Principals for Sekolah Rakyat attend the opening ceremony of a five-day retreat organized by the Social Affairs Ministry at its training center in South Jakarta on June 17, 2025.

Sekolah Rakyat and our collective commitment

Many Sekolah Rakyat campuses rely on educators transferred from other public schools, potentially exacerbating shortages elsewhere.

5 hours ago

Academia premium

Rethinking Sekolah Rakyat: The case for a decolonial pedagogy

Many children choose to scavenge or perform on the streets instead of studying at school, as these activities offer immediate financial returns compared with the delayed benefits of government assistance ...

6 hours ago

Academia premium

Why markets may soon call Trump's tariff bluff

If markets become desensitized to Trump’s tariff threats, they may no longer serve as an effective check on potentially harmful policies. ...

2 hours ago

The Latest

A customer scans a Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS) code on July 7, 2024, to settle a transaction at Imah Kopi coffee shop in Gunung Karang, Pandeglang regency, Banten.

Academia premium

How consumer rights are protected in financial transactions

The critical role of consent in financial transactions and how Indonesian regulations are working to protect consumers are pressing issues in the increasingly digital world.

4 hours ago

Former education, culture, research and technology minister Nadiem Makarim (center) walks with his lawyer Hotman Paris (right) upon arriving for an interrogation at the Attorney General's Office (AGO) headquarters in Jakarta on July 15, 2025. Investigators questioned the former minister as a witness in a corruption case pertaining to the procurement of Chromebook laptops in the then-education ministry.

Academia premium

Fall of a tech darling: Nadiem and the Chromebook graft scandal

Nadiem Makarim was supposed to be different. As the founder of Gojek, he embodied the promise of a new kind of leader, one shaped not by bureaucracy, but by Silicon Valley’s disruptive spirit.

1 day ago

A trader monitors the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) Composite index on April 8 in South Tangerang, Banten.

Academia premium

Global banking rules are failing emerging markets

Building resilient and sustainable economies will require transformational investments across the developing world in infrastructure, technology, health and education.

1 day ago

Cranes manage a cargo of logs on May 22, 2024, at Tanjung Emas Port in Semarang, Central Java.

Academia premium

US–Indonesia deal: Cooperation or exploitation?

2024 trade data shows Indonesia’s top exports to the US remain concentrated in sectors particularly vulnerable to Washington’s protectionist impulses.

1 day ago

Shifting tides: The United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary David Lammy, United States President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (from left to right) attend the start of a NATO leaders summit on June 25 in The Hague, Netherlands

Academia

Ishiba’s NATO absence a strategic misstep

Shigeru Ishiba’s decision not to personally attend represents a missed opportunity to strengthen ties with Europe at a time when Japan's strategic thinking is increasingly turning toward this region.

1 day ago

Back in business: Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) tellers count United States dollar banknotes at the bank’s branch office on Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta on May 11, 2023. The management said the bank had resumed operations after hackers allegedly stole customers’ personal data recently.

Academia premium

Can ethical business mandates boost Indonesia's digital economy?

As data and technology expand access to goods and services, lawmakers and regulators must ensure it will deliver long-term well-being and not just short-term profits.

1 day ago

Prepared for the future?: People are seen on top of a military vehicle during a parade on Oct. 5, 2024, held as part of celebrations marking the 79th anniversary of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in front of the National Monument (Monas) at Merdeka Square in Jakarta.

Academia

Indonesia is out of step with global arms race

In a world rearming rapidly amid rising geopolitical tensions, Indonesia’s restrained defense spending and fragmented military modernization efforts raise questions about its readiness.

1 day ago

Home sweet home: Migrant workers arrive at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, Banten, in the early hours of Jan. 12, 2025, following their deportation from Saudi Arabia for violating immigration procedures.

Academia

Empowering workers: The future of Saudi-Indonesian labor cooperation

With approximately 850,000 Indonesian citizens already living and working in Saudi Arabia, the labor market collaboration between the nations remains a cornerstone of economic and social partnership.

3 days ago

Academia

When no one leads, everyone loses: Breaking stalemate in industrial decarbonization

“We are not only responsible for what we do, but also for what we do not do” – Moliére

1 day ago

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

Academia premium

Strength through trust, growth through cooperation: Indonesia, Australia on global stage

Indonesia and Australia need to stay focused on the long-term foundations of growth: productivity, fiscal sustainability and resilience.

3 days ago

Sea defense: People walk near the sea wall built along Muara Baru port in North Jakarta on Feb. 5, 2025.

Academia premium

Java’s 'giant' seawall: A question of necessity

While Java is often associated with giantism, considering contemporary alternatives such as nature-based solutions and sustainable flood management is a far wiser course toward the islands future, rather than rushing headlong into the recently revived "Giant Sea Wall" project of the mid-1990s.

3 days ago

Photo talks: A photographer presents his pictures during a discussion at Antara Heritage Center in Central Jakarta on July 11, 2025.

Academia premium

Freedom of panorama: How to keep public spaces truly public

In today's digital world, copyright can be unknowingly infringed through user generated content featuring protected works.

3 days ago

President Prabowo Subianto (right) drives a golf cart with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after a joint press conference at the State Palace in Jakarta on May 15, 2025.

