TheJakartaPost

Govt shifts to results-based village funds mechanism

The government is making improvements to the village funds by transforming it into a results- and performance-based program. ...

3 years ago

Years of living dangerously

Without the IMF’s intervention, it would have been much more difficult for the nation to force Soeharto to step down and embark on historic political reforms to bring democracy back to life. ...

3 years ago

The Latest

New face: The tsunami memorial (center) in Banda Aceh is seen on Dec. 12, 2019 ahead of the 15th anniversary of the disaster that claimed more than 220,000 lives across Indian Ocean countries on Dec. 26, 2004.

We have an opportunity post-COVID to rebuild sustainably

The international community has to work together to help communities better prepare to withstand and recover from disasters.

3 years ago

Shopping time: A buyer seen in the mirror examine products of micro, small and medium enterprises exhibited in Werdhi Budaya Art Centre in Denpasar, Bali on May 13. The event was organized by the Finance Ministry and Bank Indonesia to promote Quick Response Code Indonesian cashless payments.

A rural micro-enterprise road to embrace the digital economy

Despite the willingness to go digital, many enterprises lack the capacities and skills to effectively use digital platforms to transact online.

3 years ago

G20 needs to talk about economic espionage, again

Indonesia has the perfect opportunity this year to revisit the issue of economic espionage at the premier international forum.

3 years ago

A Halim Iskandar, Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister

Insight: Village SDGs data provide ease of determining the direction of village development

There is no denying that Law No. 6, 2014 on villages has opened the door for development

3 years ago

Contactless spree: People use their gadgets to shop online on April 27, 2021 in Jakarta. The Cooperatives and Small and Middle Enterprises (SMEs) Ministry recorded a 26 percent rise in online transactions last year to 3.1 million for SMEs, primarily driven by consumers’ shift to digital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Policy reform needed to exploit ASEAN e-commerce deal

Now that ASEAN has signed a deal on cross-border e-commerce, the government needs to reevaluate its policies so both consumers and producers, as well as the economy, can benefit.

3 years ago

Joint search and rescue personnel search for landslide victims in Cimanggung district, Sumedang regency, West Java on Jan. 11. A series of landslides occurring in the district claims the lives of at least 19 people, including several rescuers who are evacuating people already buried in a landslide.

Strengthening disaster management for a sustainable future

In fragile and conflict contexts, recovery should foster social cohesion through decisions based on consensus and equitable access to resources by all ethnic groups.

3 years ago

President Joko Widodo (center) walks with then-Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right) and opposition leader Anthony Albanese (left) while attend an official luncheon on Feb. 10, 2020 in the Great Hall at Parliament House in Canberra.

G'day Anthony, g'bye Scott

We look forward to welcoming Australia's newly elected prime minister, with hopes of continued cordiality and perhaps even a shift in Indonesia's climate stance.

3 years ago

Myanmar junta military soldiers parade during a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the country's Union Day in Naypyidaw on Feb. 12, 2022.

Normalizing Myanmar junta: Has ASEAN self-destructed?

As next year's chair, Indonesia should start preparing now on how it can extricate ASEAN from a trap of its own making regarding the Myanmar crisis.

3 years ago

Face-to-face: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo holds a bilateral meeting with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, on March 31.

PNG and Indonesia: Pursuing alternatives yet overlooking shared concerns

For Indonesia, PNG does not present many challenges except for traditional cross-border crimes, such as illegal trading, illegal trespassing and drug smuggling.

3 years ago

President Soeharto reads his statement of resignation at Merdeka Palace while Vice President B.J. Habibie (second left) listens. Soeharto transferred power to Habibie on May 21, 1998.

24 years ago, Soeharto resigned. He remains a parrot’s president

The New Order regime is over, but these days we are facing the possibility of a much subtler form of dictator.

3 years ago

Every vote counts: A screen shows partial Philippine election results for then-presidential candidate Ferdinand

Philippine election: US lost the plot, China misread ‘mahal kita’

The Philippines, not unlike the rest of the world, will confront the specter of five Fs. The prices of food, fuel, fertilizer, farmhands and baby formula will be ticking northward.

3 years ago

Lest we forget: Women beat traditional drums babadok as they return from an event in June 2019 to observe a massacre that took place in 1980 in Marabia, a village outside of Dili.

Indonesia-Timor-Leste relations: Good neighbors and unfinished business

Twenty years after the referendum that led to the establishment of Timor-Leste, the survivors of sexual violence and child separation continue to suffer from the effects of past atrocities and pervasive culture of victim blaming.

