President Prabowo Subianto gestures as he delivers remarks at the launch of Indonesia's B50 biodiesel program in Karawang, West Java, July 9, 2026. Indonesia on Thursday raised its mandatory biodiesel blend to 50 percent from 40 percent, requiring diesel fuel to contain half palm oil-based biodiesel.

The hidden costs of Indonesia's B50 biodiesel revolution

Indonesia’s ambitious B50 biodiesel mandate promises total energy independence, but a volatile mix of surging food costs, environmental degradation, and fiscal strain could turn this historic experiment into a costly economic gamble.

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Justice at the barrel of a gun: The anticlimax of antigraft policy

When institutional rivalries push heavily armed soldiers to negotiate the return of seized evidence, Indonesia faces a critical choice: uphold the civilian rule of law or allow justice to be dictated by the barrel of a gun. ...

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Mamdani's American dream

One should heed Jean-Paul Sartre’s observation that a text attacked by both sides is probably on the right track. ...

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A trash picker walks past a large mound of burning garbage on July 4, 2026, at the Jatiwaringin landfill in Tangerang regency, Banten.

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When landfills become time bombs: A lesson from Jatiwaringin

While the Jatiwaringin landfill fire has exposed the volatile reality of Indonesia’s mismanaged waste, a much larger environmental time bomb is ticking in Bantar Gebang at the gates of Greater Jakarta.

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A ship sails off the coast of Ajman on Friday. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply since Wednesday, especially through the United Nations-backed Omani route, analysts said, after vessels were attacked earlier this week and as the United States and Iran traded renewed strikes.

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Renewed Gulf hostilities and global uncertainty

Renewed US-Iran hostilities and Israel's protracted military campaigns reflect rising risks of a wider Middle East conflict, threatening to trigger severe energy and food crises worldwide.

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(front row, left to right) Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, Secretary of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party Cai Qi, and Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China Li Xi applaud during the closing session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 12, 2026.

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Understanding the CPC: The key to decoding China's development

In just a few decades, China accomplished an industrialization process that took many developed countries centuries to achieve.

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An officer assists a taxpayer filing their annual tax return via the Directorate General of Taxes' (DGT) new Coretax system at the Meulaboh Tax Office in West Aceh, Aceh, on March 27, 2026.

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Beyond Tax Day reflection: Fiscal sovereignty matters

True independence requires more than a flag and a border; it demands the fiscal sovereignty to finance the nation's future through public trust and institutional capacity.

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Hilly terrain forms a backdrop on Nov. 9, 2023 against the Cirata Floating Solar Power Plant at Cirata Reservoir in Purwakarta, West Java, the largest energy facility of its kind in Southeast Asia that was developed jointly by the Indonesian government and Abu Dhabi-owned renewable company Masdar of the United Arab Emirates.

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No short-cut for 100 GW renewable ambition

The main constraint is not the lack of capital available to fund the projects; it is the regulation.

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External reinforcements: A group of soldiers stands guard on Wednesday at the front gates of a luxury house in South Jakarta’s upscale Kebayoran Baru neighborhood identified as the private residence of Febrie Ardiansyah, who resigned as assistant attorney general for special crimes on Friday amid an ongoing corruption investigation by the National Police.

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Two generals, one democratic corridor

As Indonesia honored its fallen soldiers alongside those of Timor-Leste last week, the occasion served as a reminder of the parallel journeys the two bordering neighbors have trod, not least in their leaders' approaches to maintain national defense and public security within the corridors of democracy.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) welcomes United States President Donald Trump on May 15, 2026, at the Zhongnanhai garden in Beijing.

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Misreading China risks strategic failure

Every empire has its strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps the most important asset is understanding those of your adversaries.

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An Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldier stands guard on May 9, 2025, near the India-Pakistan Wagah border post, about 35 kilometers from Amritsar in India.

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How do Pakistan and India go from conflict to dialogue?

Since Pakistan and India remain embroiled in kinetic confrontations below a nuclear overhang, there is an urgent need to come up with ways to defuse tension during crises.

