A visitor walks past a screen displaying the movement of the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) on Oct. 19 at the Indonesia Stock Exchange in South Jakarta.

Keeping emerging market status: Lessons from 1998

To save Indonesia from a humiliating market downgrade, policymakers must abandon defensive rhetoric and deploy the painful, proven audit blueprint that rescued the nation’s banks in 1998.

23 hours ago

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Mangroves are more than trees, they are water infrastructure

After many decades of loss, mangroves and coastal wetlands are showing signs of incredible recovery. ...

17 hours ago

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The two faces of Eisenkot, who could be Israel’s PM

While mainstream media paints Gadi Eisenkot as a moderate alternative to Benjamin Netanyahu, it sidelines a brutal truth: the retired general laid the very doctrinal blueprint for Gaza’s obliteration. ...

18 hours ago

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A Rohingya refugee living in Malaysia holds his son while others prepare to slaughter cows during the Idul Adha festival in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2022.

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Indonesia’s shaky Myanmar rapprochement

By pursuing rapprochement with Min Aung Hlaing, Southeast Asian leaders risk trading democratic credibility for empty concessions from a crumbling regime.

19 hours ago

A woman wearing a face mask crosses a street in front of government public housing apartments in Singapore on Oct. 17, 2026, as the country continues to be shrouded in haze caused by fires in Indonesia.

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Indonesia needs to fight fires, not its neighbors

Weaponizing gas pipes and subsea cables won’t clear Southeast Asia’s skies; genuine leadership means putting out the fires together before burning down ASEAN unity.

1 day ago

Apa kabar? Canberra Grammar School (CGS) students join an Indonesian language class attended by Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Siswo Pramono (center right) on May 17, 2022, in Canberra.

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The Youth Pledge and the future of the Indonesian language

From an audacious anti-colonial pledge to a global language fighting for relevance abroad, Indonesian proves that a national tongue is never just spoken—it must be continually fought for.

1 day ago

Show of creativity: A visitor takes a photo of an unmanned aerial vehicle on Oct. 22, 2026 at the Global Innovation and Future Technology Summit (GIFTS) 2026 at the Innovation and Creativity Center of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Sleman, Yogyakarta.

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Drone proliferation: Reflection for Airspace Management Law

From the trenches of Ukraine to the skies above Jakarta, the rise of cheap, weaponized drones is upending modern warfare, and forcing a high-stakes rewrite of global aviation law.

1 day ago

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a speech at the International Arctic Forum in Murmansk, Russia, on March 27, 2025.

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The Arctic: From the Northern Sea Route to Greater Eurasia

Developing the full potential of the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor is becoming a major priority for Russia’s cooperation with international partners in the Arctic.

1 day ago

Navi Pillay, a South African lawyer and champion of international law, waves on Oct. 9, 2026, after she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2026 in the historic Courtroom 600 at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, southern Germany, where she was attending the Nuremberg Forum 2026 organized by the International Nuremberg Principles Academy.

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The Nobel Peace Prize in a fragmented world

The Nobel Peace Prize is controversial by nature, but this year's awarding is even more controversial.

1 day ago

Buildings are shrouded in haze caused by fires in Indonesia, in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 16, 2026. Toxic haze has covered parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for weeks as Jakarta struggles to contain fires that have scorched large tracts of Kalimantan and Sumatra, with the smoke drifting across the region.

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An ASEAN citizens’ assembly can break climate gridlock

From lingering forest fires to sluggish COPs, ASEAN’s best hope for an enduring climate legacy is to give everyday people a seat at the decision-making table.

1 day ago

President Prabowo Subianto (second left), accompanied by an Air Force officer, inspects a Rafale fighter jet on May 18, 2026, during a handover ceremony for six Rafale jets, one Airbus A400M military transport aircraft and four Dassault Falcon 8X planes at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in East Jakarta.

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Link and match: MSCI, the deep state and weapons procurement

Indonesia might think it is diversifying its weapons suppliers, but it is buying from the very same financial architecture in New York that grades its markets and sets the price of its defense.

2 days ago

University students protest against the government's handling of haze and wildfires on Friday outside the Central Kalimantan Governor's office in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan.

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Building resilient generation beyond law enforcement

Indonesia’s next great crime-prevention weapon isn't a heavier badge or a faster patrol car - it’s a generation of digitally savvy teenagers trained to outsmart scams, bypass brawls and defuse radicalization from the palm of their hand.

2 days ago

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is projected onto large screens on Sept. 22, 2026, as he addresses the 81st UN General Assembly at the international organization’s headquarters in New York, the United States.

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The UN must reform before it loses international trust

A fractured world can no longer afford an architecture where five states hold the power to paralyze the collective security of 193 nations.

2 days ago

A customer scans a QRIS code to pay for a bowl of bakso (meatball soup) on Oct. 17, 2024, in Tangerang, Banten.

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The next step of Indonesia's digital infrastructure journey

How does Indonesia sustain digital economy growth into lasting competitiveness on the global stage?

2 days ago

Buildings are shrouded in haze on Oct. 16 in Kuala Lumpur caused by fires in Indonesia.

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ASEAN has the tools to tackle the haze crisis

ASEAN doesn’t need a new treaty to end the haze choking Southeast Asia.

2 days ago

United States President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping stand together as they tour the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026.

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The Thucydides Trap obscures the choices of power

Commentators should drop the Thucydides Trap because it is both banal and dangerous.

2 days ago

An employee demonstrates the working of a humanoid robot on April 15 during the China Import and Export Fair, commonly known as the Canton Fair, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China.

