(Image courtesy of the Culture Ministry)

From local wisdom to regional partnership: Indonesia’s cultural diplomacy in the Pacific

Indonesia’s remarkable cultural diversity, spanning thousands of islands, hundreds of ethnic groups and countless living traditions, has long made the archipelago one of the world’s great meeting points of civilizations.

2 weeks ago

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Indonesian paradox: When business strategy becomes a crime

The jail sentence for former ASDP Ferry Indonesia CEO is a warning siren for anyone hoping Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises (BUMN) might someday behave like Singapore’s Temasek or France’s EDF. ...

2 weeks ago

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How democracies learn to goose-step

An electoral democracy can gradually drift toward dictatorship, step by step, until it reaches the point of no return. ...

2 weeks ago

The Latest

Graffiti that reads “Police are killers” is seen as community groups and university students stage a demonstration on Sept. 1, demanding an end to police brutality in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

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The new KUHAP casts a long shadow over Indonesian justice

The new KUHAP grants the police more powers at a time when the public is demanding reform of the police, stemming from widespread reports of abuse, criminalization, torture, case fabrication and corruption.

2 weeks ago

Philippines' President Ferdinand Marcos Jr delivers remarks on Oct. 28 during the ASEAN chairmanship hand over ceremony as part of the closing ceremony of the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Academia

The oust Marcos plot: Big bombs, no blast

The oust-Marcos plotters misread the lay of the land if they expected a massive migration of support for VP Sara.

2 weeks ago

Beneficiaries of the government’s Family Hope Program (PKH) in Bandung, West Java, stand in a long line at the city's Main Post Office to obtain cash aid on May 10, 2024.

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The world needs an independent inequality panel before the gap widens

As inequality increasingly shapes economies, politics and transnational cooperations across the globe, we need a world panel to specifically address the issue by collating and synthesizing data from across varying regions.

2 weeks ago

Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas (center), seated between Deputy State Secretary Bambang Eko Suhariyanto (left) and Deputy Law Minister Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej, gives a salute ahead of the House of Representatives plenary session at the Senayan legislative complex in Central Jakarta on Nov. 18, 2025. During the session, the House passed a revision of the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP).

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The new KUHAP: A digital code with an analogue mindset

Recognizing electronic evidence in name only, without embedding it in a coherent framework of powers and safeguards, invites challenges to the integrity and reliability of digital findings.

2 weeks ago

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The stakes of Danantara’s investment in GoTo-Grab

For Danantara, the priority should be safeguarding state investment integrity and keeping Indonesia’s digital market open and credible. Acting prematurely or politically could turn strategic capital into reputational risk.

2 weeks ago

President Prabowo Subianto salutes on Nov. 12 as he inspects a guard of honor after arriving at Admiralty House in Sydney, Australia.

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In the country’s foreign policy, Prabowo is Indonesia

Prabowo has shown how deeply he has personalized Indonesia’s foreign policy, turning what was once a collective and deliberative process into a series of gestures driven by instinct, emotion and self-image.

2 weeks ago

Indigenous people hold hands during a protest calling for climate justice and territorial protection on Nov. 17, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belem, Brazil.

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Why climate action needs inequality focus

Reducing inequality should be a guiding principle to decisions on climate change.

2 weeks ago

Activists hold a banner protesting violence against women, to halt environmentally destructive development projects and stop the intimidation and criminalization of women human rights activists during a demonstration on Nov. 25, 2024, for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in Jakarta.

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Climate justice needs power, not just ideas

Without political leverage and democracy, civil society’s struggle will keep turning in the mud.

2 weeks ago

Dutch King Willem-Alexander (right) and Queen Maxima (left) are welcomed by a Batak traditional 'tor-tor' dance on March, 12, 2020, during their visit to Lintong Ni Huta village in Toba regency, North Sumatra.

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When a queen returns: Finance, inclusion and the colonial echoes of advice

Beneath the politeness of a visit, there is a layered history, highlighting how global finance continues to be intertwined with colonial histories and ongoing inequalities.

2 weeks ago

A woman and her child walk past subsidized housing for media industry workers on June 5, 2025 at Gran Harmoni Cibitung residential complex, Bekasi regency, West Java. The government has prepared 1,000 subsidized homes in the first phase for media industry workers across Indonesia under the Mortgage Financing Liquidity Facility (FLPP) scheme.

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The economics of home: When housing stands on precarious footing

Nearly four in every 10 Indonesian families now live on the edge of housing precarity, revealing a social architecture whose stability is far more fragile than our macroeconomic headlines suggest.

2 weeks ago

Daylight express: A Whoosh high-speed train passes through the Ngamprah tunnel in West Bandung regency, West Java, on July 31, 2025.

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Whoosh and the missing ingredients of development-led infrastructure

There is a policy vacuum in the land use and zoning of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project, as most developments along the route focus on real estate rather than multimodal access or job creation.

2 weeks ago

Brides and grooms take part in a mass officiating event on Aug. 27, 2025 organized by the Surabaya city administration for dozens of couples who previously wedded under local traditions, which are not legally recognized.

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Sakinah Clap and internalized submission in marriage

Tepuk Sakinah lacks explicit reference to justice and equality. Its key concepts emphasize mutuality rather than equality.

2 weeks ago

Old friends: President Prabowo Subianto (center) and Jordan’s King Abdullah II inspect an honor guard on Nov. 14, 2025 at the presidential palace in Jakarta.

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Indonesia–Jordan ties: Strategic partners for peace, stability and resilient Indo-Pacific

Indonesia and Jordan strengthen relationships as they bid to maintain regional stability amid intensifying major-power competition, safeguard sovereignty and promote peace and justice.

