A farmer plants rice on Oct. 26, 2025 in Nagari Padang Laweh Malalo, Tanah Datar regency, West Sumatra.

Gene editing in Indonesia: Can new biotechnology solve old agricultural problems?

Can gene editing truly support smallholder farmers and help Indonesia achieve food sovereignty, or will it simply revive the old controversies surrounding genetically modified crops?

1 month ago

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Building Jakarta from the ground up: A year under Pramono Anung and Rano Karno

Pramono Anung and Rano Karno’s first year in office focused on rebuilding Jakarta by prioritizing people and basic services. ...

1 month ago

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Venezuela, Taiwan and the return of power politics

The US invasion of Venezuela is a worrying sign of the world to come, one that will be defined by multilayered, regional systemic conflict against which internal national strength is the only defense. ...

1 month ago

The Latest

A motorcyclist rides past an election campaign banner on Dec. 9, 2025, in Nawnghkio, Shan state, ahead of the first phase of Myanmar’s general election set to take place on Dec. 28.

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Myanmar’s vote and the real contest in the north

Rather than the national polls, the outcome of the ongoing dynamics in Upper Myanmar between the KIA and the junta is a better political barometer for the country's course next year.

2 months ago

A motorcade carrying Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro leaves the Westside Heliport on Jan. 3, 2026, in New York, the United States. Maduro, who was captured by US forces in Caracas, arrived in New York on Saturday evening. Maduro was seen surrounded by FBI agents as he descended the boarding stairs of a US government plane at a state National Guard facility, and was slowly escorted along the tarmac.

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Venezuela and the persistence of hierarchy in global politics

Calling the US invasion of Venezuela a “realist moment” may sound appealing, but it risks becoming a vocabulary that affirms power rather than a tool for understanding it.

1 month ago

Workers unload sacks of rice imported from Thailand on June 22, 2023, from a cargo ship at Malahayati Port in Krueng Raya, Aceh.

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ASEAN needs an ASEAN+5 food security framework

Demand for food across Asia will continue to rise, driven by population growth, expanding middle classes and changing diets, but this is unlikely to be met by Asian producers and exporters alone.

1 month ago

United States President Donald Trump (center), alongside (from left to right) Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks to the press following US military actions in Venezuela on Jan. 3 at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, the US.

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Trump and the raid on Caracas

International law is not simply a moral preference. It is a guardrail built from hard lessons.

1 month ago

Slow recovery: Homes are seen as they are rebuilt amid cleared lots on Dec. 28, 2025, in Altadena, California, the United States, where homes were destroyed by the Eaton Fire one year ago. The Eaton Fire ignited on Jan. 7, 2025, killing 19 people and destroying more than 9,000 structures, most of them homes in Altadena. The fire is the fifth deadliest and the second most destructive wildfire in California history.

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Beware of central economic forecasts for 2026

With China’s efforts to upgrade its growth model progressing slowly, the US will serve by far as the global economy’s primary engine, a concentration that creates its own set of risks.

1 month ago

Employees work in a workshop which recycles copper on July 11, 2025, in Anqing, in China's eastern Anhui province.

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Every mineral is critical in the new metals age

The USGS updated critical minerals list now encompasses 60 different materials, representing around 80 percent of all the mined commodities on the periodic table.

1 month ago

Cargo staff and police officers at Soekarno-Hatta Airport unload the coffin of Indonesian migrant worker Yasmiati from Grobogan, Central Java, upon arrival from Hong Kong on Dec. 23, 2025, at the airport’s cargo terminal in Tangerang, Banten. The Foreign Ministry, the Indonesian Consulate in Hong Kong and the Migrant Workers’ Protection Ministry repatriated nine victims of the Wang Fuk Court apartment fire, on Nov. 26, 2025, in Tai Po District, Hong Kong

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Time to turn commitments into real protection for migrant workers

Many Indonesian migrant workers continue to live and work without effective protection.

1 month ago

President Prabowo Subianto (center) speaks to Coordinating Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (left), State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Regulatory Agency head Dony Oskaria (second left) and state asset fund Danantara CEO Rosan Roeslani (second right) and Aceh Governor Muzakir Manaf during an inspection on Jan. 1 to a temporary housing site for residents affected by floods and landslides in Aceh Tamiang regency, Aceh.

