Indonesian migrant worker Sugianto stands next to South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Dec. 2, 2025, during an award ceremony at the Blue House in Seoul. Sugianto received a presidential honor for his bravery in rescuing elderly residents during a massive forest fire in South Korea in March 2025.`

Indonesian migrant worker receives South Korean presidential award for heroic act

Wearing a mask, Sugianto began going door to door, knocking on residents’ homes. He guided them slowly to the evacuation site and carried those who were unable to walk.

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Police investigate gas pipeline explosion in Riau that injured 10

The fire also damaged five trucks and five motorcycles as well as three buildings, a tire repair shop, a palm oil collection post and a motorcycle repair shop.

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A Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) official helps a customer on May 14, 2024, at the agency's South Jakarta office.

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JKN overhaul faces persistent healthcare hurdles in 2026

Indonesia’s National Health Insurance (JKN) program is set to undergo a series of policy revamps to improve the quality and access to medical service, but there is still a long road ahead to truly achieve universal health coverage.

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Former education minister Nadiem Makarim reacts on Jan. 5, 2026, prior to his trial in a corruption case about his involvement in the procurement of Google's Chromebook laptops for use at his ministry and by students, at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

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Corruption trial begins for ex-minister Nadiem after delays

The corruption trial of former education minister Nadiem Makarim opened on Monday after weeks of delays that allowed him to recover from surgery.

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Logs swept in by flash floods weeks earlier lie piled on Dec. 14, 2025, where homes once stood along a river in Aceh Tamiang, North Sumatra. Floods and landslides triggered by extreme weather linked to Cyclone Senyar struck three northern Sumatran provinces in late November, killing at least 1,140 people and damaging more than 170,000 houses. Nearly 400,000 people remained displaced as of Dec. 28, with 163 still unaccounted for.

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Indonesia 2025: In frames, beyond words

A year of promise, protest and loss, captured in images that linger. This photo gallery bears witness to a turbulent 2025, when photographs carried the weight of memory and words fell short.

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A group of soldiers assist in a post-disaster cleanup operation on Jan. 1, 2026, at SDN 9 Kebayakan state elementary school in Central Aceh, Aceh. Most schools across the province, as well as in North Sumatra and West Sumatra, are expected to reopen on Jan. 5 for the second semester following the severe floods and landslides in November 2025 triggered by Tropical Cyclone Senyar.

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Sumatra schools in disaster-hit regions prepare to reopen for semester 2

As recovery efforts continue, the government has prepared a special disaster education curriculum to be implemented in three phases over the next four years, as well as services to aid in the psychological recovery of affected residents, including students and teachers.

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An illustration of restricting freedom of speech.

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Freedom of expression under threat as more activists face intimidation

Authorities are looking the other way amid increasing intimidation targeting activists and social media influencers who criticized the government and how it handles the devastating floods in northern Sumatra.

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Freedom of expression under threat as more activists face intimidation

A voter inserts a ballot for the 2024 simultaneous regional elections into a ballot box at a polling station in Sitaro, North Sulawesi on Nov. 27, 2024. Thirty-seven provinces and more than 500 cities and regencies hold simultaneous regional elections on Nov. 27, 2024, making it largest one-day regional elections in the country's history.

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Pro-Prabowo parties close ranks to scrap direct regional elections

Activists hold a protest against the new Criminal Code (KUHP) on Dec. 5, 2022, outside the Senayan legislative complex in Central Jakarta . The House of Representatives passed on Dec. 6 a revision to the Criminal Code that would outlaw pre-marital sex aside from other sweeping changes to the criminal code, a move critics deemed as a setback to the country's freedoms.

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Authoritarian fears loom as new criminal code takes effect

President Prabowo Subianto (center) addresses displaced people during a gathering on Dec. 31, 2025, at an evacuation center in Batu Hula village, South Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra, as North Sumatra Governor Bobby Nasution (right, front row) and South Tapanuli Regent Gus Irawan Pasaribu (second right, front row) look on.

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Prabowo spends New Year’s Eve with Sumatra disaster survivors

An activist shouts slogans during a protest outside the Senayan legislative complex in Central Jakarta on Dec. 5, 2022 as the House of Representatives is set to pass a new Criminal Code (KUHP) that will ban sex outside marriage, cohabitation between unmarried couples, insulting the president and expressing views counter to the national ideology.

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New criminal code requires public oversight, minister says

"It's our own legal system [...] different from other countries," said Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas.

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New Indonesian Army officers pose for pictures during a commissioning ceremony for around 2,000 graduates from military and police academies on July 23 at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.

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Yearender: Rising militarism marks civil-military shift in 2025

Opening year: President Prabowo Subianto leads a cabinet plenary meeting on Oct. 20, 2025, at the State Palace in Jakarta. The meeting on the first anniversary of the new administration was held to evaluate the Red and White Cabinet’s performance in its first year, as well as to discuss the plan for the following year.

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Power consolidated, governance left wanting in 2025

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Vehicles pass by piles of garbage in Ciputat, South Tangerang, Banten, on Dec. 26, 2025. The city administration has declared a waste management emergency, in effect from Dec. 23, 2025, to Jan. 5, 2026, to accelerate cleanup efforts and mitigate the impact on residents’ health.

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South Tangerang waste emergency highlights national problem

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Yearender: Jakarta’s public space grow, but unevenly delivered

From 24-hour city parks to libraries extending their evening hours, Jakarta closed the year with a series of public space initiatives. Yet these expansions remain concentrated around economic hubs, reinforcing the spatial inequality that has long shaped the capital.

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