Balancing act: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center) presides over the second and final day of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on Sept. 13, 2026, flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin (left, front), and Chinese President Xi Jinping (right, front).

ASEAN warms to BRICS without sacrificing centrality

Southeast Asia is not swapping geopolitical camps—it is expanding its diplomatic toolkit to ensure it never has to choose between them.

1 week ago

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Can QRIS digitize MSME credit?

The national standard for QR code payments has helped millions of small businesses move toward digital financial inclusion. The next step in this evolution is to use the data generated to enable access to financing. ...

1 week ago

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Popular discontent is justified. Authoritarianism is not the answer

The people's fight against oligarchy, corruption and foreign dependence won't be won by sliding back into authoritarianism, but by building a democracy strong enough to hold power to account. ...

1 week ago

The Latest

Leaders of participating countries gather for a photograph on Sept. 13 during the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi.

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BRICS seeks to give the Global South a bigger voice

The grouping increasingly represents emerging and middle powers across regions that share common development priorities and seek a greater voice in institutions shaping global affairs.

1 week ago

A doctor attends to a toddler receiving a measles vaccine on March 27 at the Ibrahim Adjie community health center (Puskesmas) in Bandung, West Java.

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AI in RI healthcare: Opportunities and risks

From the perspective of Indonesia’s national health policy, AI is an innovation. Ensuring that innovation is safe, equitable and trustworthy is a critical issue when it comes to AI in the health sector.

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A woman takes a photo of an electronic display showing negative movements across the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) Composite index on Feb. 2, 2026, at the bourse’s South Jakarta headquarters.

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Which ASEAN equity laggards could soon become leaders?

While AI-fuelled equity gains in North Asia have hogged the spotlight this year, select ASEAN markets have quietly staged a breakout of their own.

1 week ago

A Manggala Agni forest firefighter struggles to extinguish a forest and land fire in Rambutan village, Ogan Ilir regency, South Sumatra, on Sept. 12, 2026.

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Why Indonesians feel increasingly bitter today

Indonesia’s rising public anger reflects deeper structural pressures, from elite impunity to digital manipulation, eroding trust in democratic institutions.

1 week ago

President Prabowo Subianto (center), accompanied by Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka (right), shakes hands with Papua Governor Mathius Fakhiri (left) on Dec. 16, 2025, prior to a meeting with 46 regional leaders from Papua along with 10 executive committee members of the Acceleration of Papua’s Special Autonomy Development at the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

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Federalism and the middle way of decentralization

To survive in an unstable world, Indonesia must master the delicate art of the middle way: keeping a firm hand at the center while fixing the fractured, graft-prone machinery of regional autonomy.

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A satellite image shows black smoke rising from the Saudi Arabian East-West oil pipeline south of Medina in the Hejaz Region, on Sept. 10, 2026.

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The American shield is cracking

America’s inability to protect bases in the Persian Gulf and Jordan and its regional allies’ territory signals a historic blow to its imperial system.

1 week ago

Humanoid and quadruped robots participate in a demonstration calling for the regulation of artificial intelligence on Sept. 7 in Warsaw.

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When AI stops asking permission

AI agents need protective layers, not a lecture about good behavior.

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Jobseekers wait in line on June 8 during the opening of the 2026 Bogor Job Fair at Plaza Jambu Dua in Bogor, West Java.

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What if young people create, not just seek, jobs?

The future job market belongs not to those waiting for a vacancy, but to the graduates equipped to turn society’s friction into economic opportunity.

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Haze shrouds the Kuala Lumpur skyline on Aug. 26 amid high levels of air pollution from regional wildfires. Indonesia has for weeks battled wildfires that have led to school closures and thousands of people requiring medical treatment, with smoke also reaching neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.

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Regional haze casts pall on ASEAN’s influence

The return of haze underscores a sobering reality: while ASEAN has policies designed to combat it, the problem continues to occur.

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A thick haze shrouds Manila on Sept. 1 in smoke from fires in Kalimantan in this photo taken in Quezon City, the Philippines.

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Cross-border crises test Indonesia’s regional credibility

When environmental crises cross borders, government communication becomes crucial to managing their impacts and protecting Indonesia’s international reputation.

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Mobilizing middle powers in a multi-directional world

Middle powers are critically important in at least two spheres of influence: in the UN and in protection against mass atrocities.

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An orangutan named Sampurna receives emergency treatment after being rescued on Aug. 30 at a palm-oil plantation near an area affected by wildfires, in Kuala Satong village, Ketapang regency, West Kalimantan.

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What do dead monkeys reveal about Indonesia's wildfire toll?

The flames may eventually die down, but for the wildlife trapped in Indonesia’s charred forests, the real crisis of hunger, trauma and displacement has only just begun.

