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

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

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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

Academia

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

The Latest

Secretary-General of ASEAN Kao Kim Hourn ('left') meets with Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen ('right') on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

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Finland’s happiness rests on international cooperation

We believe in co-creation: as a relatively small nation, we cannot produce everything on our own, and we need international trade.

5 months ago

United Nations secretary-general António Guterres ('front left'), Vietnam's President Luong Cuong ('front center') and Laos' General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith ('front right') pose with other leaders and delegates at the signing ceremony of the UN Convention on Cybercrime in Hanoi, Vietnam on Saturday.

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Stopping the threat of organized cybercrime

We need to strengthen legal and regulatory frameworks around the world, provide training and equipment to enforcement agencies and promote cross-border cooperation.

5 months ago

Roundup ready: A woman walks on Oct. 23, 2025 past a promotional display for ASEAN Malaysia 2025 in front of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which is hosting the regional grouping’s 47th annual summit from Oct. 26 to 28.

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How ASEAN was reduced to a mere coworking space

ASEAN has fallen far from its original purpose, as has Indonesia from its role as the organization's natural leader, but all is not yet lost, so long as its current leaders can buck up and transform the grouping into a truly regional community.

5 months ago

All about money: A member of the Presidential Security Detail guards a large stack of rupiah banknote bundles on Oct. 20, 2025 at the Attorney General’s Office in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, prior to the handover to the state of around Rp 13.2 trillion (US$825 million) seized from companies involved in a corruption case pertaining to illegal crude palm oil (CPO) export permits.

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Prabowo’s leadership challenge and the case for asset forfeiture reform

The forfeiture mechanism should apply within a specified timeframe, to ensure the law complements, rather than weakens, criminal enforcement commitments.

5 months ago

An Indonesian Air Force Hercules C-130J demonstrates an aerial refueling operation of T-50i aircraft during the 80th anniversary celebration of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in Jakarta on Oct. 5, 2025.

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Indonesia’s defense future lies in interoperability

The real challenge for modern armed forces lies in making these systems fully operational: equipping them with trained crews, effective maintenance, full armament and doctrinal integration.

5 months ago

Pakistani naval forces take part during the fifth Multilateral Naval Exercise Komodo 2025 in Denpasar, Bali, on Feb. 18, 2025.

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Pakistan–Indonesia at 75: Friendship, progress and shared future

It is a moment to look ahead and chart a path toward an even stronger partnership for peace and prosperity.

5 months ago

People crowd around various vehicles on July 23 at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) 2025, which drew 485,569 visitors over its 11-day run from July 24 to Aug. 3 at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) BSD City in Tangerang, Banten.

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Indonesia’s national car dream: Symbolism or strategy?

Indonesia has tried, and failed, to develop a native car brand over the decades, and attempting to revive this developmental model in the current era of energy transition with a globally connected supply chain risks ending in the same fate: merely a flag-waving vanity project.

5 months ago

United States President Donald Trump looks on during an event in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on Sept. 2, 2025.

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How authoritarians twist language into weapons

As populist strongmen rise across democracies, Camus’ warnings against the corruption of truth and language feel newly relevant.

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A student shows a school meal he received as part of the free nutritious meal program on Sept. 15 at the Nurul Islam Klakah integrated Islamic elementary school (SDIT) in Lumajang, East Java.

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When school lunches become a battlefield

A policy that should be as uncontroversial as “feed children well” has been turned into a stage for point-scoring, institutional turf wars and media skirmishes.

5 months ago

Delegates talk next to a Banshee target UAV drone at Swedish company Mildef's stand at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) fair at the ExCeL center, in east London, on Sept. 9, 2025.

Academia

Drone defense gap sparks industry surge

Events have also shown enormous capacity gaps when it comes to wider air defense, including antiaircraft rockets to shoot down incoming missiles.

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Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim delivers a speech on July 29 at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.

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Principled diplomacy: Anwar engages Trump at ASEAN Summit

Trump’s presence at the ASEAN Summit is not about endorsement or approval of his policies. It is, instead, a moment of strategic diplomacy.

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A general view shows diplomats attending the 32nd ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) during the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Malaysia, on July 11, 2025.

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Securing the ASEAN economy in an oversecuritized world

Daily conversation in ASEAN now revolves around how to walk a fine line between avoiding overdependence and co-optation by any major power for their own agenda.

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Attendees tour stands at the GTC Paris NVIDIA booth on June 12 at the VivaTech technology start-ups and innovation fair at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, in Paris.

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Are we in a financial bubble?

Financial bubbles are notoriously difficult to define in real time – until the moment they burst.

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Bridging science and diplomacy for global leadership

Uniting science and diplomacy is needed to create lasting global impact.

