Workers stand at a petrol station for biodiesel containing 50 percent diesel fuel made of palm oil in Karawang, West Java, on July 9, 2026.

Biodiesel: Don’t move too fast, build the ecosystem first

Indonesia has ramped up its biodiesel blend to B50 from B30 just in four years, but feedstock, engines, forests and infrastructure have not kept pace. Brazil and Malaysia remind us why sequencing matters.

13 hours ago

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ASEAN Summit: Between promises and elusive progress

Behind Manila’s polished communiqués and ribbon-cutting ceremonies lies an institutional facade that can no longer mask ASEAN's failure to govern a region in crisis. ...

9 hours ago

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Carbon recycling: A climate game-changer or costly distraction?

Turning emissions into valuable industrial goods sounds like a climate game-changer, but for Indonesia, carbon recycling is neither an outright silver bullet nor an affordable fix, unless policymakers learn to separate viable solutions from costly distractions. ...

10 hours ago

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Protesters shout slogans on Oct. 28 during a protest against President Prabowo Subianto’s policies as well as his administration's handling of forest fires at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle (Bundaran HI) in Central Jakarta.

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Mahasewa and the commodification of the Youth Pledge

The true moral failing lies with the orchestrators, the political elites who exploit this poverty, handing out costumes to the disenfranchised to ensure the "play" goes on flawlessly under the sacred banner of the Youth Pledge.

11 hours ago

A police officer listens to phone conversations in this undated illustration of a police wiretapping cartoon.

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Beyond elite conflicts: How state surveillance swept up lives

A massive wiretapping scandal targeting over 6,000 people, ranging from politicians to activists, reveals that Indonesia’s surveillance apparatus isn't just guarding the state. It's systematically dismantling democracy from the shadows.

1 day ago

Rows of young oil palm trees are planted on April 28 just on the border of Sebangau National Park area in Central Kalimantan.

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When state capitalism fails to keep destructive entrepreneurs at bay

Adopting aggressive state capitalism without a strong state monitoring capacity leaves the strategy vulnerable to capture by politically connected rent-seekers.

1 day ago

A farmer applies urea to paddy on June 10, 2026, at a drought-affected rice farm in Handapherang village, Ciamis regency, West Java, where around 12 hectares of rice fields have been left parched and cracked as the dry season intensifies.

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The unemployment rate is falling, rural distress is not

Indonesia's falling unemployment rate looks like an economic triumph, until you realize the country’s poorest villages have the lowest joblessness, masking a hollowed-out manufacturing sector and millions driven into survival farming.

1 day ago

Supporters of Democrat senatorial candidate James Talarico cheer during a midterm campaign event in Austin, Texas, the United States, on Nov. 2, 2026. Talarico faces Trump-backed state Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose controversies have helped turn a longtime Republican stronghold into a closely watched contest. Paxton retains a loyal conservative following and enormous outside financial support.

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Bloodbath: Trump's Republicans may not recover until 2032

The 2026 midterms weren’t just a brutal defeat for Donald Trump, they may have locked the Republican Party out of power until 2032.

1 day ago

Two schoolchildren look over a densely populated informal settlement in the Kebon Melati neighborhood of Jakarta, on Aug. 7, 2026. Statistics Indonesia reported that the country's poverty rate stood at 8.07% in March 2026, with 22.93 million people living below the poverty line, down by 430,000 from September 2025.

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Progress achieved, promise unfulfilled: Eradicating poverty in Asia-Pacific

Poverty in Asia and the Pacific concentrates among large rural households and in remote areas, among people with little or no education, among children, among informal workers and among women..

1 day ago

A firefighter sprays water to extinguish a wildfire on Oct. 4, in Pulang Pisau regency, Central Kalimantan. Burnin peatland smolders underground and releases dense smoke.

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Build the bridge for peatland restoration

Greater international cooperation is essential to mobilize financial resources, technical expertise and institutional support to ensure that burned landscapes are restored effectively.

