The government’s flagship free nutritious meal program is facing an escalating crisis of public confidence as recurring food-poisoning outbreaks sweep the country. Yet despite mounting casualties, growing demands for accountability and urgent calls for a moratorium, the government has shown no intention of pausing the rollout.

Grounded in shared values and decades of partnership, China and ASEAN are poised to turn the Global Governance Initiative into a real-world architecture for regional stability and shared prosperity.

A decarbonized future cannot be measured in megawatts alone: without the non-negotiable right to consent, the global rush for clean energy risks replicating the very exploitation it claims to leave behind.

Indonesia has commissioned its first aircraft carrier, but turning the aging Italian warship into a drone-bearing force multiplier will demand steep investments in crew, escorts and maintenance to avoid a costly white elephant.

When civilian ministries outsource governance to the barracks, democracy risks mistaking military creep for routine statecraft.

Both countries will benefit from a more meaningful, multidimensional and consistent relationship built on a historical foundation and oriented toward a forward-looking framework, as will the wider region and the world.

Long before treaties and summits, the enduring bond between China and the United States was forged in classrooms, cockpits and ballparks by ordinary people with extraordinary hearts.

As toxic smoke returns to West Kalimantan, a landmark class action is putting Indonesia's environmental governance on trial, testing whether citizens can legally force the state to protect them from preventable disaster.

The next secretary-general will fill the most prominent position in multilateral governance at a time when multilateralism is arguably at its nadir.

If the government seeks a better balance between fiscal stability and economic growth, adopting a springboard approach is the path forward.

The government’s plan to spend an estimated Rp 11 trillion (US$619 million) opening bank accounts for more than 200 million Indonesians aged 17 and above is difficult to justify when fiscal space is already tight and financial inclusion has reached 93.61 percent. If the objective is to reach the unbanked or improve the delivery of social assistance, there is little reason to give new accounts to almost every adult, including those already banked. Scarce public funds should be targeted at people who actually need them.

As global headwinds mount and leadership wavers, Indonesia's push to scrap its 3 percent deficit cap risks trading hard-won market credibility for reckless spending.

Indonesia is learning that building a dominant position in the nickel market is the easy part. Leveraging its influence over supply to control prices is proving much trickier.

A deadly Himalayan avalanche has exposed the catastrophic human toll of global climate inaction, turning Nepal’s tragedy into an urgent test of whether world leaders will finally pay climate reparations or face international legal accountability.

To protect millions in an era of subcontracting and gig platforms, Indonesia’s new labor bill must ensure that basic rights follow the worker, not just the corporate contract.

Indonesia’s long-standing ambition to build a high-speed rail network has evolved from a national prestige project into a potential fiscal burden. Whoosh’s continuing losses and mounting debt have already drawn the Finance Ministry closer to backstopping the project. Given its history of delays, cost overruns and overly optimistic projections, the question is whether Whoosh can deliver sufficient economic benefits or become a noose around Indonesia’s already stretched fiscal capacity.

Indonesia’s latest PISA performance remains below the targets, but the broader trajectory contains genuine progress.

To justify its steep price tag, Indonesia’s first aircraft carrier must balance realistic support roles against the risk of becoming a costly ceremonial white elephant.

Many advanced economies that once set the benchmark for macroeconomic discipline now struggle with problems more common to emerging markets. For emerging economies with sound policies, this creates a rare opportunity to narrow the credibility gap.

Indonesia has succeeded in filling its classrooms—now it must protect its budget to ensure its children are actually learning.

By courting Vladimir Putin as a strategic counterweight to Beijing, President Prabowo Subianto is reviving Indonesia’s non-aligned doctrine—hedging against Chinese dominance by adding a risky, sanctions-heavy third pole to Jakarta's geopolitical chessboard.

As frontier AI models begin orchestrating covert operations on their own, the line between weapon and strategist collapses - leaving global order unequipped for a world where the pieces move themselves.

Indonesia’s 100-gigawatt solar dream won’t fail for lack of sunlight, but for lack of buyers—unless the country connects its mineral downstreaming to the national grid.

Southeast Asia is not swapping geopolitical camps—it is expanding its diplomatic toolkit to ensure it never has to choose between them.

The Finance Ministry and state asset fund Danantara are at odds over who controls dividends from state-owned enterprises (SOEs), exposing an unresolved question at the heart of Indonesia's new state-asset architecture. Before Danantara was created, SOE dividends were paid to the state and recorded as non-tax revenue. Under the new framework, Danantara manages the shares and assets transferred to it and can use returns from those assets for investment and capital injections. Part of its eventual profits is to be transferred to the state after provisions for investment risks and capital accumulation. The dispute therefore is not simply about whether the government can receive SOE dividends, but about when and through what mechanism those funds should reach the state budget.

The national standard for QR code payments has helped millions of small businesses move toward digital financial inclusion. The next step in this evolution is to use the data generated to enable access to financing.

As toxic haze blankets Southeast Asia and millions of tonnes of CO2 enter the atmosphere, the country is running out of excuses to rein in corporate polluters and honor its climate promises.