Danantara chief investment officer Pandu Sjahrir (bottom left) and Jordan Investment Fund director Zaher Al Qatarnaeh (bottom right) sign a memorandum of understanding on Dec. 9, 2025, to explore joint investments in strategic sectors in Jordan. The signing was also witnessed by Danantara CEO Rosan Roeslani (top left), who also serves as Investment and Downstream Minister, alongside Jordanian Investment Minister Tareq Abu Ghazaleh.

Demutualization, state and market: Who guides the guide?

Healthy markets rely on a paradox. They are built by the state but function best when the state does not dominate their day-to-day outcomes.

4 months ago

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From trade deal to Middle East war — An economic turning point?

As global trade deals collide with Middle East volatility, Indonesia faces a "policy dilemma" where sacrificing short-term growth may be the only way to save long-term stability. ...

4 months ago

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When data flows, can banking supervision follow?

Cross-border data flows raise the question whether the authority that sustains safety and soundness remains fully enforceable once the relevant information is placed in another jurisdiction. ...

4 months ago

The Latest

A staff of a small shoe manufacturer fabricates their new products on September 27, 2023, in Bogor, West Java.

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Indonesia’s trade deal is dead. Now what?

The relevant question is no longer whether Indonesia should have signed the ART. It is what Indonesia does with the leverage it still holds.

4 months ago

A Saudi engineer walks next to aluminum ingots on Nov. 23, 2016, produced by the Maaden Aluminium Factory, in the Ras Al-Khair Industrial area near Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

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Risks to Western aluminium supply rise as US-Israeli war with Iran escalates

Taken together, that makes GCC producers a core component of Western supply of a metal used across a wide spectrum of industries from automotive and construction to packaging.

4 months ago

Cambodia's Defense Minister Tea Seiha and Thailand's Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit pose with documents during a special General Border Committee (GBC) meeting on Dec. 27, 2025, at a border checkpoint, in Chanthaburi province, Thailand.

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After 50 years ASEAN's peace treaty needs new teeth

While the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation remains a global gold standard for diplomacy, ASEAN must bridge the gap between its aspirational principles and the political will required to actually use them.

4 months ago

A time exposure photograph shows trails and explosions on Feb. 28, 2026, from projectile interceptions by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system over Tel Aviv.

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Indonesia and de-escalation diplomacy

The more realistic question is whether Indonesia can help slow the climb, widening the space for restraint before escalation crosses a dangerous threshold.

4 months ago

Seeking safety: Motorists block the highway as they flee their villages in southern Lebanon along the coastal road through the city of Sidon on March 2, 2026, as Israel extends its war against Iran into Lebanon.

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What the US-Iran war means for Indonesia’s cybersecurity

As non-kinetic warfare redefines modern conflict, Jakarta must bridge the gap between its digital ambitions and its defensive realities to secure national sovereignty.

4 months ago

Qualcomm's stand advertising 6G technology draws audiences on March 2 during the inauguration of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world's biggest mobile technology showcase and fair in Barcelona.

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The 6G race will define the next digital order

With 6G, the struggle is not over suppliers, but over the technical blueprint itself.

4 months ago

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The information technology stakes in the US-Indonesia trade deal

The recently signed agreement, without saying so outright, institutionalizes a process through which US threat assessments can shape Indonesia's ICT procurement, illustrating the increasingly blurred line between national security and commercial decisions.

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Tankers are seen at the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal in the United Araba Emirates, the only natural deep-sea port in the region and one of the major container ports in the Sharjah Emirate, along the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes, on June 23, 2025.

Academia

Oil markets' bet on a brief Iran shock is about to be tested

While the region's oilfields had escaped damage by the third day of the conflict, the inability to ship fuel out of the Gulf is already straining a tightly interconnected global energy system.

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This handout natural-color image acquired with MODIS on NASA's Terra satellite taken on Feb. 5, 2025, shows the Gulf of Oman and the Makran region (center) in southern Iran and southwestern Pakistan, and the Strait of Hormuz (left) and the northern coast of Oman (bottom).

Academia

If the Iran conflict shuts Hormuz, global economic chaos could follow

There are already signs that the strait will become a major focus of concern because of the huge implications should the conflict disrupt maritime traffic through this narrow outlet of the Persian Gulf.

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Myanmar's Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hau Khan Sum (left) walks with Thailand's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow (center) and Vietnam's Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung after the group photo during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) in Cebu City, the Philippines on Jan. 29, 2026.

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The case for a long-term ASEAN envoy on Myanmar

The Philippines has indicated that ASEAN is considering appointing a long-term special envoy on Myanmar to replace the current system of annual rotation.

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An intercepted projectile falls into the sea on March 1, 2026, near Dubai's Palm Jumeirah archipelago. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, killing Iran's supreme leader and top military leaders, prompting authorities to retaliate with strikes on Israel, and US bases across the Gulf.

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Strikes without shield: Indonesia cannot mediate what it cannot survive

Diplomatic capital may be Indonesia’s greatest asset, but in a Middle East redefined by missile exchanges and succession crises, Jakarta is discovering that moral authority cannot stop a warhead it has no defense against.

4 months ago

Security first: Figurines stand around a smartphone, whose back is opened, in a composite photo created in Paris on July 23, 2021, to raise the issue of personal data protection in this fast-growing digital era.

