Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrives at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport om Jan. 5, as he heads towards the Daniel Patrick Manhattan United States Courthouse for an initial appearance to face US federal charges including narco-terrorism, conspiracy, drug trafficking, money laundering and others in New York, the United States.

The precedents to Trump's Venezuela operation

While shocking, nothing about this calamity is new: it recalls four precedents that can help us see elements of the present that otherwise may be shrouded by propaganda or emotion.

2 months ago

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The paradox of police reform: High approval ratings, low rule of law

Despite the sweeping reform in 1998, the National Police is still fraught with a culture of violence, uneven professionalism and a lack of accountability. ...

2 months ago

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From print to platforms: What holds nations together now?

The increasingly virtual world has made digital platforms the central stage of democracy. ...

2 months ago

The Latest

Activists from Gerakan Buruh Bersama Rakyat (Gebrak), an alliance between labor unions and civil groups, join a peaceful march along Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta on Sept. 4, 2025, to during protests against police brutality and repression in several major cities across the country.

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Beyond wage hikes

Instead of simply calculating minimum wages that will support a decent standard of living per worker per region, the government must do more in implementing an integrated policy approach that focuses on cost of living relief for households.

2 months ago

Slow recovery: Homes are seen as they are rebuilt amid cleared lots on Dec. 28, 2025, in Altadena, California, the United States, where homes were destroyed by the Eaton Fire one year ago. The Eaton Fire ignited on Jan. 7, 2025, killing 19 people and destroying more than 9,000 structures, most of them homes in Altadena. The fire is the fifth deadliest and the second most destructive wildfire in California history.

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Beware of central economic forecasts for 2026

With China’s efforts to upgrade its growth model progressing slowly, the US will serve by far as the global economy’s primary engine, a concentration that creates its own set of risks.

2 months ago

Employees work in a workshop which recycles copper on July 11, 2025, in Anqing, in China's eastern Anhui province.

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Every mineral is critical in the new metals age

The USGS updated critical minerals list now encompasses 60 different materials, representing around 80 percent of all the mined commodities on the periodic table.

2 months ago

Cargo staff and police officers at Soekarno-Hatta Airport unload the coffin of Indonesian migrant worker Yasmiati from Grobogan, Central Java, upon arrival from Hong Kong on Dec. 23, 2025, at the airport’s cargo terminal in Tangerang, Banten. The Foreign Ministry, the Indonesian Consulate in Hong Kong and the Migrant Workers’ Protection Ministry repatriated nine victims of the Wang Fuk Court apartment fire, on Nov. 26, 2025, in Tai Po District, Hong Kong

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Time to turn commitments into real protection for migrant workers

Many Indonesian migrant workers continue to live and work without effective protection.

2 months ago

Workers unload sacks of rice imported from Thailand on June 22, 2023, from a cargo ship at Malahayati Port in Krueng Raya, Aceh.

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ASEAN needs an ASEAN+5 food security framework

Demand for food across Asia will continue to rise, driven by population growth, expanding middle classes and changing diets, but this is unlikely to be met by Asian producers and exporters alone.

2 months ago

United States President Donald Trump (center), alongside (from left to right) Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks to the press following US military actions in Venezuela on Jan. 3 at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, the US.

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Trump and the raid on Caracas

International law is not simply a moral preference. It is a guardrail built from hard lessons.

2 months ago

A motorcade carrying Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro leaves the Westside Heliport on Jan. 3, 2026, in New York, the United States. Maduro, who was captured by US forces in Caracas, arrived in New York on Saturday evening. Maduro was seen surrounded by FBI agents as he descended the boarding stairs of a US government plane at a state National Guard facility, and was slowly escorted along the tarmac.

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Venezuela and the persistence of hierarchy in global politics

Calling the US invasion of Venezuela a “realist moment” may sound appealing, but it risks becoming a vocabulary that affirms power rather than a tool for understanding it.

2 months ago

Regime change: United States President Donald Trump (second right), alongside Deputy Chief of Staff (left) Stephen Miller, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (second left) and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaks to the press on Jan. 03, following US military actions in Venezuela, at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, the US.

