Farmers wearing hats reading “True agrarian reform“ protest on Sept. 24, 2024, against what they described as the government's failure to implement agrarian reforms as they commemorate the National Farmers' Day in front of the Senayan legislative complex in Central Jakarta.

A dangerous loophole awaits agrarian reform law

Behind the reformist rhetoric of Indonesia’s new Agrarian Law lies a dangerous corporate loophole: a legal apparatus designed not to return land to the people, but to legitimize its capture by the powerful.

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China's art of trade

Jakarta can take a critical page out of Beijing's playbook, the outcome of which was proven at last week's Washington summit: Hold vital assets hostage to extract a pragmatic deal. ...

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Greater China-US exchanges crucial for deepening trust between peoples

People's diplomacy is valuable because it acknowledges competition while setting boundaries, fostering cooperation and providing buffers for tensions. ...

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After Gestapu monuments a Gestok memorial must follow

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Where will Fed tightening hit hardest in Asia?

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Padaidori fishermen show their catches on a beach in the Padaido Islands, Biak Numfor regency, Papua, in this file photo published on Aug. 7, 2026.

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The vanishing of Indonesia from the heart of Papua

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Police officers stand guard during a rally organized by university students on Aug. 19, 2025, in front of the building of East Java Regional Council (DPRD) in Surabaya, East Java. The Surabaya Police deployed nearly 700 personnel to safeguard the rally, during which protestors called for the government to scrap its controversial national history book project and push for protection of freedom of expression.

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If history belongs to the victors, civilization has no place

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Lessons Indonesia can learn from the recent OpenAI agent breaches

When an AI agent mistakes a government firewall for an ordinary puzzle, it is a warning shot Indonesia cannot afford to ignore as it writes its cybersecurity laws.

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Twenty-one years on, Aceh’s peace faces new strains

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Protesters hold posters and banners that read '481,000 hectares is not just number, but our lives!' (left) and 'Customary land is not empty land' (right) during a rally in front of the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry in Jakarta on Oct. 7, 2025, to protest deforestation that threatens indigenous land in South Papua.

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The agrarian reform law and investment prospects of palm oil

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President Prabowo Subianto (left) raises his hand, next to Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as he shouts 'merdeka’ (freedom), during his annual state of the nation address before members of the legislature, ahead of the country's 81st Independence Day, in Jakarta, on Aug. 14, 2026.

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Land reform is here. Now let Prabowo prove he meant what he said

The will clearly exists. The only question that matters now is whether that will reach into the president's own back pocket.

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Mandatory budget refocusing amid nationwide disasters

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Protesters during a “Stop the AI Race“ demonstration call for a slowdown in the development of advanced artificial intelligence systems outside City Hall in San Francisco, California, the United States, on Sept. 17, 2026. The world's biggest AI companies are working on creating a standards body, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said on Sept. 15, as fears rise about the dangers of AI and pressure is on to create a safer version of the technology.

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Common stand: Members of various civil society groups react in the public gallery as the House of Representatives passes the agrarian reform bill during a plenary session on Sept. 22, 2026 at the Senayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta.

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Beyond hectares: The litmus test of the Agrarian Reform Law

Returning a parcel of depleted soil does not heal generational displacement, and measuring land reform by hectares rather than restored human rights only guarantees that history will repeat itself.

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