An illustration of artificial intelligence activities.

AI, humanity and the utopian choice

Artificially-produced intelligence can never replace humanity completely.

1 day ago

Israeli aggression: War imposed, peace denied

Iran is ready for any agreement aimed at ensuring it does not pursue nuclear weapons, but it cannot accept deals that deprive us of our nuclear rights. ...

1 day ago

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Hegseth fails to reassure Asian allies at Shangri-La

Confrontational rhetoric combined with uncertain commitments raises fears of abandonment in Southeast Asia. ...

2 days ago

The Latest

This aerial photo shows the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea during an aerial reconnaissance flight on Feb. 18, 2025.

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Southeast Asia's risky balancing act in the South China Sea

Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines have all attempted to counter Chinese claims to waters within their exclusive economic zones.

2 days ago

Culture Minister Fadli Zon (center), accompanied by his deputy Giring Ganesha (top), delivers a presentation during a working meeting with House of Representatives Commission X in Senayan, Jakarta, on May 26. The meeting was centered on the ministry’s plan to rewrite the nation's history.

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Indonesia's history deserves dialogue, not dogma

Declaring a single state-approved historical narrative will naturally marginalize and silence alternative perspectives.

2 days ago

Pupils of Maitreya Wira Dumai elementary school in Dumai, Riau, eat fruit after finishing their free nutritious meals on Jan. 7, 2025.

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A turning point for agrifood investment in Asia and the Pacific

Countries across Asia and the Pacific are confronting a common challenge: transforming their agrifood systems to meet growing demands while safeguarding natural resources for future generations.

2 days ago

Congolese refugees gather on May 7, 2025, during a food distribution operation at the Musenyi refugee site in Giharo, southeastern Burundi, for a possible chance to receive aid.

Academia

The number of people uprooted by war remains shockingly high

Peace, justice and solidarity must guide our response to the surging needs of humanity's most vulnerable: people who have lost their homes, jobs and communities, displaced by circumstances beyond their control.

2 days ago

The global financial services sector stands at a turning point. After years of gradual artificial intelligence adoption, from robotic process automation to virtual assistants, we are witnessing the rise of something fundamentally more powerful: Agentic AI systems that can reason, plan and act with autonomy.

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Why agentic AI is the future of financial services in Indonesia

Agentic AI systems present a new class of risks, goal misalignment, data drift, persona-driven bias and even multi-agent collusion.

2 days ago

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) shakes hands with then Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 31, 2024.

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75 years of Indonesia and Russia relations: What is next?

With a long historical background spanning over the last century, the friendship between Indonesia and Russia is set to grow stronger in the near future.

3 days ago

President Prabowo Subianto attends the 46th ASEAN Summit, at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center in Kuala Lumpur on May 26.

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What is in it for Indonesia to lead ASEAN?

ASEAN, the only sub-regional grouping in Southeast Asia, is yet to prove itself as an effective dispute resolution mechanism

3 days ago

Members of the Indonesian Air Force in Sukhoi fighter aircraft prepare to take off on Sept. 29, 2020 from Iswahjudi Air Base in Magetan, East Java, to take part in a military exercise at the Pandanwangi Air Weapons Range in Lumajang, also in East Java.

Academia

Indonesia’s defense industry: Between self-reliance and the illusion of imported strength

Real military power is not measured by the quantity of imported hardware, but by the ability to sustain and reproduce that capability independently.

3 days ago

Vital voices: Protesters belonging to the Society Concerned About Women's Representation carry a banner calling for greater representation of women in the legislature during a rally on April 8, 2023, in front of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) in Jakarta.

Academia

Young women building peace in the Asia Pacific

Young women’s leadership is crucial to respond to the complexity of today’s peace and security challenges.

3 days ago

People plant mangrove trees on Feb. 14, 2025, during an environmental event in Pemogan village, South Denpasar, Bali. Mangrove forests play an important role in mitigating the impacts of climate change in coastal areas.

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Indonesia should not follow the West's example on climate and development

Rather than following the West’s costly policies, low-carbon innovation, climate adaptation and poverty alleviation as well as additional investments in areas like maternal and newborn health and agricultural R&D are keys to real progress and development toward climate resilience in the developing world, including Indonesia.

3 days ago

Metallic plating that reads 'Bank Indonesia' displayed on one of the buildings in the central bank headquarter complex in Jakarta on July 17, 2024.

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Is IndONIA the right anchor for floating-rate government bonds?

If Indonesia were to peg its floating-rate bonds to IndONIA, the government would in effect be subcontracting the cost of borrowing to the whimsical tides of near-term liquidity.

3 days ago

Smoke billows from a site near the Azadi Tower (left) in central Tehran, as fighting between Israel and Iran continues on June 16.

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Iran-Israel ‘threshold war’ has rewritten nuclear escalation rules

Strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran may increase Tehran’s belief that attaining nuclear weapons is key to establishing a deterrence to regime change.

