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.

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.

5 months ago

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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. ...

5 months ago

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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

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A motorcycle rider braves the rain on March 14 in the Senopati area, South Jakarta.

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Microplastic rain: A call for responsible producers and good governance

When microplastics falls from the sky, it becomes clear that no place, public or private, is truly free from plastic contamination.

5 months ago

Balinese farmers prepare rice seedlings for planting on Jan. 1, 2014, at a rice terrace in Jatiluwih village in Tabanan regency, Bali. The local farmers have for generations used a complex irrigation system called subak.

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Heritage agriculture as a climate solution

Around the world, communities have developed agricultural systems born from hardship that have endured for centuries.

5 months ago

People queue at an outlet of state-owned pawnshop Pegadaian in Semarang.

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Pawnshop industry: Paving the way to an inclusive economy

The pawnshop industry's journey to becoming a robust market is driven by stronger capital and human resources, innovative products, prudential regulation and supervision, ecosystem and consumer protection.

5 months ago

A message reading “AI artificial intelligence“, a keyboard and robot hands are seen in this illustration taken on Jan. 27.

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ASEAN firms can’t afford to ignore EU’s AI Act

Brussels’ landmark AI ruling has a global reach. For ASEAN businesses, early compliance is the key to turning regulation into advantage.

6 months ago

Then-defense minister and president-elect Prabowo Subianto (left) speaks with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape during their meeting on Aug. 21, 2024 in Port Moresby.

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Is Papua New Guinea part of Southeast Asia?

There is nothing in the ASEAN Charter that rules out the possibility of Papua New Guinea one day joining the club.

5 months ago

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Setting the benchmark higher for ASEAN

Malaysia has proven its ability to walk and balance the delicate path of non-alignment.

5 months ago

Graves are seen after the commemoration ceremony of the cessation of World War II in Asia at the Menteng Pulo Dutch war cemetery in Jakarta on Aug. 15, 2024.

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Untangling the killing of Brig. Gen. Mallaby in revolutionary Surabaya

In Surabaya, an unknown assassin shot Brig. Gen. Aubertin Mallaby through the open window of his car and for 80 years the mystery has remained: who killed Mallaby?

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A worker sorts copper production at El Teniente mine, the world's largest underground copper mine in Machali, near Rancagua, Chile, on April 2, 2025.

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Copper Study Group highlights impact of mine supply hits

Copper has a long history of mine supply disruption, but this year is proving to be a particularly troubled one for a sector that has been racing to keep up with smelter demand.

5 months ago

Excavators transfer soil to transport trucks on July 28, 2023, at a nickel mine operated by nickel mining company Vale Indonesia in Sorowako, South Sulawesi.

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Turning resource wealth into rules-based prosperity

Resource abundance alone is not destiny. Indonesia’s next challenge is to turn mineral wealth into sustainable, rules-based prosperity.

5 months ago

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A year that shaped the narrative: Indonesia’s cultural renaissance begins

This year marks one year since the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia’s Culture Ministry - the first time in our nation’s 79 years of independence that culture stands with a ministry of its own, a historic reaffirmation of our constitutional mandate, enshrined in Article 32(1) of the 1945 Constitution, which declares that “the State shall advance the national culture amid world civilization by guaranteeing the freedom of the people to preserve and develop their cultural values.”

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A worker cleans a sign on Sept. 8, 2025, at Wisma Danantara Indonesia, South Jakarta. In its first six months of operation, state asset fund Danantara, has secured Rp163.18 trillion (US$10 billion) in funding from a consortium of 12 foreign banks.

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How Danantara is building Indonesia’s next tech giants

The next evolution in Indonesia’s digital economy must come not from founders or policymakers, but from investors, those who choose to fund endurance, not exits.

5 months ago

A stock illustration of an Indonesian passport

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Rethinking ‘One Nation': Why Indonesia should allow dual citizenship

As we commemorate the Sumpah Pemuda, perhaps it’s time to rethink what “one nation” means in a global era, and why letting Indonesians hold dual citizenship could strengthen, not weaken, our unity.