3 years ago

A student walks through a diorama on May 20, 2019 at the National Awakening Museum in Jakarta. Indonesia marks National Awakening Day on May 20 each year to commemorate the 1908 establishment of youth organization Boedi Oetomo, which marked the beginning of the independence movement.

Awakening Day: Indonesia in the mirror of Ukraine [Part 2]

The most important thing for ordinary Indonesians was to survive, to cling to life. “A good government is one that kills less” has been their motto.

3 years ago

India's Kidambi Srikanth hits a return against Indonesia's Jonatan Christie during the men's finals of the Thomas and Uber Cup badminton tournament in Bangkok on May 15.

Down but not out

The badminton world has for too long fallen under the domination of a few.

3 years ago

Precious asset: A forest area near Mount Meratus in South Kalimantan is seen from Hinas Kanan village on Nov. 25. The local forestry authorities have admitted to losing 30,000 hectares of forest to mining and plantation industries in the last three years.

How can Indonesia improve REDD+ to stop deforestation?

Indonesia’s REDD+ program triggered an improvement in the country forest policies, yet it still struggles to meet the intended ‘transformational change’.

3 years ago

Never forget: A student walks past May 12 Reformation Park in Grogol, West Jakarta, on Wednesday. The park was built in memory of four students who were killed in a protest demanding reform in May 1998, when riots also took place targeting people of Chinese descent.

24 years on, can we agree to realize a violence-free Indonesia?

There are, indeed, constant tensions between the youths aspiring for a change and the grown-ups aiming to preserve the status quo in Indonesian human rights history.

3 years ago

US President Joe Biden participates in the US-ASEAN Special Summit at the US State Department in Washington on May 13.

Imagining a comprehensive US-ASEAN partnership

The vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific should also be delivered through soft partnerships rather than only through the lens of defense and security.

3 years ago

Indonesian Navy Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Agung Prasetiawan (left) inspects a container filled with cooking oil at the port of Belawan in Medan, North Sumatra, which was going to be shipped to Malaysia, on May 6.

Palm oil export ban revoked

The problem is that Indonesia, as the world’s largest producer, only consumes about one-third of its crude palm oil production, which last year totaled over 47 million tons.

3 years ago

Spotify’s data grab moves listeners to the music

The power of platforms to suggest content we may like is a boon for convenience, but secrecy around data collection raises troubling questions.

3 years ago

Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli activists from the Combatants for Peace movement carry posters during a gathering in honor of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank biblical city of Bethlehem on May 12.

Heartless Israel

Israel will find justification for its gross violence and the US will readily act as an excellent bodyguard for its “master” Israel.

3 years ago

Rice stock: Porters carry bags of rice at a warehouse run by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) in Kelapa Gading, Jakarta, on Nov. 23, 2020.

No rice, no bread, no peace: Food security is a national security

The big question is whether the shortfall of rice that needs to come from Thailand and Vietnam will be available next year or not.

3 years ago

United States President Joe Biden (center) and ASEAN leaders pose for a group photo on May 12, 2022 during the US-ASEAN Special Summit on the White House South Lawn in Washington, D.C.

ASEAN-US: On the same page, but not in the same boat on Indo-Pacific

While the US and ASEAN share many commonalities in their views on the Indo-Pacific, where they differ is in their stance and approach to China.

3 years ago

A man casts a fishing line into the swollen Brisbane River in Brisbane on February 28, 2022, following heavy rains and nearby flooding.

Climate change: More disasters or more data?

You would think that the UN would know better especially when its top bureaucrats are using language that sounds like Armageddon is here.

3 years ago

'Tears of the Sirens', to be found in the largest polluted area of the Northern Pacific Ocean, each year at least eight million tons of plastic are thrown into the oceans, here is what many fish sorts mistake for plankton. Finally this is what also enters into the human food cycle.

Time to stop the decline of the ocean’s health

We currently dump 11 million metric tons of plastic into the ocean each year and are projected to double that figure by 2030, tripling it by 2050.

3 years ago

Strong contributions: People with disabilities work at a cloth mask factory in Meruya, West Jakarta, on April 17, 2020. The 2016 Law on People with Disabilities requires companies to reserve 1 percent of work positions for people with disabilities.

Job opportunities for disabled people: A mission impossible?

The manpower minister said 5,825 people with disabilities were currently employed in the public and private sectors, out of a total of 16.5 million people with disabilities.

3 years ago

Don't repeat mistakes

The coronavirus and its variants — whether they are as deadly as the Delta or as contagious as Omicron — should have taught the government about how to prepare, detect and respond to any emerging diseases.

3 years ago