People flock to the Car Free Day event on Jl. Rasuna Said in South Jakarta on June 21, 2026.

Jakarta’s creative pulse: Building toward five centuries

Jakarta is positioning itself not merely as Indonesia’s largest city, but as a place where global talent and local energy meet on terms that benefit residents.

1 week ago

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Let Bocelli’s music become a call for peace, not division

Instead of letting Andrea Bocelli’s upcoming shows in Indonesia divide the country, we should transform his stage into an uncompromising global platform for Palestinian justice and humanitarian solidarity. ...

1 week ago

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Bakom RI responds

The Government respects the findings of the Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) survey as one reflection of public perceptions of the implementation of democracy in Indonesia. ...

1 week ago

The Latest

People take part in a rally in Yogyakarta on Sept. 8, 2026, demanding an end to the government's free nutritious meal program after multiple cases of food poisoning.

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How knowledge is mobilized, actioned or rejected

Knowledge is not neutral; it can be deployed to legitimize those residing in the ivory tower just as easily as those seated at the policy table. Crucially, knowledge must travel if it is to inform state responses to recurring crises.

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Line of defense: Visitors examine armored fighting vehicles produced by Indonesian defense solutions companies Sentra Surya Ekajaya and IPCD Group during the Indo Defense Expo and Forum military equipment exhibition at Jakarta International Expo in Jakarta on June 12, 2025.

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Indonesia signed Badr to escape a veto. Pakistan knows where vetoes go

In its rush to escape Western arms embargoes, Indonesia risks trading an American veto for Russian and Turkish ones - discovering, as Pakistan did, that true air power cannot simply be bought on foreign credit.

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President Prabowo Subianto delivers a speech on Oct. 21, 2026, during a plenary cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace Complex in Central Jakarta, where over 100 officials from his Red and White Cabinet gathered to mark the second anniversary of his presidency.

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Two years in, Prabowo exhausts Indonesia's state capacity

Indonesia does not need more institutions to become a better economy: It needs stronger state capacity backed by accountable institutions, predictable rules and credible law enforcement.

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A man uses his mobile phone in front of a reflection of an electronic board displaying stock prices at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) building in South Jakarta on Oct. 14, 2026.

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When diplomacy loses its place in policymaking

Indonesia does not lack spokespersons. What it is missing is diplomacy as the center of gravity of its foreign policy.

1 week ago

Job seekers wait in line during the opening of the 2026 Bogor Job Fair on June 8 at Plaza Jambu Dua in Bogor, West Java. The job fair, organized by the Bogor Manpower Office and attended by 30 local and national companies offering 3,212 job vacancies, aims to connect job seekers directly with employers and help reduce unemployment in West Java.

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The promise of ‘Sumpah Pemuda’, the promise of a first job

Nearly a century after the Youth Pledge, Indonesia’s demographic promise will not be fulfilled in speeches, but in whether its economy can offer millions of waiting young people their critical first job.

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A visitor walks past a screen displaying the movement of the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) on Oct. 19 at the Indonesia Stock Exchange in South Jakarta.

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Keeping emerging market status: Lessons from 1998

To save Indonesia from a humiliating market downgrade, policymakers must abandon defensive rhetoric and deploy the painful, proven audit blueprint that rescued the nation’s banks in 1998.

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People clear plastic on April 15, 2026, at a mangrove area as part of a cleaning campaign in Serangan village, Denpasar, Bali.

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Mangroves are more than trees, they are water infrastructure

After many decades of loss, mangroves and coastal wetlands are showing signs of incredible recovery.

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A road sign stands in front of a large billboard featuring Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) of the Likud party and former military chief and leader of the centrist Yashar party, Gadi Eisenkot, in Ramat Gan on Oct. 20, 2026.

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The two faces of Eisenkot, who could be Israel’s PM

While mainstream media paints Gadi Eisenkot as a moderate alternative to Benjamin Netanyahu, it sidelines a brutal truth: the retired general laid the very doctrinal blueprint for Gaza’s obliteration.

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A Rohingya refugee living in Malaysia holds his son while others prepare to slaughter cows during the Idul Adha festival in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2022.

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Indonesia’s shaky Myanmar rapprochement

By pursuing rapprochement with Min Aung Hlaing, Southeast Asian leaders risk trading democratic credibility for empty concessions from a crumbling regime.

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A woman wearing a face mask crosses a street in front of government public housing apartments in Singapore on Oct. 17, 2026, as the country continues to be shrouded in haze caused by fires in Indonesia.

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Indonesia needs to fight fires, not its neighbors

Weaponizing gas pipes and subsea cables won’t clear Southeast Asia’s skies; genuine leadership means putting out the fires together before burning down ASEAN unity.

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Apa kabar? Canberra Grammar School (CGS) students join an Indonesian language class attended by Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Siswo Pramono (center right) on May 17, 2022, in Canberra.

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The Youth Pledge and the future of the Indonesian language

From an audacious anti-colonial pledge to a global language fighting for relevance abroad, Indonesian proves that a national tongue is never just spoken—it must be continually fought for.

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Show of creativity: A visitor takes a photo of an unmanned aerial vehicle on Oct. 22, 2026 at the Global Innovation and Future Technology Summit (GIFTS) 2026 at the Innovation and Creativity Center of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Sleman, Yogyakarta.

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Drone proliferation: Reflection for Airspace Management Law

From the trenches of Ukraine to the skies above Jakarta, the rise of cheap, weaponized drones is upending modern warfare, and forcing a high-stakes rewrite of global aviation law.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a speech at the International Arctic Forum in Murmansk, Russia, on March 27, 2025.