4 days ago

Papuan protesters hold posters that read “Immediately revoke all nickel mining permits in Raja Ampat” on June 10, 2025, during a protest march to the Office of the Southwest Papua Governor in provincial capital Sorong.

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Breaking the cycle of extractive exploitation in Papua

The public have jumped to the defense of Raja Ampat in a modern-day case of David versus Goliath, where collective resistance must be mounted as the Papuan people wield everyday environmentalism to sling against the greenwashed extractive narrative of mining oligarchs.

4 days ago

Maintenance workers clean a Garuda Indonesia aircraft on May 8, 2024, at a hangar at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten.

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A moment of reckoning for our flag carrier

Reputational damage in the digital age is swift and brutal. A single social media post can dismantle years of brand cultivation.

4 days ago

A thousand deaths: Actress Ria Probo plays Mawar, victim of a gang rape that took place during the 1998 May riots.

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Fadli’s May rapes denial and the rise of New Order part II

The Joint Fact Finding Team (TGPF), formed by the government in July 1998 in response to public demand to investigate the May riots, concluded the rapes did occur.

4 days ago

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Leadership school of Prabowo Subianto

Prabowo Subianto’s two-volume memoir, offering insight into Indonesia’s history, values and future under his presidency, is now introduced to Russian readers.

4 days ago

A health worker administers a dose of the locally made Inavac vaccine on Dec. 19, 2023, during a COVID-19 vaccination program at the Jakarta Health Office.

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The pandemic agreement: A step forward for equity and solidarity

The WHO Pandemic Agreement shows that in a world full of division and conflicts, unity remains possible, and that multilateralism can still deliver as part of the solution to global challenges.

4 days ago

Students eat lunch on the first day of the free nutritious meal program on Jan. 6 at 11 State Senior High School in East Jakarta.

Academia

Free nutritious meals: Let children grow and dream big

The free meals program has the potential to reduce poverty rates by between 1 percent and 4 percent.

4 days ago

Heavy equipment is parked on June 7, 2025, at a nickel mine on Gag Island in Raja Ampat, Southwest Papua, following the government’s order to halt mining operations over an alleged breach of environmental law.

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Recentralizing mining license should not sacrifice regional justice

Raja Ampat is a litmus test for our mineral nationalism, which requires both reforming and restructuring into a social contract rooted in justice, inclusion and shared stewardship so the nation as a whole can prosper, even as it leads the globe in green minerals.

5 days ago

Rescue teams work outside a heavily damaged building, targeted by an Israeli strike in the Iranian capital Tehran on June 13, 2025.

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Israel-Iran clash: Navigating the black swan of a regional war

Current volatile dynamic could spiral into a black swan event, where an unforeseen escalation triggers global chaos, defying risk models.

5 days ago

Unfolding conflict: Displaced Palestinians stand outside tents on June 15 as they watch trails of Iranian missiles targeting Israel, from Rafah's Mawasi area in the southern Gaza Strip.

Academia

Netanyahu’s twin war goals: Can he defeat Iran’s nukes and regime?

There are few clear paths to an immediate end to the fighting between Israel and Iran. And what comes after the war could be even more concerning.

5 days ago

An artisan paints an eco-friendly idol of elephant-headed Hindu deity Ganesha made with mud, jute and bamboo to reduce water pollution during the immersion rituals ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, at a workshop in Hyderabad, India, on Aug. 28, 2024.

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Political changes don’t weaken the case for green business

No amount of shock-and-awe policy disruption in one country compares to the disruption caused by climate change.

5 days ago

Record stockpile: A worker carries government rice aid on March 3, 2024, at the warehouse of state-owned food logistics company, Bulog, in Talumolo village, Gorontalo city, Gorontalo.

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Rice market mechanism anomaly and Bulog’s role

There are systemic issues in the national food supply chain management. High production has not been matched by adaptive absorption and distribution capacity.

5 days ago

Tufts of altocumulus clouds are suspended on Feb. 18, 2025, in the skies above the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

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‘ASEAN paradox’ haunts Southeast Asia’s integration

As ASEAN seeks to further economic cooperation, it must also address the lingering political and security issues in the region to avoid the emergence of a contradictory condition akin to the "Asian paradox".

5 days ago

A US Navy officer walks past fighter jets parked on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham during a media tour in Port Klang, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, on November 26, 2024.

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NATO carrier presence raises Indo-Pacific tensions

The deployment of carriers serves as a stark reminder of how easily tensions could escalate into armed conflict. Yet amid these challenges, diplomacy must remain the priority.

6 days ago

Dozens of workers rally on Feb. 18, 2022, outside the Manpower Ministry on Jl. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta to demand it cancel a ministerial regulation stipulating a minimum age of 56 for people to start withdrawing from their pension funds.

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Going beyond pension to strengthen the social security system

The country's social security system, now over 20 years old, might need reforms for an across-the-board upgrade to reflect contemporary conditions and trends, such as an aging population and a shift from traditional, family-based elderly care, as well as inclusion of a growing informal sector.

6 days ago