Health workers perform medical examinations on Sekolah Rakyat students at the school's site in the Social Affairs Ministry's training center in South Jakarta on July 14, 2025.

Rethinking Sekolah Rakyat: The case for a decolonial pedagogy

Many children choose to scavenge or perform on the streets instead of studying at school, as these activities offer immediate financial returns compared with the delayed benefits of government assistance

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Why markets may soon call Trump's tariff bluff

If markets become desensitized to Trump’s tariff threats, they may no longer serve as an effective check on potentially harmful policies. ...

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How consumer rights are protected in financial transactions

The critical role of consent in financial transactions and how Indonesian regulations are working to protect consumers are pressing issues in the increasingly digital world. ...

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Former education, culture, research and technology minister Nadiem Makarim (center) walks with his lawyer Hotman Paris (right) upon arriving for an interrogation at the Attorney General's Office (AGO) headquarters in Jakarta on July 15, 2025. Investigators questioned the former minister as a witness in a corruption case pertaining to the procurement of Chromebook laptops in the then-education ministry.

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Fall of a tech darling: Nadiem and the Chromebook graft scandal

Nadiem Makarim was supposed to be different. As the founder of Gojek, he embodied the promise of a new kind of leader, one shaped not by bureaucracy, but by Silicon Valley’s disruptive spirit.

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A trader monitors the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) Composite index on April 8 in South Tangerang, Banten.

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Global banking rules are failing emerging markets

Building resilient and sustainable economies will require transformational investments across the developing world in infrastructure, technology, health and education.

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Cranes manage a cargo of logs on May 22, 2024, at Tanjung Emas Port in Semarang, Central Java.

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US–Indonesia deal: Cooperation or exploitation?

2024 trade data shows Indonesia’s top exports to the US remain concentrated in sectors particularly vulnerable to Washington’s protectionist impulses.

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Shifting tides: The United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary David Lammy, United States President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (from left to right) attend the start of a NATO leaders summit on June 25 in The Hague, Netherlands

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Ishiba’s NATO absence a strategic misstep

Shigeru Ishiba’s decision not to personally attend represents a missed opportunity to strengthen ties with Europe at a time when Japan's strategic thinking is increasingly turning toward this region.

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Back in business: Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) tellers count United States dollar banknotes at the bank’s branch office on Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta on May 11, 2023. The management said the bank had resumed operations after hackers allegedly stole customers’ personal data recently.

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Can ethical business mandates boost Indonesia's digital economy?

As data and technology expand access to goods and services, lawmakers and regulators must ensure it will deliver long-term well-being and not just short-term profits.

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Prepared for the future?: People are seen on top of a military vehicle during a parade on Oct. 5, 2024, held as part of celebrations marking the 79th anniversary of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in front of the National Monument (Monas) at Merdeka Square in Jakarta.

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Indonesia is out of step with global arms race

In a world rearming rapidly amid rising geopolitical tensions, Indonesia’s restrained defense spending and fragmented military modernization efforts raise questions about its readiness.

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President Prabowo Subianto (right) and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attend a joint press conference at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on May 15, 2025.

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Strength through trust, growth through cooperation: Indonesia, Australia on global stage

Indonesia and Australia need to stay focused on the long-term foundations of growth: productivity, fiscal sustainability and resilience.

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Photo talks: A photographer presents his pictures during a discussion at Antara Heritage Center in Central Jakarta on July 11, 2025.

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Freedom of panorama: How to keep public spaces truly public

In today's digital world, copyright can be unknowingly infringed through user generated content featuring protected works.

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President Prabowo Subianto (right) drives a golf cart with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after a joint press conference at the State Palace in Jakarta on May 15, 2025.

Academia

Indonesia and Australia’s shared regional futures

The ties between Australia and Southeast Asia, and particularly Indonesia, are growing deeper and more strategic by the day.

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Using a rubber-tired gantry crane, port workers load export-bound containers onto a vessel flying the Portuguese flag on June 24 at the Tanjung Mas port in Semarang.

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Indonesia’s trade deal with the US needs ASEAN and more

Bilateral deals may offer tactical wins, but durable stability will come from joint rules, shared mechanisms and sustained regional coordination.

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New graduates celebrate on May 29, 2025, during their commencement ceremony at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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The Sino-American battle for brains

Beijing's ongoing efforts to develop and deliver quality higher education and Washington's assaults on universities and international students could leave long-lasting, far-reaching impacts beyond the lecture hall vis-à-vis the great power rivalry between the two countries.

