People rest at an evacuation center on Monday in the Thai border province of Surin. Thailand and Cambodia's leaders agreed to an “unconditional“ ceasefire on Monday after five days of fighting along their jungle-clad frontier that has killed at least 36 people.

ASEAN diplomacy delivers

What ASEAN needs is a lasting political commitment, supported by trusted civilian institutions, to make peace not just possible, but permanent.

19 hours ago

Editorial

Rule by the law

Over the last few weeks, the nation has witnessed how the weaponization of law operates in a country that claims to champion rule of law as a foundational element of democracy. ...

1 day ago

Editorial

The peak of the dry season next month is expected to bring even less rainfall and drier weather to several Sumatran provinces, including Riau, indicating a potential escalation of the forest fires. ...

2 days ago

The Latest

US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the Oval Office at the White House on July 22, 2025, in Washington, DC.

Editorial

The age of unfair trade

After all, given that exorbitant new US import tariffs formed the basis for negotiations, the best-case scenario was to maintain the status quo of normal trade.

3 days ago

A clerk serves a customer at the stall of a pharmacy cooperative in Banten’s Serang regency on July 21, 2025, when a massive launch event was held simultaneously in selected regions nationwide to inaugurate more than 80,000 co-ops under President Prabowo Subianto’s Red and White Rural Cooperative (KDMP) initiative.

Editorial

Give cooperatives a chance

The newly launched KDMP initiative must have a strategy as equally grand as its scale to not just revive co-ops, but to lift them so they become an active economic pillar.

5 days ago

People are seen at the square of Garut, West Java, on July 18 after a deadly stampede at a public event to celebrate the wedding of Garut deputy regent Putri Karlina and Maula Akbar, the eldest son of West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi.

Editorial

Casualties of power

Events like the Garut wedding become a political theater, where popularity is mistaken for legitimacy, and where large crowds are not managed but invited for optics.

6 days ago

People put up election campaign posters at the candidate bulletin board July 3, the official campaign kick-off day for the July 20 upper house election, in Tokyo.

Editorial

Prabowo's East Asia outlook

President Prabowo needs to abandon his take-it-for-granted stance on East Asia, which represents Indonesia's top trading partners and investment sources.

1 week ago

Former trade minister and graft convict Thomas Lembong (center) waves to journalists after the verdict hearing against him at the Jakarta Corruption Court in Jakarta on July 18. A panel of judges sentence Lembong to four-and-a-half years in prison and a Rp 750 million (US$45,871) after finding him guilty in a corruption case pertaining to the import of raw sugar.

Editorial

Bitter justice over sugar import

The legal definition of corruption is so broad that it can be stretched, as the court did in this case, to criminalize a government official for making the wrong policy choices.

1 week ago

Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka attends the commemoration of Pancasila Day on June 2, 2025 at the Pancasila Building, a historic hall within the Foreign Ministry's compound, in Jakarta.

Editorial

Gibran’s Papua test

The administration has changed seven times since Papua’s official integration into the Republic in 1969, but the old stories of poverty, marginalization and human rights abuses plaguing the natural resource-rich land have remained the same.

1 week ago

President Prabowo Subianto (right) talks to his ministers on June 23 during a limited cabinet meeting at his private residence in Hambalang, Bogor regency, West Java.

Editorial

Dual jobs, more problems

About 30 of 55 deputy ministers in Prabowo's cabinet have received second jobs as commissioners in state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

1 week ago

A father and child enjoy the sunset on Sept. 6, 2021, at Kuta beach near Denpasar, Bali.

Editorial

In fathers we trust

Paternal presence helps children fare better academically, demonstrate enhanced problem-solving and adaptive skills and improve emotional resilience, creativity and attentiveness in the face of challenges.

1 week ago

Singaporean low-cost carrier Scoot's Embraer E190-E2 regional jet receives the customary water cannon salute on Sept. 28, 2024, at the Kertajati International Airport on its inaugural flight. Scoot flies to Kertajati on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Editorial

Kertajati’s hard lesson

The top-down approach of building a massive airport in the middle of nowhere while hoping economic activity will follow without real strategic effort is doomed to fail.

1 week ago

Rescuers search for missing victims of a ferry accident on July 5 in the waters off the Bali Strait near Jembrana, Bali. Hundreds of rescuers were involved in the search for missing passengers.

Editorial

No more business as usual

Sea transportation accidents remain rampant as vessels are routinely overloaded, aging fleets are poorly maintained and passenger manifests often bear little resemblance to reality.

2 weeks ago

Tariff free: Workers load fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) onto a truck on May 23, 2024, at Sungai Mesjid Port in Dumai, Riau.

Editorial

Prabowo’s EU triumph

The IEU-CEPA is projected to significantly reduce import duties, with up to 80 percent of Indonesian exports to the EU set to enjoy zero tariffs within the first two years of the agreement's implementation.

