Opinion Articles & News Commentary

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Jakarta Post
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Donald Trump and Xi Jinping should align on AI

When potential outcomes are systemic and irreversible, preparation must precede certainty.

21 hours ago
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Growth, income disparities and national cohesion

By redirecting local fiscal lifelines to fund national flagship projects, the government risks deepening the income gap and fracturing national unity into a tale of two economies. ...

22 hours ago
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The Americas’ oil bonanza will outlast the Iran conflict

Oil production in the Americas has become a viable alternative since the outbreak of the war. The shift is one of the most striking changes in the global energy landscape in decades. ...

18 hours ago

The Latest

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Nurturing a culture to protect humanity in wartime

Black-and-white laws cannot stop wartime atrocities; true restraint begins only when the principles of humanity are etched into the soldier’s conscience long before the first shot is fired.

19 hours ago
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Are the walls closing in on Bessent?

Far from suggesting financial Armageddon, the US treasury secretary’s futile efforts to keep a lid on Treasury yields suggest that once again, the dollar is America’s currency but everyone else’s problem.

1 day ago
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Fight the fires, flour power and 40 centimeters

While Indonesia dreams up airborne flour bombs to fight forest fires, its peatlands are quietly sinking out of existence—governed by an ignored 40-centimeter water rule that no aerial stunt can fix.

1 day ago
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Checkpoints for Kim-Trump summit

An "IMPACT Plus" analysis of speculation about another Kim-Trump summit indicates three gaps compared to 2018 that Seoul could move to bridge, creating the conditions for another meeting regardless of pessimistic prospects at present.

1 day ago
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The collapse of trust in facts: Making sense of verification on the internet

As AI and crowdsourced systems take on the job of fact checking, they promise speed but struggle to deliver trust and explainability. Until they can do all three, human verification still has a vital role to play.

1 day ago
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From rivals to allies: Prabowo’s othello strategy

Prabowo’s political architecture strategy is to embrace former political adversaries within a single, inclusive framework, a “big tent” coalition. 

1 day ago
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AI boom: Can Indonesia move from market to maker?

Indonesia has the scale to drive AI demand, but without an urgent policy pivot into tech manufacturing and infrastructure, it risks becoming just a lucrative consumer market while its neighbors capture the real value.

2 days ago
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The anti-fascist playbook: How we can reclaim our democracy

From weaponized algorithms to creeping militarism, an urgent blueprint for exposing authoritarian power and defending civic freedom before it is too late.

2 days ago
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Vietnam’s hantavirus warning for Southeast Asia

Taking action to prevent zoonotic disease spillover is better than reacting to an outbreak, especially in countries where people live and work closely with wildlife, such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

2 days ago
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Sparring and engaging, Asia's new normal

As traditional US alliances shift and Beijing flexes its muscle, regional powers must master the delicate art of sparring with China without triggering an outright conflict.

2 days ago
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The Himalayan warning and the blind spots in climate risk

A glacier in Tibet fell exactly as the science said it would, and no agency or institution was waiting for it: Indonesia is writing a climate change law with the same blind spot.

2 days ago
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‘Desil-desilan’: Indonesia’s welfare ranking needs more than a data refresh

The deeper issue is that a probabilistic statistical estimate is being wielded as an indisputable administrative fact; one deemed sharp enough to decide who gets subsidized fuel and who walks away empty-handed.

3 days ago
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Technocracy cannot fix Europe

A new private initiative bringing together the crème de la crème of European business, financial, economic and tech elites could well prove useful in kick-starting European growth and innovation. But first, it must recognize that the problem it hopes to solve is fundamentally political.

3 days ago
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OECD is no magic lamp

Chasing elite clubs like the OECD won’t magically transform Indonesia’s economy, especially in a fractured global order where diplomatic prestige is no substitute for domestic reform.

3 days ago
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Peaceful border talks require secure ground first

As Thailand prepares to engage constructively with the UNCLOS conciliation proceedings to resolve the border dispute with Cambodia, both sides must first ensure that the conditions on the ground are actually safe for our teams to work.

3 days ago
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Meeting Indonesia’s growth, and deficit, targets

In parallel with growth, the government must have a dedicated focus on the revenue side of reducing the deficit, particularly in drawing businesses out of the shadow economy and into the real economy.

3 days ago
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New BI leadership brings experience and stability

As Destry Damayanti makes history as the central bank's first female governor, a battle-tested leadership team is stepping up to anchor monetary stability and drive equitable growth through turbulent global markets.

3 days ago
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How state budget fuels more land and ecological conflicts

As toxic haze blankets the region, Indonesia's 2027 draft budget reveals a dangerous paradox: chasing state revenue by doubling down on the very extractive projects fueling the fires and displacing its people.

5 days ago
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The Aug. 27 demonstrations: From the streets to the MPR?

While the crowds take to the streets, the real political battle is being waged behind closed doors - where public anger may simply be the opening move in an elite power reshuffle.

5 days ago
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Watching the 35th NU congress from the diaspora

As Nahdlatul Ulama gathers for its 35th Muktamar, a former diaspora leader argues that safeguarding the organization’s future demands uncompromising independence from power, global literacy at the helm and a real voice for cadres abroad.

5 days ago
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We cannot intern our way to productive employment

Subsidizing six-month internships won't fix graduate unemployment if Indonesia's shrinking industrial base lacks the factories, machinery and capacity to hire them afterward.

6 days ago
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The deadliest Ebola outbreak can be stopped

Stopping the world’s fastest-moving Ebola outbreak demands more than international aid—it requires empowering the local communities and frontline workers holding the front line.

6 days ago
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35 years of the Weimar Triangle: France, Germany and Poland shaping Europe’s future

The Weimar Triangle was founded on a conviction that remains as relevant today as it was 35 years ago — together, we are stronger.

6 days ago
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Bank account freezes can help fight crime, not silence critics

When the state freezes an activist’s bank accounts mid-protest, it isn't routine law enforcement. It is an urgent test of whether the rule of law controls the police or punishes dissent.

6 days ago
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Why Dolly Parton was one of America’s greatest

What made her something more was what she did when she left the stage.

6 days ago
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Can Indonesia build trust in its welfare data?

Indonesia needs not only better welfare data, but also greater public understanding and trust in how that data is produced.

6 days ago
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Gen Z‑led uprisings across Asia: Strengths and limitations of youth protest

Youth-led protest movements across Asia have exposed underlying anger at corruption and blocked opportunity. But so far, only Nepal has managed to convert that anger into a transfer of governing power.

6 days ago

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