The passage of Law No. 4/2026 has sparked controversy over its expansion of Bank Indonesia's mandate and its introduction of special bonds such as Patriot Bonds and Red and White Bonds, among 17 amendments to Law No. 4/2023 on Financial Sector Development and Strengthening (P2SK). While both provisions have attracted public scrutiny, particular concern has centered on the legal protections granted to funds used to purchase these special bonds. Critics argue that these protections create a regulatory loophole that could be exploited for illicit purposes.

The government should focus on helping journalists and media organizations rebuild sustainable business models that enable Indonesian journalism to remain financially viable while continuing to serve democracy and the public interest.

The last El Niño in 2023–2024 threatened rice supplies. This one may be worse for farming, because climate change is adding extra heat on top of disrupted rainfall.

As geopolitical and technological shifts rock the region, Japan and ASEAN are evolving their 50-year "heart-to-heart" partnership into an indispensable anchor for Indo-Pacific stability and economic resilience.

As ASEAN deepens its energy ties with Moscow, the bloc faces a volatile new reality defined by long-range drone strikes deep inside Russian territory. To safeguard its economic future, Southeast Asia must balance the allure of vast Siberian reserves against the growing vulnerability of the infrastructure that delivers them.

Whatever order emerges from the current crisis, its durability will depend not only on deterrence but also on economic incentives that make conflict costly.

Indonesia’s chronic educational underperformance will never be solved by a top-down curriculum updates. Until policymakers focus on rebuilding foundational cognitive habits, like attention spans and reading stamina, long before students reach university, each new ministerial launch will simply deliver a fresh document to the same broken classroom.

As great powers trample democratic ideals in a ruthless scramble for strategic alignment, caught-in-the-middle nations face the constant threat of becoming mere collateral damage. Yet, a fierce countercurrent is rising: a fearless, unbought generation of youth refusing to let their freedom be bartered away by autocrats and foreign patrons.

The peace treaty between the United States and Iran, no matter how fragile, offers a measure of relief to President Prabowo Subianto, who is grappling with mounting economic and political pressures at home.

Behind the National Police’s glowing 82 percent public approval rating lies a much darker reality of corruption, violence and a desperate need for real reform.

The Hormuz crisis has pushed nations to rethink their energy strategies. Does that mean we should expect a dramatic reduction in fossil fuel use?

Recognizing that uncertainty will persist, countries have begun incorporating provisions akin to “supply chain security clauses” into their FTAs to avoid disruptions in the supply of critical goods.

The linguistic and social evolution of bahasa binan, particularly its entry into Indonesian popular culture, ironically highlights the continuing stigmatization and discrimination of the queer community from where it originated.

In a world of intertwined global value chains, the US and China have undeniably developed a relationship of “mutually assured economic pain.”

To fund its ambitious development goals without crashing the economy, Indonesia must shift its focus from raising tax rates to fixing the fragmented institutional machinery required to collect them.

The Patriot Bond promises to fund national development, but its exceptionally low yield tells a different story. By offering sweeping legal immunity to wealthy investors, the vehicle risks morphing from an innovative financial tool into a toxic, de facto amnesty.

Recent rolling blackouts have exposed more than temporary technical failures. Although the government and state-owned electricity company PLN attributed the outages to shortages of medium-calorie coal and technical problems at two independent power plants, the disruptions highlight a deeper dilemma: balancing affordable electricity tariffs with the financial sustainability of electricity amid rising geopolitical and energy market uncertainty.

In the Dutch context, colonial events are known, documented, even taught, but their moral weight remains strangely muted. 

When China’s leaders first acknowledged the need to rebalance the economy nearly two decades ago, it seemed like a matter of when, not if. But with the household consumption share of Chinese GDP remaining stubbornly low, officials’ promises to boost domestic demand have lost all credibility.

This year's London Climate Action Week sent a clear signal that the global climate discourse has shifted in focus from commitment to delivery, and that middle powers like Indonesia are well-positioned to advance climate action and economic development together.

From Middle Eastern diplomacy to crisis consultations among major powers, China is emerging as an indispensable diplomatic actor.

As global mandates tighten, ASEAN has a prime opportunity to leverage its massive agricultural wealth and become the definitive global hub for the future of sustainable aviation.

In trying to manage the optics of the recent student protests instead of responding to the legitimate public grievances they convey, the government is certainly not putting itself in any democratic light.

The government needs to approach flexible education with a view to accommodating the unique circumstances of each child through varying options, so that learning is made both relevant and meaningful for children whose real-life needs cannot be met by traditional schooling.

Placing military officers in civilian positions without adequate competence constitutes a misuse of human resources and may undermine the effectiveness of the bureaucracy.  

The corruption scandal engulfing the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has significantly amplified public skepticism toward President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meal program. What began as policy criticism has since escalated into street protests.

Protecting the world’s rarest great ape is not a rejection of development. It is a fundamental test of whether Indonesia can pursue economic growth without crossing irreversible ecological limits.