Business as usual: Trucks haul freight on Feb. 26 at the container terminal of Batu Ampar Port on Batam Island, Riau Islands province.

Securing the relevance of Asia-Pacific cooperative frameworks amid tariff wars

ASEAN and its dialogue partners have been able to describe and lament the risks inherent in the tariff wars but have not been able to put into effect concrete, coordinated steps to avert further crisis.

1 month ago

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Buddhists and Catholics work together to promote peace

A liberating dialogue is necessary among all people, whatever their background, to free us from division, conflict and suffering and foster unity and love through mutual respect for our diverse traditions. ...

2 months ago

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Earth faces a 'polycrisis': One Buddha is not enough

The multiple crises on multiple fronts we face today requires more than just prayer: All people across the globe need to come together in a well-being economy, where human and ecological well-being are at the heart of development. ...

2 months ago

The Latest

A group of women are photographed participating in the Bengkel Hijrah Iklim (BHI) 3.0 program, in which capacity building is conducted for young preachers to introduce them to the climate crisis and teach them about actions they can take as Islamic leaders in their respective communities.

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Energy belongs to everyone, so should the transition

The involvement of women and young women in the energy sector can lead to a more transparent and accountable system of energy management.

2 months ago

Academia

The rise of legal innovation: Building future-ready legal departments

In today’s tech-driven business landscape, legal departments are facing increasing challenges in contributing their value to organisations. Conventional processes and paper-based documentation can be time-consuming and prone to errors, as in-house counsels spend considerable time drafting contracts, managing case files, monitoring licensing compliance and conducting research using basic tools like email and word processors.

2 months ago

President Prabowo Subianto gestures when addressing his cabinet members during a meeting at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on May 5, 2025.

Academia

‘Thousand friends, zero enemies’: Jakarta courting China and US

Prabowo's approach is driven by a desire to retain friendly relations with the US and China, retaining close economic and security cooperation with both.

2 months ago

Representatives of the Awyu and Moi indigenous communities protest on May 27, 2024, in front of the Supreme Court building in Jakarta. They called for the country’s highest court to revoke the permits of palm oil companies that are set to operate in Papua, which could potentially clear approximately 300 square kilometers of primary forest.

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Land mafia and the urgency of agrarian reform

Many Indonesians have become victims of land mafia.

2 months ago

People protest against United States pressure on Greenland and Denmark, in front of the US Embassy in Copenhagen on March 29, 2025.

Academia

America's revised Greenland obsession

Greenland lies across the most direct routes from Russia to the populous east coast of the US, and is the closest territory in the Arctic to both the Russian and the European heartlands.

2 months ago

Local resident Lidia walks on Wednesday down the stairs of her heavily damaged building where she lives in the basement in the town of Lyman, near the frontline in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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World War II in Europe: A war remembered – and repeated

When facts are manipulated, when the aggressor dresses itself in the symbols of justice and when war crimes are paraded as heroism, the world must pay attention.

2 months ago

Crying out: Students display placards reading “Return the soldiers to the barracks“ during a protest on March 24 against a revision to the Indonesian Military (TNI) Law in Surabaya, East Java.

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The conundrum in exercising ‘polite’ criticism

It is indisputable that politeness is instrumental in social life. Nonetheless, some exceptions and conditions may justify impoliteness to some degree.

2 months ago

A person rides a scooter past the Surakarta Palace in Surakarta, Central Java, on July 30, 2024.

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The real monarchs of the republic

What if the real threat to democracy in Indonesia lies elsewhere? Not in the palaces of monarchs long deprived of state power, but in the everyday workings of dynastic political families.

2 months ago

The Sistine Chapel is seen on the eve of the conclave on Tuesday at The Vatican.

Academia

Popes have been European for centuries, is it time for one from Africa or Asia?

Why, in a global communion of 1.4 billion faithful, has the modern conclave not looked beyond Europeans for a new pope? And what would need to change for it to do so?

2 months ago

A journalist takes photos on April 16 of a kitchen supplying the free nutritious meal program, officially known as Nutrition Fulfillment Service Units (SPPG), in Kalibata, South Jakarta. The kitchen has temporarily ceased operations due to limited funding.

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Overhaul of the procurement mechanism for the free meals program

Universal free lunches can reduce social stigma, ensuring all students feel comfortable receiving meals without economic or health-related discrimination.

2 months ago

A voter casts his ballot in the general election at a polling station in Singapore on May 3, 2025. Polling stations opened on May 3 across Singapore as voters began casting their ballots in an election seen as the first real test for Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his long-ruling People's Action Party.

Academia

What we can expect from Singapore as the PAP tightens grip

The three opposition parties could forge a sort of entente, a united strategy to challenge the mainstream narrative being shaped by PAP.