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Cabinet ministers under President Prabowo Subianto take their oaths of office during a swearing-in ceremony at the State Palace in Jakarta on Oct. 21, 2024. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)

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Patronage or expertise: Indonesia’s bureaucracy at a crossroads

Every regime born of electoral democracy proclaims its faith in meritocracy, a system that values competence over connection, and professionalism over political convenience, but Indonesia tells a different story.

5 months ago

An elementary school student receives a COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 18, 2022, in Surabaya, East Java.

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Beyond fire brigades: Financing prevention, not panic

The world needs development banks and financial institutions to move from post-disaster reimbursement to pre-disaster readiness.

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A deforested area that will be converted into a sugar cane plantation by PT Murni Nusantara Abadi, directly threatening the adjacent customary forest protected by the Kwipalo Clan, is seen in this photo taken in Mandiri Jagebob, Merauke regency, South Papua, on March 17, 2025.

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The South's survival manifesto, 50 years on

At Cocoyoc, postcolonial nations challenged the West’s obsession with growth. Fifty years later, Brazil’s forest initiative revives that original call for justice and survival.

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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (right, standing) and President Prabowo Subianto shake hands on July 9, 2025, during the Brazil-Indonesia bilateral meeting at Planalto Palace in Brasília.

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Brazil and ASEAN: Together for a prosperous and peaceful future

Ahead of the 47th ASEAN Summit on Oct. 26 in Kuala Lumpur, the Brazilian president shares his views about areas in which his country and the regional grouping can cooperate toward building a sustainable future of prosperity and peace.

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A blueprint for a stronger, more relevant ASEAN

What could pass to history as the “Anwar Doctrine” could be a reminder that the Asia Pacific is a true engine of multipolarism, not a disruptor of it.

5 months ago

President Prabowo Subianto (right) and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attend a joint press conference at the State Palace in Jakarta on May 15, 2025.

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Rethinking Indonesia-Australia economic diplomacy

Many Australian businesses still view Indonesia as "too hard", despite recent reforms offering competitive incentives such as tax holidays, import duty exemptions, and super tax deductions.

5 months ago

Job seekers speak with career counselors on June 24, 2025, during the Grand Career Exhibition held by Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java.

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The shadow rise of ‘homo inutilis’: An Indonesian perspective

Indonesia needs to look closely at the interrelation between productivity and participation as technology moves apace and leaves humans lagging in both jobs and wages to avoid creating the "useless class".

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Students of Roudlotul Solohin Pesantren (Islamic boarding school) from Demak gave a rebana tambourine performance to accompany the Mater Dei Church choir performance in Lamper Kidul on Dec. 25, 2019, in Semarang, Central Java.

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‘Pesantren’ lead the new jihad to uphold peace

Many young people today grow up surrounded by misleading narratives, both online and in public discourse, that frame religion through the lens of fear or hostility.

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An aerial photo shows an oil palm plantation (right) and a peatland forest in Bangsal village, Ogan Komering Ilir regency, South Sumatra, on June 10, 2025.

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Forests depend on leadership, law and advocacy

How Indonesia and Brazil have cut down on deforestation.

5 months ago

President Prabowo Subianto speaks on Sept. 23 during the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York City.

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Rethinking Pancasila’s ideological power for the future

President Prabowo’s focus - on food and energy security, defense modernization and economic sovereignty - instinctively recognizes the challenge to transform its founding philosophy, Pancasila, into a living force for competitiveness.

5 months ago

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, President Prabowo Subianto (front left) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin (front center) pose for a photograph alongside China's President Xi Jinping before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3, 2025.

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As the world's grabby geezers unite, Gen Z is left in the dust

The anger is mostly directed against corruption and incompetence displayed by members of the ruling elite who seem to be oblivious to problems affecting these young people; from a lack of stable jobs to unaffordable housing, to a rising cost of living, genocide and the looming climate crisis.

5 months ago

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri welcomes secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto on Aug. 2 before the closing session of party congress in Nusa Dua, Bali. Just days before his appearance at the congress, Hasto, who was convicted of bribery on July 25, received an amnesty from President Prabowo Subianto.

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Indonesia’s anticorruption fight: Serving politics, not justice

Instead of strengthening the law, lawmakers are now seeking to weaken it, as indicated in the move to revise the Anticorruption Law, which will shield powerful decision-makers from accountability as long as they avoid direct bribery.

5 months ago

President Prabowo Subianto addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Sept. 23, 2025, at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

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Indonesia’s UNGA climate pledge faces real test at home

While the President's address at the 80th UNGS signaled ambition, implementing the 2025-2034 RUPTL with de-risking mechanisms, clear financing solutions, a decisive move away from coal and other detailed steps is the real test.

5 months ago

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