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A motorcyclist rides through an alley in Jakarta on Jan. 21, 2024, past a group of boys playing online games on their smartphones.

Editorial premium

Away from smoking screens

Despite its many advantages, the digital age has also expanded space for promoting tobacco products, exposing users of all ages to smoking via visually appealing content on social media platforms that are short on the economic and health costs of the harmful habit.

1 day ago

Editorial premium

Respect the Press Law

We call on all parties to respect the Press Law, which grants the Press Council authority over journalistic reporting. ...

2 days ago

Obrigado, Senhor Lula

Our children will discover new cultures and new ways of thinking by taking the trouble to learn new languages. ...

3 days ago

The Latest

President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shake hands at their Joint Chairpersons' Press Announcement after the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit Meeting in Tokyo on Dec. 17, 2023.

Securing ASEAN-Japan security ties

Even within limitations, there is ample room for ASEAN and Japan to enhance security cooperation, including in maritime security.

1 year ago

The Benoa toll gate of the Bali Mandara Toll Road is pictured in this undated file photo.

Wonky WIKA

Signs of trouble at WIKA could be observed as early as 2020, when the company saw its net profit plummet by 92 percent to Rp 185 billion.

1 year ago

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD (center), Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (left) and Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) chairman Ivan Yustiavandana prepare to give a press statement at the PPATK headquarters in Jakarta on April 10, 2023.

Tainted elections?

With the official elections watchdog appearing noncommittal about addressing the financial oversight agency’s findings, the onus is on law enforcement to prove Indonesians wrong in their growing distrust of the state apparatus.

1 year ago

A man walks past the World Trade Organization headquarters on June 15, 2022, during the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva.

Our role in a divided world

The best course of action for Indonesia is to stay out of it when the US and China vie for influence.

1 year ago

Newly arrived Rohingya refugees wait to board trucks to move to a temporary shelter after villagers rejected their relocated camp in Banda Aceh, Aceh, on Dec. 11, 2023. Some of the more than 300 Rohingya refugees who arrived on the western coasts of Indonesia on Dec. 10 were transferred to a temporary shelter during the visit of a United Nations representative.

Helping the abandoned Rohingya

As a signatory to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and other international laws, Indonesia is obliged to rescue people in distress at sea, including Rohingya, and help them to the nearest place of safety.

1 year ago

A health worker prepares a dose of the COVID-19 booster vaccine for airport workers at Ngurah Rai International Airport near Denpasar, Bali on Jan. 30, 2023.

Healthy holidays

The Health Ministry has urged people to postpone traveling to countries currently experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, such as Singapore, Malaysia and China.

1 year ago

Defense Minister and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto (center) along with the other two presidential candidates, former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan (right) and former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo, speaks during the first presidential election debate at the General Elections Commission (KPU) office in Jakarta on Dec. 12, 2023.

Presidential Race

Debating democracy

It remains to be seen if a Kennedy moment will happen in Indonesia and define the outcome of the presidential election on Feb. 14, 2024.

1 year ago

COP28 president Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber (center) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Simon Stiell (left) applaud on Dec. 13, 2023, alongside other officials at a plenary session during the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

COP28, where is the dough?

Developed countries have been the main source of the carbon emissions present in our atmosphere today, produced from the fossil fuels they burn to maintain their economies and lifestyles.

1 year ago

A seller promotes her products on Dec. 11, 2023, through a live streaming platform at Tanah Abang Market in Central Jakarta. Chinese-owned short video app TikTok announces a US$1.5 billion investment in GoTo group in a deal that would allow it to restart its online shop in Indonesia.

Time is ticking for SMEs

Despite TikTok being restricted from the virtual market in the past two months, SME players, such as vendors in Tanah Abang market in Jakarta, hardly saw changes in their sales.

1 year ago

National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) personnel evacuate a victim from the slopes of Mount Marapi in West Sumatra on Dec. 4, 2023. Hundreds of rescuers were racing on Dec. 5 to find hikers who went missing after the volcano erupted.

No more complacency

Marapi’s deadly eruption should serve as a wake-up call for the government not to leave volcano disaster mitigation up to mere luck.

1 year ago

Managing credit risk

Even though domestic consumption, the main driver of Indonesia's growth, will likely remain fairly robust next year, investors will, predictably, be in “wait and see” mode until the new government comes into power in October.

1 year ago

Mask-wearing commuters get off a train at Karet Station in Central Jakarta on Dec. 6, 2023.

Vigilance, not panic

We should all be alert to the possibility of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection now that the first recent cases have been discovered in the country, but we have no reason to be consumed by fear.

1 year ago

Three 2024 vice presidential candidates Gibran Rakabuming Raka (left), Mahfud MD (center) and Muhaimin Iskandar draw their unique numbers on the ballot at the General Elections Commission (KPU) headquarters in Jakarta on Nov. 14, 2023. Candidate pairs Anies Baswedan and Muhaimin drew number 1, followed by Prabowo Subianto and Gibran on 2 and Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud on 3.

KPU’s credibility on the line

While the Prabowo-Gibran camp frames Gibran’s candidacy as an attempt to bring young people to politics, critics have lashed out at his nomination as symptomatic of the entrenched culture of political nepotism.

1 year ago

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.

ASEAN unity on SCS

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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