1 day ago

President Prabowo Subianto gestures inside the House of Representatives building, while Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka looks on near him, on the day the President was set to deliver his speech on economic policies and the 2027 fiscal plan in Jakarta on May 20, 2026.

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Rivalries, reckonings on the Orient Express of Indonesian politics

Nobody was murdered, but Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka finds himself trapped on a speeding political train where shifting allies, bitter family legacies, and unsettled rivalries make everyone a suspect.

3 days ago

Unifying flag: A protestor holds a flag bearing the Straw Hat Pirates’ Jolly Roger from the Japanese manga and anime series One Piece during a demonstration on Jakarta’s thoroughfare Jl. MH Thamrin on Oct. 28, 2026.

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Wiretapping scandal: Who else lives in the house of glass?

When the state's surveillance machine is turned against the ruling elite, state power is mobilized overnight, whereas the crises choking ordinary citizens are left to burn for months.

3 days ago

Currency integrity: A vendor and customer complete a cash transaction on Nov. 2, 2026 at the Johar traditional market in Semarang, Central Java.

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At 80, the rupiah needs credibility, not ceremony

As the rupiah touches record lows and the IDX alters its core index to stem market turbulence, Currency Day is more than an anniversary. Eighty years in, the real test is whether the institutions backing the rupiah can still command market trust.

2 days ago

Regional sit-down: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (right) and National Security Council head Mohsen Rezaei (left) meet with Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman Al Saud on Oct. 26, 2026 during four-way talks in Tehran that also involved the Pakistan army chief and Turkey's intelligence chief.

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The Mecca Pact and Iran: A path to de-escalation?

Though the Mecca Pact’s visit to Tehran last week was neither a symbolic gesture nor a fundamental move, observers, media and others are keeping an eye on related developments that may herald a regional security restructuring.

3 days ago

President Prabowo Subianto (right) confers an honorary distinction on Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo at the Presidential Palace complex, Jakarta, on Oct. 1, 2026.

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The untouchables: The case for breaking up the National Police

Indonesia built an untouchable police monster that now spies on the President himself—and the only way to save democracy is to break it up.

4 days ago

United States President Donald Trump waves as he departs after delivering remarks at the construction site of the East Wing ballroom at the White House in Washington, DC, on Nov. 4, 2026.

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Trump’s midterm defeat could unsettle the world

Facing a hostile Congress, the US president is likely to focus on foreign policy to secure his legacy.

4 days ago

President Prabowo Subianto (right) attaches rank insignia on Oct. 1, 2026, to the uniform of newly appointed National Police chief Suyudi Ario Seto (left) during his inauguration at the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

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Indonesia’s dilemma: Giving police too much power

A new police chief may wield power differently, but Indonesia’s true test of reform is deciding how much unchecked authority any one official should ever inherit.

4 days ago

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Rethinking the AI-workforce equation in Indonesia

The real AI challenge isn’t surviving machine replacement, it’s redesigning work to unlock human potential, and Indonesia’s agile market is primed to lead the shift.

4 days ago

An empty freezer is seen with a sign reading “Due to cyberattacks, there will be no products available in the refrigerators/freezers. Our sincere apologies.“ in a Delhaize supermarket in Boortmeerbeek some 30 kilometers from Brussels, on Nov. 2, 2026 following an IT incident. Dozens of Belgian grocery stores and an Ikea superstore saw their refrigerator temperatures soar on Nov. 2, 2026, with several of the firms involved confirming they had been hit by a cyberattack.

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Fridge hacks and finance attacks flag AI insecurity

Hacking supermarket refrigerators may sound trivial. It's not. It's a warning of the economic disruption AI could wreak in an increasingly vulnerable world.

4 days ago

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears on a screen to deliver a speech remotely as other leaders attend the 22nd ASEAN - India Summit during the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 26, 2025.

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Maritime cooperation gives Act East policy a new boost

From joint naval patrols to subsea cables and digital payments, the Manila summits offer India and ASEAN a crucial opportunity to turn regional rhetoric into lasting strategic and economic muscle.

