Plain packaging and the right to know
Indonesia is once again debating a proposal that would require plain packaging for vape products. The stated objective is familiar: reduce the attractiveness of nicotine products, particularly among young people, by removing logos, colors, and other branding elements from packaging. If a product is considered dangerous enough to lose its brand identity, why is it still legal to sell in the first place?
The curious timing of new debate on civilians in the Police
When National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo recently stated that civilians could occupy certain positions within the Indonesian National Police (Polri), the announcement was presented as a discussion about institutional openness and modernization. Yet the more interesting question is not whether civilians can work in Polri. They already do.
Beyond the acid attack
As Indonesia awaits the verdict in the case of Andrie Yunus, much of the public debate has focused on a single number: the 2.5-year prison sentence sought by military prosecutors for four soldiers accused of carrying out the acid attack against the KontraS activist, Andrie Yunus.
Silmy Karim, a corruption suspect
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has arrested Silmy Karim, vice minister of immigration, as corruption suspect alongside seven other officers. This might be considered a surprise because Silmy is known for close relationship with Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, minister of defense and one of most powerful cabinet members.
Tax first, rules later?
Ambition to expand tax collection from the digital economy is understandable. As more Indonesians pay for streaming subscriptions, cloud services, software licenses, AI platforms, and online games from overseas providers, the government has a legitimate interest in ensuring that value-added tax (VAT) is collected fairly and efficiently.
Pulau Katang controversy
The recent controversy surrounding the online sale advertisement of Pulau Katang in the Riau Islands illustrates how rapidly that shift is happening. A Threads account openly offered the 73-hectare island for Rp65 billion, promoting it as suitable for a “private island,” luxury resort, and exclusive tourism development with easy access to Singapore.
The coming royalty war in AI economy
The government, through the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DJKI), is studying the creation of a collective management organization to collect royalties from AI companies that use copyrighted materials to train their models. The proposal would function similarly to the music royalty system, where businesses pay a central institution that later distributes payments to creators.
The right to forget, or the right to remember?
The adoption of the “right to be forgotten” in the revision of the Human Rights Law has reopened a difficult question: in a democracy, who gets to decide what society deserves to remember?
Human rights without teeth
Indonesia’s proposed revision to the Human Rights Law is officially described as an effort to modernize and strengthen the country’s human rights framework. Yet the growing backlash from activists, academics, and National Commission on Human Rights itself suggests a very different interpretation: the state may be weakening one of the last independent institutions capable of scrutinizing government power.
Satgas PKH’s new ‘acquisitions’
President Prabowo’s Forest Area Enforcement Task Force (Satgas PKH) has recently seized nearly one thousand of hectares from two plantation companies, one controlled by SGX-listed Wilmar International Ltd and the other was previously owned by Malaysia’s Sime Darby Plantation but now linked to one of Indonesian conglomerates, and one coal mining firm.