Wearing masks at all times when in public, washing hands and keeping a distance—these are the true sacrifices that people should make these days.

Corruption will continue if steps in the application and evaluation process are not clear and transparent, thereby opening doors for businesspeople to offer bribes and for licensing officials to solicit bribes to speed up the process.

Reopening the economy will not help the country recover if the transmission spirals out of control. Before allowing the reopening, Anies threatened to hit the emergency brake if infections continued to increase. With the second transitional PSBB ending July 30, perhaps it’s time for him to remember his words.

The President has estimated that a potential national vaccination program would require 347 million doses. That’s a huge figure and would be largest number of vaccine doses the nation ever provided.

For young democracies like Indonesia, the loss of faith in democracy could bring disastrous consequences.

The South China Sea dispute is heating up, and it is happening at the worst possible time.

National Children’s Day, which we commemorate today, is a time to consider our obligations to the next generation. The COVID-19 pandemic has put children’s lives at risk, even though the virus has mostly infected older people. Moreover, its economic impact has deprived many children of their needs, especially for health and education.

The emphasis on economic recovery – which the Jokowi administration exercised in the first half of this year – has proven ineffective at slowing down the spread of the virus. 

Despite internal reforms, the National Police continue to be perceived as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. From low-ranking officers who demand small bribes from traffic rule offenders to generals who have reportedly amassed huge fortunes beyond their stations, there have been numerous instances that have tarnished the image of the police in the eyes of the public.

The decision of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to nominate President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka for the Surakarta mayoral election was, therefore, to be expected, although it came a few months late because of internal squabbling. Other parties within and outside the ruling coalition look set to throw their weight behind Gibran.

In a democratic society, to which the post-New Order Indonesia now belongs, the military should have no role whatsoever in affairs that should exclusively be within the civilian domain.

Unstable internet connections and difficulty in accessing financing continue to be the major roadblocks for MSMEs in digitalizing their operations, according to a recent Sea Insights survey. 

The government’s failures over the past two decades in tracing and recovering stolen assets from Switzerland have shown that what are legally acknowledged as criminal acts and tax fraud in Indonesia and Switzerland are not entirely the same.

With no signs as to when we can beat the pandemic, allowing children to leave home for classes only amounts to exposing them to the virus, even if they follow the protocols – wearing face masks, frequently washing their hands with soap and staying at least 1 meter away from one another.

It is very easy to blame people for not following health protocol, but it is best that governments, including in Indonesia, improve access to health and safety measures for people who may neglect the protocol.

For Indonesia, the region and the world, the most pressing question is not only how this could happen but also how it will impact Singapore’s succession.

If anything, the extradition of Maria should set a good precedent in Indonesia’s bid to capture fugitives hiding abroad and recover stolen state assets deposited in overseas banks.

While the country is in no immediate danger of having its ideology replaced by communism or Islamism, the House has insisted that the Pancasila ideology guidelines bill should be on the top of National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) priority list, expecting that it will be passed by October this year. No one in society asked for this bill and there has been no extensive debate as to whether the country even needs a new regulation on the state ideology.

Compared with the 12 couples the KPK has brought to justice for graft, Ismunandar and Encek are a bit different. The two accumulated the executive and legislative power, which KPK chief Firli Bahuri says gave the couple a free hand to amass the wealth they needed to realize their political ambitions.

Certainly, this fiscal-monetary teamwork should be seen from a general perspective, as the role of monetary, prudential and fiscal policy differ according to the problems being addressed

For the last 11 years Djoko has managed to evade justice, which would have been impossible without the help of others and a flawed bureaucracy. 

Indonesia is aware of the geopolitical shift and the need to boost ties with Russia, which is why Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has visited Moscow twice within a span of five months.

Developing nations known for their students’ achievements have established an education system where all children start their schooling at 7 to learn, among other soft skills, ethics, discipline, empathy with others, love for nature and animals and to build their character in the first few years of schooling.

The lenient sanctions are certainly no strong deterrent to accounting malpractice, let alone fraud. Such blatant lax in law enforcement breeds poor governance, low accountability standards and moral hazard.

The single-use plastic bag regulation is far from enough, even if it threatens to terminate the operation of shopping centers that violate the rule, because it allows for the use of plastic bags outside markets and shopping centers, including for online shopping and food delivery, two services that are thriving.

We believe that unequal power relationships are the main cause of sexual abuse and in most cases provide impunity to the perpetrators. This must end.

The lingering question is why Jokowi only let the public learn of his anger after 10 days. The public, as well as experts, have criticized the way his ministers, especially Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto, have handled the biggest public health crisis of our time from the very beginning.

The argument behind the law quite strong. It is imperative to create a level playing field because currently only domestic providers of digital products are obliged to collect the 10 percent VAT in accordance with the 2009 VAT Law.

The restrictions are the “new normal”, but resuming competitions while the pandemic remains unbeaten still poses a risk. 

Our concern is how the government ensures that it will not be trapped into subsidizing unproductive firms and that taxpayer money will reach the targeted beneficiaries all across the country.