A man stands atop a log amid a pile of wood debris left by floodwaters in North Sumatra’s Garoga village on Dec. 4, 2025, as other residents scavenge usable materials to rebuild their damaged homes.

As ecological disasters intensify, judiciary can lead the way

The judiciary is our last line of defense in driving an urgent rethink of Indonesia's growth-centric policies, which are inherently unconstitutional, toward a mindset that embraces the strong sustainability approach.

16 hours ago

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The quiet injustice in migrant women’s financial lives

The migrant worker ecosystem needs to innovate from the current focus on remittance flows toward an integrated design that aims for empowerment toward financial inclusion and long-term financial health as the ultimate outcome. ...

17 hours ago

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From zero to coverage: Why insurance in Southeast Asia is at a tipping point

Insurance in Southeast Asia is reaching a structural turning point, Indonesia is showing what the next decade will look like. ...

1 day ago

The Latest

Technicians check panels on Sept. 29, 2023 at the Cirata floating solar photovoltaic plant, located at Cirata Reservoir in Purwakarta, West Java.

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Don’t let the 100 GW solar ambition become another Nusantara

To realize its 100 GW solar power generation, Indonesia must utilize international financing, particularly from China, which is pivoting its overseas investments toward clean energy.

1 day ago

Heavy machines operate on May 24, 2024, at a
coal mine in Sumber Batu village, Meureubo district,
Aceh. Indonesia produced 138 million tonnes of coal in
the first three months of 2024, around 24 percent less than
the 183 million tonnes it produced in the same period last
year.

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Why Muhammadiyah must return its mining concession

If it enters the mining industry, Muhammadiyah risks being reduced to a mere “digger”, bearing severe ecological and social liabilities while others reap the value.

1 day ago

The hacking equipment that four Russian intelligence officers used for a cyber attack on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague is seen in this file photo.

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Reckless use of chemical weapons cannot go unchallenged

The use of such weapons undermines the nonproliferation regime that the UN and international forums have worked tirelessly to uphold.

1 day ago

Displaced residents gather to receive aid at a temporary camp in Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey province on Dec. 14, 2025, amid clashes along the Cambodia-Thailand border.

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Thailand-Cambodia conflict: The trap of a long war

The internal dynamics within Thailand and Cambodia ensure that neither side wants to concede first: Every concession is viewed as a vulnerability; every pause is a political risk.

1 day ago

Customary deliberations held by the Manusela Indigenous Community in the northern part of Seram, Central Maluku, Maluku. (Image courtesy of Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN))

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Social safeguards key to sustainable and ethical landscape management

Once hailed as a revolutionary solution to climate change, carbon market’s credibility began to erode to the point where late-night TV hosts joked about carbon offsets.

2 days ago

On reminders: Members of the Indonesian Student Executive Board Alliance rally outside the House of Representatives on Sept. 4, 2025 in support of the “17+8 People’s Demands”, a platform of short-term and long-term reform demands raised during the August protests.

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The looming legal tsunami: Unchecked military power in Indonesia

The TNI has transitioned into a "multifunction" role, potentially gaining even more power than it held during its historical "dual function" (dwifungsi) era.

2 days ago

Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (left) and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet (center) shake hands next to United States President Donald Trump (right) on Oct. 26, during the signing of a ceasefire deal between Cambodia and Thailand on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur.

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Time to reset strategic relations between Cambodia and the US

For the US, grater engagement with Cambodia fits well within its Indo-Pacific strategy, at a time when the Southeast Asian mainland has quietly become ground zero of increasing Chinese influence.

2 days ago

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Quantum computing as a global game toward national resilience (part 2 of 2)

The emergence of quantum computing has many implications for national resilience, especially with regard to cybersecurity and data sovereignty as well as policies to encourage local development of the technology. This is the second of a two-part article.

2 days ago

A woman washes dishes on Nov. 26, 2025, in a crowded neighborhood in Tanah Tinggi, Central Jakarta. The United Nations's 2025 World Urbanization Prospects on Nov. 18 named the greater Jakarta area as the world's most populous city with a 42 million population, followed by Dhaka, 37 million, and long-time titleholder Tokyo, 33 million.

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How to help the world’s poor most effectively

While over 8 percent of the global population is still undernourished, helping children in poor countries in the first 1,000 days of their lives, in the womb and in their first years, can do phenomenal good for little money.

2 days ago

Dr. Irdika Mansur, Head of the Centre for Post-Mining Reclamation Studies, IPB University.

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Integrating conservation of local tree species into post-mining reclamation

It is a common assumption that mining activities are destroying biodiversity, leaving degraded land and polluting water bodies. That is true for unregulated mining activities, which are mostly conducted by illegal mining businesses.

3 days ago

Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf (center), accompanied by the organization’s deputy chairman Masyhuri Malik (second left) and secretary-general Amin Said Husni (second right), gives a press statement on Dec. 3, 2025, regarding the refusal to step down as chairman in Jakarta.

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A test of wisdom: NU grapples with conflict, politics

NU is not simply a religious organization, but a moral force and a social movement with enormous political weight.

3 days ago

Uneasy rest: People displaced by renewed clashes along the border with Thailand take shelter on Dec. 14, 2025 at a temporary camp in Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia.

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What Cambodia-Thailand collapsed ceasefire means for Southeast Asia

Social media has become the primary stage for hyper-nationalist rhetoric.

