The Disposable Couriers
The debate surrounding the death sentence imposed on the Sea Dragon Tarawa crew members should not be reduced to a binary question of guilt or innocence. The more urgent issue lies on whether the punishment imposed is proportionate to the actual role, and whether law enforcement efforts have genuinely reached the main actors behind one of the largest drug smuggling operations in recent years.
Free speech wins in court
The acquittal of a so-called “buzzer boss” and the former news director of Jak TV by the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court this week is more than a personal legal victory. It is a defining moment for free speech in Indonesia’s evolving democracy.
Golkar’s second regent in an OTT
The arrest of Fadia Arafiq in a recent sting operation (OTT) by the Commission for the Eradication of Corruption (KPK) has quickly evolved from a local legal case into a national political signal. With this operation, Fadia became the second Golkar regent to be ensnared in an OTT during President Prabowo Subianto’s administration, following the earlier case of Ardito Wijaya in Lampung Tengah.
Death penalty, due process and the Fandi case
Indonesia’s war on drugs has long been framed as a matter of national survival. With traffickers moving tons of narcotics across maritime borders, the state has consistently defended harsh penalties — including death sentences — as necessary deterrence. Yet the ongoing trial of Fandi Ramadhan, an Indonesian deckhand (ABK) accused of involvement in the smuggling of nearly two tons of methamphetamine aboard the Sea Dragon vessel, raises a more uncomfortable question: Can Indonesia defend the death penalty if due process itself is under scrutiny?
The technical implications of PP Tunas
Government Regulation No. 17/2025, or PP Tunas, has been presented as a long-overdue measure to protect children in digital spaces. With full implementation beginning in March 2026, the regulation introduces obligations for digital platforms to verify user age, restrict access based on risk classification and submit compliance information to regulators. While the objective of child protection is broadly supported, the technical provisions of PP Tunas raise significant legal and trade questions, particularly in light of Indonesia’s recent digital trade commitments under the Agreement toward Reciprocal Trade (ART) with the United States.
Mandatory education spending becomes a budget loophole
The Constitutional Court is now confronting a case that could redefine the meaning of Indonesia’s constitutional commitment to education. A petition challenging Law No. 17/2025 on the 2026 state budget questions whether President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program has been funded by effectively repurposing money meant for education. At stake is not just the legality of one program, but the integrity of a constitutional safeguard designed to protect the nation’s future.
Update on the PDNS corruption case
Nearly a year after the suspects were first named, the case has now entered a more decisive legal phase. Prosecutors have formally demanded prison sentences of up to 10 years for several defendants, including seven years for Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, along with fines and restitution. The prosecution also confirmed that the estimated state losses reached more than Rp140 billion, reinforcing earlier suspicions that the irregularities were not administrative errors but systemic corruption.
The latest on Pertamina corruption case
A watershed moment has arrived in the long-running corruption case tied to Indonesia’s state-owned energy giant, PT Pertamina. In a series of verdicts delivered in late February 2026, a Jakarta Corruption Court has sentenced several key figures in what prosecutors have portrayed as one of the most serious corruption cases in Indonesia’s modern history — not merely for the scale of alleged losses, but for what it reveals about legal accountability in sectors critical to national sovereignty.
A counterattack against constitutional oversight
Indonesia’s constitutional order is being tested again, not through a dramatic courtroom verdict, but through a quieter and potentially more consequential confrontation between the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Constitutional Court’s ethics body, the Majelis Kehormatan Mahkamah Konstitusi (MKMK). The recent report filed against MKMK chairman I Dewa Gede Palguna, coming amid the ethics review surrounding the appointment of Golkar politician Adies Kadir as a constitutional justice, raises troubling questions about whether constitutional oversight itself is becoming a political target.
Update on Chromebook case
Prosecutors have recently stated in court that there is no record of Rp 809 billion flowing directly to Nadiem in the Chromebook procurement case, a clarification that may appear to ease suspicions at the personal level. Yet the absence of direct transfers does not automatically resolve the deeper institutional questions surrounding one of the country’s largest education technology procurements.