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Grok-ing the future: A person holds a smartphone bearing the logo of Grok, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by United States company xAI in front of the national flags of various countries on Jan. 15, 2026, in Bengaluru, India.

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The collapse of trust in facts: Making sense of verification on the internet

As AI and crowdsourced systems take on the job of fact checking, they promise speed but struggle to deliver trust and explainability. Until they can do all three, human verification still has a vital role to play.

1 hour ago

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From rivals to allies: Prabowo’s othello strategy

Prabowo’s political architecture strategy is to embrace former political adversaries within a single, inclusive framework, a “big tent” coalition. ...

2 hours ago

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AI boom: Can Indonesia move from market to maker?

Indonesia has the scale to drive AI demand, but without an urgent policy pivot into tech manufacturing and infrastructure, it risks becoming just a lucrative consumer market while its neighbors capture the real value. ...

1 day ago

The Latest

University of Indonesia (UI) students take part in a protest against wasteful state budget spending, President Prabowo Subianto's flagship programs and expanded military roles in civilian affairs in Central Jakarta, on Aug. 18, 2026.

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The anti-fascist playbook: How we can reclaim our democracy

From weaponized algorithms to creeping militarism, an urgent blueprint for exposing authoritarian power and defending civic freedom before it is too late.

1 day ago

A passenger of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius makes the heart hands sign on May 11, 2026, as he leaves aboard a military bus from the port of Granadilla de Abona on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain.

Vietnam’s hantavirus warning for Southeast Asia

Taking action to prevent zoonotic disease spillover is better than reacting to an outbreak, especially in countries where people live and work closely with wildlife, such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

1 day ago

Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles (left) shares a light moment with Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Aug. 18, 2026, during a joint news conference at Parliament House in Canberra.

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Sparring and engaging, Asia's new normal

As traditional US alliances shift and Beijing flexes its muscle, regional powers must master the delicate art of sparring with China without triggering an outright conflict.

1 day ago

Sludge and mud inundate damaged buildings and houses in a riverbank settlement near the Likhu River on Aug. 30, 2026, after deadly flash floods and mudslides struck Devighat village in Nuwakot district, Nepal.

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The Himalayan warning and the blind spots in climate risk

A glacier in Tibet fell exactly as the science said it would, and no agency or institution was waiting for it: Indonesia is writing a climate change law with the same blind spot.

1 day ago

Social aid recipient receive a sack of rice from the government's food reserves distribution program on Oct. 29, 2024, at the Dumai Post Office in Riau.

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‘Desil-desilan’: Indonesia’s welfare ranking needs more than a data refresh

The deeper issue is that a probabilistic statistical estimate is being wielded as an indisputable administrative fact; one deemed sharp enough to decide who gets subsidized fuel and who walks away empty-handed.

2 days ago

An employee is seen inside the production facilities of high-end printed circuit boards (PCBs) and integrated circuit (IC) substrates manufacturer AT&S on Aug. 11 in Leoben, Styria, Austria.

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Technocracy cannot fix Europe

A new private initiative bringing together the crème de la crème of European business, financial, economic and tech elites could well prove useful in kick-starting European growth and innovation. But first, it must recognize that the problem it hopes to solve is fundamentally political.

2 days ago

Coordinating Economy Minister Airlangga Hartarto (right) receives the Roadmap for the OECD Accession of Indonesia from the organization’s secretary-general Mathias Cormann on May 2, 2024, during the opening of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris.

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OECD is no magic lamp

Chasing elite clubs like the OECD won’t magically transform Indonesia’s economy, especially in a fractured global order where diplomatic prestige is no substitute for domestic reform.

2 days ago

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (right) greets Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet (left) alongside Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on May 7, 2026, after their trilateral meeting ahead of the 48th ASEAN summit in Cebu, the Philippines.

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Peaceful border talks require secure ground first

As Thailand prepares to engage constructively with the UNCLOS conciliation proceedings to resolve the border dispute with Cambodia, both sides must first ensure that the conditions on the ground are actually safe for our teams to work.

2 days ago

President Prabowo Subianto stands atop the dais on Aug. 14, 2026, prior to delivering his State of the Nation Address and the 2027 state budget proposal during the plenary meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) at the Senayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta.

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Meeting Indonesia’s growth, and deficit, targets

In parallel with growth, the government must have a dedicated focus on the revenue side of reducing the deficit, particularly in drawing businesses out of the shadow economy and into the real economy.

2 days ago

Acting Bank Indonesia governor Destry Damayanti waves on Aug. 26, 2026, prior to undergoing a fit and proper test with House of Representatives Commission XI at the Senayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta to confirm her appointment as the central bank’s new governor.

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New BI leadership brings experience and stability

As Destry Damayanti makes history as the central bank's first female governor, a battle-tested leadership team is stepping up to anchor monetary stability and drive equitable growth through turbulent global markets.

2 days ago

Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire burning in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, on Aug. 13, 2026.

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How state budget fuels more land and ecological conflicts

As toxic haze blankets the region, Indonesia's 2027 draft budget reveals a dangerous paradox: chasing state revenue by doubling down on the very extractive projects fueling the fires and displacing its people.

4 days ago

Locked out: Hundreds of people crowd the gate of the Senayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta on Aug. 27, 2026, during a mass demonstration that demanded passage of the long-delayed asset forfeiture bill and tougher punishment for corruptors.

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The Aug. 27 demonstrations: From the streets to the MPR?

While the crowds take to the streets, the real political battle is being waged behind closed doors - where public anger may simply be the opening move in an elite power reshuffle.

