It would probably be good to ask ourselves whether we have practiced what Gus Dur taught the nation, namely the obligation to fight discrimination and to respect human dignity.

As the Presidents of Indonesia and the United States prepare to meet this week for talks on trade and the Board of Peace, the spotlight falls on a unique and potent alignment. Beyond the policy briefs, it is time to consider the profound psychological and cultural synchronicity between Prabowo Subianto and Donald Trump.

The suicide of the 10-year-old child is a structural indictment: Indonesia suffers from catastrophic misallocation of wealth.

Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin stirred controversy after revealing that the Prabowo Subianto administration is considering a leadership reshuffle at state-owned banks, collectively known as the Association of State-Owned Banks (Himbara). The announcement was unusual, coming from a cabinet official whose portfolio centers on national defense. However, it reflects the increasingly visible role of the national security establishment in civilian, financial and economic affairs under the current administration.

When the metrics of success on a dashboard fail to reach the dinner table, "paper prosperity" becomes a performance that masks the quiet breaking of a nation's children.

To unlock Indonesia’s STEM potential, we must dismantle the "hidden curriculum" that quietly trades a girl’s public authority for domestic virtue, turning classrooms into rehearsal spaces for expertise rather than compliance.

By securing the WHO’s elite global benchmark, Indonesia has transformed regulatory trust from a technical achievement into a strategic asset, proving that middle-income nations can lead the world in global health security.

The recent nomination of Golkar Party politician Adies Kadir by the House of Representatives to the Constitutional Court bench has ignited a long-standing debate regarding transparency, institutional encroachment and the potential erosion of judicial independence. As the court navigates an increasingly crowded docket of judicial reviews, the House’s selection process suggests a strategic shift toward prioritizing legislative discretion over constitutional oversight.

A formal treaty to phase out new thermal coal mine approvals would not only bring climate benefits, but could also benefit national budgets, state royalties and regional jobs.

Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung has thrown his weight behind the President’s proposal to build an office for Muslim organizations, but needs to suggest an alternative site.

Over the next 10 to 15 years, 1.2 billion young people in developing countries will come of working age, to a scale the world has never seen, but only 400 million jobs will be available for them.

As the traditional global order fractures, Davos 2026 reveals a new reality: The future no longer belongs to those with the most eloquent rhetoric, but to the leaders combining technical competence with the quiet confidence of actual delivery.

Nearly four months into Prabowo’s second year, the palace is already busy securing the administration's future through oligarchic reorganization while the public still waits for policies to yield tangible results.

Ocean stewardship is not defined by proximity to the sea, but by a willingness to act in the common interest by safeguarding humanity’s shared life-support system.

Thousands are increasingly falling prey to Cambodia's billion-dollar scam industry as ASEAN continues hides behind the shield of "noninterference", showing that without a coordinated international crackdown, the bloc's diplomatic approach is only failing citizens across the region.

President Prabowo’s pragmatic turn toward Indonesia joining the Board of Peace for Gaza will mean a seat at a table that includes Israel, but it is the House that holds the procedural power to ensure that our nation doesn't become an enabler of impunity.

“When will you get married?”

When human lives are reduced to statistical "error rates," our social contract fails the very people it was built to protect, from a child lacking a notebook to a patient denied life-saving care by a spreadsheet.

As national policies pivot toward rural and lower-income support, the urban middle class is being left out in the cold, squeezed by stagnant wages and rising costs, creating a "quiet frustration" that could pose a systemic risk to economic and political stability.

As violence escalates around the world, victims are increasingly looking for justice in domestic courts, rather than international ones.

To restore the sacred harmony of Tri Hita Karana, Bali must look beyond the beach and fix its broken food system before the island’s landfills, and its beauty, reach a breaking point.

The state has the power to regulate, but science holds the power to heal; the Constitutional Court has finally ensured one cannot dictate the other.

Indonesia’s aspiration for health system sovereignty, particularly in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and precision medicine, remains elusive, partly due to a lack of physician-scientists.

Agus believed that the military's territorial command needed to be overhauled in a gradual, systematic manner, proposing that its functions be transferred to local governments.

As the government scrambles to shore up tax and excise revenues, a wave of corruption arrests targeting tax and customs officials has exposed deep governance problems within Indonesia’s revenue-collecting agencies. The Corruption Eradication Commission’s (KPK) recent raids have prompted Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa to carry out large-scale bureaucratic rotations at both the tax and customs offices. Yet questions remain over whether these measures can deliver lasting reform or meaningfully improve revenue collection.

An aggressive growth target may lift headline GDP, but it could also inflate asset prices, strain the state budget and erode investor confidence in fiscal policy. 

AI's rising tide no longer lifts all boats, and those that are sailing along smoothly one quarter could find themselves sunk the next.