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Data protection at stake in the Indonesia-US trade agreement

By prioritizing the commercial "free flow" of information, the Indonesia-US trade deal threatens to transform personal data from a constitutional right into a mere commodity, leaving Indonesian citizens vulnerable in a regulatory vacuum.

4 months ago

President Prabowo Subianto (left) speaks to United States President Donald Trump on Feb. 19 during the signing of the US-Indonesia Agreement on Reciprocal Tariffs (ART) in Washington, DC.

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The ART of the bad deal

The ART's own fine print could quietly close the door it claims to open.

4 months ago

Smoke rises following an explosion on March 1, 2026, in Tehran, after Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran.

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The perils of a power vacuum in Iran

Because power vacuums cannot be targeted by precision munitions or mapped by satellite imagery, the United States' strategic thinking systematically underestimates the danger they pose.

4 months ago

A relative of one of the victims of extrajudicial killings of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterteʼs drug war cries next to the urn of her son on Feb. 20 during the inurnment rites at the Shrine of Healing (Dambana ng Paghilom) at a cemetery in Caloocan, Metro Manila.

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Why the Philippines needs dedutertefication

What the Philippines needs is a genuine moral reckoning: in schools, in media, in families, in politics.

4 months ago

Foreign ministers and other diplomats of ASEAN nations pose for a group photo on Jan. 29 during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Cebu City, the Philippines.

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ASEAN integration only shield against multipolar storms

As the European Union and ASEAN both face a crisis of relevance, only a bold transition from loose cooperation to deep integration can prevent middle powers from being crushed between the competing dictates of Washington and Beijing.

4 months ago

A plume of smoke rises from the port of Jebel Ali on March 1 following a reported Iranian strike in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

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Four circuit breakers stand between the US-Iran war and World War III

Commentators reach for the most dramatic analogy: World War III. The analogy, while not absurd, overstates the probability of escalation.

4 months ago

A staff member monitors a control panel on Feb. 27, 2024, inside the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine manufacturing unit of the Serum Institute of India (SII) at its headquarters in Hadapsar, Pune, India.

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Global health financing needs a reset

Dependence on a small number of provider countries has become a structural vulnerability, as shifts in their political and fiscal priorities reverberate across the entire system.

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A tugboat pushes a sand barge on May 10, 2024, in the waters off the port development project of state-owned mining company PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) in Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi.

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Reform the mining licensing system to buoy 8% growth target

To unlock the President's 8 percent growth target, the government must overhaul its centralized mining bureaucracy and replace administrative bottlenecks with a streamlined, high-compliance licensing system.

4 months ago

An electronic quotation board displays numbers of the Nikkei Stock Average on Jan. 5 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo.

Academia

Blistering EM equity rally can't keep this pace up. Can it?

Even the most ardent EM bull must be wondering if this blistering rally can continue.

4 months ago

A crew member (left) from the OceanXplorer, a research vessel operated by the marine nonprofit OceanX, completes safety protocols with the pilot of a submersible on Jan. 12, 2026, prior to a deep-sea mission in the waters off Sulawesi Island

Academia

Who owns the ocean’s genetic wealth?

As geopolitics spreads into a new global era, developing states risk being sidelined unless they step up now to demand an equitable, inclusive seat at the High Seas Treaty table.

4 months ago

A group of demonstrators gesture on Oct. 30, 2025, as they call for better working conditions during a labor rally near National Monument Square in Central Jakarta.

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Making human rights due diligence work for social justice in Indonesia

To turn a paper tiger into a genuine catalyst for social justice, Indonesia must move beyond voluntary pledges and adopt a supported mandate that balances global trade demands with the practical needs of local businesses and workers.

4 months ago

Sights set: An Indonesian Military (TNI) soldier takes part in a counterterrorism drill on Oct. 20, 2022, in Sanur, Denpasar, Bali, ahead of a G20 Summit in Bali the next month.

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The gavel, not the gun: Rethinking TNI’s role in counterterrorism

As Indonesia deliberates the military’s role in domestic security, the priority must remain the preservation of the criminal justice system over purely kinetic solutions. Effective counterterrorism is measured not by the neutralization of threats, but by the state’s ability to uphold legal accountability under civilian oversight.

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President Prabowo Subianto disembarks from the presidential aircraft on Feb. 17, 2026, upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, DC.

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Prabowo leans into history on visit to the US

In Washington last week, amid headlines about trade agreements and institutional initiatives, a quieter but unmistakable theme ran through Indonesia’s February 2026 diplomatic mission: history.

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A medical professional uses a TeleCTG device on a pregnant woman's stomach in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on Nov. 17, 2018.

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The digital divide in basic health care: Obstacles in eastern Indonesia

In the remote regions of Eastern Indonesia, a rigid digital reporting system is forcing midwives to choose between ticking boxes and saving lives.

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Cutting-edA technician checks a medical device on Nov. 19, 2025, during the inauguration of the Emirates-Indonesia Cardiology Hospital at the Solo Technopark in Surakarta, Central Java, A technician checks a medical device on Nov. 19, 2025, during the inauguration of the Emirates-Indonesia Cardiology Hospital at the Solo Technopark in Surakarta, Central Java. The new hospital features modern facilities and advanced medical technology for diagnosing and treating cardiovascular diseases.

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Why we keep building innovation that never innovates

It is time to restructure the current system, which is set up to keep building one technology facility after another that produces everything but actual innovation, by addressing the incentives that make repetition more attractive than real change.

4 months ago