding in plain sight. It is time to stop insuring the cargo and start protecting the people who move the world.

For decades, the US has nurtured the belief that it could wage wars abroad without exposing itself to the risk of serious retaliation.

As the collapse of old regimes and escalating tensions reshape the Middle East, the walls containing extremist threats are beginning to crumble. Indonesia must act now to bridge the gap between global geopolitical shifts and domestic security before "strategic ambiguity" turns into a national crisis.

Even when they were fluent in several languages, the language models retained their Western worldview.

Now that the Climate Change Bill has been included in this year's Prolegnas, it is up to our representatives to ensure that short-term economic interests cannot override ecological primacy, the very imbalance that has led to the climate crisis today.

Indonesia is practicing a balancing strategy, engaging multiple major powers simultaneously, not to hedge passively, but to actively expand its room for maneuver.

Prabowo’s visit to these two nations was overdue. Fortunately, he was still able to reap concrete economic benefits from these East Asian nations, although I believe he could have secured even more had Indonesia not taken them for granted.

Both Trump and Putin miscalculated how the conflict would play out, and each is now struggling to devise some face-saving way to escape the hole he has dug for himself.

True diplomacy is more than a calculation of interests. It is a commitment to stand together when the world is at its most fragile.

The criminal complaint filed in Jakarta has a solid factual basis, presenting clear evidence of genocidal acts against the Rohingya people, corroborated with reports from the United Nations.

The message of Easter isn't just a story of ancient ritual; it is the ultimate example of disruptive innovation: The resurrection broke a closed system of access to create a new, radical architecture of grace and public consequence.

Jakarta is more than a 71st-place ranking; it is a rising laboratory for a new kind of global city built on social resilience and kampung innovation. By championing a "Non-Aligned Cities Index," Jakarta can stop chasing Western ideals and start leading an urban future defined by the Global South.

Holy Week is not a retreat into ritual, but a mirror held up to a nation losing its moral compass.

From the shadow of the cross to the modern struggle for human rights, this Easter calls us to transform the "terror of Golgotha" into a relentless pursuit of justice for the oppressed.