Lines of police officers hold off student protesters from reaching the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Jl. Sudirman in Jakarta on Aug. 18, 2026.

The quiet crisis of Indonesia's shrinking middle class

Beneath Indonesia’s booming headline growth lies a dangerous paradox: its middle class is quietly collapsing, threatening both the nation’s economic dream and its democratic stability.

1 week ago

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How much state intervention is too much for Indonesia?

Prabowo could hope to relive Soeharto’s era by recentralizing the government and strengthening the military, two pillars that had defined Soeharto’s New Order, while slowly erasing regional autonomy and freedom of speech, the two key achievements during the post-Soeharto democratization, also known as the Reform Era. ...

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Earthquake, language and collective compassion

When the ground violently shifts, the words we choose can either steady a community’s collective courage or trigger a devastating humanitarian aftershock of panic. ...

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The Latest

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

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Bridging Indonesia’s deepening youth development gap

A successful village-first economic agenda requires transforming raw internet access into real opportunity before millions of disengaged young Indonesians are left behind.

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(From left) Joanne Chan Chiew Ean, Ain Nadzirah Othman and R. Reveka Nair, show their packets of nasi lemak in George Town, Malaysia, on June 28, 2025.

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Malaysia’s Nasi Lemak index

Much like The Economist’s Big Mac Index, tracking the price of a standard packet of nasi lemak reveals the true story of Malaysia’s domestic purchasing power far better than quarterly GDP figures.

1 week ago

Residents look at the sky illuminated by wildfires in Le Porge, south-western France early on July 23, 2026. A fast-moving wildfire has burned 900 hectares north of Arcachon Bay in southwestern France, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,000 residents and tourists.

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The world is burning less, but the rhetoric says otherwise

Despite apocalyptic headlines and political rhetoric, global satellite data reveals the planet is on track for its quietest fire season in more than a century.

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Dozens of Papuans gather on July 4, 2026, at the Sugapa field in Intan Jaya regency, Central Papua, to meet with representatives from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) following the deadly clash between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and a separatist group in the district two days earlier.

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The harder work of holding Papua

The more difficult question is what allows sovereignty to endure not merely as an assertion of authority, but as a political relationship in which citizens can see themselves.

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When intellectuals respond to the dictates of power

As fiscal strain, budget reallocations and state dominance deepen across Indonesia, students and intellectuals are stepping into the fray—reclaiming their historic duty to speak truth to power.

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Participants in a protest by a civil society coalition known as MBG Watch display a poster reading “Free Nutritious Meals and Red-and-White Cooperatives = Vampires of the State Budget” outside the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) office in Central Jakarta on Aug. 14, 2026.

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How a decoy court ruling shields Indonesia’s ruling elite

Rather than a genuine check, the Constitutional Court provides a strategic runway for legislative engineering, allowing the executive branch to bypass immediate fiscal discipline while public attention cools, over the education fund.

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Earthquake victims are treated in a temporary medical tent due to fears of aftershocks, on August 15 in front of the Ruteng hospital in Ruteng, Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Rescuers combed through debris for survivors after a powerful earthquake struck off Flores Island, killing at least 47 people, according to disaster officials.

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Indonesia is buying defense. It should also buy reach

The state is spending billions to guard its borders against foreign adversaries, while leaving its own citizens stranded when the earth beneath them gives way.

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A drone view shows vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 15, 2026.

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Oil market starts pricing in a prolonged Hormuz crisis

The oil market is increasingly behaving as though disruptions to Middle East energy supplies are not a temporary shock but a new reality.

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A man walks past the Wisma Danantara Indonesia building on Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta on Aug. 11, 2026.

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The shareholder state is making a comeback

The question confronting policymakers is no longer whether governments should own corporations, but how they should govern them.

1 week ago

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left), Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (center) and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif meet in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Aug. 7, 2026. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a joint defense agreement on Aug. 7 amid violence in the region from Houthi attacks and the United States-Iran war.

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The Mecca Pact: A new quest for strategic autonomy

For now, the pact’s principal strength may lie in its political message and deterrent effect.

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Displaced residents look on after spending the night in an open field near Nangahale village in Sikka regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), on Aug. 16, 2026, after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake off Flores island. Rescuers combed through debris for survivors on Aug. 15 after the powerful earthquake had led to the death off at least 47 people, according to disaster officials.

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Beyond aid: Rethinking disaster assistance to Indonesia

Good intentions are never in short supply after a disaster, what Indonesia needs in Flores is the precision to strengthen local resilience rather than replace it.

2 weeks ago

A road bisects untouched forest (left) and land cleared and prepared for industrial planting (right) on Feb. 11, 2026, in Lahei Mangkutup, Kapuas regency, Central Kalimantan.

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The global land agenda's moment of truth

For the first time, the key ingredients for large-scale land restoration, political will, international cooperation, implementation capacity and financing, are beginning to align.

2 weeks ago

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio poses during the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference with the US on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Pasay City, Metro Manila, on July 22, 2026.

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ASEAN at 59: A ship with no captain, adrift in the storm

As Indonesia pulls up its diplomatic anchor and leaves ASEAN drifting into irrelevance, Southeast Asia faces a brutal reality check ahead of its 60th anniversary: lead together, or prepare for the bloc's retirement ceremony.

