When major economies are running at near full capacity, it is not clear that trade deficits should be a cause for concern, since they represent a transfer of purchasing power from surplus countries. Under the current circumstances, then, China’s widely criticized surpluses might as well be called enrich-thy-neighbor.

In practice, recognition that should represent the state’s respect for communities that have existed for generations can instead become an administrative mechanism determining whether a community is worthy of recognition. 

The decision to move the consortium's stake to the fiscal authorities is effectively an admission that the domestic SOE structure has reached its limits.

United States President Donald Trump has revived his tariff agenda under a new legal justification. After the Supreme Court struck down his "Liberation Day" tariffs in February, his administration turned to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, accusing trading partners of failing to prevent forced labor in their supply chains. Indonesia is among the affected countries, which has raised questions about how effectively it is tackling forced labor at home.

Citizenship is not a favor the state dispenses to useful people. It should be a recognition of a bond that does not expire when it becomes inconvenient.

Investors are focusing more on tangible results: cash flow.

Why must China constantly attempt to prove its stature? What drives it to project superior force at every turn to assert its claims?

Governance gap leaves academic freedom vulnerable to exploitation because academic repositories and open scholarly platforms operate on trust.

For five centuries, raw materials have flowed out of Africa and Brazil at low cost to be used as inputs elsewhere, often returning to their source countries embedded in expensive finished goods.

Rather than delivering justice to victims, authorities have normalized, and often downplayed, their suffering, frequently misclassifying victims as perpetrators.

The Constitutional Court just handed down a much-needed reality check on the country's public finances. By striking the free nutritious meal program out of the national education budget, the court drew a clear line in the sand: money set aside for education needs to go toward education. Now, the government has to figure out a transparent, long-term way to fund its flagship free meals program without taking a bite out of other vital national priorities.

Separating the free meals program from the education budget is an important first step. However, the bigger test now is whether the government will genuinely commit to using the constitutionally mandated 20 percent education allocation to address the country’s perennial education challenges.

The lasting legacy of the Iran war will likely be a renewed impetus for energy-importing nations to lessen their dependence on fossil fuels.

Deputy Statistics Indonesia (BPS) chief Sonny Harry Budiutomo Harmadi sat down with Aditya Hadi and Ruth Dea Juwita of The Jakarta Post to discuss the expanding scope of this year’s census and its implications for policymakers, investors and businesses.

For the first time, these unique ecosystems are expanding at a faster rate than they are declining.

Droughts expose who gets left behind when basic public services aren't built for everyone.

At a time of historic inequality and inadequate public investment, the kind of redistributive policies promoted by politicians on the left are badly needed.

It is true that a hefty share of public spending went into FGDs, seminars and workshops that produced little. But his own government now suffers the opposite failure of executing before it plans, then improvising the plan as the execution collapses. Yet the damage is already done, heavily. 

Some are insisting that the new governor must be independent, which usually gets defined, rather narrowly, as someone able to say no. It is worth asking whether that is really the binding condition.

The arrest of 142 suspects by South Sumatra Police has brought renewed attention to what authorities describe as one of the largest fuel embezzlement cases in the country’s recent history. Between January and July 2026, police uncovered 96 cases involving the diversion and illegal trade of subsidized fuel, with an estimated 1.4 million liters of fuel allegedly siphoned from the official distribution system.

Similar to how money can buy some peace of mind but is no guarantor of happiness, a strong economy does not necessarily lead to general prosperity.

US corporate earnings are already running almost 60 percent above trend, with rapid growth still expected for years, mostly thanks to the AI boom. But the questionable economics of new AI data centers could pop this bubble.

While the country already has a regulation on digital child protection, the rapid advent of artificial intelligence and its growing integration in children's lives requires a shared effort by all stakeholders to instill safe and responsible use, especially among vulnerable individuals.

Amid the ongoing commotion regarding the draft law on citizenship, perhaps it is time to hearken back to the wisdom of Ibu Pertiwi, our national personification, in revising our policies so they welcome back all who claim Indonesian roots with open arms.

The geographical diversification of technological innovation has remained more of a dream than a reality.

As the country rushes headlong into AI, what is being left behind is the age-old wisdom that has been a cornerstone of human civilization for millennia: When entering someone's home, we knock first to obtain their permission, and we don't barge in anyway if they turn us down.

Modern colonialism no longer arrives in wooden warships or under foreign flags. It sits in executive offices, speaks the national language and cloaks itself in the slick rhetoric of "national development."