Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers wait for orders ahead of protests at Merdeka Square in Central Jakarta on Sept. 1, 2025.

Rising militarism

In the wake of looting and rioting in late August, President Prabowo Subianto deployed more than 75,000 Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers to secure areas in and around Jakarta.

21 hours ago

Editorial

OIC’s same old song

While the OIC condemned "aggression" against Qatar, the Gaza Strip and other regional states, its statement lacked any concrete plans for action. ...

1 day ago

Editorial

Let consumers choose

But if overregulation pushes Shell, BP and Vivo to scale back, or worse, pack up and leave, motorists will be left with fewer choices and Pertamina’s grip on the market will only tighten. ...

2 days ago

The Latest

Aircraft of the Philippine Air Force and the United States Indo-Pacific Command participate in a joint drill on Nov. 21, 2023 in the vicinity of Batanes, an archipelagic province, as well as in an area of the South China Sea within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Editorial

As existing tensions linger and continue to rise over disputed territories and the growing power rivalry in the South China Sea, the regional grouping needs to up its game – and clout – by presenting a united front.

1 year ago

Members of the Corruption Eradication People’s Committee rally outside the State Palace on Jan. 8, 2019, to demand that the government abolish articles in the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law they deem to be a threat to the freedom of expression.

Editorial

No to illiberal cyberlaw

For more than a decade, the ITE Law has been a major threat to our civil liberties; it is the digital incarnation of the colonial defamation law.

1 year ago

Editorial

COP28: Surely, we can do better

On climate change, looking at what can only be described as modest targets, Indonesia is a follower, not a leader.

1 year ago

Editorial

Staying on top of AI

Like security, climate change and public health, AI requires international cooperation and global rules.

1 year ago

Disease prevention: A local resident shows eggs of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes distributed to the community in Bulusan subdistrict in Semarang, Central Java, on Nov. 23, 2023. The program is part of the government’s efforts to fight dengue fever.

Editorial

Wolbachia misinformation

The government’s persistence is certainly key to progress toward achieving its zero dengue death target by 2030

1 year ago

Then-Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief Firli Bahuri sits in his car after an ethics questioning by the antigraft body's supervisory council at the KPK's Anticorruption Learning Center (ACLC) building in Jakarta on Nov. 20, 2023. The supervisory council questioned Firli about his meeting with then-Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo, who was later named a graft suspect by the antigraft body.

Editorial

Reviving the KPK

Firli’s arrest serves as yet another grim reminder that the system we have been relying on to combat corruption may itself be corrupt.

1 year ago

Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders (center) is escorted away by police after speaking at a gathering of supporters of British far-right spokesman Tommy Robinson in central London on June 9, 2018, following the jailing of Robinson for contempt of court.
Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP

Editorial

Wilders among us

As we prepare for next year’s presidential and legislative elections, there are real concerns that the nation is turning its back on its democratic and pluralistic achievements over the past two and a half decades.

1 year ago

General Elections Commission (KPU) head Hasyim Asy'ari (center) reads the Peaceful 2024 Election Campaign Declaration at the commission's headquarters in Jakarta on Nov. 27, 2023, as the three 2024 presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs look on. The declaration, signed by the six candidates as well as representatives of the 18 political parties participating in the 2024 election, calls for a safe, peaceful, orderly and ethical election. It also calls for one free of hoaxes, vote buying and sectarian identity politics.

Perspectives

Safeguarding the elections

We can no longer take for granted that we will have another successful election that is free, open and, more importantly, peaceful.

1 year ago

Workers lay tracks for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway at Halim Station in East Jakarta on March 31, 2023.

Editorial

SOE misery up for renewal

Our presidential candidates candidates must think very carefully before backing any future infrastructure projects.

1 year ago

Fishermen sit silhouetted against a coal-fired power plant in Meulaboh, Aceh, on Sept. 5, 2021.

Editorial

Coal exit will have to wait

A phase-out of coal power through early plant retirement or project cancellation is not going to happen without global financial support.

1 year ago

Pollution protection: Central Jakarta Water Management Agency employees plant floating trees in the Kebon Melati dam near Tanah Abang, Jakarta, on Oct. 26. The trees are intended to mitigate water and air pollution.

Editorial

The right to clean air

The air quality has barely improved since the government beefed up measures to curb Jakarta’s chronic air pollution following incessant media reports of the city’s poor state of air a few months ago.

1 year ago

A Central Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU) official moves a ballot box for the 2024 elections at a warehouse in Sawah Besar, Central Jakarta, on Nov. 2, 2023.

Perspectives

Salvaging the 2024 election

Given the low trust in the court, candidates or their supporters could use any appearance of impropriety as a pretext to reject the election results altogether.

1 year ago

This handout photo taken and released on Oct. 28, 2023 by the Kokang Information Network shows members of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) walking past a Myanmar military base after seizing it during clashes near Laukkaing township in Myanmar's northern Shan state.

Editorial

RI’s last Myanmar initiative

Under Indonesia’s chairmanship, ASEAN has not achieved any meaningful progress in pushing Myanmar’s military to comply with the Five-Point Consensus.

1 year ago

A newly arrived Rohingya refugee walks to the beach after the local community decided to temporarily allow them to land for water and food in Ulee Madon, Aceh, Indonesia, on Nov. 16, 2023.

Editorial

Time to sign refugee treaty

Despite not being a party to the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Indonesia has always been welcoming refugees and asylum seekers.