5 months ago

Demonstrators try to break the police barricade during a protest on the first anniversary of President Prabowo Subianto's administration, criticizing government policies, including the free meals program, in Jakarta, on Oct. 20, 2025.

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Time for Indonesia’s youth to renew the pledge

Today’s youth are numerous but politically complacent; celebrated as a demographic bonus yet treated as disposable; expressive in voice but struggling to author a narrative of their own.

5 months ago

A man passes on a light sign that reads “state of the European Union“ on Sept. 10, 2025, the same day of the EU Commission President's annual State of the Union address, during a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France.

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EU finds strength beyond the Draghi report

Things may not be as dire as they seem.

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Ngigoro, 62, an elder of the Hongana Manyawa indigenous tribe who left the forest and now lives in a village with his mother, watches a nickel mining site from the edge of the forest on April 16 in East Halmahera, North Maluku.

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Mining crisis needs fair laws, local engagement

A new law has been passed to regulate mining and protect the environment and local communities, but its enforcement remains weak.

5 months ago

A container ship leaves the Port of Qingdao, located in China's eastern province of Shandong, on Aug. 7, 2025.

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Six rules for navigating the new abnormal

As the world grapples with multiple uncertainties, those with a sense of self-preservation that are also quick and nimble will come out on top.

5 months ago

United States President Donald Trump (fifth left) takes a photo with ASEAN leaders on Sunday during the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur.

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ASEAN’s new survival strategy: Transactional deals and hard economic realities

The region is shedding its illusions about predictable superpower diplomacy and is instead embracing a strategy that is intensely transactional and fiercely pragmatic.

5 months ago

A binary code is projected onto a man holding a laptop computer in an office in Warsaw on June 24, 2013, in this illustration of cybersecurity. (Reuters/Kacper Pempel)

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The militarization of Indonesia’s cybersecurity framework

The newly completed bill on cybersecurity and cyber resilience still prioritizes the protection of national interests instead of upholding citizens' digital rights and also involves the TNI in enforcement, leading to legal uncertainty that potentially threatens democracy and the rule of law in Indonesia.

5 months ago

Pope Leo XIV speaks during a mass with cardinals in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican on May 9, 2025, in this photo taken and handed out by the Vatican Media.

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The Vatican's voice of reason on AI

AI raises questions about work, inequality and the human condition

5 months ago

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh (second left) and his Australian counterpart Richard Marles (second right) watch Australian Rear Admiral Matt Buckley (third right) and Indian Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan (third left) sign a defense agreement on Oct. 9 at Parliament House in Canberra.

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Building on the Australia-India comprehensive strategic partnership

The US’ punitive tariffs on India present an opportunity for the two countries to strengthen bilateral ties.

5 months ago

China's President Xi Jinping inspects troops during a military parade on Sept. 3 marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

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Taiwan: A province of the People's Republic of China, never a sovereign nation

As the ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Indonesia, I feel it is my duty to clarify the essence of the Taiwan question and set the record straight.

5 months ago

People gather to play games at a malaria public awareness event held during Car Free Day on Dec. 9, 2023, in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), organized by the provincial administration in cooperation with UNICEF.

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Eliminating malaria: Lessons from Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste has become clear evidence that strategic investment and regional cooperation can drive progress toward malaria elimination.

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ASEAN turns geoeconomic turbulence into regional strategy

The summit is a chance to reaffirm ASEAN centrality in promoting open, inclusive regional economic integration amid rising protectionism.

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Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa reacts to journalists on Sept. 11 after his first hearing with the House of Representatives’ finance commission in Jakarta.

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How high will Purbaya be allowed to fly?

Purbaya has dismantled several long-untouched practices and proved many observers wrong about the country’s fiscal stability.

5 months ago

A tempe artisan shows soybeans imported from the United States in this undated file photo.

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Supply-chain economics beats tariff politics

Trump’s tariff-first trade policies fundamentally misunderstand 21st-century supply-chain economics.

5 months ago

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Motion 28 at FSC General Assembly risks stalling remedy progress

As the first country to implement FSC’s Remedy Framework, Indonesia urges members to protect credibility, justice and momentum, not add new requirements that hinder what already works.

5 months ago