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Paradox of protection: Why strong leaders need 'red folders'

By building a wall to keep the leader happy, they effectively block him from seeing reality.

1 month ago

Newly-arrived Rohingya refugees receive food on Jan. 29, 2025, while on their boat after authorities prevented the refugees from disembarking and ordered them to remain on board the vessel at Leuge Beach in Aceh.

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The case for universalism in a fragmenting world

In country after country, political leaders increasingly dehumanize migrants and refugees, casting people fleeing poverty, persecution and conflict as a mortal threat.

1 month ago

An illustration of the Indonesian Criminal Code (KUHP) and Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP)

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When the benefit of the doubt runs out

As we look ahead to the legislative and judicial changes in 2026 with one eye toward the 2029 polls, perhaps it is time for the people to rethink what the current administration has accomplished with the sovereignty, political legitimacy and leeway we have granted it.

1 month ago

A participant takes the 2025 Computer-Based Written Exam for the National Selection Based on Test (UTBK-SNBT) on April 30, 2025, at Diponegoro University (UNDIP), Tembalang, Semarang, Central Java.

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Reenergizing higher education in ASEAN

A longstanding debate on higher education is to what extent it should be academic rather than vocational.

1 month ago

Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects troops during the annual Victory Day parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3, 2025, which marked the 80th anniversary of China’s war of resistance against Japan and the end of World War II.

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China’s rise: Power, technology and the strategic logic of display

China's power displays in September and November last year were essentially a signal of its arrival on the global stage, a show intended to make the world sit up and recognize it as a major power.

1 month ago

Cambodia’s Defense Minister Tea Seiha (left) and his counterpart Thailand Defense Minister Nattaphon Narkphanit shake hands and exchange documents during a meeting in Chanthaburi province, Thailand, in this handout photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP) on Dec 27, 2025. Cambodia and Thailand agreed to an “immediate” ceasefire on Saturday, the two countries said in a joint statement, pledging to end weeks of deadly border clashes.

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Why the Thai–Cambodian border remains volatile

Temporary peace between Thailand and Cambodia requires something Southeast Asian politics too often lacks: restraint.

1 month ago

Paycheck pursuers: Visitors look for job vacancy information on Nov. 28, 2025, at a job fair at the University of Palangka Raya in Central Kalimantan.

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Indonesia’s youth and educated unemployment: A ticking time bomb

In Indonesia, education policy continues to expand labor supply rapidly, but industrial policy, investment incentives and labor market institutions have not evolved in tandem.

1 month ago

Reconciliation mood: Nahdlatul Ulama chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf (center) speaks to reporters on Dec. 28 after a closed-door meeting with senior figures of the organization at the Miftachus-sunnah Islamic boarding school in Surabaya.

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Intellectual leadership matters for NU in its second century

The intellectual capacity of NU leadership is essential if the group is to formulate substantive responses to extremism, social inequality and the ethical challenges of technological change.

1 month ago

Indonesia has yet to join the club of nations from Brazil to China and India that have issued stringent regulations on personal data protection, modeled on the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which protects citizens from privacy and data breaches regardless of where the data is processed and which recognizes citizens’ “right to be forgotten”, so users can ask for data erasure and delisting from digital platforms and search engines.

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Society relies on corporations and Gen-Z to build a privacy culture

Indifference to privacy violations is not apathy; it is habituation - the natural outcome of a society trained to comply rather than to question.

1 month ago

United States President Donald Trump (left) shares a close moment with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Oct. 30, after their talks at Gimhae Air Base in Busan, South Korea. The leaders met face-to-face for the first time in six years to seek a truce in a trade war that has unsettled the global economy.

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President Xi can define a new era of greatness through restraint

China should demonstrate strength through endurance and patience, playing the long game, otherwise, aggressive dynamics can backfire.

1 month ago

Digital workers: Ride hailing app drivers crowd along a roadside on March 20, 2024 as they wait for orders from customers on Jl. Margonda Raya in Depok, West Java.

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Who will benefit from a Grab-GoTo merger?

A merger between Grab and GoTo would result in significant market concentration, creating a new entity with up to 99 percent market share in Indonesia's ride-hailing and food delivery sectors

1 month ago

A worker inspects sacks of rice on Dec. 29, 2025, at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) warehouse in Lambaro, Aceh.

