A giant puppet depiction of Pinocchio is pulled by participants during a demonstration organized by various humanitarian and environmental organisations and students in Jakarta on Feb. 7, 2024, calling for democracy, human rights and climate change ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Southeast Asia, world need UN special rapporteur on democracy

Democratic progress in Southeast Asia remains stifled by authoritarian resilience, weak institutions, and the misuse of legal frameworks to silence opposition.

2 months ago

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Fragmented AI governance: How should Indonesia navigate its policy?

According to the Global AI Index 2023, Indonesia ranks 46th out of 62 countries, highlighting a pressing need to enhance its digital infrastructure to effectively tackle challenges in AI development. ...

2 months ago

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The Deepseek saga: Why AI education matters

Currently, informatics education only begins at the middle school level, meaning that if AI literacy is introduced in elementary schools, at least a portion of Indonesia’s 1.6 million elementary teachers will need training. ...

2 months ago

The Latest

Members of the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) carry out an inspection at a workplace during a crackdown operation on illicit activity linked to scam centers in Shwe Kokko in Myanmar's eastern Myawaddy township on Feb. 14, 2025.

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China pushes Thailand to act on scam centers

Bangkok is finally offering an unprecedented degree of cooperation in combating scam centers along the Myanmar border. Will it last?

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Not only beautiful: Visitors walk among mangroves at the Angke Kapuk Nature Tourism Park on Dec. 7, 2024, in Jakarta.

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Harnessing innovation in protecting coastal ecosystems

The key to the future of our coastal ecosystems and mangrove development lies in the most modern of answers: Technology.

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United States President Donald Trump speaks to the press while signing an executive order to create a US sovereign wealth fund on Feb. 3, 2025, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC.

Academia

How to counter Trump's tariffs productively?

Rather than imposing reciprocal tariffs, countries would do better to consider other measures, both individually and collectively, to mitigate the domestic and global economic fallout from Trump's trade war, including strengthening regional trade blocs.

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The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) building is pictured on Jan. 22, 2025, under overcast skies in Jakarta.

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Time to start cleaning up before it’s too late

What is needed is the resurrection of the KPK into an independent body that is able to manage itself, fulfill its mandate effectively and be once again trusted by the public.

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A concrete embankment (center) stands along part of the coastline of Pari Island in Jakarta’s Thousand Islands regency, as seen on Feb. 22, 2023. Environmentalists say that most of the 41-hectare island could sink by 2050 due to rising sea levels.

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Climate action demands global fraternity

The climate crisis is more than an environmental issue and requires more than a solution for equitable financing: It is a global challenge that demands both a shift in the development and economic paradigms as well as a collective, holistic effort to protect this planet we call home.

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Prime talent: LPDP has sent thousands of Indonesia’s brightest students each year to leading universities at home and abroad, financing their tuition fees as well as living costs.

Academia

#Kaburajadulu and the opportunities for a strategic talent policy

Singapore proactively scouts Indonesia’s top 1 percent talent such as winners of math or physics Olympics or other local competitions, enticing them with scholarships that lead toward permanent residency and finally naturalization.

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In memoriam: Tributes are placed beneath the covered seal of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at their headquarters in Washington, DC on Feb. 7, 2025.

Academia

USAID’s freeze shakes the entire global aid system

The EU and China may fill the aid vacuum left by Trump’s aid cuts.

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A construction worker talks on the phone on Feb. 3, 2016, in front of a 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) billboard at the Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur.

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Danantara and the specter of Malaysia’s 1MDB Scandal

If not managed properly, Danantara could follow the same disastrous path as 1MDB, which turned from a great hope into a national financial catastrophe.

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Hang loose: Indonesian Military personnel rappel from the Indonesian Air Force H-225 M Caracal helicopter during the Super Garuda Shield 2024 joint military exercise including Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in Situbondo, East Java, on Sept. 6, 2024.

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Navigating the Indo-Pacific strategic environment: An Indonesian’s perspective

Given the high level of dynamism in the Indo-Pacific, it is prudent for Indonesia to update its strategic paradigms.

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ASEAN has a better chance in any US-China trade war

As ASEAN has been able to overcome many issues in the past, often by learning from the best practices of the West and itself, it stands to reason that ASEAN has the diplomatic depth to handle complex issues.

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LPDP has sent thousands of Indonesia’s brightest students each year to leading universities at home and abroad, financing their tuition fee as well as living costs.

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#KaburAjaDulu: Beyond full stomachs, toward full lives

The urgency of the free nutritious meals initiative has led to significant budgetary reallocations, with the government enforcing widespread expenditure cuts across ministries and state institutions to fund the flagship program.

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Children play near plastic waste on Sasa Beach in Ternate, North Maluku, on June 11, 2023.

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US retreat from Paris Agreement: Opportunities for climate education

European countries could take leadership roles to fill the void left by the United States.

