Students listen to their teacher at a classroom of SMA 70 Jakarta state senior high school in South Jakarta on April 14, 2025.

Cultivating prosperity through education

Education does not automatically guarantee economic success. Its real power lies in expanding one’s capacity to choose.

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ASEAN and India’s shared AI opportunity

ASEAN and India’s partnership can become far greater than the sum of its parts. ...

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Restoring reefs, not just corals

Most restoration programs focus their efforts on increasing coral growth, but rarely ask whether the reef is actually functioning as a living ecosystem. ...

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Members of Myanmar's military stand next to Starlink devices seized during a raid on the KK Park online scam center in Myawaddy, Myanmar's Kayin state in this handout photo taken on Oct. 20, 2025 and released on Oct. 22, 2025 by the Myanmar Military Information Team.

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Myanmar’s border ‘raid’ and the scam war

The raid did not signal the beginning of the end for the online scam industry along the Thai-Myanmar border. It was the result of a battlefield gain, repackaged as an anti-crime success.

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A teacher ('right') checks a student’s work in a classroom on Oct. 2, 2025 at SDN Sudirman II elementary school in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

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'Bahasa Indonesia': Identity, inspiration or illusory prestige?

Since Indonesia became globalised, academics, cultural observers and even members of the general public sense that the Indonesian language is in crisis

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An anopheles mosquito is seen resting on a human hand.

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Words matter in Papua’s malaria fight

We recommend more targeted and context-specific strategies to accelerate malaria elimination in Papua, with a focus on culturally responsive communication, active community engagement and integration into existing health services.

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A Burundian government official from the Office for the Protection of Refugees speaks with newly arrived Congolese refugees awaiting relocation while weighing a sack of rice from the final batches delivered by the now-dismantled United States Agency for International Development (USAID) following a food distribution at the Cishemere Transit Center near Buganda, on May 6, 2025.

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Development finance must shift away from aid

Better ways of financing development are becoming more available.

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A teacher uses an interactive smart screen to teach students on Oct. 3 at SDN Panunggulan 2 state elementary school in Serang regency, Banten.

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Beyond access: Toward true equity in education

True equity in education is about relevance: whether what students learn connects to the lives they will lead, the work they will do and the future they will shape.

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Workers arrange melons at the Rau market in Serang, Banten, on Oct. 3, 2025. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) recorded inflation of 2.31 percent in Banten in September 2025, caused by price increases in nine expenditure groups, including food and beverages.

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Food irradiation: A game changer for food security, inflation stability

In Indonesia, a country where nearly a third of harvested food spoils before reaching consumers, keeping food fresh longer is not simply a safety matter, it is an economic necessity.

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A general view at the nickel smelter of PT Vale Indonesia in Sorowako, South Sulawesi, on Aug. 2, 2024.

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Restoring technocratic rationality and rule-based governance

We have entered an era of rhetorical abundance but institutional scarcity.

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United States President Donald Trump ('left') talks to China's President Xi Jinping as they shake hands after their talks on Oct. 30, 2025, at the Gimhae Air Base in Busan, South Korea. Trump and Xi had their first face-to-face meeting in six years, seeking a truce to end a trade war that has roiled the world economy.

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Donald Trump's pivot from Asia

Trump spent much of the last week of October in Asia but failed to create enduring structures in the economic sphere or put to rest increasing doubts about the United States’ strategic commitment to the region.

5 months ago

Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa salutes on Sept. 8, 2025, as President Prabowo Subianto (right, back turned) installs him as the new finance minister during a ceremony at the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

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Purbaya’s test and Prabowo’s enemies within

The new finance minister has become an inadvertent disrupter of a decade-long loyalty entrenched in the bureaucracy through his policies, grounded in economic rational, creating both hope among the public and a test for the President.

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United States President Donald Trump gestures as he prepares to alight from Air Force One upon arrival at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Oct. 27, 2025.

Academia

Trump’s gas gambit hurts allies and the planet

As China secures its role in clean tech exports, the US is doubling down on fossil fuels, and pushing allies to buy US gas

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Port workers protest during a hunger strike in front of the Chittagong Press Club in Chattogram, Bangladesh, on Nov. 1, 2025. The port workers were protesting the interim Bangladesh government's decision to lease operating licenses at Chattogram (formerly known as Chittagong) Port to a foreign company.

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Bangladesh’s grand politics, who is really directing the show?

