A vendor prepares drinks for customers on May 23, 2026, during a power outage in Nagari Kasang, Padang Pariaman, West Sumatra.

Blackout in Sumatra and the threat to Indonesia's energy transition

Indonesia’s power system is still built on a decades-old paradigm, a handful of large power plants strung together by long transmission lines, with limited flexibility and little redundancy.

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The Strait of Hormuz shock is reshaping East Asia’s economic future

In the wake of the crisis stemming from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, ASEAN should consider a regional strategic reserve mechanism, coordinated procurement arrangements and emergency energy-sharing frameworks. ...

1 day ago

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The Pope should have gone further on AI

Pontiff has not gone far enough on the most consequential question: What should AI be designed to do? ...

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The Latest

President Prabowo Subianto (right) greets House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani (left) before delivering a speech on the macroeconomic framework to lawmakers on May 20 at the Senayan legislative complex in Central Jakarta.

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Developmental state ambition: Reading Prabowo’s economic direction

President Prabowo’s visionary fiscal address signals a bold shift toward a state-driven, developmental state model aimed at unleashing Indonesia’s economic potential—but its ultimate success hinges entirely on dismantling the entrenched governance and bureaucratic failures of the past.

1 day ago

A message reading “AI artificial intelligence,“ a keyboard and robot hands are seen in this illustration created on Jan. 27, 2025.

Academia

What if the AI boom goes into reverse?

Investors should be asking not whether the AI boom will end, but what will happen to markets when it does and where safety may be found.

20 hours ago

Ibrahim Arief, a suspect in a corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebook-based laptops at the then-education, culture, research and technology ministry from 2019 to 2022, embraces his wife on May 12, 2026, after attending a verdict hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

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The Ibrahim verdict and the troubled justice system

When a flawed anti-corruption verdict relies on silence as guilt, it doesn't just threaten the innocent—it risks turning Indonesia's brightest young professionals into the scapegoats of a broken judicial system.

21 hours ago

Members of the National Flag Hoisting Troop dance after the commemoration of Pancasila Day at the Pancasila Building, a historic hall within the Foreign Ministry compound in Jakarta, on June 2, 2025.

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Beyond realpolitik: Why the world needs meta-diplomacy

Pancasila is a philosophical framework that offers an alternative to the excesses of realpolitik.

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Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong (left) addresses a joint press conference alongside Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (second left), Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (second right) and United States State Secretary Marco Rubio on May 26, 2026, following the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.

Academia

How the US-China reset recasts the Quad

With the shift in US-China relations, India is emerging as the strategic cog in the American wheel, Pakistan as a tactical partner, NATO as the anchor of the Atlantic alliance and Quad countries as a tool to serve the Indo‑Pacific.

1 day ago

Academia

Insight: Understanding sovereign wealth funds and their application in Indonesia

Toward the end of 2020, amid a world grappling with unprecedented challenges, Indonesia took a bold step in securing its economic future: establishing its first sovereign wealth fund (SWF), the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA).

1 year ago

Passengers hold onto overhead handles on April 30, 2026, as they ride a Commuter Line train from Bekasi Timur Station in Bekasi, West Java.

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Indonesia plans for where people sleep, not where they live their day

As the administrative boundaries of Indonesia's urban areas blur, millions of people are having to pay a silent "metropolitan tax" that is measured not in currency but in hours of their lives surrendered to daily commutes.

3 days ago

Diaspora connection: President Prabowo Subianto (second right) greets Indonesian students based in France on May 26, 2026 as he arrives in Paris for a state visit.

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When Indonesian citizenship is hard to prove

The risks of statelessness in Indonesia are best understood not as a single condition affecting one clearly defined group, but as a pattern produced through ordinary administrative processes.

4 days ago

A teller counts rupiah banknotes on Oct. 27, 2025, at the BNI Pasar Baru branch in Jakarta. Bank Indonesia has opted to hold its benchmark BI rate at 4.75 percent, the Deposit Facility rate at 3.75 percent and the Lending Facility rate at 5.50 percent to maintain rupiah exchange rate stability.

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Entrepreneurial formation does not start in university

Indonesia is funding an illusion by giving startup loans to university graduates when the real engine of entrepreneurship is engineered in early childhood.

4 days ago

Synchronizing beats: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (right) and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung pose on Jan. 12, 2026, for photographs before performing on drums after their meeting in Nara, Japan. The two were leaders aiming to strengthen ties among their countries amid pressure from Washington and Beijing.

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Andong's alliance: When Tokyo and Seoul defy Beijing

As Washington wavers, a historic and pragmatic rapprochement between South Korea and Japan is quietly redefining the balance of power across the Indo-Pacific.

4 days ago

Fruitful transaction: A vendor (right) serves a customer on May 21, 2026 at his stall in the Oro-Oro Dowo traditional market in Malang, East Java.

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Companies winning ASEAN know something others don’t

To win in ASEAN's complex, relationship-driven markets, global playbooks must be replaced with local cultural fluency and the ground-up humility required to turn brand awareness into emotional belonging.

4 days ago

Law and enforcement: National Police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo (right) addresses a press conference alongside Police Reform Acceleration Committee chairman and former Constitutional Court chief justice Jimly Asshiddiqie on Nov. 24, 2025, following an event at the National Police’s Mobile Brigade Training Center in Cikeas, Bogor, West Java.