2 months ago

The Euro currency sign is seen in front of the former European Central Bank building on Dec. 11, 2024 in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany.

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From dollar hegemony to euro opportunity?

We seem to be approaching a new “Kindleberger gap.” The existing hegemon appears to be self-destructing, as it refuses to supply global public goods, and there is no clear candidate to fill its shoes.

2 months ago

Traffic congestion is observed at Kilometer 150 of the Cikopo-Palimanan (Cipali) toll road in Mekarjaya, West Java, on April 5, 2024.

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Beyond inflation: Paving the way for fairer toll road tariffs

When toll roads become increasingly vital to connectivity, reconciling tensions between the interests of toll road investors and operators vis-a-vis those of users is a contentious issue to address.

2 months ago

Quality control: A worker monitors production on Aug. 2, 2024, at the nickel smelter of PT Vale Indonesia in Sorowako, South Sulawesi.

Academia

How Trump’s tariffs could hit developing economies

Our simulations confirm what economists have been asserting for years: Trade wars do not have winners.

2 months ago

A police officer walks in front of the Constitutional Court building on Feb. 4, 2025, in Jakarta.

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A breakthrough for freedom of expression in Indonesia

Does the recent Constitutional Court's ruling truly safeguard the digital rights of Indonesian citizens, or is it merely symbolic progress in a system still riddled with ambiguity?

2 months ago

This combination of pictures created on April 09 places in contrast Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) in Beijing on Feb. 6 and United States President Donald Trump in Washington, DC on April 8.

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Washington and Beijing need to have a talk

Given the urgency of the situation, what is standing in the way of negotiations between the US and China?

2 months ago

Familiar faces: Heads of state pose for a family photo on Dec. 14, 2022, at the European Union-ASEAN summit at the European Council headquarters in Brussels. The two regional groups met to bolster ties.

Academia

ASEAN needs both an EU FTA and zero-emissions community

ASEAN needs to conform to the EU’s trade policy, which is rules-based and bound by its commitments to sustainability, labor rights and democratic values.

2 months ago

A scientist monitors a control panel inside the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine manufacturing unit of the Serum Institute of India (SII) at its headquarters in Hadapsar, Pune, on Feb. 27, 2024.

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Can Indonesia eliminate cervical cancer by 2030?

The incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer remain alarmingly high in Indonesia.

2 months ago

Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (center) poses for a group photo with ASEAN finance ministers and bank governors on April 10, the last day of the 12th ASEAN Finance Ministers and Bank Governors meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

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Collective action to avoid a world trade war

We are on the precipice of a world trade war. Active and strategic economic diplomacy will be needed to avoid it.

2 months ago

Students react to their teacher on April 14, 2025, at SMAN 70 Jakarta state senior high school in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

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Revising history to legitimize ruling regime

The new, government-commissioned reference on national history presents several problematic issues in its arrangement and content, lending it the appearance of a revisionist exercise that aims to legitimize the current regime.

2 months ago

Making his way: A farmer harvests salt on March 17, 2024, in the Talise area of Palu, Central Sulawesi.

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Red-White cooperatives neither essential, nor strategic for now

Is this program essential and strategic now for rural development? The simple answer is no.

2 months ago

United States President Donald Trump delivers a speech on April 29 marking his 100th day in office at Macomb County Community College Sports Expo Center in Warren, Michigan.

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One hundred days that shook US foreign policy

Trump 2.0 is an activist, imperial presidency, both at home and abroad.

2 months ago

A man walks past a demonstration by environmental action group Greenpeace about the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster outside the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry in Jakarta on April 26, 2010 marking the 24th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident in Ukraine and to denounce Indonesia's plans to use nuclear energy.

Academia

Nuclear technology without integrity is a risk, not progress

Nuclear energy does not tolerate ambiguity, discretion or improvisation; it requires inflexible regulation, full procedural discipline and long-horizon accountability.

2 months ago

Residents of Sayung village in Demak regency, Central Java, exchange Idul Fitri greetings on April 10, 2024 amid a flood that hit their neighborhood.

Academia

Keys to human flourishing: Faith and relationships outweigh wealth

Richer developed countries score higher on financial security and life evaluation but poorer nations more than make up for this on meaning, purpose and relationships.

2 months ago

Living spirit: A military honor guard leads the parade with various flags of participating countries on April 24, 2015, during ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference in Bandung, West Java.

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Why culture still matters in the Global South’s fight for justice

Seventy years after Bandung, the spotlight often falls on its political legacy, but what is often forgotten is that the Bandung Spirit was never merely political, but also profoundly cultural.

2 months ago