The country's interim government shoulders a responsibility so heavy it is practically collapsing under it.

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

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Trade must serve people, not just markets

Unless development sits at the center of trade policy, globalization will widen inequality instead of narrowing it.

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Workers are pictured at a factory of fabric and garment producer PT Sari Warna Asli on July 17 in Surakarta, Central Java.

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Indonesian deindustrialization: Creative destruction or destructive creation?

Why do Indonesian firms not innovate?

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stands before a picture of the founder and first president of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, at Ankara Esenboga Airport on Dec. 12, 2024.

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How international crises help authoritarians

Changes to the international order have reinforced authoritarian regimes.

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Activists carry umbrellas on Oct. 23, 2025, during the weekly Kamisan (Thursdays) peaceful demonstration in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

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‘Revolusi’ versus Indonesia's attempt to rewrite history

Rewriting history is not inherently wrong, but when it is done opaquely with an aim to benefit the powers that be in today's regime, it not only negates facts but also the very journey our nation and people trod to get where we are.

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Members of the United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution by Russia and China to delay by six months the reimposition of sanctions on Iran on Sept. 26 during the 80th UN General Assembly in New York City.

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UN is imperfect but indispensable

The question is not whether the UN has failed, but whether humanity can afford a world without it.

5 months ago

A hooded man with a laptop computer is silhouetted against a projection of binary code, in this illustration created on May 13, 2017.

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Safeguarding autonomy in AI systems

The rise of agentic AI, or automous artificial intelligence systems that can make decisions and act with little to no human prompts or supervision, signals a need to revisit and rethink the practical, legal and ethical aspects of cybersecurity frameworks.

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Customers make payments using the QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesia Standard) at a merchant in Tulungagung, East Java, on Aug. 21, 2025.

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Jakarta is betting on India’s digital playbook

Today, the currents shaping the relationship between the Indo-Pacific’s two largest democracies are not trade winds, but the terabits flowing through fiber-optic cables and the instant signals of digital payment systems.

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Wearing masks of national heroes, activists rally near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Sept. 15, 2019, to demonstrate against the draft revision of the Criminal Code.

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Controversies surrounding national hero nominations

The list of nominees for new national heroes this year revealed several names that have stirred up controversy.

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A man stands next to the chassis of an electric vehicle on July 18 at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) 2024, which ran until July 28 at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition in Tangerang, Banten.

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Can ASEAN build trust in its electric future?

Indonesia’s EV ambitions could anchor the green transition in Southeast Asia, but transparency and steady alignment of policy and goals will decide who leads.

5 months ago

Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (left) and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet (center) shake hands next to United States President Donald Trump, on Oct. 26, 2025, the day of the signing of a ceasefire deal between Cambodia and Thailand, on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur.

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Trump’s return puts ASEAN back in spotlight

Trump’s presence, without doubt, has placed ASEAN once again on the global stage.

5 months ago

United States singer-songwriter Sombr poses with the Best Alternative award for “Back to Friends“ in the press room on Sept. 7 during the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, the US.

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The story of MTV: The downfall of a music disrupter

The demise of MTV and the new disruption of on-demand platforms reflects a major shift in the global cultural landscape.

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A group of climate activists demonstrate on Dec. 2, 2024, in front of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Netherlands, for climate justice.

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Courts are shaping the future of climate action

In the absence of political will, the legal system has become a key driver of climate progress.

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United States President Donald Trump (center) joins performers for a dance during the welcome ceremony next to Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (left) as he arrives on Air Force One at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, on Oct. 26, 2025.

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The Asian grammar of power

If Trump is willing to listen, he will be far more likely to communicate effectively with Asians and achieve positive results from this tour.

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President Prabowo Subianto attends the 28th ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Summit on Oct. 27, 2025, during the 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Kuala Lumpur.

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Indonesia and ASEAN: Another missed opportunity

Despite the many milestones of the 47th ASEAN Summit, President Prabowo Subianto’s decision to leave before its conclusion has left observers with lingering doubts over his administration's foreign policy stance and direction as well as its commitment to the regional bloc.

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Police personnel part of a United Station peacekeeping force stand to attention during a ceremony commemorating the 78th National Police Day in Jakarta on July 1, 2024.

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Beyond troops, building peace

Security has been defined through militaristic and state-centric approaches, often overlooking women’s unique experiences and contributions in times of conflict.

5 months ago