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The Arctic: From the Northern Sea Route to Greater Eurasia

Developing the full potential of the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor is becoming a major priority for Russia’s cooperation with international partners in the Arctic.

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Navi Pillay, a South African lawyer and champion of international law, waves on Oct. 9, 2026, after she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2026 in the historic Courtroom 600 at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, southern Germany, where she was attending the Nuremberg Forum 2026 organized by the International Nuremberg Principles Academy.

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The Nobel Peace Prize in a fragmented world

The Nobel Peace Prize is controversial by nature, but this year's awarding is even more controversial.

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Buildings are shrouded in haze caused by fires in Indonesia, in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 16, 2026. Toxic haze has covered parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for weeks as Jakarta struggles to contain fires that have scorched large tracts of Kalimantan and Sumatra, with the smoke drifting across the region.

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An ASEAN citizens’ assembly can break climate gridlock

From lingering forest fires to sluggish COPs, ASEAN’s best hope for an enduring climate legacy is to give everyday people a seat at the decision-making table.

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President Prabowo Subianto (second left), accompanied by an Air Force officer, inspects a Rafale fighter jet on May 18, 2026, during a handover ceremony for six Rafale jets, one Airbus A400M military transport aircraft and four Dassault Falcon 8X planes at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in East Jakarta.

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Link and match: MSCI, the deep state and weapons procurement

Indonesia might think it is diversifying its weapons suppliers, but it is buying from the very same financial architecture in New York that grades its markets and sets the price of its defense.

2 weeks ago

University students protest against the government's handling of haze and wildfires on Friday outside the Central Kalimantan Governor's office in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan.

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Building resilient generation beyond law enforcement

Indonesia’s next great crime-prevention weapon isn't a heavier badge or a faster patrol car - it’s a generation of digitally savvy teenagers trained to outsmart scams, bypass brawls and defuse radicalization from the palm of their hand.

1 week ago

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is projected onto large screens on Sept. 22, 2026, as he addresses the 81st UN General Assembly at the international organization’s headquarters in New York, the United States.

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The UN must reform before it loses international trust

A fractured world can no longer afford an architecture where five states hold the power to paralyze the collective security of 193 nations.

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A customer scans a QRIS code to pay for a bowl of bakso (meatball soup) on Oct. 17, 2024, in Tangerang, Banten.

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The next step of Indonesia's digital infrastructure journey

How does Indonesia sustain digital economy growth into lasting competitiveness on the global stage?

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Buildings are shrouded in haze on Oct. 16 in Kuala Lumpur caused by fires in Indonesia.

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ASEAN has the tools to tackle the haze crisis

ASEAN doesn’t need a new treaty to end the haze choking Southeast Asia.

2 weeks ago

United States President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping stand together as they tour the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026.

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The Thucydides Trap obscures the choices of power

Commentators should drop the Thucydides Trap because it is both banal and dangerous.

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An employee demonstrates the working of a humanoid robot on April 15 during the China Import and Export Fair, commonly known as the Canton Fair, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China.

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China faces a storm of political and fiscal risks

Though few dare to speculate about it publicly, an economic and political perfect storm is bearing down on China.

2 weeks ago

Defendant in the alleged corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebooks for the Education Ministry's school digitalization program, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, center, greets Gojek drivers after attending the verdict hearing on June 30 at the Jakarta Corruption Court in Jakarta. The panel of judges sentenced Makarim to 10 years in prison, fined him 1 billion rupiah (about US$61,000), with an alternative of 190 days in jail if unpaid, and ordered him to pay restitution of 809.59 billion rupiah, with an additional five-year prison term if unpaid.

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Redefining corruption misses the point of Indonesia’s judicial crisis

Redefining corruption to exclude "state losses" misses the real danger: changing the wording of the law cannot fix a justice system that still struggles to separate honest policy failures from corrupt intent.

2 weeks ago

Indonesia exercises its right of reply during the General Debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in response to statements by representatives of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu regarding the situation on Sept. 28in Papua.

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Decolonization and the geopolitics of legitimacy: From Morocco to Papua

When multilateral forums succumb to political theater and procedural breaches, the genuine legal principles of decolonization and sovereignty risk being lost to ideological distraction.

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The sprawling Plaju refinery of state-owned energy giant Pertamina stands alongside a green space and residential settlement in South Sumatra’s provincial capital Palembang on Oct. 24, 2018.

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Indonesia’s gas policy must deliver more than energy sovereignty

By choking off gas to Singapore to fuel the domestic industry, Jakarta is gambling that resource nationalism can build real economic muscle rather than simply leave stranded promises in its wake.

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Job seekers look at recruitment notices at a job fair targeting college graduates and other job seekers held on May 22 in the Huai’an University Gymnasium in Huai’an, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province.

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Why China’s stimulus keeps missing the mark

Now that major trading partners are seeking to put up more barriers, Beijing may need to rethink its cautious approach to direct household stimulus.

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (center, rear) is projected onto a giant screen on March 6, 2024, as he addresses a plenary meeting of the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in the capital city of Australia’s southeastern Victoria state.

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Fifth year and counting: ASEAN-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

From elevating ties to an unprecedented strategic partnership five years ago to tackling shared regional challenges, Australia and ASEAN continue to prove that our collective security and economic future are inextricably intertwined.

2 weeks ago

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