1 year ago

This picture taken on March 30, 2019 shows a worker manning a furnace during the nickel-smelting process at Indonesian mining company PT Vale's smelting plant in Soroako, South Sulawesi.

Editorial

The devil is in the detail

The most sensitive aspect of the PT Vale divestment is related to the interests of the provincial and regency governments in the three provinces in Sulawesi.

1 year ago

President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (left) delivers remarks alongside members of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Week in San Francisco, the United States on Nov. 16, 2023.

Editorial

IPEF: Are we on the same page?

Not only is the RCEP the largest trade block in the world, but unlike the IPEF, it comes with liberalization, not political gamesmanship, at its core.

1 year ago

A resident pumps groundwater on July 26, 2023, in Kuala Selat village, Indragiri Hilir, Riau. The villagers use the groundwater to wash utensils and clean houses only, as it has been polluted by intruding seawater.

Editorial

Protecting groundwater

Enforcement of the regulation that restricts groundwater extraction in Jakarta has been lax, allowing people who extract groundwater for daily consumption to go unpunished.

1 year ago

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (left) and United States President Joe Biden meet on Nov. 13 at the White House in Washington, DC, for bilateral talks.

Editorial

Jokowi's peace message

It’s not an exaggeration to suggest that Jokowi was speaking on behalf of the world community who long for peace in Middle East.

1 year ago

Three-way race: Presidential candidates Anies Baswedan (left), Prabowo Subianto (third left) and Ganjar Pranowo (second right) along with their respective running mates Muhaimin Iskandar (second left), Gibran Rakabuming Raka (third right) and Mahfud MD (right) pose after the drawing of ballot numbers for the presidential and vice presidential candidates at the General Elections Commission (KPU) in Jakarta on Nov. 14, 2023.

Perspectives

May the best win fairly

For the first time since the fall of the authoritarian New Order in 1998, legitimate concerns have loomed over the integrity of the election.

1 year ago

Working group: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (second right) and United States President Joe Biden (left) attend the Group of 20 Summit in New Delhi on Sept. 9, 2023.

Perspectives

Foreign policy matters in 2024

Voters, and the public will continue to be alienated from our foreign and defense policies, which are supposed to represent or protect the interests of the nation.

1 year ago

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD (second from left) is accompanied by (from left to right) Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) head Ivan Yustiavandana and National Police detective chief Comr. Gen. Agus Andrianto address a press conference on April 10 on suspicious transactions involving Finance Ministry officials.

Editorial

Combating money laundering

Evidence from the trials of corrupt officials and other criminals show how many banks and money changers still engage in transactions with customers even though their profiles do not conform with the value and size of the transactions.

1 year ago

President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (right) congratulates Gen. Agus Subiyanto on Oct. 25 after the latter's inauguration as the new Army chief of staff at the State Palace. Jokowi inaugurated Agus to replace Gen. Dudung Abdurachman who will retire this year.

Perspectives

New patrimonialism

After all, we already have three candidate pairs registered with the General Elections Commission (KPU), which is expected to officially announce later this week that the three are eligible to run.

1 year ago

Indonesian right winger Jehan Pahlevi (center) fights for a ball possession against Equador’s Elkin Ruiz during their FIFA U-17 World Cup opening match in Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium in Surabaya, East Java on Nov. 10, 2023. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Editorial

Let the games begin

It is thus important that the youth squad is given its moment to shine at the World Cup, especially because there is no youth class at the club level in Indonesia.

1 year ago

Man at work: A worker walks on June 16, 2023, down the container terminal in Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) reported a trade surplus of US$440 million in May of this year.

Editorial

GDP: Let’s keep our guard up

All three presidential candidates have promised GDP growth of 6 to 7 percent, as Jokowi did in the past.

1 year ago

Editorial

The Indonesia Hospital in Gaza

Indonesian people should be proud of the humanitarian work of the hospital, and the sacrifice of its medical workers and volunteers.

1 year ago

Former Constitutional Court chief justice Jimly Asshiddiqie (center), court justice Wahiduddin Adams (left) and law professor Bintan R. Saragih stand by ahead of their inauguration as the court's ethics council members in Jakarta on Oct. 24, 2023. The council has declared there were conflicts of interest in a ruling that cleared the way for Surakarta Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka to contest the presidential election.

Perspectives

A judicial disgrace

Anwar has been removed from his position as the court’s chief justice and barred from handling election-related cases.

1 year ago

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and United States President Joe Biden have a chat on the red carpet of The Apurva Kempinski Bali in Badung, Bali on Nov. 14, 2022.

Editorial

Jokowi goes to the White House

It is almost certain that President Jokowi will table the ongoing war in Gaza in his conversation with his host, who is likely to persuade Jokowi to soften Indonesia’s stance on Israel’s genocidal acts in Gaza.

1 year ago

Cash only: An employee arranges rupiah banknotes at Bank Mandiri in Jakarta on June 23, 2022. The currencies of Southeast Asia and the world have been taking on the mighty US dollar this year amid the US Federal Reserves’ rate hikes.

Editorial

The rupiah dodges a bullet

With the Fed having held rates steady for second time in a row, analysts say the central bank might leave them unchanged in December as well, creating calm for emerging market currencies such as our own until the end of the year.

1 year ago

A Greater Jakarta light rail transit (LRT) train passes the elevated tracks over Jl. Gatot Subroto on Aug. 28, 2023 in Jakarta.

Editorial

A public disservice

Self-suffiency is a noble goal, but let's not force the issue if the expertise isn't available domestically, lest we end up creating another snarl with what was supposed to be a public transit solution.

1 year ago