A handout underwater picture taken in September 2025 by environmental NGO Auriga Nusantara shows bleached corals caused by nickel waste pollution near Manuran Island in Raja Ampat, Southwest Papua. Nickel mining continues to threaten one of the world's most important marine biodiversity and coral hotspots in Indonesia, despite the government revoking several permits, a report warned on Sept. 25, 2025.

Productivity, competitiveness and quality employment: Keys to prosperity

To achieve Golden Indonesia 2045, the nation must look beyond headline GDP growth and fundamentally transform its economy through higher productivity, competitive industries and quality jobs for all.

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Jakarta’s market reckoning: Speed limits or real teeth?

MSCI isn’t questioning whether investors can pull their money out of Indonesia—it's questioning whether the market's prices are real, leaving regulators racing to prove that multi-trillion-rupiah fines punish the manipulators rather than the investors caught in the crossfire. ...

14 hours ago

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Winning the fiery argument, losing the point

Political debate should do more than make us feel heard. It should help us change what needs to change. ...

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President Prabowo Subianto delivers remarks during the handover of administrative fines and forest land at the Attorney General’s Office in Jakarta on May 13, 2026.

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Two years of Prabowo: Resilience today, bills tomorrow

Indonesia isn't undergoing an economic boom under Prabowo, it is running a state-funded illusion on an off-budget credit card that is about to max out.

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A worker inspects rice sacks on Dec. 29, 2025, at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) warehouse in Lambaro, Aceh.

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Bigger, not better: Prabowo’s two-year report card

Greatness is not declared from a podium, and as state control replaces market discipline, Indonesia’s vital signs are heading the wrong way.

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Students lay on cots as they are treated for food poisoning linked to the free nutritious meal program on Sept. 2, 2026, at Sidoarjo Regional General Hospital in the East Java regency.

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A two-year roller coaster with the free meals program

Two years in, the President's flagship free meals program is cannibalizing regional budgets, stoking food inflation and risking systemic economic fallout for the sake of political ambition.

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President Prabowo Subianto (center front) and House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani (left) wave on Aug. 14, 2026, as Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka (right) looks on, as they arrive at the Senayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta ahead of the annual State of the Nation Address.

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Is Indonesia’s democracy still worth the name?

Behind the facade of regular elections and court battles, the country has quietly traded democratic governance for a militarized cartel, begging the real question: Who can still say no to the President?

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President Prabowo Subianto (left) listens to United States President Donald Trump on Feb. 19, 2026, during the signing ceremony for the US-Indonesia Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) in Washington, DC.

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The frequent-flier president: High-stakes global tour

Trading traditional consensus building for high-stakes presidential dealmaking, Prabowo has transformed Indonesian diplomacy into a high-wire act of transactional multi-alignment where soaring global ambition collides with mounting geopolitical risks.

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President Prabowo Subianto (in passenger seat) and Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Agus Subiyanto (second left, standing) ride an open-top jeep bearing the license plate “Indonesia 1” on Oct. 5, 2026, while inspecting troops during the 81st TNI Day parade in Cilangkap, East Jakarta.

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Whither remilitarization? Two years of Prabowo’s administration

To survive his sinking popularity and an unruly coalition, President Prabowo is reviving New Order-style remilitarization, turning the TNI into his political shield at the peril of military professionalism.

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Export-oriented: Using a rubber-tired gantry crane, port workers load export-bound containers onto a vessel flying a Portuguese flag on June 24, 2025, at Tanjung Mas port in Semarang, Central Java.

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Bangkok meetings: Indonesia’s high-stakes growth test

As rising global debt and geopolitical shocks squeeze developing nations, Indonesia’s push for ambitious expansion hinges on disciplined spending, targeted tax reform and private-sector competitiveness.

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A Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) official (right) assists a customer on May 14, 2024, at the agency's South Jakarta office.

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What it will take to make JKN financially sustainable

Bailouts and premium hikes buy time. Only evidence-based decisions, standardized care and smarter purchasing can keep national health insurance solvent.

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A man uses his mobile phone in front of a reflection of an electronic board displaying stock prices on Oct. 14 at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) building in South Jakarta.

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Has Indonesia’s stock market really changed?

Indonesia’s reforms have improved transparency and regulation, but their impact remains constrained by structural problems that stricter rules alone cannot resolve.

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Traders, brokers and clerks gesture on March 11, 2025, on the trading floor of the open outcry pit, also known as The Ring, at the London Metal Exchange (LME) in London.

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Rejuvenated London Metal Exchange looks to new horizons

The LME will start trading a new hot-rolled-coil (HRC) Steel Shanghai contract widely regarded as the global benchmark for the flat steel sector.

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A firefighter sprays water to extinguish a fire on Aug. 26 in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan.

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Who will pay to preserve tropical forests?

