A protester holds a sign that reads “Pati united. Down with arrogant regent who oppresses the people“ during a protest in Pati, Central Java on Aug. 13, 2025.

People power in Pati

The uprising in Pati serves as a powerful message to leaders at all levels of government about the importance of public trust and consultation.

22 hours ago

Editorial

Ending the spat over Ambalat

Ambiguous joint arrangements over Ambalat will only allow China to dilute the legal foundations of maritime governance in the region. ...

1 day ago

Editorial

Much tech, less protection

Roblox has been accused of prioritizing user growth, revenue and profit over child safety. ...

2 days ago

The Latest

A cyber security researcher canceled a hacking conference briefing on how he said he could crack biometric facial recognition on Apple Inc (AAPL.O) iPhones.

Editorial

Rise of digital repression?

Twenty-three years after Soeharto told the nation he “quit”, both the hope for a more democratic Indonesia and the utopian vision of an egalitarian cyberspace seem to be far off from reality.

4 years ago

Voice of Indonesia: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo addresses the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 22, 2020. The event was held via video conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Editorial

The country that had at one time championed for the inclusion of human rights and democratic principles in the ASEAN Charter, is now seen as voting against attempts to uphold those very principles internationally.

4 years ago

A kite vendor flies one of his products on May 14, 2021 at Carnaval Beach of Ancol Dreamland Park in North Jakarta. The negative quarterly contraction recorded in January-March 2021 and long-term analysis forecasting prolonged economic impacts from the pandemic, however, indicate that it's likely premature to start easing restrictions.

Editorial

Still hamstrung by COVID-19

As economic researchers have continued to caution, as have health scientists and government critics, recovering the economy hinges on bringing COVID-19 under control.

4 years ago

ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi (left) greets Indonesian President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo during the ASEAN leaders' summit at the bloc's secretariat building in Jakarta on April 24, 2021.

Editorial

ASEAN, hurry up

ASEAN is racing against time as millions of people in Myanmar have been living in anxiety amid the starvation and the threatening COVID-19 pandemic.

4 years ago

Fire and smoke rise above buildings in Gaza City as Israeli warplanes target the Palestinian enclave, early on May 17, 2021. Israeli warplanes bombarded the Gaza Strip overnight, said witnesses in the Palestinian enclave, from where armed groups have launched rockets into the Jewish state.

Editorial

Council of despair?

It is this great power rivalry that has increasingly gotten in the way of the UNSC getting anything done.

4 years ago

Traffic officers turn back vehicles at Pejagan toll gate in Brebes, Central Java, on May 9, 2021. The vehicles were traveling without health documents and travel permits, which are required to travel during the Idul Fitri holiday season.

Editorial

A season of joy, caution

Imposing a ban only on holiday travel, but allowing other types of activities such as business, transportation and tourism to remain open sure looks like a recipe for disaster.

4 years ago

Demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags stand before a banner showing the flags of Arab League member states with Arabic text reading, “History will glorify but those faithful to Palestine and its cause,” during a protest against decisions by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalize relations with Israel, in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Sept. 15, 2020.

Editorial

Jerusalem is just a dream

From the beginning of his first term, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has been an outspoken defender of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

4 years ago

A costumed police officer displays a leaflet discouraging people from participating in the Idul Fitri tradition of ‘mudik’ (exodus) because of the risk of COVID-19 contagion, in Tegal, Central Java, on April 26, 2021.

Editorial

Bracing for the next wave

The deployment of police on roads leading out of major cities creates the impression that the policy discriminates against the poor.

4 years ago

Passengers approach a rapid testing area at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on July 29. JP/Dhoni Setiawan

Editorial

Graft and pandemic travel

Even without corrupt officials, the country’s current regulations would be lax by international standards.

4 years ago

Editorial

Papua a terrorist hotbed?

The government’s move risks escalating violence in Papua as it will justify counterterrorism operations involving both the police and military.

4 years ago

Back in school: Secondary school students sit at a distance from one another during a simulation for face-to-face learning at Sekolah Nusa Alam in Mataram in December.

Editorial

Education can’t wait

Fearing a yawning gap in the quality of education in Indonesia, the government has offered an option for schools to resume in-class learning when the new academic year begins in July.

4 years ago

Passengers from Dumai, Riau, line up to have their travel documents checked on April 21, 2021 at the Sekupang ferry terminal in Batam, Riau Islands. Some people have decided to travel early for Idul Fitri to avoid the ban on on 'mudik', which the government has revived this year.

Editorial

Enforce the ‘mudik’ ban

Complacency is the greatest threat to seeing a "second wave".

4 years ago

The Cikidang resort in Sukabumi, West Java, is pictured on April 21. Politician Budiman Sudjamitko and businessman Dhanny Handoko are planning to develop the area into Bukit Algoritma (Algorithm Hill), which they hope will be an Indonesian version of Silicon Valley in California, the United States.

Editorial

Indonesia’s Silicon Valley

The government and the private sector should understand that commitments and ambitions for the development of science and technology in the country are good, but not good enough.

4 years ago

House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Azis Syamsuddin (center) presides over a plenary session in Jakarta on April 2, 2020.

Editorial

The story of Golkar’s Azis

Public trust in the KPK may not be fully restored, because the KPK Law was designed to weaken the once feared institution.

4 years ago

If you open our website today, not only will you see a cleaner design, you will also be able to access the revamped version of our e-paper.

