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Jakarta Post
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Rivalries, reckonings on the Orient Express of Indonesian politics

Nobody was murdered, but Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka finds himself trapped on a speeding political train where shifting allies, bitter family legacies, and unsettled rivalries make everyone a suspect.

13 hours ago
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Wiretapping scandal: Who else lives in the house of glass?

When the state's surveillance machine is turned against the ruling elite, state power is mobilized overnight, whereas the crises choking ordinary citizens are left to burn for months. ...

13 hours ago
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Analysis: Indonesia’s GDP ranking masks deeper economic weaknesses

Indonesia’s economy has faced considerable turbulence during President Prabowo Subianto’s administration, making its latest international economic ranking a welcome headline for the government. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Indonesia remains one of the world’s largest economies when measured by gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP). T...

15 hours ago

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The Mecca Pact and Iran: A path to de-escalation?

Though the Mecca Pact’s visit to Tehran last week was neither a symbolic gesture nor a fundamental move, observers, media and others are keeping an eye on related developments that may herald a regional security restructuring.

15 hours ago
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The Z in resistance

From One Piece flags to Hunger Games salutes, Indonesia’s Gen Z is ditching tired tropes and rewriting the playbook of street resistance in a language entirely their own.

16 hours ago
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Rethinking the AI-workforce equation in Indonesia

The real AI challenge isn’t surviving machine replacement, it’s redesigning work to unlock human potential, and Indonesia’s agile market is primed to lead the shift.

1 day ago
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Fridge hacks and finance attacks flag AI insecurity

Hacking supermarket refrigerators may sound trivial. It's not. It's a warning of the economic disruption AI could wreak in an increasingly vulnerable world.

1 day ago
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Maritime cooperation gives Act East policy a new boost

From joint naval patrols to subsea cables and digital payments, the Manila summits offer India and ASEAN a crucial opportunity to turn regional rhetoric into lasting strategic and economic muscle.

1 day ago
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Trump’s midterm defeat could unsettle the world

Facing a hostile Congress, the US president is likely to focus on foreign policy to secure his legacy.

1 day ago
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Indonesia’s dilemma: Giving police too much power

A new police chief may wield power differently, but Indonesia’s true test of reform is deciding how much unchecked authority any one official should ever inherit.

1 day ago
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The untouchables: The case for breaking up the National Police

Indonesia built an untouchable police monster that now spies on the President himself—and the only way to save democracy is to break it up.

1 day ago
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Analysis: When burning forests become a cost of doing business

Indonesia is facing mounting economic and diplomatic costs from forest and peatland fires this year as a prolonged dry season coincides with a strong El Niño and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). The fires have caused widespread damage, placed a substantial burden on public health and economic activity and sent haze across national borders. The combined economic and health costs are estimated to have reached as much as Rp 123.1 trillion (US$6.79 billion), while the resulting pollution has strained relations with neighboring countries.

1 day ago
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Policing state surveillance

When rogue police operators can secretly tap the President’s phone and wipe the logs, state surveillance isn't protecting democracy—it's quietly dismantling it.

1 day ago
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Indonesia holds its red lines at faltering WTO, deputy representative says

Nur Rakhman Setyoko, deputy permanent representative to the World Trade Organization, spoke to The Jakarta Post about Indonesia’s trade interests, WTO reform and the importance of preserving multilateralism in the current economic reality.

2 days ago
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The wiretap as a deep-state move into Indonesia’s democracy

When the police can wiretap the president without a warrant, the fall of a few generals reveals not just a rogue plot, but a deep-state surveillance apparatus that will outlast any prosecution unless the system itself is dismantled.

2 days ago
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Capital market trust is fundamental economic infrastructure

Indonesia needs a trusted capital market not just to reassure foreign investors, but to finance businesses, safeguard long-term savings, and help households build wealth.

2 days ago
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Global AI governance as the new frontier of diplomacy

Foreign policy must come with a strategic vision of states to maximize the benefits of the AI’s use and mitigate its risks. 

2 days ago
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The twilight of RSPO: A multistakeholder sustainability forum

As the EUDR exposes the structural limits of private voluntary certification, the RSPO’s decades-long monopoly is giving way to a new era of sovereign regulation and legal parity.

2 days ago
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Analysis: MSCI recurring warning exposes persistent governance failures

Indonesia's capital market is once again under pressure following MSCI's warning of a potential downgrade from emerging market to standalone market status. The warning prompted an immediate regulatory response, including measures to address high shareholding concentration and suspected market manipulation. However, the sudden response raises a broader question: Why have longstanding market governance weaknesses and investor protection concerns only received serious attention after repeated threats of a market downgrade?

2 days ago
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The Nepal lesson: Warning systems, not solar panels

The real lesson of the Nepal disaster is that economic development and early warning systems protect human lives—not empty summit pledges.

2 days ago
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Ten years lost in two

Indonesia has sunk to a decade low on the Rule of Law Index—a damning confirmation that from police impunity to ad hoc task forces, the law no longer restrains state power, but serves as its weapon.

2 days ago
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Letter to the editor: Senior Myanmar diplomat responds

Myanmar's head of mission in Jakarta responds to an opinion article by James H. Shwe on the FATF and Indonesia's role as a task force member, particularly with regard to transnational scam compounds.

3 days ago
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What COP31’s climate bridge can learn from Indonesia

COP pledges are won or lost far from conference halls. If climate finance cannot bridge the gap to local communities in provinces, global targets will remain out of reach.

3 days ago
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Why Ukraine’s food exports matter to Indonesia

From the Black Sea to your bowl of noodles, war in Ukraine directly shakes Indonesia’s food prices—and reveals why Europe and Indonesia must partner to secure what’s on our tables.

3 days ago
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When new technology launches outrun learning

Driven by the allure of novel tech and flashy inaugurations, Indonesian institutions risk chasing performative modernization at the cost of deep operational competence and lasting institutional memory.

3 days ago
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Is the palm industry the only culprit behind wildfires?

Blaming the palm oil industry for Indonesian fires fueling Southeast Asia’s transboundary haze is an easy narrative, but rigorous evidence and reality tell a far more complex story.

3 days ago
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Haze and the quest for a new growth model

Fighting the fires and finding new, sustainable engines of growth are not separate battles.

3 days ago
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Three-finger salute raised high, broad and multifaceted in Indonesia

From movie screens to Southeast Asia's streets, the three-finger salute has evolved from a silent cinematic gesture into Indonesia's potent rallying cry against oligarchy, poverty and ecological collapse.

3 days ago
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Analysis: Censorship by proxy: Who is silencing coverage on fires?

As toxic haze from seasonal forest and peatland fires blanketed swaths of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua, a second crisis unfolded online: Content creators, civil society organizations, environmental activists and regional officials reported a sudden wave of digital suppression.

3 days ago
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Graft reform at a crossroads

Rewriting the anticorruption law could modernize enforcement to global standards, but without strict safeguards, it risks giving corrupt elites an easy exit under the guise of business judgment.

3 days ago

Today's ePost

Sat, November 7, 2026

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