The Jakarta Post Editorials: Board Perspectives

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People look at a screen showing the Indonesia Composite Index after the market plunge at the stock exchange in Jakarta on Oct. 16, 2026.

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Listen more, speculate less

Jakarta’s historic market rout isn’t the work of foreign conspirators, but a self-inflicted wound born of concentrated ownership and regulatory inertia that political defiance cannot heal.

18 hours ago

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No voice of authority

When a government responds to choking toxic haze with bizarre boasts about "exporting oxygen," it reveals a broken communications machine that breeds distrust while lives hang in the balance. ...

1 day ago

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Anwar's Rohingya gamble

Anwar Ibrahim's high-stakes gamble to normalize ties with Myanmar's junta chief may win cheap points at home, but it threatens to shatter ASEAN's united front and abandon the Rohingya to peril. ...

2 days ago

The Latest

This Handout photo made available by Greenpeace shows one of their activists holding an anti-war placard as they float in the water in front of the supertanker Pertamina Prime off the coast of Denmark on March 31, 2022, blocking the transshipment of a Russian oil shipment between two ships.

Living with more costly fuel

Most analysts and multilateral-development agencies have suggested that the government expand well-targeted cash-transfer social-assistance programs to protect low-income people.

4 years ago

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (right)

Malay for ASEAN

Article 34 of the ASEAN Charters rules English as the working language for the diverse grouping.

4 years ago

Motorcycles line up for Pertamax fuel oil in this undated photograph.

Living with inflation

Households will have to accept higher prices for as long as the Ukraine war drags on.

4 years ago

Migrant workers sit on board a boat during a rescue operation in the waters off North Sumatra, where two people died and 26 others went missing after a ferry carrying dozens of migrants sank off the coast of Indonesia on March 19.

Protecting our migrants

In a system that favors employers, recruiters and policymakers, Indonesian migrant workers have found themselves highly vulnerable to labor abuses.

4 years ago

Ramadan cartoon

A humble Ramadan

This Ramadan will be one the most expensive fasting months in recent memory.

4 years ago

Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing (right) talks with Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn (left), the ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar, in Naypyidaw on March 21.

Kick out Myanmar’s junta

Myanmar’s membership in ASEAN should be suspended until the military gives back the power it robbed from the country’s democratically elected government last year.

4 years ago

Russian joint venture Vietsovpetro oil rigs are seen at Bạch Hổ oil field in Vietnam.

Russian oil roulette

For Indonesia to turn to Russian oil now risks the wrath of the West.

4 years ago

United States President Joe Biden attends the virtual US-ASEAN Summit on Oct. 26, 2021 from the South Court Auditorium of the White House in Washington, DC.

A welcome delay

The postponment of a special summit between Biden and ASEAN leaders is actually a blessing in disguise, considering the US' policy stance as regards the current geopolitical climate in Southeast Asia and Europe.

4 years ago

Two miners pan for gold along a stream near Korowai, Papua, on July 7, 2020 . Illegal mining has soared in the region in despite hazards including the risk of arrest and health damage from toxic mercury used at many makeshift mining sites.

No mercy for mercury

Indonesia has a moral obligation to ensure that the Bali Declaration will be able to spur stronger international cooperation in the fight against illegal mercury trade.

4 years ago

Officials inspect the main venue of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central governors meeting during preparations in Jakarta on Feb. 17.

G20 presidency: Firm but calm

Due to the tricky nature of the matter, President Jokowi has to make sure that all official statements and information related to the G20 summit from the host should come from a single agency or ministry.

4 years ago

Hot wheels: Police officers inspect luxury cars seized from online investment scam suspect Doni Salmanan at the premises of the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta on March 14, 2022.

Probing the crazy rich

The moral outcry from the crazy rich story is the reason why the police started investigations only recently despite the binary investment trading having run since 2019.

4 years ago

Constitutional Court Chief Justice Anwar Usman reads out the court's decision regarding a dispute over the results of the presidential election on June 27, 2019.

Marriage of convenience

Anwar must be able to prove that he will not be blinded by his marriage, and his integrity will be reflected in his and the court’s decisions.

4 years ago

Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan speaks on Nov. 18, 2021 at the Indonesian Army Command and General Staff College (Seskoad) in Bandung, West Java.

Defending civic space

It is time for civil society to stand up, once again, to reject the prevailing top-down use of laws and law enforcement to deter free speech and reclaim our democratic achievements.

4 years ago

Former Timor Leste president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate José Ramos-Horta (center) gets a traditional welcome in Dili on Jan. 23, 2022 after officially announcing he will run for office again in the upcoming presidential election.

Timor Leste’s politics

It is understandable that since Timor Leste’s independence in 2002, Ramos-Horta and freedom hero Xanana Gusmao have dominated the country’s politics.

4 years ago

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo looks on at sunrise after spending the night at a campsite in Penajam Paser Utara, East Kalimantan, on March 15, where the government intends to build a new capital city to replace Jakarta.

Show us the data

Political elites seem to have totally ignored public opinion surveys, which consistently debunk their claims of popular support for a presidential term extension.

