It is a classic patron-client relationship for a patron to grant favors in return for political services, loyalty and allegiance shown by the client.

Due to the limited number of spots, high public interest and the rising costs of the haj, someone who registers this year for the “regular” state-subsidized haj scheme would have to wait between 11 and 47 years for their turn to make the pilgrimage.

Once we get to the point where enough is enough, it makes sense to decrease working hours at the same rate that hourly productivity increases, so as to keep output constant.

History shows Soeharto’s New Order could cling on to power for more than 30 years, largely due to the support of the then Armed Forces (ABRI), which also included the police, through the use of coercion, intimidation and even violence to silence dissent.

ASEAN has shown it's willing to punish Myanmar's military for committing a coup against democracy, but cannot do the same to the Thai military.

Prabowo’s Gaza initiatives indicate the incoming administration’s intention of getting actively involved in global efforts to maintain peace and security in the Middle East and beyond.

For businesses, imports are a reasonable option if raw materials and components are not sufficiently available in the country, whether in terms of quality or scale.

Prabowo's foreign policy approach will diverge from the current practices, yet fundamental principles will remain, such as a free and active foreign policy and the prioritization of ASEAN as the primary focus of Indonesia.

With Jokowi apparently emulating Soeharto by parceling out mining concessions to fulfill a long-standing promise to NU as other religious organizations resisting the temptation, it’s now up to the country’s largest Muslim organization to back out on moral grounds.

With literature, we can offer students various conceptions of a good life, skills of rational reflection and comparison, and windows to narrative imaginations.

Whatever excuse politicians come up with, it is becoming increasingly hard to dispute that there is one clear beneficiary of the current changes: Jokowi’s youngest son Kaesang Pangarep.

We can safely assume that all is not well at the IKN Authority, and whatever the issue is, it needs to be addressed in a public way to ensure confidence among all parties.

One of the big challenges for the government at the moment is to create jobs fast enough for the young population as their population keeps growing.

Social media, despite its drawbacks, offers a space for the public to voice opinions that can drive changes in public policy.

There simply aren’t enough college seats in the country, free or otherwise, to meet the demands of the 2045 vision and its calls for the establishment of a "golden generation" by the time the nation turns 100.

We are proud of the value of gotong royong (mutual assistance) that has long characterized our society, but what the government is doing with Tapera constitutes an abuse of the principle.

The three-way summit between South Korea, Japan and China on Tuesday spelled a big win for Northeast Asia as well as its southeastern neighbors, even if the three leaders made progress in various sectors without touching on the major issues.

The lack of transparency surrounding recent tensions between the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office has only raised suspicions that there is something fishy that the government wants to keep from the public.

While Vietnam stands ready to jump into the breach when China is confronted with US trade curbs, we must worry about Chinese demand for our materials.

In President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s first term, from 2014 to 2019, he had the support of a coalition that held just over 60 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives. With this majority, his still faced some stumbling blocks to implementing his campaign pledges, impediments that were all but eliminated when he expanded his ruling coalition in the beginning of his second term, allowing him to advance signature policy aims such as infrastructure development and commodities downstreaming. 

State universities need to remember their public service imperative even as they pursue commercial viability, especially nowadays when higher education credentials no longer seem to be a strong guarantee for employment.

There is always a limit for Netanyahu to withstand global pressure, and the domestic audience is growing unhappy with his government.

With growing challenges in health care post-pandemic, the government must support the right to health through good policymaking.

Despite previous galodo occurrences, neither authorities nor local residents appeared to understand the danger that lay ahead or what measures should be taken to mitigate loss of life and property.

Another veto would not only further isolate Washington from the world, but it would also undermine its standing as a global leader

The idea of stopping or even slowing the development of AI seems extremely naïve, because the drive to create tools that make life easier is ingrained in human nature.

It is clear that the new law aims to block investigative journalism content in the first place or to give room for the authorities to implement censorship on media institutions.

If passed, the revised law will not bode well for the already tarnished image of the Constitutional Court; not after a spate of high-profile controversies in an election year that saw all members of the bench get slapped with ethical misconduct.

The MRT's daily ridership has consistently increased since it began operations on March 24, 2019, from 86,000 to 91,000 last year and 119,000 today.

Such strong reliance on domestic demand lends our economy a degree of resilience that can keep the wheels turning even when external circumstances are unsupportive.