Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara speaks at the APBN Kita press conference in Jakarta on Sept. 19, 2026.

Rocking the boat in a storm

As global headwinds mount and leadership wavers, Indonesia's push to scrap its 3 percent deficit cap risks trading hard-won market credibility for reckless spending.

14 hours ago

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Learning first

Indonesia has succeeded in filling its classrooms—now it must protect its budget to ensure its children are actually learning. ...

1 day ago

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Strength begins at home

As fires rage and geopolitical tests loom, Indonesians are waiting for the President to make good on his word: that real strength begins at home. ...

3 days ago

The Latest

Employees arrange fruits and vegetables on Aug. 16, 2019, at the TaniHub distribution center in Kedung Halang, Bogor, West Java.

Editorial

Clean up, but don’t give up

We cannot let fraud scandals blind us to the importance of technological progress, especially in fields like artificial intelligence.

1 year ago

Editorial

Music should not be free

Not only that, for the first time in the history, all albums, singles and EPs, from the biggest masterpieces to the most ephemeral bubblegum pop songs, are now available essentially for free.

1 year ago

A woman chooses clothes to purchase from a street vendor on April 2, 2024, at a traditional market in Jakarta.

Editorial

A startling GDP report

Many would characterize the current state of our economy as neither normal, nor healthy.

1 year ago

A pirate flag from the Japanese anime One Piece is installed on a house on August 7, following an internet trend using the symbol to criticize government policies, in Solo, Central Java.

Editorial

One piece of mind

Rather than acting like an authoritarian regime, the government should have looked into why people are “protesting” with the pirate flag.

1 year ago

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

Editorial

PDI-P is just a symptom

Political parties have become effective tools for the elite—whether civilians, military or business tycoons—to maintain and expand their influence.

1 year ago

Palestinians wait to receive food on August 4 from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip.

Editorial

Speak boldly, Indonesia

President Prabowo Subianto must seize his upcoming address at the United Nations General Assembly next month to make Indonesia’s stance on Palestine unambiguous.

1 year ago

Eroding public trust?: Former trade minister Thomas Lembong waves on Friday as he exits Cipinang Penitentiary in Jakarta.

Editorial

Pardons and power plays

The President's decision could have serious implications not only for the country’s anti-corruption drive but also for the reputation of the judiciary.

1 year ago

Foreign Minister Sugiono delivers his annual foreign policy speech on Jan. 10 at the ministry's office in Jakarta.

Editorial

Protect our diplomats

Details shared by police investigators could point to homicide.

1 year ago

A scavenger ties up used cardboard boxes he salvaged on Feb. 22, 2022, to sell for recycling in Jakarta.

Editorial

Less poverty but little relief

The drop in Indonesia’s poverty rate to yet another historic low should be cause for celebration, but nobody feels in the mood.

1 year ago

A prototype of data center project SMX01 from a joint venture between Sinar Mas digital infrastructure and services company SM+ and Korea Investment Real Asset Management (KIRA) that is set to be completed in the second half of 2026.

Editorial

Data center meltdown

The government must be transparent with the public and local investors about the US deal’s implications, particularly around data storage.

1 year ago

A police officer stands guard on July 28 in front of a Christian prayer house following a violent disruption of religious activities in Padang Sarai, Padang, West Sumatra. A group of residents vandalized the property that belongs to the Indonesian Faithful Christian Church (GKSI) Anugerah Padang on July 27, leading to the arrest of nine individuals.

Editorial

Act more, regret less

The attacks on minority religious groups are manifestations of a broken, biased system that fails to protect the rights of all citizens equally.

1 year ago

Workers of the Dumai Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) strive to put out fires that engulf plantations on March 19, 2024, in Tanjung Sari village, East Dumai district, Dumai, Riau. The fires destroyed about 100 hectares of plantations and peatland in Dumai in four districts—East Dumai, West Dumai, Medang Kampai and Bukit Kapur.

Editorial

Sumatra is burning

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.

1 year 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 year ago

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.

Editorial

ASEAN diplomacy delivers

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

1 year ago

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto exits the courtroom on July 25 after his trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

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 year ago

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.

1 year 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.

1 year 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.

1 year 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 year 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

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 year 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 year 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 year 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 year 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.

1 year 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.

1 year 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.

1 year 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

1 year 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.

1 year ago