4 years ago

Travelers walk through the international arrivals hall at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, on Feb. 16, 2022, after a Singapore Airlines flight arrived following a nearly two-year break due to COVID-19.

Bali reopens

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno announced that Bali had achieved herd immunity based on serology tests conducted by the Health Ministry and the Home Ministry.

4 years ago

MotoGP riders are flagged off by Indonesia's President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (left) at the start of a motorcycle parade in downtown Jakarta on March 16, 2022, ahead of this weekend's MotoGP Indonesia Grand Prix.

Full speed at Mandalika

The weekend’s crowd-puller will be a testament to the country’s ability to organize a high-level international showcase, while handling the virus spread.

4 years ago

President Joko Jokowi” Widodo (center) pours water brought by Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan (right), as East Kalimantan Governor Isran Noor (third left) looks on, during a Kendi Nusantara ritual at the site for Indonesia's new capital city Nusantara in Sepaku district, North Penajam Paser, East Kalimantan, on Monday. As part of the ritual, President Jokowi collected soil and water from 34 provinces, which were brought by governors attending the ceremony.

Theater state

It all started with the name for the new capital, Nusantara, a moniker that — though derived from Sanskrit — is still perceived as being too “Java-centric”.

4 years ago

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg (right) chats with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (left) during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors’ meeting in Jakarta on Feb. 17.

Peace on the G20 agenda

The impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are bound to haunt discussions of global health, a sustainable energy transition and digital transformation, the three areas that Indonesia has prioritized for its Group of 20 presidency this year.

4 years ago

Oily business: Basic commodity sellers line up to purchase cooking oil during a market operation at Karangampel traditional market in Indramayu regency, West Java, on Feb. 23. Cooking oil is sold at Rp 11,700 (81 US cent) per kilogram.

Cooking oil price still high

Whatever new policy measure President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will take within the next few days, it should include the assignment of a special agency to manage the DMO and fixed ceiling prices.

4 years ago

Yoon Suk-yeol of the opposition People Power Party gestures during a campaign rally on March 8, 2022 in Seoul, the day before he won the South Korean presidential election.

South Korea’s incoming president

Policy continuity is of paramount importance as president-elect Yoon gears up take the helm of one of Indonesia's most important trade partners and a key player in security and stability in the Asia-Pacific.

4 years ago

High value: These eight tech companies are among Indonesia's most valuable unicorns. E-commerce platform Bukalapak went public last year to become the first unicorn listed on the stock market, followed by GoTo, the merger of ride-hailing company Gojek and e-commerce giant Tokopedia.

Fast, but not hungry

A landmark World Bank report in 2018 estimated that Indonesia would face a shortfall of 9 million skilled and semi-skilled IT workers from 2015 to 2030.

4 years ago

President Joko Widodo (left)

Nusantara, a city for all

One of the chiefs of the capital city relocation and development project has vowed to create a “city for all” in Nusantara, a name that aptly symbolizes that it belongs to the entire country and its people.

4 years ago

Pertamina fuel trucks refill at a gas station in Makassar, South Sulawesi, next to a restaurant selling the regional specialty Coto Makassar.

The politics of fuel reform

Because we depend on imported fuel for more than 60 percent of our needs, Jokowi should demonstrate the political courage to reduce wasteful subsidy spending by implementing a more well-targeted subsidy.

4 years ago

Travelers walk through the international arrivals hall at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Tuban near Denpasar, Bali, on Feb. 16, after a Singapore Airlines flight arrived following a nearly two-year break due to COVID-19.

Moving to endemic phase

We have had to deal with the new coronavirus these last two years to know what needs to be done in the event of another major outbreak.

4 years ago

Papuan students demonstrate for the independence of Papua province at the police headquarters in Surabaya, East Java, on December 1, 2021, to coincide with the anniversary of the Free Papua Movement (OPM).

Self-denial about Papua

What happened in East Timor decades ago could happen in Papua because discrimination and racism against the indigenous population persist.

4 years ago

Tofu and tempeh producers in Depok, West Java, protest over high soybean prices.

Ready for economic fallout?

The war in Ukraine may be far away, but Indonesia should still brace for its global economic consequences.

4 years ago

A woman receives a booster dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Jakarta on Jan. 12, 2022.

Avoiding vaccine wastage

The government aims to fully vaccinate 181.5 million citizens, or 70 percent of the total population, by March 2022.

4 years ago

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (front right) inspects troops during a ceremony marking the 74th anniversary of the Indonesian Military (TNI) at Halim Air Force Base in Jakarta on Oct. 5, 2019.

Two more years

Jokowi must speak up, yet again, and call for an end to the time-wasting discourse on the possible extension of his term.

4 years ago

The results of a United Nations General Assembly vote on a resolution to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appear on a screen during a special session of the body at the UN headquarters in New York City, the United States, on Wednesday.

The right condemnation

Jokowi has been reluctant to speak frankly about the Ukraine war, partially to maintain good relations with Russia.

4 years ago

Page: 45

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