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Stop Trump and all aggressions

Any decent nation should condemn any act of aggression by one country against another as a matter of principle, if anything else, but Indonesia opted not to do that both when the US attacked Venezuela and when Russia invaded Ukraine.

2 months ago

A participant takes the 2025 Computer-Based Written Exam for the National Selection Based on Test (UTBK-SNBT) on April 30, 2025, at Diponegoro University (UNDIP), Tembalang, Semarang, Central Java.

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Reenergizing higher education in ASEAN

A longstanding debate on higher education is to what extent it should be academic rather than vocational.

2 months ago

Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects troops during the annual Victory Day parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3, 2025, which marked the 80th anniversary of China’s war of resistance against Japan and the end of World War II.

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China’s rise: Power, technology and the strategic logic of display

China's power displays in September and November last year were essentially a signal of its arrival on the global stage, a show intended to make the world sit up and recognize it as a major power.

2 months ago

Cambodia’s Defense Minister Tea Seiha (left) and his counterpart Thailand Defense Minister Nattaphon Narkphanit shake hands and exchange documents during a meeting in Chanthaburi province, Thailand, in this handout photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP) on Dec 27, 2025. Cambodia and Thailand agreed to an “immediate” ceasefire on Saturday, the two countries said in a joint statement, pledging to end weeks of deadly border clashes.

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Why the Thai–Cambodian border remains volatile

Temporary peace between Thailand and Cambodia requires something Southeast Asian politics too often lacks: restraint.

2 months ago

Newly-arrived Rohingya refugees receive food on Jan. 29, 2025, while on their boat after authorities prevented the refugees from disembarking and ordered them to remain on board the vessel at Leuge Beach in Aceh.

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The case for universalism in a fragmenting world

In country after country, political leaders increasingly dehumanize migrants and refugees, casting people fleeing poverty, persecution and conflict as a mortal threat.

2 months ago

An illustration of the Indonesian Criminal Code (KUHP) and Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP)

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When the benefit of the doubt runs out

As we look ahead to the legislative and judicial changes in 2026 with one eye toward the 2029 polls, perhaps it is time for the people to rethink what the current administration has accomplished with the sovereignty, political legitimacy and leeway we have granted it.

2 months ago

President Prabowo Subianto (center) speaks to Coordinating Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (left), State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Regulatory Agency head Dony Oskaria (second left) and state asset fund Danantara CEO Rosan Roeslani (second right) and Aceh Governor Muzakir Manaf during an inspection on Jan. 1 to a temporary housing site for residents affected by floods and landslides in Aceh Tamiang regency, Aceh.

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Paradox of protection: Why strong leaders need 'red folders'

By building a wall to keep the leader happy, they effectively block him from seeing reality.

2 months ago

A boy collects firewood on Jan. 2, 2025, from piles of logs carried by landslides in Toweran Uken, Lut Tawar, Central Aceh, Aceh.

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Restless Aceh

We do believe that the President would be able to deliver his March deadline and people will wait patiently as long as they are convinced by the ongoing process.

2 months ago

Paycheck pursuers: Visitors look for job vacancy information on Nov. 28, 2025, at a job fair at the University of Palangka Raya in Central Kalimantan.

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Indonesia’s youth and educated unemployment: A ticking time bomb

In Indonesia, education policy continues to expand labor supply rapidly, but industrial policy, investment incentives and labor market institutions have not evolved in tandem.

2 months ago

Reconciliation mood: Nahdlatul Ulama chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf (center) speaks to reporters on Dec. 28 after a closed-door meeting with senior figures of the organization at the Miftachus-sunnah Islamic boarding school in Surabaya.

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Intellectual leadership matters for NU in its second century

The intellectual capacity of NU leadership is essential if the group is to formulate substantive responses to extremism, social inequality and the ethical challenges of technological change.

2 months ago

Indonesia has yet to join the club of nations from Brazil to China and India that have issued stringent regulations on personal data protection, modeled on the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which protects citizens from privacy and data breaches regardless of where the data is processed and which recognizes citizens’ “right to be forgotten”, so users can ask for data erasure and delisting from digital platforms and search engines.

