Three years after the first case of COVID-19 we look at how it has changed our lives in Asia and what will stick with us even after the pandemic subsides.

Work hard, and your efforts will be rewarded. At least, that’s what was promised anyway.

Once the world’s second-biggest producer of sugar, Indonesia’s love affair with this commodity is bittersweet.

How should we define 2020? Perhaps one will remember it as a time of struggling to stay sane at home, having one’s salary cut, scrambling to find a new job, getting infected with COVID-19 or losing loved ones (the virus has claimed 1.65 million lives globally, with more than 19,200 deaths recorded in Indonesia).

How should we define 2020? Perhaps one will remember it as a time of struggling to stay sane at home, having one’s salary cut, scrambling to find a new job, getting infected with COVID-19 or losing loved ones (the virus has claimed 1.65 million lives globally, with more than 19,200 deaths recorded in Indonesia).

The rate at which the country is losing farmers is a cause for concern. If it continues, Indonesia is likely to have no farmers left in 50 years. What will we eat?

Do you ever count the amount of waste you produce? Greater Jakarta, with more than 30 million people, sends more than 14,000 tons of waste to eight landfills every day.

At a certain point in life, one may consider acquiring branded goods for many reasons. For those who have seen the finer things in life, the desire to own a luxury item might naturally surface as they become accustomed to appreciating good craftsmanship, high quality materials and good designs, among other things.

Millennials.All over the world, the term millennial – which Statistics Indonesia (BPS) defines as those born between 1980 and 2000 – elicits sighs and eye-rolls, conjuring up images of avocado toast, coworking spaces and hoverboards.

In an alternate universe, you are anIndonesian woman who is sexually abusedby your husband.You’ve had enough.You want to run away and seek help. You decide to…

In Wamena in Papua’s Jayawijaya regency there is a customary belief that women and children are innocent, that’s why the men have to protect them. “Humi yukurugi wene inyokodek,” said Dominikus Surabut, head of the customary council of La Pago. But if women and children become victims, he said, the men are going to fight in the afternoon and evening. “Inyawim hiam-hiam ninane uok...,” Dominikus went on.

The country only recently held its general elections in April. This year’s political event, which saw for the first time the presidential election held simultaneously along with the multitier legislative elections, has had an impact on the results of the elections, including the sustainability of the political parties contesting them. The Jakarta Post’s Fachrul Sidiq, Ghina Ghaliya Quddus and Imanuddin Razak have analyzed and presented the facts in today’s Special Report.

The rapid increase in the number of air passengers in the past few years has demanded a substantial increase in air transportation infrastructure such as airports, particularly those serving domestic routes and destinations. In response, the government has been ambitiously developing 15 new airports under the 2015-2019 national medium-term development program (RPJMN) and is planning to develop 12 more in the 2020- 2024 RPJMN. The Jakarta Post’s Riza Roidila Mufti, Fachrul Sidiq and Imanuddin Razak take a close look at the issue.

Talks over the next state leadership have started to take up a significant portion of national media platforms, even though the presidential election was only less than three months ago, and the elected pair for the next five years has not even been inaugurated. Above all the widely tipped traits of an expected victorious candidate, young age is apparently the subject of the discourse. The Jakarta Post’s Fachrul Sidiq, Novan Iman Santosa, Imanuddin Razak and Semarang correspondent Suherdjoko take a closer look at the issue.

Long before skyscrapers become ubiquitous in Jakarta, the spirit of living life to the fullest has been apparent in certain corners of the capital. Individuals who live out their passion and are adept at spotting golden opportunities have become pioneers in establishing distinctive businesses, setting the standards for the lifestyle needs of Jakarta residents.

East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Governor Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat has on several occasions proposed for the temporary closure of Komodo National Park and eventual handover of its management to the provincial administration. The Jakarta Post’s correspondent, Markus Makur, takes a closer look at the issue and presents his findings in this Special Report.

The Living-in Experience, an internship program for less fortunate residents of Greater Jakarta, is part of the Recruitment & Training System for young reporters of The Jakarta Post. Below are personal accounts of those who recently took part in the three-day-and-two-night internship programs in Kampung Akuarium, Penjaringan district, North Jakarta; in Klender, East Jakarta and in Marunda, North Jakarta. 

