Despite promises of development, mines have not brought quality healthcare, routine medical screenings or adequate environmental safeguards. What came instead were red seas and poisoned children.

Today's airpower is defined by a foundational defense system that seamlessly integrates multilayered technologies such as land and space-based detection platforms, missiles, UAVs as well as cyber operations in a centralized command system; one that requires a vision far beyond headline-grabbing aircraft acquisitions for short-term political visibility.

Indonesia needs a gradual increase in defense spending to a minimum of 1.5 percent of GDP, prioritizing, among other matters, public-private collaboration, ensuring a sustainable modernization.

The government has pressed ahead with launching the Red and White Rural Cooperative (KDMP) as President Prabowo Subianto’s latest flagship economic initiative, despite the ongoing deliberation of the Cooperatives Law revision at the House of Representatives. July 21, 2025, witnessed the inauguration of 80,081 KDMPs nationwide with an aim to spur grassroots economic growth. However, the program’s design, which leverages village funds as collateral, poses risks not only to state finances but also to the broader goals of sustainable rural development.

The peak of the dry season next month is expected to bring even less rainfall and drier weather to several Sumatran provinces, including Riau, indicating a potential escalation of the forest fires.

The armed clashes must be quickly brought to an end, without prejudice to the principled position of the two sides on the underlying issues.

Following the Myanmar crisis, which remains unresolved to date, the ongoing Thai-Cambodian border conflict presents a decisive moment for ASEAN to reclaim its standing as a force for peace and stability in Southeast Asia.

Sustainable investment is key to building and maintaining the infrastructure needed to support the exponential growth in technology adoption to minimize the environmental footprints of an increasingly digital society.

As the custodians of two of the world's top three tropical forests by area, Brazil and Indonesia have an opportunity, and arguably a responsibility, to take the global lead in climate policies by starting where it matters the most: at home.

At the forefront of the context is the relationship between the labor force and related standards to guarantee that “labor is not a commodity”, and that the human face at work needs protection in the form of human rights.

Compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors, Indonesia emerged with the worst outcome. The Philippines and Vietnam secured nearly identical tariff rates, 19 percent and 20 percent, respectively, but gave up far less.

Before the final verdict and sentence were handed down on July 18 in the sugar import graft trial, many had hoped the Jakarta Corruption Court would deliver a just decision. This did not turn out to be the case, and Thomas “Tom” Trikasih Lembong was convicted and handed a penalty of four years and six months in prison and a fine of Rp 750 million (US$46,000).

After all, given that exorbitant new US import tariffs formed the basis for negotiations, the best-case scenario was to maintain the status quo of normal trade.

History shows that authoritarianism is one of the country's standard responses to economic upheaval.

At a time when governments are promoting healthier lifestyles and community-based wellbeing, Jakarta has chosen to tax the very spaces where those goals are pursued

The domestic workers protection bill has been proposed since 2004 but remains unpassed, putting the rights and well-being of 4 million domestic workers across the country at stake.

We should not look at ethics as a barrier to innovation; but as the foundation for sustainable progress.

AI will require vast capital outlays, especially on data centers, which may mean that earnings and share price growth in tech could slow in the short run.

Some in our scientific community have been asked to delay proposals, soften publications and mute designs for the sake of diplomatic convenience. 

The deal’s agricultural component has drawn strong backlash, particularly from local dairy and poultry egg producers that are already struggling to compete with the scale and efficiency of US agribusiness.

The newly launched KDMP initiative must have a strategy as equally grand as its scale to not just revive co-ops, but to lift them so they become an active economic pillar.

Governments and civil society now face a fundamental challenge: Developing viable strategies for achieving climate and biodiversity goals without US involvement.

As humanitarian crises mount and international aid is obstructed, the need for pragmatic engagement with local non-state actors has become more urgent than ever.

Should the public worry about negative consequences of the deal, as free market access for US products may harm domestic industry?

Transparency, empowerment and independence are key to making sure that the recently launched KMDP initiative does not suffer a fate similar to the cooperatives of the reform era.

The practice of appointing SOE commissioners from an arbitrary pool of public officials and political loyalists has become tradition, and requires urgent reform lest it undermine public trust, investor confidence as well as the very purpose of state-owned entities: to serve the public.

Submitting an updated climate mitigation and adaptation plan will help show the world one country's ambition to tackle the climate crisis, which will help attract more international finance for national efforts, said United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) executive secretary Simon Stiell.