Strengthening national defense has long been a priority for President Prabowo Subianto and dates back to his tenure as defense minister. There is no doubt about his administration’s focus on defense, given that the country has yet to achieve its 2009-2024 Minimum Essential Force (MEF) target. Yet the public continues to question whether the government’s efforts are genuinely aimed at safeguarding Indonesia’s sovereignty or attempts to extend military authority into civilian domains.

Fueled by the antek asing (foreign agent) rhetoric, harassment of activists and civil society organizations is sure to persist, if not escalate, in the country.

E-commerce increasingly shapes the conditions under which market participants compete. 

Sound haj governance should no longer be measured solely by how many pilgrims can be dispatched abroad each year, but also by how responsibly societies adapt to worsening environmental conditions.

When democratic institutions are dismantled in plenary chambers, the language of capital translates political overreach into economic ruin and in doing so, creates a powerful new battlefield for change.

How can an institution tasked with monitoring state power be required to obtain approval from the very executive branch it is meant to oversee?

More than a year after its establishment, Danantara has yet to demonstrate meaningful progress in restructuring state-owned enterprises (SOEs), despite mounting financial pressures, delayed consolidation plans and growing concerns over transparency. As Danantara expands its mandate, most recently into the management of natural resource exports, the debate is no longer merely about corporate governance, but about the broader direction of Indonesia’s economic management.

Multiple red lines send mixed signals. Is the country drawing them determined to assert its global power, or is it in the grip of a national paranoia?

As the Indonesian Military (TNI) submitted to civilian control in the first two decades of the reform era and scaled down their non-defense roles, the police have only grown in stature and clout.

Investors should be asking not whether the AI boom will end, but what will happen to markets when it does and where safety may be found.

When a flawed anti-corruption verdict relies on silence as guilt, it doesn't just threaten the innocent—it risks turning Indonesia's brightest young professionals into the scapegoats of a broken judicial system.

Pancasila is a philosophical framework that offers an alternative to the excesses of realpolitik.

Pontiff has not gone far enough on the most consequential question: What should AI be designed to do?

President Prabowo’s visionary fiscal address signals a bold shift toward a state-driven, developmental state model aimed at unleashing Indonesia’s economic potential—but its ultimate success hinges entirely on dismantling the entrenched governance and bureaucratic failures of the past.

Indonesia’s power system is still built on a decades-old paradigm,  a handful of large power plants strung together by long transmission lines, with limited flexibility and little redundancy.

As the country’s investment climate deteriorates, the China Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (CCCI) took the unusual step of writing directly to President Prabowo Subianto to complain about shifting regulations, nickel quota cuts, royalty hikes and alleged extortion. This raises troubling questions: Is the government losing control of policy consistency or quietly yielding regulatory authority to its largest investor?

The trial of executives from venture capital firms that invested in agricultural technology (agritech) company TaniHub has sparked concern after prosecutors charged them with causing state losses due to their firms’ status as subsidiaries of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Critics have questioned the charges, citing a disconnect between the nature of venture capital business and the seemingly disproportionate punishment sought compared to the accused executives’ alleged involvement in TaniHub’s wrongdoing.

A plan to task Bank Indonesia with ensuring employment through economic growth comes at a bad time for the central bank.

In the wake of the crisis stemming from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, ASEAN should consider a regional strategic reserve mechanism, coordinated procurement arrangements and emergency energy-sharing frameworks.

With the shift in US-China relations, India is emerging as the strategic cog in the American wheel, Pakistan as a tactical partner, NATO as the anchor of the Atlantic alliance and Quad countries as a tool to serve the Indo‑Pacific.

As the administrative boundaries of Indonesia's urban areas blur, millions of people are having to pay a silent "metropolitan tax" that is measured not in currency but in hours of their lives surrendered to daily commutes.

The risks of statelessness in Indonesia are best understood not as a single condition affecting one clearly defined group, but as a pattern produced through ordinary administrative processes. 

Indonesia is funding an illusion by giving startup loans to university graduates when the real engine of entrepreneurship is engineered in early childhood.  

As Washington wavers, a historic and pragmatic rapprochement between South Korea and Japan is quietly redefining the balance of power across the Indo-Pacific.

The documentary film Pesta Babi (Pig Feast) is compelling not only for what it portrays, but also for the reaction it has provoked. It lays bare Indonesia’s contemporary agrarian conflicts while, once again, exposing the state’s enduring discomfort with criticism.

To win in ASEAN's complex, relationship-driven markets, global playbooks must be replaced with local cultural fluency and the ground-up humility required to turn brand awareness into emotional belonging.

Indonesia's historic haj services overhaul brings shorter wait times and better safety in the desert, even as old logistical headaches and corruption shadows persist.