4 days ago

Opening stage: A participant takes a photo in front of a banner for the 35th Nahdlatul Ulama National Congress (Muktamar NU) on Aug. 27, 2026, after the five-day conference opened at Untung Suropati Field in the sprawling complex of Pondok Pesantren Bahrul Ulum Tambakberas, an Islamic boarding school in Jombang regency, East Java

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Watching the 35th NU congress from the diaspora

As Nahdlatul Ulama gathers for its 35th Muktamar, a former diaspora leader argues that safeguarding the organization’s future demands uncompromising independence from power, global literacy at the helm and a real voice for cadres abroad.

4 days ago

Around 1,800 participants attend the in-person opening of the 2nd Batch of the National Graduate Internship Program on Nov. 26, 2025, at the Manpower Ministry office in Jakarta.

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We cannot intern our way to productive employment

Subsidizing six-month internships won't fix graduate unemployment if Indonesia's shrinking industrial base lacks the factories, machinery and capacity to hire them afterward.

4 days ago

A doctor provides care to a patient with Ebola virus on July 13 at the Rwampara Ebola Treatment Center in Bunia, Ituri, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Health workers at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo are threatening to strike, telling AFP on July 13 they had not been paid since the virus was detected in mid-May. The highly infectious disease has killed more than 700 people among the nearly 2,000 confirmed infected in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the outbreak was declared on May 15, according to the latest official toll published on July 14.

The deadliest Ebola outbreak can be stopped

Stopping the world’s fastest-moving Ebola outbreak demands more than international aid—it requires empowering the local communities and frontline workers holding the front line.

4 days ago

French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (center) pose with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (left) and Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski on Jan. 7 upon their arrival for a Weimar Triangle and India meeting at the French Foreign ministry in Paris.

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35 years of the Weimar Triangle: France, Germany and Poland shaping Europe’s future

The Weimar Triangle was founded on a conviction that remains as relevant today as it was 35 years ago — together, we are stronger.

5 days ago

Members of the United Pati Community Alliance (AMPB) from Pati, Central Java, gather in front of the Senayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta on Aug. 26, 2026, the day before a rally to urge firmer anticorruption efforts and to demand the House of Representatives expedite passage of the asset forfeiture bill.

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Bank account freezes can help fight crime, not silence critics

When the state freezes an activist’s bank accounts mid-protest, it isn't routine law enforcement. It is an urgent test of whether the rule of law controls the police or punishes dissent.

5 days ago

People visit the Dolly Parton exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee, the United States, on Aug. 26, 2026.

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Why Dolly Parton was one of America’s greatest

What made her something more was what she did when she left the stage.

5 days ago

Children defy the heat as they play on the rail tracks on July 15, 2022, in a low-income area in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta.

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Can Indonesia build trust in its welfare data?

Indonesia needs not only better welfare data, but also greater public understanding and trust in how that data is produced.

5 days ago

Fire rages through Singha Durbar in Kathmandu during a Gen Z protest on Sept. 9, 2025, a day after a police crackdown on demonstrations over a ban on 26 social media platforms and alleged government corruption.

Gen Z‑led uprisings across Asia: Strengths and limitations of youth protest

Youth-led protest movements across Asia have exposed underlying anger at corruption and blocked opportunity. But so far, only Nepal has managed to convert that anger into a transfer of governing power.

5 days ago

A fireman extinguishes a peatland fire on Aug. 24, 2026, in Kampar regency, Riau. The Riau provincial administration and other agencies reduced the area affected by forest and land fires from about 16,000 to 900 hectares between January and August 2026.

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Breaking the vicious cycle of forest fires and haze

Satellite dots and convenient scapegoats won't stop the haze, breaking the country’s fire crisis demands trading assumptions for real accountability on the ground.

5 days ago

A group of ‘ojol’ (online motorcycle transportation drivers) distributes boxes of supplies donated by the public at a drop-off point outside the Senalayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta on Aug. 25, 2026, ahead of a planned protest on Aug. 27.

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When the state rolls back reform promises, from Sabang to Merauke

From raging wildfires to simmering revolts in the regions, a hyper-centralized Jakarta is driving the country toward a dangerous breaking point that harks back to past policy failures.

6 days ago

A man holds a banner claiming local elections held in June were fraudulent, during a protest demanding new elections on July 23 in Seoul.

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Look East for lessons in democratic resistance

For all the horror of the Tiananmen crackdown, this period also brought extraordinary democratic breakthroughs elsewhere in Asia, as entrenched autocratic systems finally began to yield to democratic rule.

6 days ago

The Ampera Bridge sits shrouded in haze from wildfires on Aug. 23 in Palembang, South Sumatra.

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Indonesia can fight fires. It must govern climate risk, too

The 2026 forest and land fires reveal a paradox: Indonesia can mobilize after ignition, but climate justice depends on institutions that govern risk before smoke appears.

6 days ago

United States Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent takes questions from reporters as he speaks during a press conference on Aug. 24 in Washington, DC.

The US fiscal hole has an AI problem at its core

Washington has a multitrillion-dollar fiscal problem. United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's answer, so far, is to look for loose change down the back of the sofa.

6 days ago

United States President Donald Trump flashes a thumbs up while stepping off Air Force One on July 31 upon arrival at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, the US.

Trump’s pivot, Seoul’s long game

For South Korea, the best approach to dealing with Trump is what it has always been: Wait him out.

6 days ago

Bated breath: Groups of santri (Islamic boarding school students) hold aloft the flag of Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) as they wait along a road for the presidential motorcade to arrive on June 23 ahead of the closing ceremony of the NU National Conference of Islamic Scholars and Grand Conference at the Syachona Mohammad Cholil Islamic Institute in Bangkalan, East Java.

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Beyond the congress: NU and the moral future of Indonesia

The 35th Muktamar (congress) should be more than a leadership contest. It should mark a new commitment to integrity, independence and service in the life of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization.

6 days ago

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