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Fast-food fun: Toys and fast-food packaging are pictured in the home of Percival Lugue, who has the Guinness world record for the largest fast-food toy collection, on April 20, 2021, in Apalit, Pampanga province, the Philippines.

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Front-of-package labeling: What constitutes unhealthy food

As Indonesia prepares to introduce front-of-package food labels, a new study reveals that the proposed system may dangerously downplay the health risks of nearly half the country's unhealthiest snacks and beverages.

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Police officers stand guard near seized evidence during a search conducted in a café in Cipete, South Jakarta on July 8, 2026. Investigators of the National Police's Corruption Eradication Corps and Jakarta Police seized evidence as part of an investigation of an alleged corruption pertaining to coal supply.

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The new fragmentation: From Cabinet politics to institutional rivalries

As institutional rivalries and overlapping intelligence mandates intensify, President Prabowo faces a critical test: preventing the fragmentation of the Indonesian state itself.

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Protesters demand the cancellation of a concert by British rock band Coldplay, which the protesters say supports LGBTQ rights in violation of Muslim doctrine, near the Gelora Bung Karno stadium where the band was scheduled to perform on the same day, in Jakarta on Nov. 15, 2023.

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The dangerous labeling of LGBTQ as a threat to national defense

By branding LGBTQ culture as a national security threat, Indonesia's new defense regulation triggers a dangerous constitutional contradiction that undermines the very human rights the state is sworn to protect.

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Essential fitness: An instructor leads manager candidates of the Red and White Cooperatives program in morning calisthenics on July 5, 2026 as part of their obligatory defense training program at the compound of the Mulawarman Military Command in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.

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Red and White Cooperatives and the road to social peace

To truly revitalize rural Indonesia, the government's ambitious 249-trillion-rupiah village cooperative program must move away from top-down bureaucracy and return to its democratic, community-owned roots.

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Papuan youths gather in the Knasaimos communal village forest in Manggroholo-Sira, Saifi District, South Sorong, Southwest Papua for the Forest Defender Camp, an initiative organized by Greenpeace Indonesia in collaboration with Sadir Wet Yifi and Bentara Papua from Sept. 20 to 22, 2023.

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‘Atatbon’: Protecting forests beyond the harvest

Beyond the headlines of environmental conflict, Papua’s ancient pig feasts offer modern climate policymakers a profound lesson in generational forest stewardship.

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A worker inspects semiconductor chips at the chip packaging firm Unisem Berhad plant in Ipoh, Malaysia, on Oct. 15, 2021.

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Why Malaysia must join Taiwan's semiconductor supply chain

If Malaysia continues to focus on domestic platforms and generalized talent cultivation without forging deep, structural links with Taiwan's market leaders, its economic spillovers will remain limited.

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A drone view shows vessels anchored at the Strait of Hormuz on May 25, as seen from Musandam, Oman.

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Oil refiners' Hormuz windfall may prove short-lived

Something ultimately has to give: either crude prices will rise, fuel prices will fall, or both.

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President Prabowo Subianto (right) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi deliver remarks during the launch of a cultural heritage conservation and restoration partnership at the Prambanan Temple complex in Sleman, Yogyakarta, on July 8, 2026. The two leaders visited the UNESCO World Heritage site to review and advance bilateral cooperation on the restoration and conservation of the Prambanan temple complex.

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When two nations begin to build together

Beyond the standard headlines of trade and defense, the genuine warmth between Modi and Prabowo signals a profound shift from transactional diplomacy to a resilient, co-developed future for India and Indonesia.

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A man walks past a Melawai outlet of the Red and White Cooperatives (KMP) program on Feb. 23, 2026, located in the Blok M shopping and nightlife hub in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

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Mitigating the impacts of a shift from a market economy to state capitalism

As President Prabowo pushes for a massive structural pivot toward state economic sovereignty, Indonesia faces a high-stakes gamble: Can it resurrect the ideals of a Pancasila economy without stumbling into the traps of heavy-handed economic nationalism?

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President Prabowo Subianto (left) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announce the 'political agreement' of the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) on July 14, 2025, in Brussels.

