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Policy reversals erode Indonesia's economic stability

While the government's decision to backtrack on the planned VAT rate hike offers short-term relief, it also erodes public trust and investor confidence amid a shrinking middle class, which points to a need for comprehensive reforms that include labor formalization, downstreaming expansion, human capital development and supply chain integration.

4 months ago

Academia

Is Erdogan set to remake the Middle East?

By leveraging Turkey’s military power, economic influence and ideological appeal, Erdogan seeks to position Ankara as the lynchpin of a new regional order. ...

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Academia

Navigating the risks of digital public infrastructure

Understanding the risks of DPI is crucial to ensuring that its potential benefits materialize. ...

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The floating panels of a solar power plant at Cirata Dam in Purwakarta regency, West Java, are seen from above on Sept. 26, 2023. Jointly built by state electricity company PT PLN and United Arab Emirates’ Masdar, the power plant generates 192 megawatts peak (MWp).

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Could Indonesia make progress in its energy transition in 2025?

Indonesia's energy transition faces many challenges but has great potential.

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One last look at Asia’s 2024 winners and losers

Diverse, mixed democratic trajectories for a diversity of democracies in Asia characterized 2024.

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How 2025 is geopolitically different from 1945

As the world enters 2025, the chasm between the rulers and the ruled remains great, if not getting greater, regardless of the mechanism of governance or regime type.

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Services are the new road to development

Services now account for more than two-thirds of global GDP and half of global trade.

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Driving economic growth: A visitor browses information on investment potential in West Java on Sept. 19, 2024, at the West Java Investment Summit 2024 in Bandung.

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Safeguarding Indonesian interests through investment treaties

Indonesia has faced challenges arising from provisions that limit its ability to regulate investor activities and protect its own sovereignty.

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Charting a new path to achieve a healthier world for all

From Gaza to Sudan, Yemen to Ukraine, and Haiti and beyond, peace is, and will always be, the best medicine for the health and well-being of all people, everywhere.

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Sunlight shines on Dec. 9, 2024, over a grassy area marked by a stone monument in Lampuuk, Aceh Besar regency, Aceh, the site of a mass grave for people who perished in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

Academia

Monuments help to remember, and forget, disasters

Encouraging the active participation of residents is essential to preserving disaster memory, maintaining memorials and passing on the lessons learned to successive generations.

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Officials clean the surface of solar panels installed on top of Gedhe Market on Dec. 6, 2023, in Klaten regency, Central Java.

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Indonesian green energy exports: Lessons from LNG

The green energy transition will be the single biggest transition in the following decades.

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Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape (right) greets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Port Moresby on April 21, 2024.

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Foreign bride price: A PNG guide to ‘marrying’ multiple partners

PNG's Western partners might not want to share the bed with China but this is the current reality, and they should also be prepared to welcome others under the country's “friends to all, enemy to none” foreign policy stance.

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Should Indonesia ban social media for children?

It is unclear what measures Indonesia plans to take in ensuring online safety for minors, which face multiple challenges including balancing freedoms and protection, considering mental and physical health risks and addressing the power asymmetry between the government and global tech giants.

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A Muslim attendant sells Christmas decorations on Dec. 11, 2024, at a vendor booth in a Jakarta shopping mall.

Academia

The myth of the middle-income trap

It is about time that Indonesia moves beyond the narrative of the so-called middle-income trap, by embracing bold visions paired with pragmatic strategies to write its unique, development success story.

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The Canary in the gold mine: Greed and hypocrisy threaten Sangihe

If the illegal gold mining activities in Sangihe remain unchallenged, it will encourage and embolden the collusion and corruption of unscrupulous state and non-state actors to continue the practice in other parts of the country.

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China's struggles with a consumer society

China's perennial underconsumption could very well stem from the country's political system that focuses on stability and control, which is essentially at odds with the free and individualistic behavior that underpins a consumer society – at least, as we know it in the West.

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Food safety risks in Prabowo’s free meals program

The government must close the gap in food safety infrastructure and oversight throughout the supply chain by implementing stringent regulations and authorities across the national, regional and community levels to mitigate potential health risks and ensure the success of Prabowo’s free meals program.

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How India can help check rise of Islamists in Bangladesh

Dhaka expects New Delhi to play a constructive role in rebuilding its economy and democratic institutions.

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How developing nations can raise money to offset climate crisis

Emerging economies need a new climate finance approach to bridge the chasm between international pledges and returns, and between mitigation and adaptation measure.

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Academia

Najib Razak’s ongoing political rehabilitation

Two developments have contributed to the growing popularity of the Malaysian ex-premier, whose grassroots standing is stronger than a year ago, but his main obstacle could be the country's history of jailed leaders returning to power.

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‘Rakyat jelata’ controversy shows how words can be a sword

Rakyat jelata, when used by a government official, evokes associations with class hierarchies and marginalization, regardless of the intended meaning.

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The Syrian independence-era flag waves in the wind over the capital Damascus on Dec. 26.

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Syrian democracy and religious moderation: A path forward

Under current conditions, the preferred option for Syria would be a secular democratic system with an embedded philosophy of religious moderation in social and political landscapes.

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Insight: Securing a healthier future: The importance of Indonesia's plasma fractionation facility

The global health crisis brought on by COVID-19 tested healthcare systems worldwide, and Indonesia was no exception. As one of the world’s most populous nations, the nation faced immense challenges yet demonstrated resilience and adaptability in navigating the pandemic.

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Foreign Minister Sugiono arrives at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, on Oct. 24, 2024.

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BRICS agenda: How Prabowo’s foreign policy contrasts with Jokowi’s

Prabowo is focusing on a dual track strategy with regard to OECD and BRICS membership, opting for a more flexible approach in view of current geopolitical dynamics that reinforces Indonesia's independence as well as its positioning as a good neighbor.

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Eradicating greenwashing: The ESG dilemma in financial services

Financial institutions must work hand-in-hand to integrate ESG policies into the entire life cycle of financial products and services.

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People walk past the logotype at the venue for the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku on Nov.11, 2024.

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How the EU can scale up carbon removal

Removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide will require scaling up investment in carbon-removal technologies.

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The impact of Assad's collapse: Cyberwarfare between HTS and ISIS supporters

The brewing “cyberwar” between HTS supporters and ISIS supporters could prompt a new wave of global jihad.

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Twelve questions for philanthropists

In this season of giving, donors should ask themselves twelve key questions when considering how, where and why to give.

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20 years after the wave: Building resilient coastal futures

Climate change is amplifying the frequency and severity of water-related disasters, with impacts that often cascade with, and compound, geophysical disasters such as earthquakes and volcanoes.

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The ICC's warrant request for Myanmar junta chief is too little, too late

An ICC prosecutor’s decision to apply for an arrest warrant – not to issue one – for the Myanmar junta leader is essentially a powerless move, coming as it does after Washington and Paris rejected its arrest warrants for Netanyahu and several members of his cabinet at the cost of the court's credibility and authority.

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