2 months ago

This image grab taken from AFP video footage and posted on Nov. 23, 2022 shows workers at Foxconn’s iPhone factory in Zhengzhou in central China clashing with riot police.

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The new face of protest

Something important is happening in China, and it should worry the country’s political leadership

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Boxes of battery cells are seen stored for shipment at the battery manufacturing plant at PT HLI Green Power, Indonesia's first electric vehicle battery cell manufacturer, in Karawang, West Java, on Aug. 28, 2024.

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Balancing growth and sustainability in Indonesia

Manufacturing is a substantial source of national emissions, accounting for almost a third of Indonesia’s total emissions.

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President Prabowo Subianto (right), in his capacity as chairman of Gerindra Party, delivers his speech during the 17th anniversary of the party at Sentul International Convention Center, Bogor, West Java, on Feb. 15, 2025.

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Prabowo's toughest challenge: State-corporate crime

Indonesia Corruption Watch reported that corruption cases during Jokowi's era cost the country at least Rp 290 trillion (US$18.7 billion).

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President Prabowo Subianto delivers a speech during the leadership meeting of the National Police and Indonesian Military (TNI) in Jakarta on Jan. 30, 2025.

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The legal dilemma of budget efficiency during economic slowdown

Regardless of the justification used, this policy potentially contradicts the fundamental principles of Law No. 62/2024 concerning the state budget for the 2025 Fiscal Year.

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An officer arranges the ASEAN flag (right) ahead of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat in Langkawi, Malaysia, on Jan. 17, 2025.

Academia

Southeast Asian nations caught in US-China tensions

Countries that were once able to benefit from both China’s foreign direct investment and US trade and aid programs now face threats to both of these relationships.

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Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati delivers a speech during the Mandiri Investment Forum in Jakarta, on Feb. 11, 2025.

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Global minimum tax: Complex tax incentive reform or another policy in limbo?

This is a groundbreaking yet daunting development for the country’s fiscal framework.

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Elon Musk (left) gestures while speaking to reporters on Feb. 11, 2025, as his son X Musk and United States President Donald Trump look on in the Oval Office at the White House.

Academia

Weaponizing data against democracy

Modi's visit to Washington has revealed the similarities between him and his US counterpart, while his decade-long model of prioritizing propaganda over governance hints at the kind of tactics to expect from a second Trump term, and the blinders his administration might voluntarily wear to avoid seeing the socioeconomic realities.

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Participants attend the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit on Feb. 10, 2025, at the Grand Palais in Paris.

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The gold standard in AI and reserve currencies

The flurry of Trump's aggressive policies on trade and technology via tariffs is testing the bounds of mainstream monetary and fiscal theory, leading to the emergence of a new energy-powered model to replace the old Bretton Woods development model.

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An eFishery feeding system is installed at a fish pond in this undated picture.

Academia

Indonesian start-ups: When valuations eclipse innovation

Priotizing valuations over building real value pumps up hype while undercutting innovation, research and development as well as sustainable solutions, benefiting VC firms as founders, employees and communities lose out.

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United States President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington on Feb. 4, 2025.

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The monoculture of power: How unilateralism threatens global stability

Coercing weaker nations rather than engaging in diplomatic solutions reflects the fundamental flaw of Trump’s unilateralism.

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House for lease: A man walks on Jan. 26 past the Sentra Mulya Jaya low-cost apartment in Cipayung, East Jakarta. Built as a joint project managed by the Social Affairs Ministry and the Public Housing Ministry, the apartment is available for low-income families to rent at Rp 100,000 (US$6) per month.

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Institutionalizing housing solutions: Building hope for homes

Urban spatial planning must be regulated and developed by shifting its orientation to a transit-based approach, prioritizing the development of settlements around public transport hubs.

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Rohingya Muslims sit on the sand at the Tarutao Marine National Park on Rawi island in southern Thailand on June 11, 2019.

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Streamlining Thailand’s policy toward Myanmar refugees

Refugees should not be pushed back and they should be granted temporary asylum without being locked up in immigration detention.

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Children play games on mobile devices on Nov. 27, 2024, sitting on the curb of a paved footpath in Jakarta.

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The urgent need for open public spaces for future generations

As the world becomes increasingly dominated by technology, we as a society need to develop, maintain and provide free access to more open spaces to provide a balance between digital and interpersonal engagement for the well-being of youths today and generations to come.

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World of art: A visitor takes a picture of an installation artwork at the KONGSI: Acculturation of Chinese in Indonesia exhibition at the National Museum in Jakarta on Feb. 12. 2025.

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Reinventing Indonesian identity, rewriting history

Indonesia believes that this act of cultural justice is not just about returning the objects themselves but also about restoring the dignity of Indonesia’s identity, traditions and collective memory.

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