Studies indicate that the tendency toward medicalization in Indonesia is driven by people’s belief that there is a social and religious obligation to circumcise girls.

Young people across the world, who appear to be inspired by the Gen Z movements in Indonesia and Nepal, have continued demonstrations against their governments in recent weeks.

The government has walked back its previous plan to raise the tobacco excise tax, a policy that had been a central pillar of its earlier crackdown on illegal cigarettes. Under the former administration, the approach was largely punitive, marked by annual excise hikes, aggressive “Gempur Rokok Ilegal” raids on small retailers, and stiff penalties for anyone caught selling untaxed products. In a major policy shift, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has now announced that the government will instead offer amnesty to illegal cigarette producers, aiming to incentivize them to register, fulfill their tax obligations, and transition into the formal, regulated market.

On social media, the riots were remembered less for their casualties or property damage than for the narratives that crystallized around them. 

Indonesia’s education system continues to struggle with underpaid teachers, uneven resource distribution and dilapidated schools in vast parts of the country.

Brussels’ landmark AI ruling has a global reach. For ASEAN businesses, early compliance is the key to turning regulation into advantage.

Implementation must strengthen existing MSMEs—the warung, food sellers and canteen operators who understand local taste and hygiene. 

Indonesia needs a binding national standard for human rights due diligence, ensuring that companies operating in forestry, energy and extractive sectors identify, prevent, and remediate human rights violations and environmental harm.

Encryption is under unprecedented threat from established democracies, which are inadvertently paving a dangerous path that the world’s autocrats are only too eager to follow.

Reality shows that killing drug traffickers does not really save the lives of Indonesian drug addicts or reduce drug trafficking. 

Prosperity depends less on how much capital you pour in, and more on whether societies can generate and spread “useful knowledge.” 

The newly appointed Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has wasted no time asserting his fiscal philosophy within just a month in office. One of his first major decisions, rejecting the call for a third round of tax amnesty, has sparked debate in policy circles, pitting the need for short-term revenue against the imperative of restoring long-term credibility to Indonesia’s tax system.

Regardless of official statements, the state budget has borne, and will continue to bear, the consequences of the initial miscalculation of the Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway.

Inefficient energy use in buildings  represents a substantial obstacle toward national climate objectives, thus underlining the importance of effective facility management.

Threats to agrifood systems, ranging from climate shocks to conflict, can unwind years of progress against hunger. 

There can be no better food without safer food, and no better future if the health of our people is compromised.

An independent and free Palestine is the best and only guarantee for the security of Israel.

Nearly 1,000 suspects have been named in the riots, including high school students. Police have seized books they claim are subversive to justify the arrests.

Jobs are being created, but many remain unprotected and unworthy of the term “decent work.”

While investments in human capital are essential for long-term growth, they do not address Indonesia’s pressing short-term challenges: Low productivity, a weak job market and the lack of formal employment.

Indonesia has again amended Law No. 1/2003 on State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), formally transforming the SOEs Ministry into the SOEs Regulatory Agency (BP BUMN). The amendment marks a significant shift in governance, transferring the ministry’s operational authority to the Daya Anagata Nusantara (Danantara) Investment Management Agency, while BP BUMN will retain a purely regulatory role. In effect, the change consolidates Danantara’s control over the management of SOEs, as its Chief Operating Officer, Dony Oskaria, has been appointed to concurrently lead BP BUMN, aligning the two institutions’ operational and oversight functions.

A secure Eurasian continent will inevitably radiate waves of stability to other parts of the world.

Global wealth accumulation this century has far outstripped economic growth, and the performance of that US$600 trillion of savings over the next decade rests heavily on how the gap is closed, a productivity boost or sustained inflation.

The recently launched Bali Climate Financing Platform introduces a new model for translating road maps into implementation and if successful, it could be emulated in other provinces to safeguard regional economies toward building climate resilience.

The Venezuelan opposition leader is the latest in a long list of controversial Nobel peace laureates that illustrate the committee's complex reasoning behind whether to choose a model of change or a model for change.

Prabowo’s populist, project-driven, fiscally expansionary approach has been unfolding in a fragile institutional setting.

In Papua's conflict dynamics, civilian victims frequently become subjects of competing labels depending on which party controls the narrative.