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Society relies on corporations and Gen-Z to build a privacy culture

Indifference to privacy violations is not apathy; it is habituation - the natural outcome of a society trained to comply rather than to question.

2 months ago

United States President Donald Trump (left) shares a close moment with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Oct. 30, after their talks at Gimhae Air Base in Busan, South Korea. The leaders met face-to-face for the first time in six years to seek a truce in a trade war that has unsettled the global economy.

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President Xi can define a new era of greatness through restraint

China should demonstrate strength through endurance and patience, playing the long game, otherwise, aggressive dynamics can backfire.

2 months ago

Workers use excavators to remove waste on Dec. 26, 2025, at the Cipeucang final disposal site (TPA) in South Tangerang, Banten. The city administration has declared a waste management emergency, effective from Dec. 23, 2025, to Jan. 5, 2026, to speed up waste handling efforts and reduce risks to residents’ health.

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The wild, wild waste

Landfills should operate only for residual waste, making disposal a last resort rather than a primary solution.

2 months ago

A fisherman parks his fishing boat on Nov. 11 in Kupal village, on Bacan Island, South Halmahera regency, North Maluku. Fishermen in the area have a tradition of hanging their boats using a pulley after going out to sea to make them easier to use again and to protect them from waves that can damage the hull.

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A decisive year for ocean conservation

Over the next five years, we have an opportunity to pull back from the brink and ensure that the ocean continues to stabilize the climate, feed billions of people and support the livelihoods of coastal communities.

2 months ago

A visitor walks past ‘batu simbuang’ (menhir) on Dec. 15, 2025, among the 102 menhirs that stand at Kalimbuang Bori’, a megalithic tourist site in Sesean district, North Toraja regency, South Sulawesi.

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What Southeast Asia's hospitality industry taught us about resilience

The region's hotels are poised to enter 2026 with an ongoing momentum based on experiential resilience, and Indonesia is foundationally geared toward innovating to accommodate a new crop of discerning domestic travelers.

2 months ago

Collective fraud: Five suspects (from left) Central Lampung Revenue Agency acting head Anton Wibowo, Central Lampung Legislative Council member Riki Hendra Saputra, Central Lampung Regent Ardito Wijaya, PT Elkaka Mandiri director Lukman Sjamsuri and the regent’s brother Ranu Hari Prasetyo are seen on Dec. 11, during a press conference at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) building in Jakarta. The KPK has detained the five suspects in connection with a bribery case related to the procurement of goods and services in several projects across Central Lampung regency, Lampung.

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Regional autonomy does not have to redistribute corruption

As Vedi Hadiz has noted, decentralization has produced local oligarchies, new centers of power growing from old patronage networks.

2 months ago

A worker inspects sacks of rice on Dec. 29, 2025, at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) warehouse in Lambaro, Aceh.

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Beware, data credibility remains Indonesia’s weakest link

It has been proven throughout history that statistics is essential to statecraft and in the Indonesian context of today's digital era, greater openness is key to building credibility and trust.

2 months ago

Hard times: President Prabowo Subianto (center) hugs a flash flood survivor on Dec. 01, 2025, at an evacuation post in Pandan, Central Tapanuli, North Sumatra. Indonesian and Thai authorities have raced to clear debris and find hundreds of missing people as the death toll from devastating floods and landslides continues to increase.

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A mandate squandered

Meaningful reform in the Prabowo administration would require not only a reshuffle but a reduction in size, a step that would signal seriousness about governance over optics.

2 months ago

President Prabowo Subianto (left) watches as Attorney General ST Burhanuddin (second left) symbolically hands over funds on Dec. 24, 2025, collected from forestry administrative fines and recovered state assets from corruption cases to Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa (second right) and Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni (right) at the Attorney General’s Office complex in Jakarta.

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The politics of cash display in nation running out of forests

This is how Indonesia is governed now: by spectacle so crude it dares the public to object, by narratives so inflated they collapse under their own weight, by numbers waved around like talismans against doubt.

2 months ago