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Turning IEU-CEPA into lasting economic gain

Ratification, implementation and utilization are often less celebrated than negotiations, but they are the stages that translate ambition into meaningful outcomes.

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An electric car by Chinese automaker BYD (left) stands in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Sept. 19, 2025, as a Toyota SUV passes by in the opposing lane during rush hour in Jakarta.

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Rare-earth-free electric motors and the widening technological divide

As global automakers race to engineer rare-earth-free electric vehicles, resource-rich nations like Indonesia risk becoming trapped on the wrong side of a widening technological divide.

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Vessels are anchored on June 11 in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman.

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From energy security to energy sovereignty: Indonesia's sustainability imperative

Energy transition is no longer only a climate imperative, but also a strategic tool to reduce import dependence and protect the economy from geopolitical shocks.

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Mask up: Workers of the nickel plant operated by PT Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) ride on their motorcycles in the Central Weda district, Central Halmahera regency, North Maluku on Feb. 19, 2025. The industrial park is located around 100 meters from residential areas in the district.

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Investing in Indonesia: The need for regulatory reliability and predictability

To capture global markets, Indonesia must pivot from raw smelting to predictable, long-term manufacturing policies that offer Western investors a stable alternative to China.

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University students hold placards during a protest outside the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta on June 19, 2026.against government policies, including state budget spending, fuel price hike, free nutritious meal program and expanded military roles in civilian affairs.

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When university access depends on the family wallet

When university admission is earned by merit but decided by the wallet, Indonesia doesn't just lose students—it forfeits its future.

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Hear our voice: Journalists, student press members and members of the Koalisi Anti Pembungkaman Demokrasi civil movement hold a silent protest on Wednesday while carrying posters emblazoned with pro-democracy messages at the Jambi Police headquarters in Jambi. Members of press organizations, including the Indonesian Photojournalists (PFI) Jambi, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Jambi and the Indone- sian Television Journalists Association (IJTI) Jambi participated in the demonstration. They called for the prosecution of police officers who reportedly attempted to prevent press workers from carrying out their journalistic duties in recent mass protests.

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Can Asia-Pacific democracies reclaim the moral high ground?

To effectively counter authoritarian models, regional powers like India and Japan must stop sidelining human rights and integrate democratic values into their foreign policies.

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Jobseekers wait in line during the opening of the 2026 Bogor Job Fair at Plaza Jambu Dua in Bogor, West Java, on June 8, 2026. The job fair, organized by the Bogor Manpower Office and attended by 30 local and national companies offering 3,212 job vacancies, aims to connect jobseekers directly with employers and help reduce unemployment in West Java.

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Making democracies work for the betterment of youth

As the leaders of the world's largest and third-largest democracies meet in Jakarta, the ultimate success of the Prabowo-Modi summit hinges not on traditional diplomacy, but on how effectively they can unlock the economic powerhouse of their combined 485 million youth.

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A member of the Urban Revolution Front (URF) stands in a cemetery on March 6, 2025, before the gravestones of two comrades killed in a Myanmar military drone attack in a forest near Moe Bye, eastern Shan state.

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Reengaging Myanmar: Why ASEAN must move beyond Naypyidaw

ASEAN can no longer afford to mistake the military junta in Naypyidaw as Myanmar: Doing so ignores a profound transformation where alternative governance is already becoming a lived reality.

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (left) and France’s President Emmanuel Macron react on Jan. 6, 2026, upon the signing of the declaration on deploying a post-ceasefire force in Ukraine during the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” summit, at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

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What the world can learn from Ukraine’s constitutional legacy

Centuries before modern democracies took shape, Ukraine was forging a radical blueprint for freedom, a deep-rooted constitutional legacy that remains its ultimate armor today.

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A worker in protective gear uses a tool to scoop molten metal on Sept. 16, 2025, at Harita Nickel’s smelting facility on Obi Island in South Halmahera, North Maluku.

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Shanghai nickel breakout signals new metals trading landscape

Shanghai Futures Exchange is looking to extend reach across the Asian region, capitalizing on the Chinese nickel ecosystem that links mines in Indonesia with refineries on the Chinese mainland.

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