Academia

Indonesia and Australia’s shared regional futures

The ties between Australia and Southeast Asia, and particularly Indonesia, are growing deeper and more strategic by the day.

3 days ago

Using a rubber-tired gantry crane, port workers load export-bound containers onto a vessel flying the Portuguese flag on June 24 at the Tanjung Mas port in Semarang.

Academia premium

Indonesia’s trade deal with the US needs ASEAN and more

Bilateral deals may offer tactical wins, but durable stability will come from joint rules, shared mechanisms and sustained regional coordination.

4 days ago

New graduates celebrate on May 29, 2025, during their commencement ceremony at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Academia premium

The Sino-American battle for brains

Beijing's ongoing efforts to develop and deliver quality higher education and Washington's assaults on universities and international students could leave long-lasting, far-reaching impacts beyond the lecture hall vis-à-vis the great power rivalry between the two countries.

4 days ago

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati delivers a speech on Sept. 3, 2024, during a House of Representatives plenary session at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta.

Academia premium

The silent threat to Indonesia’s budget sustainability

The seemingly positive fiscal trajectory hides a deeper vulnerability: the growing burden of debt servicing, which is steadily consuming a significant portion of the government’s revenue and narrowing its fiscal space.

4 days ago

A technician helps a man put on a prosthetic limb donated by the government to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Dec. 3, 2024, in Banda Aceh, Aceh.

Academia

How can inclusion work if it leaves people out?

With the rise of digital financial services, people with disabilities face challenges and gaps when they attempt to access financial products.

4 days ago

A visitor looks at the chassis of an electric vehicle (EV) on July 18 at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show 2024 in Tangerang, Banten.

Academia premium

Sodium batteries: The second chance we shouldn’t miss

The government's tunnel vision as regards our vast nickel reserves vis-à-vis the country's EV ecosystem development is blinding it to an equally efficient, effective and more eco-friendly energy alternative that is beginning to gain global ground: sodium-ion batteries.

4 days ago

President Prabowo Subianto (left) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announce the 'political agreement' of the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) on July 14 in Brussels.

Academia

Europe and Southeast Asia champion multipolar global order

More opportunities are needed for ASEAN and the EU to engage in strategic discussions on common interests, ranging from trade and climate action to the complex situation in the South China Sea.

4 days ago

Strategic cooperation: French President Emmanuel Macron (fourth left), his wife Brigitte Macron (fifth right), President Prabowo Subianto (third left), Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (fourth right) and members of the French government attend the annual Bastille Day military parade on Monday at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

Academia premium

Guns, goals and growth: Indonesia, France boost defense ties

In the wake of global tensions, Indonesia must be able to enhance its independence and long-term resilience, which can be achieved through partnerships with major powers like France.

5 days ago

United States President Donald Trump addresses the nation, alongside US Vice President JD Vance (left), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (second right) and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth from the White House in Washington, DC on June 21, following the announcement that the US bombed nuclear sites in Iran.

Academia

The ever-evolving 'Trump doctrine' and the fight for US strategy

There is growing divisions within the administration over the future use of US military force.

5 days ago

President Prabowo Subianto (left) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (right) announce the "political agreement" of the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) on July 14 in Brussels, Belgium.

Academia premium

Indonesia–EU CEPA: A strategic leap toward global trade leadership

By investing in green infrastructure, renewable energy and eco-friendly production as a consequence of the IEU-CEPA, Indonesia can transform its economy while meeting global expectations.

5 days ago

A welder works on July 15, 2025, at a steel structure fabrication factory in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, East China.

Academia premium

Demystifying China’s manufacturing success

The vast expanse that is China is a significant part of how it achieved technological success at such low prices, but this achievement is also linked to the delivery of high-quality education, encouragement of local-foreign ventures as well as the nurture of horizontal domestic competition.

5 days ago

Biofuel researcher Dibyo Pranowo stands in front of the prototype of a biodiesel reactor he invented as he shows drupes (left) and kernels of ‘kemiri sunan’ (Sunan candlenut) on Jan. 16, 2019, at the Agriculture Ministry’s research center in Sukabumi, West Java.

Academia premium

Research priorities and belated awareness

Indonesia's academic culture needs to grow up and fly the coop, as it were, by adapting proven frameworks and methodologies and implementing an evidenced-approach that matches our local contexts to establish our own research ecosystem; one that is free from overdependence on external validation.

5 days ago

A researcher shows mosquitoes collected at a research center in Yogyakarta in this photo released on June 10, 2021, by the World Mosquito Program.

Academia premium

Hiring rebels as an option for downstreaming research

"Rebel" researchers, those who resist regulation and constantly push themselves beyond limits, have proved to stimulate world-class innovations.

5 days ago

A woman walks past a candidate list at a polling station during a revote in Surabaya, East Java on Feb. 24, 2024, following logistical problems which affected some ten polling stations across the city during the Feb. 14 presidential and legislative elections.

Academia premium

Making space for electoral innovation to realize democracy

Electoral regulations should impact the reform of representational and accountability systems, improve the quality of public deliberation and increase access to information.

6 days ago