For too long, it has been more profitable to destroy tropical forests than to conserve them, even though they provide services essential for the survival of many countries and for the welfare of us all.

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A solar-powered water pump irrigates a rice farm on April 6, 2026, in Lumajang, East Java.

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Investment readiness is key for ASEAN energy transition

Sustainable-finance instruments may be available, but their availability does not automatically translate into new energy-transition projects.

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An aerial view shows a farmer spraying crops in a rice field in Sukakarya, Bekasi, West Java, on Oct. 2, 2026.

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Innovation from investment to impact

Ending global hunger isn’t held back by a lack of innovation, but by our failure to get proven solutions into the hands of the farmers who need them most.

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Students select side dishes at a buffet-style lunch on Oct. 8, 2026, provided via the government’s free nutritious meal (MBG) program at SMPN 2 Kandeman junior high school in Batang regency, Central Java.

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Using locally produced processed foods for a safer feeding program

To end recurring food poisoning outbreaks linked to the flagship free meals program, we must rethink the kitchen: Blending freshly cooked meals with safely processed local foods is the key to scaling without sickening our children.

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Murky schooling: A schoolgirl waits to be picked up on Sept. 16, 2026 next to a sign on drop-off/pickup rules at a school in Padang, after classes were let out early as West Sumatra’s provincial capital reinstated remote learning in response to a spike in the air pollutant standards index (ISPU) to 900 due to dense haze.

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If haze can be predicted, learning loss can be prevented

Indonesia cannot stop climate disasters from arriving, but its schools must stop waiting for the smoke to clear before they start preparing.

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Students take part in an automotive training course on April 13, 2026, at a private vocational school in Jakarta.

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Education should engender critical thinkers

Vocational schools may train obedient workers, but without critical thinking, they risk producing a generation of citizens who can only follow orders.

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Deputy Primary and Secondary Education Minister Fajar Riza Ul Haq (right front row) attends the First Australian Congress for Indonesian Language 2025 at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra on Dec. 6, 2025.

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The fading away of Indonesian in Australia

As Indonesian faces functional extinction in Australian classrooms by 2031, both nations stand on the brink of a costly strategic blind spot.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center right) accompanied by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (right), waves to students during a welcoming ceremony upon their meeting at the State Palace in Central Jakarta on July 7, 2026.

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India-Indonesia: Multipolarity and Global South

India maintains that a global multipolar order must start with a multipolar Asia, rejecting both a US-dominated unipolar structure and a China-centric "Asia for Asians" model.

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Net zero timing matters for the future of El Niño

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A wind power plant (PLTB), financed by PT SMI, is pictured in Sidrap, South Sulawesi. (Courtesy of PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur)

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Why the Asia-Pacific needs stronger development finance institutions

Indonesia’s journey, and PT SMI’s contribution to it, is but one part of a broader regional narrative. What I carried home from Colombo was a profound sense of optimism that our development finance institutions are becoming more than financiers of growth; we are becoming a community of practice, united by a shared purpose and enriched by the exchange of ideas and experience.

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Newly appointed Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir (right) reacts as former foreign minister and current Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs, Sugiono, embraces him during a handover ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Jakarta on Oct. 12, 2026.

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Foreign Ministry back in the driver's seat, but not alone

Arrmanatha’s appointment puts diplomats back in the driver’s seat of Indonesian foreign policy, but navigating today’s volatile geopolitical landscape requires soldiers, economists and the Palace to chart the course together.

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How worried should we be about the global economy?

The global economy is entrenched in a cycle of sluggish economic growth, with rates in many countries, particularly the major developed economies, stalling well below 3 percent.

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Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka looks toward the central dais on May 20, 2026, prior to President Prabowo Subianto's speech on the macroeconomic framework to lawmakers at the Senayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta.

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The House’s right to act and the political agenda of 2029

The controversy over Gibran’s credentials is no longer just about a diploma: It is a defining test of whether the national legislature still checks executive power or merely bows to it.

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Farm workers spray green paddy on Oct. 2, 2026, at a rice field in Sukakarya district, Bekasi, West Java.

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From farm innovation to food security for all

The main challenge to food security for all is not innovation but adoption, which involves localizing proven solutions and ensuring that they are affordable to use, maintain and grow.

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A woman walks past the Wisma Danantara Indonesia building on Aug. 11, 2026, on Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta.

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When investor protection risks becoming financial immunity

Indonesia’s push to lure capital through Danantara’s special bonds risks turning investor protection into a legal shield for financial crime and tax evasion.

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Protesters hold posters, one of which reading “Oligarchic families should be eradicated", on Aug. 23, 2024, during a rally in front of the General Election Commission (KPU) building in Jakarta.

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Indonesia badly needs inclusive institutions, not rhetoric

Indonesia’s path to lasting prosperity depends not on the myth of a strongman savior, but on dismantling elite capture to build institutions that are truly fair, accountable and built to outlast power.

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