2 weeks ago

Former coordinating maritime affairs minister Indroyono Soesilo (center), who is touted to be the next Indonesian ambassador to the United States, leave the House of Representatives Commission I meeting room at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta after attending a confirmation hearing for ambassadorial candidates nominated by President Prabowo Subianto on July 5.

Editorial

Envoys matter

Diplomacy under the Trump administration requires grit and resolve and we are not that sure if and when Indroyono is confirmed, he will bring much to the table.

2 weeks ago

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim delivers a speech on July 9 during the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Editorial

Beyond ASEAN centrality

A lack of unity may be what is wrong with ASEAN today

2 weeks ago

Residents walk through floodwater in South Tangerang, Banten, on July 8, 2025. Heavy rainfall on Monday triggered flooding in several parts of Jakarta and its surrounding areas, including South Tangerang.

Editorial

Rainy days in July

The unseasonal heavy rains and the hydrometeorological disasters that followed were just more evidence that the climate crisis is real and affecting our lives.

2 weeks ago

President Prabowo Subianto (left) and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva listen to their national anthems on July 9, 2025, during a welcome ceremony at Planalto Palace in Brasilia.

Editorial

Prabowo’s diplomatic temptation

Prabowo should adhere to Indonesia's constitutional mandate of a "free and active" foreign policy and exercise caution and wisdom.

2 weeks ago

Trucks haul freight on Feb. 26 at the container terminal of Batu Ampar Port on Batam Island, Riau Islands province.

Editorial

RI cannot solve US deficit

Washington needs to entice Indonesian investors to their country, but the threatening tone is likely to achieve the opposite.

3 weeks ago

Wooden boats used by residents of the remote Pulo Aceh district to cross to Banda Aceh in mainland Sumatra are seen on June 26 in Aceh Besar, Aceh.

Editorial

Small islands, big issue

The illegal sale of small islands is not always a matter of regulatory loopholes, but rather the result of a lack of awareness or even outright ignorance among locals as well as the government.

3 weeks ago

A sign for sovereign wealth fund Danantara Indonesia is seen in front of its headquarters in Jakarta on Feb. 28.

Editorial

Quick-handed Danantara

Danantara was not created just to hand out lifelines, it was established to generate long-term returns for the country.

3 weeks ago

Attendees stand at the entrance to the BRICS Business Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 5.

Editorial

Not just another ‘BRICS’ in the wall

We should take this as recognition of Indonesia’s position as a middle power, and hence its clout in influencing global development.

3 weeks ago

Treacherous descent: Rescue workers on June 23 attempt to evacuate Juliana Marins, a Brazilian national who fell into a ravine on Mount Rinjani, Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara, after going missing on June 21.

Editorial

Climbing should never kill

In the aftermath of the Rinjani tragedy, many hikers have criticized Indonesia’s tourism system for prioritizing commercial interests over the safety of its visitors.

3 weeks ago

People check candidates before casting their ballots during the 2024 regional head elections in Banda Aceh, Aceh, on Nov. 27, 2024.

Editorial

Reforming the electoral system

The Constitutional Court’s recent ruling that splits national and regional elections starting in 2029 comes as a relief.

3 weeks ago

President Prabowo Subianto (right) shakes hands with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during a press conference following a bilateral meeting at the Merdeka Palace, in Jakarta, on June 27.

Editorial

The RCEP summit matters

An RCEP summit is critical now more than ever, as the global economic landscape is increasingly fragmented and marked by rising protectionism and inward-looking trends.

4 weeks ago

A girl stands in the wake of a ‘bajaj’ on June 25, 2025, as its driver plows through a flooded street in Muara Angke, North Jakarta.

Editorial

To rescue or abandon Java?

The lessons of the previous administration's IKN megaproject do not bode well for the revived "Giant Sea Wall" project, which could find itself and the coastal communities it is supposed to protect at sea, even before it breaks ground.

4 weeks ago

Officers prepare free meals on Wednesday at a Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG) in Palmerah, Jakarta. The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) emphasized that there had never been a policy to distribute raw ingredients or snacks as part of the program.

Editorial

Fixing the free meals program

The month-long school holiday is the perfect time for the government to evaluate what is not working with the free nutritious meal program.

1 month ago

Visitors look at a mock up of a “mini“ subsidized house measuring 14 square meters on June 12, in Jakarta.

Editorial

Homes unbought or unbuilt

If the properties are too expensive, they will not be bought, but if they are too inexpensive, they will not be built.

1 month ago

Remote work: A civil servant works during his in-office shift at the Riau Communication, Information and Statistics Agency in Pekanbaru on April 20, 2020, as his colleagues work from home.

Editorial

Remote work? Not now

For a civil service often criticized for its slow pace and a traditional emphasis on physical presence, transitioning to a less supervised environment could exacerbate existing inefficiencies.

1 month ago