Indonesia has the scale to drive AI demand, but without an urgent policy pivot into tech manufacturing and infrastructure, it risks becoming just a lucrative consumer market while its neighbors capture the real value.

From weaponized algorithms to creeping militarism, an urgent blueprint for exposing authoritarian power and defending civic freedom before it is too late.

Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Indonesian Payment System Association (ASPI) launched Kartu Kredit Indonesia (KKI) on Aug. 17, enabling deferred QRIS payments to be processed domestically. While easier access to credit could support consumption and strengthen Indonesia’s payment ecosystem, it also carries risks. Without prudent lending standards, greater convenience could lead to higher household debt and deteriorating credit quality.

Shuffling Whoosh’s ballooning debt among state balance sheets won't save the region's first HSR service; only hard renegotiations and structural reform will.

As Thailand prepares to engage constructively with the UNCLOS conciliation proceedings to resolve the border dispute with Cambodia, both sides must first ensure that the conditions on the ground are actually safe for our teams to work.

In parallel with growth, the government must have a dedicated focus on the revenue side of reducing the deficit, particularly in drawing businesses out of the shadow economy and into the real economy.

As Destry Damayanti makes history as the central bank's first female governor, a battle-tested leadership team is stepping up to anchor monetary stability and drive equitable growth through turbulent global markets.

A new private initiative bringing together the crème de la crème of European business, financial, economic and tech elites could well prove useful in kick-starting European growth and innovation. But first, it must recognize that the problem it hopes to solve is fundamentally political.

Chasing elite clubs like the OECD won’t magically transform Indonesia’s economy, especially in a fractured global order where diplomatic prestige is no substitute for domestic reform.

The deeper issue is that a probabilistic statistical estimate is being wielded as an indisputable administrative fact; one deemed sharp enough to decide who gets subsidized fuel and who walks away empty-handed.

Imagine a corrupt official who has stolen billions of rupiah from state coffers. Under a proposal floated by President Prabowo Subianto, that official could walk free, no conviction, no prison, simply by handing the money back. It sounds like restitution; critics say it looks a lot like a pardon with a price tag. The proposal, outlined in Prabowo's Aug. 14 State of the Nation Address, would offer amnesty to corruptors who return stolen state funds. It has reignited a debate that cuts to the heart of his presidency: Is Indonesia's war on corruption for real, or is it starting to look negotiable?

These shows may suspended accounts, but the process needs transparency.

As toxic haze blankets the region, Indonesia's 2027 draft budget reveals a dangerous paradox: chasing state revenue by doubling down on the very extractive projects fueling the fires and displacing its people.

While the crowds take to the streets, the real political battle is being waged behind closed doors - where public anger may simply be the opening move in an elite power reshuffle.

As Nahdlatul Ulama gathers for its 35th Muktamar, a former diaspora leader argues that safeguarding the organization’s future demands uncompromising independence from power, global literacy at the helm and a real voice for cadres abroad.

It is almost a done deal. After a decade of false starts under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, the push to revive a binding state roadmap, the Pokok-Pokok Haluan Negara (Principles of State Policy, or PPHN), finally has what it lacked: political consensus and a president willing to back it.

Subsidizing six-month internships won't fix graduate unemployment if Indonesia's shrinking industrial base lacks the factories, machinery and capacity to hire them afterward.

As Indonesia's catastrophic wildfires choke the wider region yet again, the real culprit isn't the unusually prolonged dry weather but the corporate impunity and lax governance fueling the flames.

Stopping the world’s fastest-moving Ebola outbreak demands more than international aid—it requires empowering the local communities and frontline workers holding the front line.

The Weimar Triangle was founded on a conviction that remains as relevant today as it was 35 years ago — together, we are stronger.

Youth-led protest movements across Asia have exposed underlying anger at corruption and blocked opportunity. But so far, only Nepal has managed to convert that anger into a transfer of governing power.

Satellite dots and convenient scapegoats won't stop the haze, breaking the country’s fire crisis demands trading assumptions for real accountability on the ground.

What made her something more was what she did when she left the stage.

Indonesia needs not only better welfare data, but also greater public understanding and trust in how that data is produced.

When the state freezes an activist’s bank accounts mid-protest, it isn't routine law enforcement. It is an urgent test of whether the rule of law controls the police or punishes dissent.

President Prabowo Subianto has unveiled the government’s proposed state budget for the 2027 fiscal year, outlining another substantial expansion in government spending ahead of Indonesia’s 81st Independence Day. Government expenditure is set to rise to Rp 4,097.2 trillion (US$230.4 billion), from Rp 3,842.7 trillion in this year’s state budget, while state revenue is targeted at Rp 3,426 trillion, compared with Rp 3,153.6 trillion this year. The government is also targeting 6 percent economic growth in 2027, reinforcing Prabowo’s longstanding commitment to using government-led initiatives to accelerate growth.

Indonesia and China should focus on solidarity and cooperation with an approach of strategic maturity, as their ties bear significance far beyond either bilateral or regional dimensions.