Instead of simply calculating minimum wages that will support a decent standard of living per worker per region, the government must do more in implementing an integrated policy approach that focuses on cost of living relief for households.

Any decent nation should condemn any act of aggression by one country against another as a matter of principle, if anything else, but Indonesia opted not to do that both when the US attacked Venezuela and when Russia invaded Ukraine. 

We do believe that the President would be able to deliver his March deadline and people will wait patiently as long as they are convinced by the ongoing process.

Landfills should operate only for residual waste, making disposal a last resort rather than a primary solution.

Meaningful reform in the Prabowo administration would require not only a reshuffle but a reduction in size, a step that would signal seriousness about governance over optics.

The police chief's signing a regulation that counters a court ruling prohibiting active-duty officers from holding a civilian post is a blatant act of disrespect toward the rule of law.

We won’t know until January, but we are probably looking at the highest fiscal deficit in decades.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Sumatra fear that "good news" will never come because the central government insists everything is under control. 

One of the JETP’s most ambitious and politically sensitive flagship goals, the early retirement of the Cirebon-1 coal-fired power plant, now appears to be effectively off the table.

Since 1995, Indonesia’s best performance at the SEA Games when not hosting had been a top-three finish, making this year’s result a notable benchmark in the country’s recent sporting trajectory.

Rather than erasing dark chapters of Indonesian history, the government should allow marginalized voices to tell their stories, ensuring the younger generation learns comprehensively about what the nation did.

The Bondi Beach attack is a warning that Jewish around the world are becoming vulnerable with the rise of antisemitism.

For more than a decade, the warnings have been mounting. Children have taken their own lives after enduring relentless cyberbullying. Teenagers report rising anxiety and body dysmorphia driven by idealized online imagery, with some reports noting that children as young as ten express interest in using anti-ageing beauty products.

There are big problems with direct regional head elections, but we need to fix them instead of dropping the elections altogether.

Major economies like the US, China and the EU have been rewriting their rules on trade and investment based on strategic priorities rather than shared principles.

Not only does Indonesia have the experience and the diplomatic skills to serve as peace mediators, we also understand the region and the people much better.

Jakartans must take the lead in controlling the city's air quality instead of waiting for an official response, especially after alarming reports showing that pollution is seeping into our homes at higher, more dangerous levels than in the air outside.

The government's response to the Sumatra flooding and landslides is turning into a case study of what not to do after a major disaster.

Building more infrastructure and opening real economic opportunities in the outer cities and beyond will help relieve Jakarta’s heavy burden.

The state's disaster response in Sumatra only shows that victims of the floods and landslides have had their the rights to life, health and protection denied during emergencies.

We need not only tougher laws and regulations on the use and conversion of forest land by plantation and mining companies, but also tighter supervision and credible enforcement of these rules.

Foreign investors need assurances that their long-term investments will be protected from arbitrary decisions or bad-faith actors.

It is high time we throw out the misleading narrative that Indonesians lack reading interest; rather, the issue is more about whether the country has the systems and facilities in place to nurture reading.

While EU authorities would deny that protectionism is the main motive and would point instead to what they deem to be unfair trade practices on Indonesia’s part, the duties in effect protect EU-based steelmakers and rapeseed biodiesel producers.

A national emergency declaration enables the deployment of all necessary state equipment and resources to the affected areas. 

To avoid the perception that it is being used for political witch hunts, the KPK must build watertight cases backed by compelling evidence.

Too much politicking by NU top leaders is undermining its larger mission of looking after the spiritual needs of followers.