
Why Prabowo’s misguided ‘austerity’ is emblematic of his free-wheeling economic policy
Analysis, EconomyThe Prabowo Subianto administration begins 2025 with a massive Rp 306 trillion fiscal spending cut, representing over 8% of this year’s state budget, delivered by Presidential instruction 1/2025.

Prabowo’s 100 days in office: more grandstanding, less policymaking?
Analysis, PoliticsThe president needs a reality check — how did he fare, really, in his first 100 days?

Unpaid incentives: Reform of Indonesia’s higher education system long overdue
Analysis, EducationThe controversy over the government’s refusal to pay civil servant lecturers their overdue performance allowance (tunjangan kinerja, or tukin) — which they are legally entitled to —certainly highlights the vulnerability of academic jobs in Indonesia. But it also exposes how politics and bureaucracy are undermining real reform of the country’s higher education system.

Prabowo’s myth of ‘polite democracy’
Analysis, PoliticsThe reproduction of cultural narratives and myths, such as the ideal of a harmonious village, often serves to maintain the existing power hierarchy. The new administration’s emphasis on similar narratives, now presented as ‘polite democracy’, warrants caution because it can be easily abused to silence critics and suppress opposition.

The revival of hip-dut: The dangdut genre that makes Gen-Z hips move
Analysis, ArtsWhile hip-dut is not an entirely new genre (it is part of a long history of dangdut), the song’s release is, without doubt, a landmark moment in Indonesia’s music scene.

Big Brother is watching: Prabowo government tightens control of cyberspace with new digital monitoring agency
Analysis, Cyberspace, Policies, SecurityIn October, Communication and Digital (Komdigi) Minister Meutya Hafid told reporters that President Prabowo Subianto wanted to upgrade the nation’s digital oversight for security reasons. The president, the minister said, was paying special attention to digitalisation, specifically digital security, to address issues such as online gambling, predatory online lending schemes, and human trafficking.
‘Mysterious’ bamboo fence off Tangerang coast spotlights uneven urban development
Analysis, Policies, SocietyThe Tangerang bamboo sea fence has sparked public controversy. For weeks, the public were left in the dark over the identity of the parties responsible. Who erected this 6 meter-high sea fence in the Java Sea? And why?
Will Anies and Ahok join forces to challenge the Jokowi-Prabowo alliance?
Analysis, PoliticsWhile it is hard to predict whether Ahok and Anies’ reconciliation was genuine, it certainly reflects changing elite configurations in Indonesian politics after the 2024 presidential election. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is now serving as the only opposition party to the Jokowi-backed Prabowo Subianto government, and so Ahok, a PDI-P member, now finds himself in the same boat as his former enemy, Anies, a key political enemy of both Jokowi and Prabowo.
A surprise victory for democracy? Why the Constitutional Court scrapped the presidential nominations threshold
Analysis, ElectionsThe Constitutional Court’s new ruling is a welcome respite amidst political doom and gloom in the country following the election of Presidential Prabowo Subianto last year, with many fearing he hopes to unravel Indonesia’s democratic system.