3 days ago

IBM researcher Maika Takita works on a quantum computer at the company’s Quantum Lab in Yorktown Heights, New York, the United States, in 2020.

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Quantum computing as a global threat to national resilience

Building self-reliance in research and the application of quantum-safe cryptography is becoming increasingly urgent as global attention grows toward the potential security threats posed by quantum computing.

3 days ago

This photo taken on October 14, 2022 shows vessels carrying coal near Pha Lai thermal power plant in Hai Duong province, Vietnam. Solar power has boomed in Vietnam, its climate targets are ambitious, but the fast-growing economy is struggling to quit dirty energy, leaving one of the biggest coal power development programs in the world largely intact.

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Betting Indonesia's future, years and lungs on coal

Rapid industrial expansion in Java and Sulawesi, driven by the government’s downstreaming strategy, is being used to justify a surge in new coal capacity.

3 days ago

A fresh meat vendor attends to a customer on April 6, 2021, at Cijantung Market in Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta.

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Argentina’s beef push meets Indonesia’s halal regime

The South American country can take a page out of neighboring Brazil's playbook in deepening bilateral ties with Indonesia, particularly in joining the race in the beef and dairy markets.

3 days ago

A customer passes by a rack of sweetened drinks in a retail supermarket in Jakarta on Dec. 14, 2023. A survey from the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) revealed that 58 percent of 800 respondents support the plan to impose excise tax on sweetened beverages to control their consumption and prevent diabetes prevalence in children, which increased 70-fold in 2023 compared with 2010.

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Not just another tax: Preparing an SSB excise for impact

In 2023, diabetes was already the second-most common diagnosis referred from primary care facilities to higher-level referral hospitals.

4 days ago

Justic seekers: Activists display posters at the South Jakarta District Court on Oct. 27, 2025 during the pretrial ruling for Lokataru Foundation executive director Delpedro Marhaen. Judge Sulistiyanto Rochmad Budiharto rejected Delpedro’s motion challenging his status as a suspect for alleged incitement during the protests in late August.

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The brave and young sacrificed in a police-military power struggle

Prabowo was reportedly angry and unsettled not merely because of the protests themselves, but because they triggered a deeply personal political memory.

4 days ago

Calling home: Indonesian fishers hold posters on Aug. 11, 2022, aboard a vessel as it docks at Kaohsiung Port in Taiwan, asking for the government’s help to repatriate them. The fishermen were reportedly stuck on the boat, believed to belong to a Hong Kong company, since February 2022 without pay.

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The sea of discrimination: Migrant fishers are denied justice

Migrant fishers holding transit visas cannot report their grievances to authorities without fear of deportation and criminalization.

4 days ago

Show of solidarity: The Navy's Bung Tomo-class corvette, KRI John Lie, arrives at a naval base on Sept. 20, 2023, during the ASEAN Solidarity Exercise Natuna 2023 involving six countries. The medical and humanitarian exercise in the Natuna waters took place amid China's claims over the South China Sea.

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Becoming the Archipelagic Bridge: Reimagining Indonesia’s maritime strategy

While the South China Sea demands vigilance, the Indian Ocean Region offers Indonesia a horizon of strategic possibilities, particularly due to its central role in the global energy supplies.

4 days ago

Residents inspect the aftermath of a flash flood in the Gunung Nago area, Padang, West Sumatra, on Nov. 29, 2025.

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Why Indonesia needs media literacy now more than ever

In a country where social media serves as a primary source of news, misinformation now moves faster than relief efforts, shaping public perception long before facts can catch up.

6 days ago

On the road: Mobile coffee vendors wait for customers in a shopping area near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta on Oct. 27, 2024.

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The prevailing sachet economy: An engineered poverty trap

The sachet economy's environmental burden attacks the core asset of the poor, their health, confirming the decline of human capital.

6 days ago

Church for all: Cars are parked outside the new Gereja Bersama Protestant Church in Citra Maja City housing complex in Lebak regency, Banten, on Dec. 7, 2025. Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar inaugurated the church for various denominations in September of this year.

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New churches show path to religious tolerance

The government should amend or revoke regulations that discriminate against religious minorities.

6 days ago

Army personnel march on Oct. 5, 2025, during an event marking the 80th anniversary of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in Banda Aceh, Aceh.

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Quantum geopolitics and Indonesia’s grand strategy 2025-2045

Indonesia must embrace the quantum geopolitics paradigm to safeguard Indonesia’s sovereignty, harness its geoeconomic potential and maintain strategic autonomy amid the intensifying contest between the United States and China.

6 days ago

Protesters march on Nov. 16, 2025, during an anti-corruption rally in Quezon City, the Philippines.

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Managing transitions: Philippines to Bangladesh

Like development models, protest movements are not portable. Conditions that make them plausible or even necessary in one society may be absent in another.

6 days ago

A man feeds pigs at a farm in Pontianak in April 2025.

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Biosecurity efforts boost Indonesia’s food resilience

ASF may not infect humans, yet its impact runs deep.

1 week ago

A man tries AI glasses on July 29 during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2025 at the Shanghai World Expo and Convention Center in Shanghai, China.

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Manias, panics and artificial intelligence

As technology companies push ahead to map the course of AI, sitting on the sidelines may seem safe for now, but taking this option risks losing out in the future.

1 week ago