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.  

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.

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.

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

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

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

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. 

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.

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.

The big announcement about the vaccine being haram has likely given vaccine skeptics enough reason not to take the government-sponsored jabs.

Businesswise, most manufacturers prefer local inputs or intermediate materials whenever their quality meets international standards.

President Jokowi's latest statement on foreign products smacks of a sense of xenophobia and may incite hatred, if not violence. 

Forget all the noise over the pros and cons of liquor investment. The bigger issue is the same one that drove hundreds of thousands into the streets last October to protest the Job Creation Law: the absence of public consultation.

From Choirul’s description, the wounds that caused the pastor to die of profuse blood loss were a display of human cruelty which perhaps is rampantly practiced in Papua.

At 78 years old, Biden would be the oldest person to be inaugurated as US president in a first term, while Trump would be the oldest politician to be sworn in for a second term (Trump would beat Ronald Reagan as the oldest person to win office in a second term in January 1985).

The Nice attack came less than two weeks after a Chechen refugee beheaded teacher Samuel Paty in the northern Paris suburb of Éragny for showing cartoons published in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo depicting the Prophet Muhammad to his students in his class. For Muslims, visualization of the Prophet is highly offensive.

The maximum penalty for graft convicts like businessmen Benny Tjokrosaputro and Heru Hidayat, former Jiwasraya president director Hendrisman Rahim, former financial director Harry Prasetyo, former finance and investment division head Syahwirma and Joko Hartono Tirto, a director of asset management company PT Maxima Integra, is what the public has demanded. The life sentences are expected strengthen the deterrence that the country badly needs in its fight against corruption.

Domestic consumption generated by long holidays not only helped local economies regain ground, they also helped the nation’s economy grow. Now, as the pandemic has put almost all business to a halt, a long holiday is an opportunity that tourism-related industries are not going to miss.

A game of high-paced chess appears to be afoot in Southeast Asia, as the United States and its allies compete with China in shoring support among ASEAN states for the geopolitical rivalry, in the midst of a heated COVID-19 vaccine race that has consumed the region and the wider global community.

It is no exaggeration to call the recent suicide of a senior high school student in the South Sulawesi regency of Gowa a tragedy. The death of the teenager, who killed himself on Oct. 17 allegedly as a result of unbearable mental distress caused by his inability to cope with the demands of online learning, should be a wake-up call for all the country’s education stakeholders.

To avoid the stigma, many have resisted testing and tracing, refused hospitalization and seized the dead bodies of loved ones from the hospital to prevent them from being buried under COVID-19 protocols.

If anything, the pandemic drying out funding for later-stage start-ups presents a learning opportunity for start-ups in Indonesia, if not the world.

Jokowi is acting on what he promised in his inauguration speech one year ago to clear all barriers to his agenda. Not only does he have nothing to lose in his final term, he has also grown stronger given that his coalition enjoys a majority in the House of Representatives that rivals Soeharto’s control of the legislative body.

For newly minted Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, choosing Indonesia — and Vietnam — for his first overseas trip since being inaugurated in September appears to be a logical step.

Although the government claims that public health is a top priority, the course of its COVID-19 response shows it is the economy that counts, probably because of stagnation in growth even before the outbreak struck.

Three years of governorship have seen disharmony between Anies and the central government on many fronts, which is not supposed to happen, for better or worse. 

More importantly, what needs to be improved upon right now is an inward-looking diplomacy of sorts – that is, to persuade the general public to participate in the fight against COVID-19 by complying with health protocols, at a minimum.

While we may prefer a short-cut, as in the case of our national soccer team, which is banking on naturalized players, Nadal and other sports greats have taught us that athletes need fortitude to step on every ladder right from the bottom before reaching their glory.

As some governors have said, the lack of transparency has perhaps triggered the demonstrations against the law. 

Whatever armaments deal Prabowo may sign during his visit, it must involve local defense companies as stipulated in the Defense Industry Law, such as transfers-of-technology or offset schemes.