Editorial

38 years and beyond

If you open our website today, not only will you see a cleaner design, you will also be able to access the revamped version of our e-paper.

4 years ago

Let her go: A group of engineers hold up signs calling for the release of deposed Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration against the military coup in Naypyidaw on Feb. 15.

Editorial

Give Myanmar peace a chance

ASEAN leaders must show that they have the ways and means of resolving a crisis befalling a member of the ASEAN community.

4 years ago

The total amount of royalty payments distributed this year is about Rp 1.69 billion (US$116,412), collected from the use of musical works on television, in karaoke places, restaurants, malls, hotels and other entertainment centers.

Editorial

Set the music free

While this may sound noble, it is a solution that is at best impractical and at worst misguided.

4 years ago

This undated handout from the Indonesian Military (TNI) released on Wednesday shows the Cakra class submarine KRI Nanggala 402 docking at a naval base in Surabaya, East Java. The TNI said it was searching for the submarine with 53 crew on board after losing contact with the vessel during naval exercises off the coast of Bali on Wednesday.

Editorial

Save our sailors

In terms of submarine fleet, Indonesia, dubbed the world’s largest archipelagic state, lags behind fellow ASEAN member countries.

4 years ago

Actress Dian Sastrowardoyo (foreground) appears as Raden Adjeng Kartini in a still from 'Kartini' (2017), a Legacy Pictures biopic on the national heroine directed by Hanung Bramantyo.

Editorial

Spreading Kartini's light

More than a century since the death of women’s emancipation pioneer and national heroine Radeng Adjeng Kartini, we still have much work to do to shed light on women's rights and issues.

4 years ago

Activists supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights hold a rally to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia on May 17, 2015 at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta.

Editorial

Are Indonesians homophobic?

Claiming "neutrality" in hate crimes that target any vulnerable individual or minority group doesn't translate in the global digital era, and Indonesians would do well to remember that silence is complicity.

4 years ago

Singaporean Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat speaks at a UBS client conference in Singapore on Jan. 14, 2019.

Editorial

Singapore’s failed plan

The questions now are who will succeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, when he will eventually leave office and whether he will let a younger figure take the baton.

4 years ago

Investment-friendly: Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) employees meet with business owners applying for business permits on July 7, 2020. The government has initiated a one-roof system that improves the ease of doing business in the country and offered tax facilities in a bid to lure investment.

Editorial

Bureaucraticized investment

Jokowi’s move last week to upgrade the bureaucratic status of the BKPM to a ministry, thereby becoming a member of the Cabinet, would not be effective in developing interministerial cooperation and coordination.

4 years ago

Indonesian Muslim men attend a short sermon after noon prayers at the Al Azhar mosque on the 3rd day of Ramadan in Jakarta on April 26, 2020.

Editorial

A silent Ramadan

The Ramadan fasting month is a time of the year when Muslims can splurge, when they can spend excessively to have the best and most extravagant meals to break the fast.

4 years ago

Commuters wait to board a train at Tanah Abang Station in Jakarta after work hours on Jan. 28, 2021.

Editorial

Can Jakarta lead the COVID-19 campaign?

With Jakarta having the highest COVID-19 infection rate in the country, allowing mudik risks spreading the virus to rural areas that have been insulated.

4 years ago

Debris left behind in the town of Adonara in East Flores on Monday after flash floods and landslides swept eastern Indonesia and neighboring East Timor.

Editorial

Indonesia’s climate crisis

Not only will cyclones become more frequent, but they could also become more dangerous.

4 years ago

Police personnel stand guard during a demonstration by supporters of detained Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu in front of a court house in Yangon on November 3, 2020.

Editorial

Jokowi's ASEAN leadership

The longer the crisis goes on in Myanmar, the more vulnerable regional peace and stability becomes.

4 years ago

Farmers harvest rice with a new machine in Sleman regency, Yogyakarta, on April 1, 2020.

Editorial

The rice import brouhaha

The greatest lesson from the rice import brouhaha is that the government should prepare a comprehensive, clear explanation whenever announcing such a measure.

4 years ago

Smoke rises from a fire at Pertamina's oil refinery in Balongan, Indramayu regency, West Java, on Monday. Antara Foto.

Editorial

Accidents don’t just happen

Its insistence on calling it an incident could lead to complacency on safety measures and is a sure recipe for another accident waiting to happen.

4 years ago

This handout photo taken on Sept. 28, 2009 and provided by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) shows oil leaking from the West Atlas offshore rig operating the Montara oil field in the Timor Sea. In a landmark ruling on March 19, 2021, nearly 12 years after the oil spill, the Federal Court of Australia has awarded damages to a class action lawsuit filed by 13,000 seaweed farmers in East Nusa Tenggara.

Editorial

Montara and environmental justice

The Australian Federal Court's landmark ruling in the Montara oil spill case could set a precedent for environmental justice in Australia and Indonesia, especially in class actions that pit the "little people" against big business.

4 years ago

A poll worker (right) helps a woman put on a plastic glove before she casts her ballot at a polling station in Tapos, Depok, West Java, on Dec. 9, 2020. Poll workers enforced strict health protocols on voting day for the Depok mayoral election, requiring voters to wear gloves and face masks, among other precautions. JP/P.J. Leo

Editorial

Leaders without mandates

For a year or two the government will take over the control of the regions through acting governors, mayors and regents, who will be appointed to avoid a power vacuum.

4 years ago

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