2 weeks ago

A forest fire burns peatland shrubs on July 19, 2026, in Cot Seumeureng village, Samatiga district, West Aceh, Aceh.

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Indonesia’s peatlands show restoration can work

Although Indonesia’s restoration program has shown positive results, the threat of fire still looms over peatland that has already been degraded.

2 weeks ago

President Prabowo Subianto (left) looks inside the cockpit of a Rafale jet fighter during a ceremony to hand over six new Rafale jet fighters, four Dassault Falcon 8X aircrafts and one Airbus A400M Atlas aircraft to the Indonesian Air Force on May 18 at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in Jakarta.

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When diplomatic neutrality meets defense network warfare

As unmanned systems increasingly define the battlespace, they must plug directly into a shared digital web to serve as viable combat nodes.

2 weeks ago

A man (top left) climbs a flagpole on Saturday as he attempts to raise a Free Aceh Movement flag alongside the Indonesian national flag during a rally outside the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, Aceh province. Thousands of people gathered to mark the 21st anniversary of the Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) peace agreement, which ended nearly three decades of conflict. The raising of the separatist-linked flag, although not explicitly banned by the 2005 peace deal, remains a highly controversial issue, with central government authorities often prohibiting its display.

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Why Aceh peace remains fragile 21 years after the Helsinki accord

Two decades after ending decades of civil war, Aceh’s fragile peace is unraveling as a disillusioned new generation turns against its own ruling ex-rebel elite and revives calls for independence.

2 weeks ago

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa (center) speaks on Friday at the 2027 Draft State Budget and Financial Notes press conference in Jakarta.

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Beyond state budget: How much can the new financial architecture carry?

The government’s bold plan to fund massive growth beyond the state budget hinges on whether its new sovereign wealth apparatus truly mobilizes fresh capital - or merely hides the risks.

2 weeks ago

Fire of fury: People take part in a protest in Bandung, West Java, on Aug. 29, 2025, following the death of an ojol (online motorcycle transportation) driver who was run over by an armored Brimob (Mobile Brigade Corps) vehicle the night before.

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From manufactured chaos to people’s real grievances

Behind the state’s narrative of manufactured chaos lies an undeniable reality: an overburdened public rising up to demand economic fairness, accountability and genuine justice.

2 weeks ago

Shut it down: Demonstrators from the MBG Watch alliance carry kitchen utensils during a protest on June 10 outside the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) headquarters in Central Jakarta. The protesters called for improvements in the management of the free nutritious meal (MBG) program after former BGN head Dadan Hindayana and former deputy heads Sony Sonjaya and Lodewyk Pusung were named suspects
in an alleged corruption case by the Attorney General’s Office.

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Stopping the corrupt revolving door from within

To truly stop corruption, Indonesia must look beyond prosecuting rogue individuals and install unbreakable internal controls where the revolving door starts spinning.

2 weeks ago

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears on a screen to deliver a speech remotely as other leaders attend the 22nd ASEAN - India Summit during the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 26, 2025.

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Connecting India and ASEAN's digital economy agreement

As ASEAN rewrites the rules of Southeast Asia’s digital economy with the DEFA, India must launch a dedicated two-track strategy to integrate cross-border tech and trade without compromising its regulatory sovereignty.

2 weeks ago

An employee works on a solar panel production line on May 16, 2024, at a GCL System Integration Technology factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China.

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China Shock 2.0 reshuffles winners and losers

China is trying to export its way out of a domestic slump, unleashing what many Western governments call a second "China shock." While this strategy is triggering trade fights abroad, it's also producing a new set of potential beneficiaries at home.

2 weeks ago

More than 1,000 women take part in a kebaya parade to celebrate National Kebaya Day, organized by the Indonesian Women's Congress (Kowani) in Palembang, South Sumatra on July 19, 2026.

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Kowani’s dual leadership reflects Indonesia’s democratic malaise

What does the Kowani dual leadership debacle reflect about women’s rights, politics and democracy in Indonesia?

2 weeks ago

The decoration for the 20th anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami stands in front of the main minaret of the Baiturrahman Mosque in Banda Aceh, Aceh on Dec. 25, 2024, the eve of the disaster's anniversary.

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When restraint became strategy: Indonesia’s long road to peace in Aceh

Today, Aceh's main struggle is no longer about surviving a war, but about building an economy that works, maintaining honest local government, and creating real opportunities for its people.

2 weeks ago

Childhood nationalism: Students salute the national flag on July 27, 2026 during a ceremony at an elementary school in the fishing village of Torosiaje, Gorontalo.

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Independence proclamation: Sukarno in his own words

With two spare sentences on a modest Jakarta porch, Sukarno declared Indonesia’s independence and forged a revolutionary blueprint that sparked liberation movements across the globe.

2 weeks ago

President Prabowo Subianto speaks on Sept. 23, 2025 during the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York City, the United States.

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Independence, peace and the power of diplomacy

Eighty-one years after proclaiming its independence, Indonesia has been fortunate to enjoy relative peace and stability, both at home and across its borders. But that achievement is something we can never afford to take for granted.

2 weeks ago