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Jakarta Post
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Is a Chinese implosion looming?

Though few dare to speculate about it publicly, an economic and political perfect storm is bearing down on China.

11 hours ago
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BJ Habibie’s status in Indonesian history

One of the criteria for becoming a national hero is not having committed treason against the nation. Was BJ Habibie excluded because of this issue? ...

12 hours ago
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Redefining corruption: Protection for economic power?

Narrowing corruption down to bribery may protect state investors from criminalized business losses, but without strict checks, it risks turning legal certainty into a shield for oligarchic power. ...

13 hours ago

The Latest

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Jakarta should not lower the bar for Myanmar

As a member of the Financial Action Task Force, Indonesia can help ensure Myanmar is judged by enforcement results, not by its new civilian title.

14 hours ago
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ASEAN should press its Plus Three partners on denuclearization

With East Asia on the brink of a dangerous nuclear tipping point, ASEAN must abandon quiet diplomacy and force frank answers from Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul at next month’s summit.

16 hours ago
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Indonesia's gas export cuts: A costly blow to trust and regional leadership

At stake are Indonesia's credibility as an economic partner, its ability to attract long-term investment and its standing as a regional leader.

17 hours ago
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Analysis: Prabowo’s security shuffles: Lining up loyalists pre-2029

Nearly two years into his presidency, President Prabowo Subianto has moved decisively to tighten his grip on Indonesia’s two most powerful security institutions. A series of leadership changes at the National Police (Polri) and the Indonesian Military (TNI) this month have systematically reduced the residual influence of former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration, realigning internal loyalties and strengthening presidential authority for the remainder of his term toward the 2029 elections.

17 hours ago
Editorial premium

Ending impunity, for good

By ordering an end to military tribunals for crimes, the Constitutional Court just dealt a decisive blow to decades of impunity and challenged parliament to prove no soldier is above the law.

18 hours ago
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Indonesia has a mountain of rice, but not food security

A record rice surplus is filling Bulog warehouses rather than lowering market prices, exposing a costly food policy that prioritizes managing inventory over feeding the poor.

2 days ago
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Hambali: Southeast Asia’s last Guantanamo detainee

More than two decades after his capture, Southeast Asia’s most notorious jihadist remains trapped in legal purgatory at Guantanamo Bay, a relic of a forgotten war that neither Washington nor Jakarta has the political will or legal means to resolve.

2 days ago
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How Indonesian language could bridge education gaps

Advancing alternative and equitable ways of thinking about education is urgently needed, and the Indonesian language may have a role to play.

2 days ago
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Dissent in the halls of power: The intellectual’s dilemma

The ultimate test of an intellectual is not challenging power from the outside, but refusing to become its mouthpiece once invited inside.

2 days ago
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Analysis: A sugar excise too small to matter

A tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) is planned from the second half of 2027, the government has said, after making similar promises almost every year since 2022. The levy is expected to raise Rp 1.7 trillion (US$95 million), while diabetes care alone cost the national health insurance an estimated Rp 12.6 trillion in 2024. At its planned scale, the proposed levy risks falling short as both a public health measure and a revenue-generating instrument.

2 days ago
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Fostering, empowering youth in Indonesia’s foreign policy

To navigate a fractured world, Indonesia’s foreign policy must move beyond symbolic inclusion and treat its youth not just as tomorrow’s leaders, but as today’s strategic diplomatic partners.

2 days ago
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The lost art of listening

From choking haze to viral confrontations, public fury is simmering across the country, and continuing the dismissive official line instead of delivering solutions risks sparking a full-blown crisis of legitimacy.

2 days ago
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The FAO we need for the future of food security

To end global hunger in an era of compounding crises, we must stop reacting to disasters and start turning frontline innovations into rapid, equitable impacts.

3 days ago
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Why Indonesia keeps repeating its forest fire crisis

We have accumulated experience, yet too often respond as though we are encountering fires for the first time. 

3 days ago
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Going green is not enough for industrial parks to thrive

The upcoming Industrial Estate Law must decide whether its manufacturing hubs remain mere clusters of concrete and carbon targets, or evolve into fully integrated, people-first eco-industrial ecosystems.

3 days ago
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Breathing new life into organized labor

Fulfilling the ILO’s promise of defending workers’ rights will require more than another declaration or incremental institutional reform: There must be a concerted global effort to create an enabling environment for all workers and their organizations to operate across borders as easily as capital does.

3 days ago
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Maximum coalition, minimum performance

Political stability at the elite level has not yet translated into improvements in the economy, public services and the quality of governance. 

3 days ago
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Resetting Indonesia’s capital market needs verified integrity

Indonesia cannot restore foreign investor confidence with emergency price supports or rhetoric. It must prove the integrity of its markets through independent verification of ownership and true liquidity.

3 days ago
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Analysis: SOE IPOs face an uphill battle against historical pitfalls

State asset fund Danantara plans to take several state-owned enterprises (SOEs) public in 2027, but whether the listings will attract investor interest remains uncertain. The companies have yet to be identified, and Danantara has pledged to conduct rigorous reviews before determining which are ready to enter the stock market. The key question, however, is whether the selected companies can offer sustainable returns and adequate investor protection, or whether the IPOs will serve primarily as a fundraising measure, leaving investors exposed to losses rather than potential capital gains, as previous cases suggest.

3 days ago
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Listen more, speculate less

Jakarta’s historic market rout isn’t the work of foreign conspirators, but a self-inflicted wound born of concentrated ownership and regulatory inertia that political defiance cannot heal.

3 days ago
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The illusion of customary rights protection in Indonesia

Behind the veneer of administrative procedure, Indonesia’s legal system continues to sacrifice ancestral lands to state-backed megaprojects, reducing constitutional rights for Indigenous peoples to little more than a paper tiger.

4 days ago
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Can Minister Arrmanatha make Foreign Ministry great again?

Arrmanatha inherits an institutional legacy, but his real test is whether he can restore the ministry’s authority in shaping Indonesian foreign policy.

4 days ago
Academia

High shipping costs deepen the oil market crisis

Even as Asian crude imports head toward recovery, soaring logistics costs due to the Middle East war are cutting into refiners' margins, prompting them to seek solutions that would put pressure back on Gulf producers.

4 days ago
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Understanding, adapting to the new world disorder

As the post-war order fractures into a volatile new world disorder, Malaysia must abandon diplomatic complacency and master the art of strategic autonomy—or risk becoming collateral damage in the next great-power shock.

4 days ago
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Who are really behind Indonesia’s forest fires?

Holding those behind Indonesia’s forest fires truly accountable means looking past the individuals striking the matches and following the corporate paper trail straight to the parent companies profiting from the burn.

4 days ago
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Impunity for military ends, may justice for all begin

By dismantling the shield of military courts for ordinary crimes, the Constitutional Court's landmark ruling reclaims civilian supremacy and demands an end to institutional impunity in Indonesia.

4 days ago
Opinion premium

Analysis: Forest fires prove governance failures have gone too far

For nearly four months wildfires have ravaged Indonesia, exposing acute, systemic failures in government response and law enforcement. While the ongoing dry spell has exacerbated the crisis, suspected corporate land clearing by burning points to a deliberate, recurring practice that authorities have repeatedly failed to halt.

4 days ago

Today's ePost

Mon, October 26, 2026

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