A health worker administers an oral vaccine to a student on Jan. 16, 2024, during a municipal polio immunization campaign at elementary schools in Malang, East Java.

The high cost of cutting vaccine funding

Rather than cutting vaccine funding, governments should be looking at increasing funds to provide vaccines to the world's most vulnerable children, saving half a million lives and delivering millions in additional social benefits each year.

3 months ago

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Danantara devoid of good governance and transparency

Instead of standing as an economic fortress for the nation, Danantara increasingly resembles a sovereign weak fund: fragile, unfocused and potentially a fiscal burden in the years ahead. ...

3 months ago

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Global securitization of rare earths: A descent into geopolitical turmoil

The global race for critical minerals like rare earth elements has descended into a geopolitical struggle, where these once-obscure resources now loom as existential threats to national survival. ...

3 months ago

The Latest

Head-to-head: Students brave security cordons during a rally near the House of Representatives in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Aug. 28, 2025.

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Is the House still relevant, or should it be abolished?

Without the legislative body, the executive branch would lack a crucial check on its power, which would jeopardize the democratic framework.

3 months ago

The causeway linking Malaysia's southern state of Johor (top) and Singapore (botom) is seen from Singapore on April 1, 2020.

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Building ASEAN’s future through shared SEZs

The Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ), launched in 2024, offers a preview of what deeper cooperation could look like.

3 months ago

Faith in green energy: A technician walks on March 26, 2024 between solar panels that partially provide electrical power to Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta.

Academia

How Islamic finance can drive energy transition

Green and sustainable sukuk can drive significant capital into large-scale carbon reduction projects and other crucial sustainability efforts.

3 months ago

The Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (back), is seen from Ukedo fishing port in Namie, Fukushima prefecture on Aug. 24, 2023. Japan began releasing wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean on Aug. 24 despite angry opposition from China and local fishermen.

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Nuclear power: Secure it with proven technology

Until thorium shows it can produce reliable electricity at scale, Indonesia’s sovereignty requires us to treat it as research, not as our energy backbone.

3 months ago

Residents pass by the headquarters of state asset fund Danantara on July 1 in South Jakarta.

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Government taps into the patriotism of business groups

Patriot bonds are not conventional securities. They are designed less to maximize investor return than to rally support for the national agenda

3 months ago

A man tries on artificial intelligence glasses on July 29 during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) at the Shanghai World Expo and Convention Center in Shanghai, China.

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The tradeoffs of AI regulation

American firms could cause global harm before European regulators catch up

3 months ago

Pigeons fly during the flag-hoisting ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Independence Day on Aug. 17 at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta.

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Why the Dutch have to recognize Indonesian independence from Aug. 17, 1945

The Dutch army had not just incidentally, but structurally applied extreme violence against Indonesians during the Indonesian war of independence between 1945 and 1950.

3 months ago

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping looking on along the East Lake on April 28, 2018, in Wuhan, China.

Academia

Tianjin test: Modi to meet Xi amid fragile reset

China remains inextricably embedded in Indian supply chains despite the years-long stand-off between the two militaries.

3 months ago

A customer scans a Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS) code to settle a transaction on April 24, 2024, at a coffee shop in Sukabumi, West Java.

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How Indonesia’s banks can break free from legacy constraints

Despite the country’s rapid digital adoption in recent years, a significant percentage of the banking system continues to operate on legacy infrastructure developed decades ago.

3 months ago

This undated US Air Force file photo released on June 20, 2019, shows a photo of an RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. A US spy drone was some 34 kilometers from the nearest point in Iran when it was shot down over the Strait of Hormuz by an Iranian surface-to-air missile on June 20, 2019, a US general said.

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Can kamikaze drones claim the right of sea lane passage?

As drone warfare expands, Indonesia must decide whether its archipelagic sea lanes are open corridors or off-limits to weapons.

3 months ago

A child stands in the middle of a crush of people jostling for food aid at a charity kitchen in the southern city of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip on Aug. 21, 2025, a day before the United Nations declared a famine in the Palestinian territory.

Academia

Palestine: A brief history of a foreknown war of extermination

Israel's ongoing campaign in the Gaza Strip stems from decades of history dating back to the 1948 uprising, and is essentially a continuation of the Zionist regime's aim to eliminate the Palestinian presence between the sea and the river.

3 months ago

People with disabilities serve in the flag-hoisting squad during a ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Independence Day on Aug. 17, in Gorontalo, Gorontalo Province.

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Why the Dutch have to recognize Indonesian independence from Aug. 17, 1945

The Dutch government-sponsored Indonesia investigation independence, decolonization, violence, and war in Indonesia, 1945-1950.