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Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati delivers a speech on Sept. 3, 2024, during a House of Representatives plenary session at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta.

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The silent threat to Indonesia’s budget sustainability

The seemingly positive fiscal trajectory hides a deeper vulnerability: the growing burden of debt servicing, which is steadily consuming a significant portion of the government’s revenue and narrowing its fiscal space.

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A technician helps a man put on a prosthetic limb donated by the government to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Dec. 3, 2024, in Banda Aceh, Aceh.

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How can inclusion work if it leaves people out?

With the rise of digital financial services, people with disabilities face challenges and gaps when they attempt to access financial products.

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A visitor looks at the chassis of an electric vehicle (EV) on July 18 at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show 2024 in Tangerang, Banten.

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Sodium batteries: The second chance we shouldn’t miss

The government's tunnel vision as regards our vast nickel reserves vis-à-vis the country's EV ecosystem development is blinding it to an equally efficient, effective and more eco-friendly energy alternative that is beginning to gain global ground: sodium-ion batteries.

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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 in Brussels.

Academia

Europe and Southeast Asia champion multipolar global order

More opportunities are needed for ASEAN and the EU to engage in strategic discussions on common interests, ranging from trade and climate action to the complex situation in the South China Sea.

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Strategic cooperation: French President Emmanuel Macron (fourth left), his wife Brigitte Macron (fifth right), President Prabowo Subianto (third left), Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (fourth right) and members of the French government attend the annual Bastille Day military parade on Monday at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

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Guns, goals and growth: Indonesia, France boost defense ties

In the wake of global tensions, Indonesia must be able to enhance its independence and long-term resilience, which can be achieved through partnerships with major powers like France.

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United States President Donald Trump addresses the nation, alongside US Vice President JD Vance (left), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (second right) and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth from the White House in Washington, DC on June 21, following the announcement that the US bombed nuclear sites in Iran.

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The ever-evolving 'Trump doctrine' and the fight for US strategy

There is growing divisions within the administration over the future use of US military force.

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

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Indonesia–EU CEPA: A strategic leap toward global trade leadership

By investing in green infrastructure, renewable energy and eco-friendly production as a consequence of the IEU-CEPA, Indonesia can transform its economy while meeting global expectations.

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A welder works on July 15, 2025, at a steel structure fabrication factory in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, East China.

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Demystifying China’s manufacturing success

The vast expanse that is China is a significant part of how it achieved technological success at such low prices, but this achievement is also linked to the delivery of high-quality education, encouragement of local-foreign ventures as well as the nurture of horizontal domestic competition.

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Biofuel researcher Dibyo Pranowo stands in front of the prototype of a biodiesel reactor he invented as he shows drupes (left) and kernels of ‘kemiri sunan’ (Sunan candlenut) on Jan. 16, 2019, at the Agriculture Ministry’s research center in Sukabumi, West Java.

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Research priorities and belated awareness

Indonesia's academic culture needs to grow up and fly the coop, as it were, by adapting proven frameworks and methodologies and implementing an evidenced-approach that matches our local contexts to establish our own research ecosystem; one that is free from overdependence on external validation.

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A researcher shows mosquitoes collected at a research center in Yogyakarta in this photo released on June 10, 2021, by the World Mosquito Program.

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Hiring rebels as an option for downstreaming research

"Rebel" researchers, those who resist regulation and constantly push themselves beyond limits, have proved to stimulate world-class innovations.

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A woman walks past a candidate list at a polling station during a revote in Surabaya, East Java on Feb. 24, 2024, following logistical problems which affected some ten polling stations across the city during the Feb. 14 presidential and legislative elections.

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Making space for electoral innovation to realize democracy

Electoral regulations should impact the reform of representational and accountability systems, improve the quality of public deliberation and increase access to information.

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This photo shows the DeepSeek app on a mobile phone in Hong Kong on Jan. 28, 2025.

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AI: China’s unbeatable new export

China is not merely moving more goods; it is exporting a new production model powered by automation, AI and state-guided industrial optimization.

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President Prabowo Subianto (left) and Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba inspect the guard of honor at the presidential palace in Bogor, West Java, on Jan. 11.

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Prioritizing agriculture in the Indonesia-Japan partnership

It will be a more strategic discussion if Indonesia is open to discuss what steps Japan took to transform its economy from a farming base into an advanced economy.

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