OPINION

IO - When Jokowi first appeared on the national scene as a presidential candidate, his profile as an outsider and fresh face in politics were assets with an electorate tired of elitism.   His promises...

IO - Recently, another tawuran or student’s mob fighting occurred in Jabodetabek, causing yet another useless loss of life. Tawuran is a sadly frequent reality here in our country. According to Indonesia’s Commission of Child...

IO - This is a response to the questions asked regarding the vastly differing results from presidential election polls. For example, the polling from ILC-TV One which was very transparent and participated in by...

The Financial Times of July 26 came up with an encouraging headline, “US and EU declare ceasefire in their trade war”. However, its editorial referred to the agreement between European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker...

IO - Earlier this year I wrote a column about the decline of liberalism.  How serious a decline? According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, which publishes an annual index on democracy, last year was...

IO - Eric Posner, an American law professor at the University of Chicago Law School, is part of a growing pool of scholars studying the steady decline of democracy, not only in the United...

IO - I was born and raised in a small and tranquil village not far away from the Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park, in Jambi, Indonesia. My morning bathing rituals in the longest river...

IO - The Indonesian Statistics (Badan Pusat Statistik – “BPS”) recently released an interesting data that many welcomes: the Government’s success in reducing the percentage of poor residents to a single digit. As an...

IO - Negative impressions about foreign companies in Indonesia never waver – they even tend to worsen every day. One of the companies whose positive side is nearly never reported is Freeport Indonesia –...

IO - Last week, after more than a year of wrangling and heated negotiations, Freeport McMoRan Inc. inked a heads of agreement with the Government of Indonesia’s state-owned mining holding company, Inalum, on the...

IO – There is an odd disconnect in the mainstream media about Indonesia’s elections.   International surveys and opinion polls show Indonesia’s reputation is badly tarnished by corruption in its political bodies and business community.  Yet when...