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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When a government responds to choking toxic haze with bizarre boasts about "exporting oxygen," it reveals a broken communications machine that breeds distrust while lives hang in the balance.

Political debate should do more than make us feel heard. It should help us change what needs to change.

If the latest cabinet reshuffle says anything about their relationship, it is safe to say it is going downhill and that they are in for another political showdown.

As markets plunge and public trust evaporates, President Prabowo’s grand gamble on state-led capitalism is colliding head-on with harsh fiscal and political realities.

To achieve Golden Indonesia 2045, the nation must look beyond headline GDP growth and fundamentally transform its economy through higher productivity, competitive industries and quality jobs for all.

MSCI isn’t questioning whether investors can pull their money out of Indonesia—it's questioning whether the market's prices are real, leaving regulators racing to prove that multi-trillion-rupiah fines punish the manipulators rather than the investors caught in the crossfire.

With MSCI threatening to reclassify Indonesia as a standalone market, Jakarta's credibility will not be saved by issuing more rules, but by proving it has the muscle to enforce them.

State-owned lender Bank Mandiri (BMRI) recently issued US$750 million in perpetual bonds, an uncommon instrument among Indonesian corporates, with an initial annual distribution rate of 7.35 percent. The issuance is intended to strengthen the bank’s capital base by bolstering its Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital and supporting business expansion. However, it has also fuelled speculation that BMRI, along with other Himbara banks, may be facing mounting financial demands from their involvement in financing government programmes.