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China faces a storm of political and fiscal risks

Though few dare to speculate about it publicly, an economic and political perfect storm is bearing down on China.

4 days ago

Defendant in the alleged corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebooks for the Education Ministry's school digitalization program, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, center, greets Gojek drivers after attending the verdict hearing on June 30 at the Jakarta Corruption Court in Jakarta. The panel of judges sentenced Makarim to 10 years in prison, fined him 1 billion rupiah (about US$61,000), with an alternative of 190 days in jail if unpaid, and ordered him to pay restitution of 809.59 billion rupiah, with an additional five-year prison term if unpaid.

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Redefining corruption misses the point of Indonesia’s judicial crisis

Redefining corruption to exclude "state losses" misses the real danger: changing the wording of the law cannot fix a justice system that still struggles to separate honest policy failures from corrupt intent.

3 days ago

Indonesia exercises its right of reply during the General Debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in response to statements by representatives of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu regarding the situation on Sept. 28in Papua.

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Decolonization and the geopolitics of legitimacy: From Morocco to Papua

When multilateral forums succumb to political theater and procedural breaches, the genuine legal principles of decolonization and sovereignty risk being lost to ideological distraction.

3 days ago

The sprawling Plaju refinery of state-owned energy giant Pertamina stands alongside a green space and residential settlement in South Sumatra’s provincial capital Palembang on Oct. 24, 2018.

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Indonesia’s gas policy must deliver more than energy sovereignty

By choking off gas to Singapore to fuel the domestic industry, Jakarta is gambling that resource nationalism can build real economic muscle rather than simply leave stranded promises in its wake.

3 days ago

Job seekers look at recruitment notices at a job fair targeting college graduates and other job seekers held on May 22 in the Huai’an University Gymnasium in Huai’an, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province.

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Why China’s stimulus keeps missing the mark

Now that major trading partners are seeking to put up more barriers, Beijing may need to rethink its cautious approach to direct household stimulus.

3 days ago

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (center, rear) is projected onto a giant screen on March 6, 2024, as he addresses a plenary meeting of the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in the capital city of Australia’s southeastern Victoria state.

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Fifth year and counting: ASEAN-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

From elevating ties to an unprecedented strategic partnership five years ago to tackling shared regional challenges, Australia and ASEAN continue to prove that our collective security and economic future are inextricably intertwined.

3 days ago

European Union flags fly at half-mast outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on March 1, 2023, to honor the victims of the Greece train collision on Feb. 28.

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Strengthening EU-Indonesia dialogue, advancing human rights

At a defining moment for global justice, the European Union and Indonesia are proving that defending universal human rights demands more than shared values: It takes a decade of sustained dialogue, bold reform and united action.

3 days ago

Workers wait for the cargo ship Towuti, carrying 119,000 cubic meters of liquified natural gas (LNG) from Tangguh, West Papua, to moor on Jan. 19, 2015, at the Arun storage and regasification facility in Lhokseumawe, Aceh.

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Indonesia's gas export cuts: A costly blow to trust and regional leadership

At stake are Indonesia's credibility as an economic partner, its ability to attract long-term investment and its standing as a regional leader.

4 days ago

President B.J. Habibie addresses the House of Representatives on Aug. 15, 1998, where he called for military reform and a new democratic paradigm during the early days of the Reform Era.

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BJ Habibie’s status in Indonesian history

One of the criteria for becoming a national hero is not having committed treason against the nation. Was BJ Habibie excluded because of this issue?

4 days ago

Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin (front, left) and state energy holding firm Pertamina executive director Simon Aloysius Mantiri (front, right) attend a press briefing to assure the public that Pertamina's current fuel meets standards and is unaffected by the 2018-2023 fuel supply corruption case at Pertamina subsidiaries at the Attorney General's Office building in Jakarta on March 6, 2025.

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Redefining corruption: Protection for economic power?

Narrowing corruption down to bribery may protect state investors from criminalized business losses, but without strict checks, it risks turning legal certainty into a shield for oligarchic power.

4 days ago

Indonesian nationals who had worked at scam centres in Myanmar are greeted by officials upon arrival from Thailand, at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten near Jakarta on March 18, 2025. Indonesia on March 18 began repatriating more than 500 of its nationals freed from online scam centres in Myanmar, officials said, bringing them home from grim holding camps in Thailand where many have languished for weeks.

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Jakarta should not lower the bar for Myanmar

As a member of the Financial Action Task Force, Indonesia can help ensure Myanmar is judged by enforcement results, not by its new civilian title.

4 days ago

People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul on April 19, 2026.

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ASEAN should press its Plus Three partners on denuclearization

With East Asia on the brink of a dangerous nuclear tipping point, ASEAN must abandon quiet diplomacy and force frank answers from Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul at next month’s summit.

4 days ago

A worker checks sacks of locally produced rice on May 30, 2024, at a of warehouse state food company Perum Bulog in Indramayu, West Java.

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Indonesia has a mountain of rice, but not food security

A record rice surplus is filling Bulog warehouses rather than lowering market prices, exposing a costly food policy that prioritizes managing inventory over feeding the poor.

6 days ago

Migrant deterrent: A tent camp for holding immigrant detainees stand in a yard at the Illegal Alien Holding Operations Center at the Guantanamo Bay United States military prison in Cuba on Feb. 6, 2025.

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Hambali: Southeast Asia’s last Guantanamo detainee

More than two decades after his capture, Southeast Asia’s most notorious jihadist remains trapped in legal purgatory at Guantanamo Bay, a relic of a forgotten war that neither Washington nor Jakarta has the political will or legal means to resolve.

6 days ago

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