The New Cold War: Just a Rerun or Enlightened US Foreign Policy?
IO - A little over 75 years ago, the American diplomat George Kennan penned the famous Long Telegram. Based in Moscow, Kennan sat at his desk in the US Embsssy on a...
High Speed Rail: Getting Back on Track
IO - The wise Benjamin Franklin had warned us: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” How true, especially when it comes to multi-million Dollars’ worth of High Speed...
Worsening Inequality and Pro-Investor Policies
IO - Expenditure inequality, described by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) as a Gini ratio, has increased from 0.381 (March 2020) to 0.384 (March 2021). In urban areas, this has spiked from 0.392 (March...
Nine million poor people will be expelled from the JKN program
IO - A decree regarding the Stipulation of Non-Contributory Health Insurance Benefciaries (Kepmensos No. 92/HUK/2021) was issued by SocialAffairs Minister Tri Rismaharini on Sep 15. 2021. In the First Dictum, it is...
Defense Minister’s breakthrough to modernize the country’s Alpalhankam
IO - The currently-circulating Presidential Regulation draft on the fulfillment of Indonesia’s defense equipment and security tools (alpalhankam) need for the 2020-2044 period has been misunderstood in many ways. Many commentators quickly...
Tax Amnesty II is useless; tax capital gains and inheritance
IO - The Government’s plan to implement a tax amnesty for the second time around is simply illogical. There are two reasons for this: First, Tax Amnesty I in 2016-2017 clearly failed....
The fate of Indonesia’s airlines amid the pandemic
IO - To quote various news sources published throughout 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the bankruptcy of scores of airlines worldwide. The list of bankruptcies includes names such as Air Italy;...
Reviewing the costs of Cooperative Vaccination
IO - Vaccination is a necessary move to generate herd immunity among the people so that we can obstruct COVID-19 infection, reduce the number of people suffering from COVID-19, and ensure that...
Alutsista modernization: Overcoming budget limitations with a masterplan
IO - Indonesia is an archipelagic state comprising a long stretch of islands, plus sea and air spaces of similar size. Although geopolitically Indonesia is seen as having a strategic position, its...
The importance of the National Space Agency
IO - If we discuss a vision of space, we cannot avoid talking about two essential institutions, the Aviation Council and the National Aviation and Space Agency (Lembaga Aviation dan Aeronautics Nasional...