The Living-in Experience, an internship program for less fortunate residents of Greater Jakarta, is part of the Recruitment & Training System for young reporters of The Jakarta Post. Below are personal accounts of those who recently took part in the three-day-and-two-night internship programs in Kampung Akuarium, Penjaringan district, North Jakarta; in Klender, East Jakarta and in Marunda, North Jakarta.

Former mayor Rusdy Mastura remains lost in thought about the great loss of human lives — 2,000 deaths and 5,000 missing souls — in the wake of the Sept. 28 quake in Central Sulawesi that devastated what was his area of jurisdiction, Palu.

The 7.4-magnitude earthquake that wrought devastation in Central Sulawesi on Sept. 28 was a scientific prophecy that came true. Armed with evidence of similar catastrophes in the area more than a century ago, scientists had warned of a potential tectonic calamity years before the monstrous quake struck, triggering a tsunami and land liquefaction.

Group reporting is a writing assignment for candidate journalists of The Jakarta Post. It is part and parcel of a two-month workshop organized for the Post’s cub reporters. A total of six candidates have completed their group reporting and writing assignments. The following are their journalistic products.

Jakarta’s fury over the multi trillion rupiah in garbage disposal fees sought by its neighbor Bekasi should serve as a hard lesson to expedite the capital city’s overdue effort to reform its primitive, costly waste management system, which relies on a single landfill. Our reporters Vela Andapita and Safrin La Batu analyze the prospect of the modern waste treatment facilities Jakarta is soon to build.

Governments have come and gone but none has managed to lead Indonesia, which once prided itself as an agrarian nation, to self-sufficiency in food as it has always aspired. It was only in 1984 under then-president Soeharto that Indonesia made the dream come true before it slid back into the jaws of insufficiency. Presidential candidates Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Prabowo Subianto have both raised the contentious issue on their campaign trails. The Jakarta Post writers Safrin La Batu and Pandaya explore what stands in the way of the country’s effort to end its reliance on food imports.

Still nursing the wounds from recent devastating quakes, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) is rebuilding as tens of thousands of traumatized people are still living in shelters. However, it is feared that bureaucratic procedures that go along with the badly needed relief will hamper efforts to help the survivors rise from the rubble, The Jakarta Post correspondent in Mataram Panca Nugraha reports.

Since its introduction to the Indonesian public in 1968 with the brand “Supermie”, instant noodles have slowly but surely become a significant part of the Indonesian diet. It has been categorized as comfort food, even marketed as an occasional replacement for daily breakfast, lunch or dinner. The word "instant" no longer accurately applies in "emergency cases" such as when time or resources are limited.

A group of Indonesian journalists and scholars recently visited Germany at the invitation of the Goethe Institute Indonesia to obtain first-hand information about Muslim communities in the European country. The Jakarta Post’ writer Safrin La Batu explored the various expressions of Islam there as well as the challenges the communities face as a religious minority in a country that guarantees freedom of faith 

The maleo, a bird endemic to Sulawesi, is on the brink of extinction as a result of poaching and a shrinking habitat. The Jakarta Post’s correspondent in the Central Sulawesi provincial capital of Palu, Ruslan Sangadji, takes a closer look at how land conversion, egg theft and international support may make or break conservation efforts.

Azerbaijan recently invited Indonesian journalists to the country for an update on the latest developments in international efforts to help resolve its territorial conflict with Armenians over Nagorno-Karabakh.The Jakarta Post’s Pandaya, who also interviewed Armenian diplomats in Jakarta, sees growing tensions as the peace negotiations that began in 1994 remain stalled.

Data breaches have become a contentious issue worldwide after Facebook, which has 137 million users in Indonesia, admitted that British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested data of 80 million users. The Jakarta Post’s Safrin La Batu explores challenges and how the government will help protect citizens’ privacy online. 

Farms and plantations’ heavy dependence on pesticides is sounding an alarm on occupational safety in North Sumatra, one of Indonesia’s main oil palm producing regions. Some of the banned active chemical ingredients are widely available on the black market, while workers and farmers are ill-informed about the dangers of agricultural chemicals, reports The Jakarta Post’s local correspondent, Apriadi Gunawan.