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Rewriting police law, hijacking reform, reversing social contract

The proposed amendments of the Police Law bypass systemic upstream reforms in favor of executive discretion, transforming a narrow safety valve into a tool for political capture.

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The forested highlands of South Sulawesi’s East Luwu regency tower over the Balambano hydropower plant in Wasuponda village on July 29, 2023.

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The economic path to climate justice

Ethiopia, Pakistan and South Africa show that rapid renewable-energy uptake in emerging and developing countries often comes down to affordability.

4 days ago

An elderly person carries a staple food package on March 10, 2026, that was distributed at the courtyard of the Darussalam Palangka Raya Great Mosque in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan.

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What national transfer accounts reveal about aging future

New transfer accounts data reveals that Indonesia has officially transitioned into an aging society without the formal safety nets required to prevent widespread elderly vulnerability.

5 days ago

Labor activists take a break on May 1, 2026, during an International Workers’ Day protest outside the Senayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta.

Academia

Landmark court win for workers’ right to strike

In nations as far apart as Australia, Canada, Indonesia and the UK, the ICJ's historic decision could make it easier for unions to go on strike in future.

4 days ago

Policemen are seen at the Shangri-La Hotel during the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit on May 31, 2024, in Singapore.

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Maintaining trust through presence in the Indo-Pacific

Through regular dialogue, joint activities and capacity-building, the partnership reinforces our shared interest in maintaining regional stability and addressing emerging threats together.

4 days ago

A visitor photographs a diorama with a mobile phone on May 16 at the Marsinah Museum in Nglundo village, Nganjuk, East Java.

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Remilitarization and its threat to labor welfare

Labor welfare has declined as remilitarization has increased.

4 days ago

A military officer blocks a projector to shut down a public screening of the documentary Pesta Babi at Khairun University in Ternate, North Maluku, on May 12, 2026. Authorities halted the event under the pretext that it lacked an official permit.

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The Streisand effect in military-sponsored censorship of a movie

When Jakarta tried to censor an indigenous Papuan documentary using military force and religious panic, it triggered the ultimate backfire: a digital wildfire exposing the raw reality of state-driven land grab.

6 days ago

A large screen displays President Prabowo Subianto as he delivers his speech on economic policies and the 2027 fiscal plan House of Representatives members at the Senayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta on May 20, 2026.

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Prepare strong buffers as a perfect global storm is brewing

Armed with solid GDP growth and well-capitalized banks, Indonesia has the foundation to protect its economy and navigate looming global pressures through swift policy action.

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A man passes on a light sign reading “State of the European union“ of the day of the EU Commission President 's annual State of the Union address during a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, on Sept. 10, 2025.

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Can the climate crisis unite Europe?

Dismissing environmental priorities as outdated misunderstands both the crisis they represent and their significance for Europe’s political union.

5 days ago

An employee shows rupiah and United States dollar bank notes at Bank Mandiri Syariah, Jakarta, in this file photo.

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Rupiah, BI rate and the illusion of stability

Defending the rupiah with high interest rates and short-term "hot money" buys immediate stability, but it leaves the real economy resting on a fragile foundation.

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Pupils of Pardomuan state elementary school in Bandung, West Java, take an eye test on Aug. 14, 2024 during the government-sponsored School Immunization Month.

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2026: Perfect start for routine eye health screening among Indonesia's children

Globally, two out of three people who need glasses do not have them, especially in low-income countries.

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An employee works on an aluminum piston ring production line at a factory that produces car parts in Binzhou, in eastern China's Shandong province on Oct. 14, 2024.

Academia

Warning lights flash as aluminum reels from Gulf shock

The Iran war is shaping up to be one of the biggest supply shocks in the history of the aluminum market.

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Employees arrange fruit and vegetables at the TaniHub distribution center in Kedung Halang, Bogor, West Java, on Aug. 16, 2019. Tanihub recently laid off a number of workers amid global woes in the digital economy.

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Indonesia’s start-up boom and what we refuse to measure

As prosecution of digital pioneers has become commonplace, a deeper crisis emerges: a nation that enthusiastically celebrates start-up hypergrowth but lacks the analytical tools to distinguish strategic risk from structural failure.

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NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte delivers a speech during a meeting of the Security and Defense Commission on Jan. 26, 2026, at the European Parliament in Brussels.

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NATO must die: The European sovereignty crisis

To become sovereign in defense matters (and more generally), Europe must terminate NATO.

1 week ago

(left to right) Foreign Minister Sugiono, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, South Africa's Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Brazil's Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, and Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos pose for a family photograph during the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on May 14, 2026.

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BRICS meeting in India brings rivals to the table

By bringing fierce regional rivals to the same negotiating table, the BRICS ministerial in New Delhi positions the expanding bloc not as an anti-Western alliance, but as a crucial diplomatic hedging mechanism for a multipolar world.

1 week ago

Nadiem Makarim, former education minister and cofounder of ride-hailing firm Gojek, speaks with his legal team during a hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court on May 13, 2026, over alleged corruption related to the procurement of Google Chromebook laptops. Prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) are seeking an 18-year prison sentence, alleging that Nadiem manipulated the procurement process and enriched himself during his tenure as education minister.

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Prosecuting young citizens for loving their nation

From the mass arrest of student protesters to the high-profile prosecution of a former minister, Indonesia’s judicial system is being systematically weaponized to crush dissent and pave the way for an institutionalized autocracy.

1 week ago

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