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Real wheels: A member of the Indonesian Army (right) helps a boy down from a Komodo armored vehicle by state arms maker PT Pindad on Aug. 24, 2026, during a military exhibition at Living World Grand Wisata in Bekasi, West Java.

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Hidden fiscal risk behind Indonesia’s military expenditure

Indonesia is entering an era of bigger defense budgets and small budgetary visibility. Yet the institutions that allow the legislature and the public to determine where money goes have not strengthened.

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Police officers and protesters face each other on Aug. 27 during a demonstration urging lawmakers to immediately pass an asset forfeiture law for corrupt officials outside the Senayan Legislative complex in Jakarta.

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The shield, the weapon, the decoy: Indonesia’s architecture of elite protection

The public has been handed a reform that was quietly rendered toothless months before its scheduled arrival.

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A farmer walks into the solar-powered water pump station in Tengengwetan village, Siwalan district in Pekalongan, Central Java, on Aug. 22. The solar-powered water pump allows farmers to cut diesel fuel consumption and thus their production cost.

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100 GW: new electrons for a new economy

The 100-gigawatt solar ambition is no longer about hitting a target, it is about turning homegrown clean power into our next great economic engine.

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Calling drivers entrepreneurs won’t create better jobs

Rebranding gig drivers as "entrepreneurs" might polish government employment data, but no administrative label can turn precarious, low-productivity survival into a genuine path to prosperity.

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Foreign Minister Sugiono (right) shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as they attend a press conference after their meeting on Aug. 21 at the Foreign Ministry office in Jakarta.

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Indonesia and China: Toward a more honest conversation

Closer relations present a moment to revisit whether the partnership has mutually benefited our peoples and contributed to the greater global public good amid such an unpredictable international environment.

2 weeks ago

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The UN cannot, and need not, wait for consensus

At the United Nations' 81st General Assembly, member states will be close to choosing the next secretary-general, who will immediately be confronted not only by many global crises, but also by the UN’s diminished ﬁnances.

2 weeks ago

Fights for justice: Members of the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD), legal counsel for Andrie Yunus of Kontras, display legal documents on May 11, 2026, stating their client’s rejection of attendance at the military trial scheduled to be held at the Jakarta Military Court II-08 on May 13.

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From arsenic to acid: Impunity and the retreat of civilian supremacy

From the poisoning of Munir to an acid attack left unpunished, Indonesia’s military justice system reveals a chilling truth: impunity isn’t a breakdown of the law, but a calculated display of power.

2 weeks ago

An exhibitor looks at a wafer during the SEMICON China semiconductor exhibition in Shanghai on March 25, 2026.

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How obscure yttrium became a global flashpoint

This obscure member of the rare earths family is going to be high on the agenda when China's President Xi Jinping meets with United States President Donald Trump later this month in Washington.

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Elementary school children sit on a bamboo raft as they cross the Citarum River on their way home in Saguling, Bandung, West Java, on Sept. 1, 2026.

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Reading the PISA scores and what should follow

The more useful question for Indonesia is why its students fall behind, and what can be done about it.

2 weeks ago

Newly appointed Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara (left) reacts as outgoing Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa signs a document, during a handover ceremony at the Finance Ministry, on Sept. 15, 2026.

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Is Indonesia returning to fiscal orthodoxy?

The new finance minister may reassure nervous markets, but the real test begins when fiscal discipline inevitably collides with President Prabowo’s expansive political ambitions.

2 weeks ago

Newly appointed Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara (left) receives congratulations from Danantara Indonesia Chief Executive Officer Rosan Roeslani during a swearing-in ceremony on Sept. 14 at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta following a Cabinet reshuffle. President Prabowo Subianto appointed Nazara as finance minister for the remainder of the 2024–2029 term, replacing Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa.

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Indonesia’s fiscal ambitions are too big for its finance ministers

Three finance ministers in less than two years proves Indonesia’s fiscal challenge isn’t about who manages the budget, but whether political ambition has finally outpaced economic reality.

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Students attend a class at a state elementary school in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, on Aug. 21, 2026. The Palangka Raya Education Agency implemented measures for elementary and junior high school students, including delaying the start of classes to 8 a.m., temporarily suspending outdoor activities, requiring students to wear masks and implementing distance learning for early childhood education students due to haze from forest and land fires that had deteriorated air quality.

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Beyond arrests: Who is really responsible for the haze?

Smoke doesn’t stop at national borders, and accountability shouldn’t stop at the person holding the match.

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The raid: Personnel from the National Police’s counterterrorism squad Densus 88 show seized firearms and other items on Aug. 14, 2023, following a raid on the house of an alleged sympathizer of the Islamic State movement in Bekasi, West Java.

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When violence falls between the cracks

As youth violence shifts from organized terrorist dogma to decentralized digital subcultures, Southeast Asia must confront a new reality: how do you stop an impending attack when there is no ideology to deradicalize and no network to map?

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