As Indonesian faces functional extinction in Australian classrooms by 2031, both nations stand on the brink of a costly strategic blind spot.

India maintains that a global multipolar order must start with a multipolar Asia, rejecting both a US-dominated unipolar structure and a China-centric "Asia for Asians" model.

President Prabowo Subianto wants to revive Indonesia's struggling textile industry by establishing a new state-owned enterprise (SOE), potentially drawing on assets left behind by bankrupt textile giant Sritex. The plan comes amid factory closures, mass layoffs and mounting competition from cheaper imports. But with much of the industry's production capacity already underutilized, the government faces a difficult question: Will another state-owned company restore the industry's competitiveness or merely add to its problems?

Extreme El Niños are coming. Reaching net zero sooner means facing fewer of them.

While Andrea Bocelli faces boycotts and Kanye West gets a pass in Jakarta, Indonesia reveals an uncomfortable truth: Separating the art from the artist isn't dead, it's just selectively enforced by local politics.

Ending global hunger isn’t held back by a lack of innovation, but by our failure to get proven solutions into the hands of the farmers who need them most.

The main challenge to food security for all is not innovation but adoption, which involves localizing proven solutions and ensuring that they are affordable to use, maintain and grow.

Indonesia’s push to lure capital through Danantara’s special bonds risks turning investor protection into a legal shield for financial crime and tax evasion.

Indonesia’s journey, and PT SMI’s contribution to it, is but one part of a broader regional narrative. What I carried home from Colombo was a profound sense of optimism that our development finance institutions are becoming more than financiers of growth; we are becoming a community of practice, united by a shared purpose and enriched by the exchange of ideas and experience.

The global economy is entrenched in a cycle of sluggish economic growth, with rates in many countries, particularly the major developed economies, stalling well below 3 percent.

The controversy over Gibran’s credentials is no longer just about a diploma: It is a defining test of whether the national legislature still checks executive power or merely bows to it.

Arrmanatha’s appointment puts diplomats back in the driver’s seat of Indonesian foreign policy, but navigating today’s volatile geopolitical landscape requires soldiers, economists and the Palace to chart the course together.

The new Labor Protection Law, approved by the House of Representatives on Oct. 6, promises stronger severance entitlements, tighter dismissal rules and greater employment security. But stronger legal protections mean little if employers circumvent restrictions on temporary employment or fail to pay compensation. The real test of the new law lies not in its promises but in whether its provisions translate into effective protection for workers when their livelihoods are most vulnerable.

With toxic smoke paralyzing many regions, the government's inertia is exacting a fatal toll that only decisive presidential leadership can stop.

Until a durable resolution of the United States-Israeli war with Iran is reached, Gulf shipments will be heavily curtailed, leaving the global LNG market seriously strained.

Development must focus on the best ways to help the poor, who are more vulnerable to everything, not just climate change.

By breaking ranks to cut a private fuel deal with Moscow, Washington just handed Asia an urgent lesson: Build your own energy reserves, or get priced out of the scramble.

Governments’ fiscal policies should be judged by whether they strengthen the economy’s capacity to meet public obligations over time.

Affirmative action can open the corridors of power to women, but it was never meant to be an immunity card against the corrupting machinery of Indonesian politics.

Indonesia’s path to lasting prosperity depends not on the myth of a strongman savior, but on dismantling elite capture to build institutions that are truly fair, accountable and built to outlast power.  

The inauguration of Suyudi Ario Seto as the new National Police (Polri) chief should be a chance to ask whether Polri can become a truly professional force. The early signals suggest it will not.

Before chasing air-taxi pipe dreams, Jakarta must fix the fiscal cracks beneath the 11 million commuters relying on Transjakarta every day.

Millions remain locked away in psychiatric institutions under the guise of care—it is time to replace outdated confinement with dignity, community support, and fundamental human rights.

Java’s northern coast faces severe water-catchment degradation, yet an AI center requiring massive amounts of water is planned there.

Record harvests mean little if plates stay empty: Indonesia must stop measuring food security by the tonne and start measuring it by nutrition, access and ecological sense.

Autonomy will increasingly depend on whether societies can keep essential systems functioning, respond to disruption and create new capabilities when existing ones become obsolete.

Southeast Asia has mastered moving capital across borders. Now it must stop letting corporate responsibility stall at customs while millions breathe transboundary haze.