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Beware, data credibility remains Indonesia’s weakest link

It has been proven throughout history that statistics is essential to statecraft and in the Indonesian context of today's digital era, greater openness is key to building credibility and trust.

1 month ago

A woman waits for clean water on Dec. 28 in Lubuk Sidup village, Aceh Tamiang, Aceh. 32 days after flash floods caused by the overflow of the Tamiang River, access to clean water and sanitation remains an urgent problem for residents and evacuees in Aceh Tamiang regency, despite ongoing efforts by the government and nonprofits to respond to needs.

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The Sumatra disaster and Indonesia’s diplomatic dilemma

Why does Indonesia appear so keen to protect its pride by refusing bilateral assistance?

1 month ago

President Prabowo Subianto (left) watches as Attorney General ST Burhanuddin (second left) symbolically hands over funds on Dec. 24, 2025, collected from forestry administrative fines and recovered state assets from corruption cases to Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa (second right) and Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni (right) at the Attorney General’s Office complex in Jakarta.

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The politics of cash display in nation running out of forests

This is how Indonesia is governed now: by spectacle so crude it dares the public to object, by narratives so inflated they collapse under their own weight, by numbers waved around like talismans against doubt.

1 month ago

A fisherman parks his fishing boat on Nov. 11 in Kupal village, on Bacan Island, South Halmahera regency, North Maluku. Fishermen in the area have a tradition of hanging their boats using a pulley after going out to sea to make them easier to use again and to protect them from waves that can damage the hull.

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A decisive year for ocean conservation

Over the next five years, we have an opportunity to pull back from the brink and ensure that the ocean continues to stabilize the climate, feed billions of people and support the livelihoods of coastal communities.

1 month ago

A visitor walks past ‘batu simbuang’ (menhir) on Dec. 15, 2025, among the 102 menhirs that stand at Kalimbuang Bori’, a megalithic tourist site in Sesean district, North Toraja regency, South Sulawesi.

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What Southeast Asia's hospitality industry taught us about resilience

The region's hotels are poised to enter 2026 with an ongoing momentum based on experiential resilience, and Indonesia is foundationally geared toward innovating to accommodate a new crop of discerning domestic travelers.

1 month ago

Collective fraud: Five suspects (from left) Central Lampung Revenue Agency acting head Anton Wibowo, Central Lampung Legislative Council member Riki Hendra Saputra, Central Lampung Regent Ardito Wijaya, PT Elkaka Mandiri director Lukman Sjamsuri and the regent’s brother Ranu Hari Prasetyo are seen on Dec. 11, during a press conference at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) building in Jakarta. The KPK has detained the five suspects in connection with a bribery case related to the procurement of goods and services in several projects across Central Lampung regency, Lampung.

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Regional autonomy does not have to redistribute corruption

As Vedi Hadiz has noted, decentralization has produced local oligarchies, new centers of power growing from old patronage networks.

1 month ago

Junta gamble: People look for their name on the registry at a polling station on Dec. 28, during the first phase of Myanmar’s general election in Yangon. Polling opened in Myanmar’s heavily restricted junta-run elections, beginning a month-long vote democracy watchdogs describe as a rebranding of military rule.

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ASEAN must not legitimize a sham election in Myanmar

More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the polls in Myanmar under a new law that carries severe penalties, including the death sentence.

1 month ago

A health worker (right) administers a dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to a colleague at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi on March 5, 2021, under the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to combat the pandemic.

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A model to keep multilateralism alive

As countries shift away from multilateral cooperation as the world grows more multipolar, organizations that are mission-driven, involve multiple stakeholders and founded on a spirit of partnership will become ever more necessary to face contemporary challenges.

1 month ago

Local residents and families of people who went missing in the recent flash floods and landslides scatter flowers during a symbolic burial service on Dec. 23, 2025, in Hutanabolon, a subdistrict of Tukka district in Central Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra.

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The imperative for a comprehensive disaster risk reduction

Disaster risk reduction should be embedded in policymaking, especially industrial and spatial planning, to prevent economic activities from damaging the environment and thereby exacerbating the impacts of future calamities.

1 month ago

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