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Jakarta Post
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If history belongs to the victors, civilization has no place

A nation cannot build a democratic future on sanitized myths: until Indonesia confronts the violent truths of its past, its history remains an instrument of power rather than a measure of civilization.

9 hours ago
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Time to stop scaring the nation with the communist boogeyman

More than six decades after the bloodshed of 1965-1966, President Prabowo has a historic window to finally bury the red phantom and lead the nation into a future free from manufactured fear. ...

9 hours ago
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Navigating systemic global multidimensional crises

As concurrent crises collide ahead of Bangkok’s IMF-World Bank meetings, small and emerging economies are left footing the bill for a fractured global order they did not create. ...

10 hours ago

The Latest

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In search of excellent and honorable minds in Indonesian politics

As President Prabowo marks two years in office, the true test of his administration is not the tally of his policies but whether it is forging the intellectual and moral backbone required to govern a great republic like Indonesia.

10 hours ago
Opinion premium

Analysis: Indonesia’s tax revenue: Mirage or miracle

Indonesia’s economy has recently received a welcome piece of good news, with the latest state budget figures showing a sharp increase in tax revenue. Net tax revenue rose by a remarkable 24.1 percent year-on-year as of August 2026, reaching Rp 1.409 quadrillion (US$79 billion), or 59.8 percent of the full-year target. Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara attributed the increase to higher global oil and gas prices, strong domestic consumption and improvements in the Coretax system.

10 hours ago
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Semiconductor diplomacy: How Indonesia can play its hand

By trading raw mineral wealth for technology transfers and seizing the neutral ground in the chip war, Indonesia can turn a high-stakes geopolitical scramble into its greatest industrial leap.

11 hours ago
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Let's win the WHO race

To win the WHO's top post, Jakarta must stop treating multilateral diplomacy as an afterthought and let the President lead the charge for Indonesia’s nominee, Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

11 hours ago
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Why ASEAN and China should join hands on global governance

China and ASEAN are well-poised to turn the call of the Global Governance Initiative into concrete results that benefit the region and beyond.

1 day ago
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In the age of AI, purpose is becoming a business strategy

AI, social media and universal connectivity are making corporate behavior radically more transparent.

1 day ago
Academia

Twenty-one years on, Aceh’s peace faces new strains

A decades-long insurgency in the Indonesian province ended after 2004’s devastating tsunami. But pro-independence talk is on the rise again.

1 day ago
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The agrarian reform law and investment prospects of palm oil

Rushed through the House, Indonesia’s new agrarian reform law will either secure the future of the nation’s multi-billion-dollar palm oil sector or paralyze it with unprecedented legal uncertainty.

1 day ago
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The un-ordered UN order

With the UN about to choose a new secretary-general and United States President Donald Trump’s administration openly hostile to multilateralism, it is unclear how much longer the system can stagger on.

1 day ago
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Lessons Indonesia can learn from the recent OpenAI agent breaches

When an AI agent mistakes a government firewall for an ordinary puzzle, it is a warning shot Indonesia cannot afford to ignore as it writes its cybersecurity laws.

1 day ago
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The Millennium Prize proof shows why AI governance can't wait

When AI outthinks the world’s elite mathematicians in under four days, it shatters the myth that human expertise is untouchable, at the same time warning policymakers that regulating machines can no longer wait until tomorrow.

1 day ago
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Analysis: Everything but the rate: BI balances growth, rupiah stability

Bank Indonesia (BI) opted to keep monetary policy supportive of growth on Sept. 23, holding its benchmark rate at 5.75 percent despite the United States Federal Reserve’s rate hike a week earlier. The decision, Governor Destry Damayanti’s second consecutive hold, reflects BI’s expanded mandate to support economic growth and job creation. Rather than raising rates to defend the rupiah, BI strengthened incentives for investors to hedge their currency exposure, seeking to balance growth with exchange-rate stability.

1 day ago
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Justice in the choking haze

The class-action lawsuit is a clear warning that the government must abandon its reactive posture and commit to proactive, structural mitigation before the crisis spirals out of control.

1 day ago
Academia

Anak Krakatau’s eruption begins a new soil story

Satellite imagery reveals a dramatic shift on Sertung Island following Anak Krakatau’s eruption. As lush greenery turns to ash, a new natural laboratory emerges for studying the birth of soil.

2 days ago
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From oil wealth to waqf: Building intergenerational social capital

By borrowing the institutional discipline of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Aceh and Indonesia can transform ancient traditions of waqf into an engine of permanent, intergenerational prosperity.

2 days ago
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Indonesia can't afford to sit out the first cybercrime treaty

With billions of cyberattacks and millions in losses, Indonesia helped write the world’s first UN Cybercrime Treaty - now it must ratify it before borderless syndicates outrun the law.

2 days ago
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Artificial intelligence needs trusted journalism

As people increasingly rely on AI chatbots for news, siphoning traffic and profits from outlets often operating on a shoestring budget, good journalism is at risk of disappearing.

2 days ago
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Mandatory budget refocusing amid nationwide disasters

When populist national programs hollow out regional budgets, local governments are left fiscally paralyzed just as nationwide disasters strike—turning centralized ambition into a fatal governance failure.

2 days ago
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Land reform is here. Now let Prabowo prove he meant what he said

The will clearly exists. The only question that matters now is whether that will reach into the president's own back pocket.

2 days ago
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Analysis: Haji Isam’s Bayan deal lands, exposing coal mining’s risks

The proposed acquisition of a 30 percent stake in PT Bayan Resources (BYAN) by Jhonlin Baratama has entered a new phase after both parties signed a conditional sale and purchase agreement. The deal follows weeks of uncertainty over Bayan’s production quota, which had forced three of its subsidiaries to declare force majeure while awaiting approval of their revised 2026 mining work and budget plans (RKAB). The timing of the acquisition, Bayan’s force majeure declaration and the subsequent approval of its revised production quota raises questions about the role of regulatory intervention in corporate outcomes.

2 days ago
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The politics of soil

Statutory promises are meaningless without the political muscle to enforce them against deep-seated economic interests. 

2 days ago
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When the fires are out, the health bill comes due

The rains may put out Indonesia’s forest fires, but the real disaster begins once the smoke clears, leaving thousands of rural children to bear a hidden, long-term health crisis alone.

4 days ago
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Beyond hectares: The litmus test of the Agrarian Reform Law

Returning a parcel of depleted soil does not heal generational displacement, and measuring land reform by hectares rather than restored human rights only guarantees that history will repeat itself.

4 days ago
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The real warning behind Guterres’ AI alarm

As AI shifts global power into fewer hands, nations like Indonesia face a stark choice: build sovereign capability and shape the technology's direction, or become mere consumers in the next great development divide.

4 days ago
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Analysis: For the sake of public safety, MBG should be put on hold

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.

4 days ago
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ASEAN, China need to promote the Global Governance Initiative together

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.

4 days ago
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A truly just transition demands direct indigenous power

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.

4 days ago

Today's ePost

Wed, September 30, 2026

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