2 weeks ago

A palm oil plantation (right) and a peatland forest are seen on June 10, 2025 in Bangsal village, Ogan Komering Ilir regency, South Sumatra.

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Redefining protection: Investing in a community-led forest economy

Despite millions of dollars poured into climate action, only a small fraction reaches the communities that have kept their forests standing for generations.

2 weeks ago

Blooms of hope: Workers plant flowers on Nov. 4 next to a sign for the 2025 G20 Johannesburg summit outside the NASREC Expo Centre, the venue of this year’s summit under South Africa’s Group of 20 presidency.

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A 70-year spirit of growth: From Bandung to Johannesburg

Ahead of the G20 presidency's impending handover to the United States, followed by other Global North economies over the next three years, the Johannesburg summit marks a turning point in sustaining the multilateral order.

2 weeks ago

The Indonesian Busines Council (IBC) chief operating officer William Sabandar (left ) talks about carbon market on July 24, while Fairatmos founder and chief executive officer Natalia Rialucky Marsudi (left) and the Indonesia Center for Renewable Energy Studies (ICRES) executive director Paul Butarbutar look on in Jakarta. The IBC launched the Indonesian Carbon Market Academy to tap opportunities in carbon trade.

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Regulation on carbon value: Another season of red tape?

Indonesia, with its potential to generate up to 13.4 billion tonnes of tradable carbon credits by 2050, is not yet the center of the carbon trade.

2 weeks ago

Indonesia's Central Bank Governor Perry Warjiyo gestures to media members during a press conference on Jan. 15 at Bank Indonesia headquarters in Jakarta.

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Liquidity trap, confidence crisis amid monetary abundance

Japan’s Lost Decade offers a sobering lesson. The country suffered not from a lack of money, but from a collapse in growth expectations.

2 weeks ago

Boys play an online game together on their smartphones on Jan. 21 as a scooter passes by in an alley in Jakarta.

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What teenagers want adults to know about their digital lives

Contrary to what adults might expect, young people want adults to know and care about their online lives.

2 weeks ago

A man holds a poster in front of the court demanding the capital punishment on Monday ahead of a verdict on charges of crimes against humanity against ousted Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina for a deadly 2024 crackdown on student-led protests in Dhaka.

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Hasina’s conviction comes as lesson for all authoritarian rulers

Ultimately, the coercive power of the state could not withstand the power of the people.

2 weeks ago

This aerial handout picture taken on December 22, 2024, and released on January 31, 2025, by Auriga Nusantara shows a general view of deforestation at an area on Gag Island in Raja Ampat, Southwest Papua.

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Green democracy is the path forward

When democracy can’t protect the people most affected, it stops being democracy.

2 weeks ago

Soeharto announces his resignation as president of Indonesia at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on May 21, 1998.

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Sukarno, Soeharto and authoritarian failures in Indonesia

Centralization, which is prone to authoritarianism, may serve as an emergency structure in moments of collapse, but it cannot drive innovation, productivity or global competitiveness.

2 weeks ago

Two people take a selfie in front of a sign in Kuala Lumpur for the 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits on Oct. 24, 2025, two days before the opening of the three-day event, hosted by the bloc’s Malaysian chairmanship.

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ASEAN’s 2045 Vision, powered by technology transformation

The regional bloc is applying its inclusive, collaborative and people-centered approach to harness the growing power and reach of AI to ensure that the technology is wielded as an equalizing, unifying force for better lives across Southeast Asia.

2 weeks ago

Members of the Jakarta Police Mobile Brigade’s bomb squad prepare on Oct. 7, 2025, to sweep for explosive materials at Mentari Intercultural School in South Tangerang, Banten. The bomb threat the school received earlier that day was determined to be a hoax after a three-hour inspection that yielded no explosives.

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Child bomb maker: A wake-up call for protection, not punishment

Around the world, minors have been pulled into extremist violence through a combination of online influence, emotional turbulence, and unmet social needs.

2 weeks ago

Activists hold a banner that reads “Our future is not for sale” during the Great People's March rally in Belém on Nov. 15, 2025, held alongside the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil.

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Innovation, not mandates, will shape our climate future

World leaders need to focus on technological innovations that will help pull developing countries out of the massive amount of carbon they emit, away from costly investments prioritizing carbon reductions by rich countries, which contribute just 13 percent of global emissions.

2 weeks ago

Security personnel stand guard on Nov. 17 as demonstrators attempt to demolish the residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's first president and father of the country's fugitive prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka.

Academia

How India and Bangladesh are reinforcing each other’s extremes

South Asia needs an honest reckoning with the dangerous symmetry that has emerged across its borders.

2 weeks ago

A Malaysian rescuer provides food to Rohingya migrant Iman Shorif (right), days after his boat carrying migrants from Myanmar capsized on Nov. 10 near the Malaysia-Thailand border, at a jetty in Langkawi, Malaysia.

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Insurgency, control dynamics reshape Rohingya crisis

As the Bay of Bengal monsoon season ends, increasing numbers of Rohingya boat journeys are imminent.

2 weeks ago

An activist holds a poster rejecting the proposal to name former president Soeharto a national hero during the Kamisan rally on Oct. 23, 2025, in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

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The national hero title for Soeharto: A monument to impunity

The granting of the hero title to Soeharto represents a denial, if not an outright betrayal, of the Reform movement, which was initiated in 1998 to end his corrupt dictatorship.

3 weeks ago

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