3 months ago

Several journalists hold banners demanding fair pay and calling on media companies to protect sexual violence victims during a march to commemorate International Labor Day in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, on May 1, 2025.

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Quality journalism is the only savior for news outlets

In the digital and AI age, news outlets in Indonesia, as elsewhere, may never regain their glory days of wealth and resources but, by focusing on quality, they can still be a source of reliable information essential to the good functioning of democracy.

3 months ago

A visitor strolls on a footpath dissecting a mangrove forest on Dec. 7, 2024, at Angke Kapuk Nature Park in North Jakarta.

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Climate resilience is a strategic investment

For emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), investing in resilience is not a luxury, it is an imperative.

3 months ago

Protesters try to block a police water cannon vehicle during their demonstration on Aug. 25 demanding the dissolution of parliament on a street in front of the House of Representatives building in Jakarta.

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The Hunger Games in the making in Independence Month

Indonesia initiated sweeping reforms in 1998 not only because of high prices but because symbols of extravagance amid suffering made the pain unbearable.

3 months ago

An adult lowland anoa (Bubalus depressicornis), an endangered species of buffalo endemic to Sulawesi, watches over her newborn calf at the Anoa Breeding Centre in Manado, North Sulawesi, in this file photo.

Academia

Small islands offer safe havens for endangered species

Small islands can serve as natural refuges for their native biodiversity, provided their ecosystems remain undisturbed

3 months ago

Palestinian women and girls elbow their way to receive cooked rice from a charity kitchen in Gaza City on Aug. 23, 2025. The United Nations officially declared a famine in Gaza on Aug. 22, blaming “systematic obstruction“ of aid by Israel during more than 22 months of war, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly dismissing the findings.

Academia

Geneva Conventions at 76: Pushing back against erosion of humanity

Today’s crisis is not born of a lack of rules, but a lack of will to enforce them and to hold violators accountable.

3 months ago

A vehicle rides past stacks of cargo containers at the Jakarta International Container Terminal on July 7 at the Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta.

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Indonesia-US trade agreement brings risks and rewards

Approximately 40 Indonesian export products face direct competition with US exports, particularly in labor-intensive sectors.

3 months ago

President Prabowo Subianto delivers his annual State of the Nation address during the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) plenary meeting on Aug. 15 at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta, ahead of the country's 80th Independence Day.

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Fiscal space for investment shrinks in 2026 budget

The 2026 state budget proposal reveals a fiscal style built on obligations that, while reassuring today, may limit the government’s flexibility in shaping the future.

3 months ago

United States President Donald Trump (right) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands on Feb. 13, 2025, during a joint press conference at the White House in Washington, DC.

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Trump's tariffs and India's economic future

In the long term, Trump’s tariffs are likely to propel India to rethink its strategic priorities toward a decision on whether to pursue economic openness or retreat into protectionist autarky as it redefines its place in the world.

3 months ago

Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong waves to supporters of his People's Action Party (PAP) on May 3, 2025, as he arrives at the PAP’s election watch party.

Academia

Wong’s ‘we first’ society: Bridging rhetoric and reality

As governments around the world are forced to reinvent themselves amid concurrent, complex waves of a changing geopolitical landscape, Singapore offers a social laboratory for observing potential shifts.

3 months ago

A farmer tills a plot of land using a hand-held tractor on Nov. 6, 2024, in Lumajang, East Java.

Academia

Family farmers must be more prosperous

Nearly half of Indonesia’s poor are farmers or those who work in agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries.

3 months ago

The Indonesian Air Force' pilots and technicians pose in front of Indonesia's first Dassault Rafale B jet fighter at the Dassault production line in Merignac, near Bordeaux, France, in this undated picture released on Aug. 11. As many as four pilots and 12 technicians are taking courses in France on how to operate and maintain Rafale jet fighters.

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The hefty price of low-cost defense systems

While cost-effectiveness and price tags are essential indicators, the procurement of arms must always include performance, strategic effect and sustainability as key metrics when assessing new equipment or platforms.

3 months ago

This photo taken on June 14, 2023, shows university graduates and youths attending a job fair in Yibin, in China's southwestern Sichuan province.

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The vicious cycle of China’s demographics

The root problem is the relatively small number of jobs in China that provide a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, and the large number of workers vying for them

3 months ago

This undated handout photo shows two bulldozers and logs of various varieties and sizes seized by investigators with the Environment and Forestry Ministry's law enforcement division in an alleged illegal logging case in Sabuai village, Eastern Seram regency, Maluku.

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Genes and nation: Is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika becoming historical window-dressing?

If different ethnic groups in Indonesia have unique ancestries and histories, then policies that assume everyone is the same culturally, linguistically or medically are either tone-deaf and harmful.

3 months ago