4 days ago

A woman goes for an afternoon run past several Marine Corps trucks parked within the National Monument (Monas) complex in Central Jakarta on Nov.4, 2026. Jakarta is on high alert, with thousands of military personnel deployed across the capital following the arrest of three police generals over alleged illegal wiretapping of President Prabowo Subianto.

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The wiretap as a deep-state move into Indonesia’s democracy

When the police can wiretap the president without a warrant, the fall of a few generals reveals not just a rogue plot, but a deep-state surveillance apparatus that will outlast any prosecution unless the system itself is dismantled.

5 days ago

Motorist drive past a building in Tehran with a massive billboard about the Strait of Hormuz on Sept. 16, 2026.

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Attacking Iran amid Turkish, Saudi opposition is a strategic mistake

Attacking Iran against the explicit warnings of Turkey and Saudi Arabia risks a catastrophic regional war where military superiority delivers neither stability nor a viable political endgame.

1 week ago

Trading session: A man walks past an electronic screen displaying the composite index on Oct. 30, 2026 at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) building in South Jakarta.

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Capital market trust is fundamental economic infrastructure

Indonesia needs a trusted capital market not just to reassure foreign investors, but to finance businesses, safeguard long-term savings, and help households build wealth.

5 days ago

Artificial interaction: People interact with a humanoid robot at a Fourier booth on July 26, 2025, during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China.

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Global AI governance as the new frontier of diplomacy

Foreign policy must come with a strategic vision of states to maximize the benefits of the AI’s use and mitigate its risks.

5 days ago

Trucks loaded with oil palm fruit bunches park outside the Multi Prima Entakai (MPE) palm oil mill in Sanggau, West Kalimantan, on Oct. 2, 2026.

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The twilight of RSPO: A multistakeholder sustainability forum

As the EUDR exposes the structural limits of private voluntary certification, the RSPO’s decades-long monopoly is giving way to a new era of sovereign regulation and legal parity.

5 days ago

Sense of belonging: Flood victims Ajaya Gurung (left) and Sapana Gurung salvage belongings from a sludge-ridden house on Oct. 14, 2026 along the banks of the Budhi Gandaki River at Soti Bazar in Nepal's Gorkha district following a flash flood.

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The Nepal lesson: Warning systems, not solar panels

The real lesson of the Nepal disaster is that economic development and early warning systems protect human lives—not empty summit pledges.

5 days ago

People travel the Kahayan River on motorized longboats on Oct. 18, 2026, as haze from forest and peatland fires shrouds Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan.

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Is the palm industry the only culprit behind wildfires?

Blaming the palm oil industry for Indonesian fires fueling Southeast Asia’s transboundary haze is an easy narrative, but rigorous evidence and reality tell a far more complex story.

6 days ago

A partially burned oil palm plantation is blanketed by haze on Aug. 30 in Kuala Satong village, Ketapang regency, West Kalimantan.

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Haze and the quest for a new growth model

Fighting the fires and finding new, sustainable engines of growth are not separate battles.

6 days ago

Demonstrators hold placards while raising a three-finger salute on Oct. 20, 2026, during a protest in Jakarta that marked the second year of President Prabowo Subianto’s administration and called for an end to wildfires and corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN).

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Three-finger salute raised high, broad and multifaceted in Indonesia

From movie screens to Southeast Asia's streets, the three-finger salute has evolved from a silent cinematic gesture into Indonesia's potent rallying cry against oligarchy, poverty and ecological collapse.

6 days ago

Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing (second left) and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (left) inspect a guard of honor on Aug. 6, 2026, during a ceremony at Government House in Bangkok to welcome the former junta chief.

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Letter to the editor: Senior Myanmar diplomat responds

Myanmar's head of mission in Jakarta responds to an opinion article by James H. Shwe on the FATF and Indonesia's role as a task force member, particularly with regard to transnational scam compounds.

6 days ago

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