The mobile clinics, converted from public transport and government vehicles, are equipped with oxygen tanks, medical supplies and health workers to assist communities affected by the haze.

Residents, particularly children , older people and outdoor workers, can receive supplemental oxygen during sessions lasting five to ten minutes.

Health worker Eka Nirmala said patients undergo oxygen saturation and blood pressure checks before receiving treatment, medication and vitamins. “Some have shortness of breath, while others feel weak, tired and exhausted,” she said.

Local resident Fatimah, who suffers from asthma, said the worsening haze had made breathing difficult despite wearing a mask and taking precautions.

Health officials say the mobile clinics are helping ease pressure on hospitals as respiratory illnesses increase across the region.

However, residents and environmental advocates warn that the buses offer only temporary relief and are calling for stronger action against illegal land clearing.

Indonesia regularly experiences forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, but this year's blazes have been described as the worst in more than a decade.

After all, an Indonesian EV powerhouse is more than a distant prospect.

By combining nickel resources, investment incentives and Southeast Asia’s largest domestic automotive market, the country is positioning itself to capture more of the value of electrification, from battery production to vehicle assembly.

Now, the question becomes how far those advantages can take it towards becoming a regional manufacturing hub, or eventually competing with China.

Attractive market

Across West Java, that ambition is becoming visible on factory floors.

South Korea’s Hyundai announced a $1.55 billion investment in 2019 to build its first Indonesian car plant. China’s Wuling, which began manufacturing in the country in 2017, started local EV production in 2022.

Vietnam’s VinFast inaugurated its Subang factory in December 2025, with initial annual capacity of 50,000 vehicles and first-phase investment exceeding $300 million. China’s BYD opened a Subang plant in September 2026 capable of producing 150,000 vehicles annually.

These companies, and more, are competing for the same burgeoning market.

Battery EV wholesales reached 103,931 units in 2025, according to Jessada Thongpak, a senior analyst covering light vehicle production across Southeast Asia at Mobility Global. Indonesia aims to have 2 million electric cars and 13 million electric motorcycles on its roads by 2030.

For manufacturers, however, the attraction extends beyond potential buyers.

“Indonesia’s appeal comes from the combination of a large long-term consumer market domestically, an established manufacturing base and access to battery raw materials,” Thongpak told Global South World.

“Its opportunity is to turn those advantages into deeper component localization and a broader range of export output,” he added.

Government support

Alongside those resources, government support has helped persuade manufacturers to establish production, said Edmund Araga, president of the Asian Federation of Electric Vehicle Associations.

In 2023, it announced a programme covering sales of 200,000 electric motorcycles and 35,900 electric cars, with payments of 7 million rupiah ($385)to producers and retailers for each eligible new motorcycle sold or conventional motorcycle converted to electric power.

In 2024, it introduced luxury-tax relief for qualifying EVs and import-tax exemptions running through 2025. It also extended a reduction in VAT for eligible EV purchases to 1%, from 11%.

In August, officials outlined stimulus covering 500,000 electric motorcycles, following an earlier proposal for a subsidy of 5 million rupiah ($275) per purchase. Support for charging infrastructure has included licensing assistance and financial incentives to encourage investment beyond vehicle assembly.

Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund Danantara said its financial subsidiaries, including state-owned banks, were ready to offer lower-interest loans with longer repayment periods to support the national electric motorcycle programme.

“That’s how they were able to attract Hyundai and Wuling and other manufacturers to build plants — because the incentives they give out are good,” Araga told Global South World.

Stiff regional competition

Those investments strengthen Indonesia’s position, but its regional competitors retain advantages built over decades.

Thailand has deeper supplier networks, stronger engineering capabilities and established export programmes for pickups, pickup-based SUVs and smaller passenger cars. Vietnam offers competitive costs and rapid market growth; Malaysia benefits from good infrastructure and a strong electronics base.

“Thailand is currently the more mature export hub, while Indonesia has the stronger domestic-scale and EV industrialization story,” Thongpak told Global South World.

Indonesia’s domestic demand remains its investment anchor, but exports are increasingly necessary to sustain efficient production.

Its wider automotive industry produced approximately 1.15 million vehicles in 2025 and exported around 518,000 completely built-up units, according to Thongpak. Exports were equivalent to roughly 45% of output, although inventory and timing differences prevent direct reconciliation.

That business remains concentrated among selected manufacturers and models. Meanwhile, approximately 2.59 million units of installed annual capacity imply utilisation of roughly 44% against reported production.

“The greater risk is model-specific overcapacity: production lines for vehicles that cannot achieve domestic scale or secure export allocations,” Thongpak said.

Araga nevertheless sees Indonesia’s domestic market as a foundation for a larger international role. “Why not?” he said when asked whether it could eventually rival China in EV manufacturing.

What’s next?

For now, manufacturers must navigate a market in which electrification is advancing at different speeds.

Thongpak forecasts light vehicle production of 1.27 million units in 2026, supported by recovering demand, local EV manufacturing and exports.

Alongside foreign investment, the government is pursuing its own production ambitions.

The development linked to Prabowo’s homegrown-car plan would initially occupy 60 hectares and produce up to 50,000 vehicles annually. An eventual expansion to 539 hectares would raise capacity to as much as 300,000 vehicles a year.

Indonesia has, in many ways, shown it has what it takes to attract manufacturers to build.

But their next decisions — which models to localise, which components to source domestically and which markets to serve — will determine how much of that investment becomes sustained production.

The operation, led by the National Disaster Management Agency, has focused on areas surrounding Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport, where thick smoke has disrupted flights.

“Over the previous four days, we have achieved quite significant results,” said Colonel Asep Wahyu Wijaya, commander of Sri Mulyono Herlambang Air Base.

Officials reported that visibility improved from as low as 650 metres to approximately 6,000 metres following the operation.

Unlike conventional cloud seeding, which aims to stimulate rainfall, the technique is intended to disrupt atmospheric conditions that trap smoke near the ground.

However, authorities acknowledged that the haze often returns by evening, while experts warned that the operation does not address the fires responsible for the smoke.

The aerial intervention is scheduled to continue until October 25.

Ahead of the event, Danantara has outlined its guiding principles for data centre investment, saying large facilities must bring their own energy supply and use technology to minimise water consumption.

Stefanus Ade Hadiwidjaja, managing director of investment at Danantara Investment Management (DIM), said the organisation wanted to capture AI opportunities while protecting resources needed by industry and local communities.

“Globally, AI is developing rapidly. We are always prudent and cautious in every investment. At the same time, we cannot afford to miss the tremendous opportunities in AI,” he said.

“We welcome incoming investment, but it must be undertaken responsibly. There are at least two important considerations: energy and water.”

For large-scale data centres, Hadiwidjaja said Danantara applies a “BYOE (Bring Your Own Energy)” principle.

“We do not want to disrupt the energy supply currently needed for industrialization and communities,” he said.

“On water, we ensure that every data centre investment uses closed-loop technology to minimise water withdrawal. Wherever possible, we also encourage water treatment systems and desalination.”

Digital infrastructure and AI are among DIM’s investment priorities to support Indonesia’s economic and industrial transformation. Danantara said its assessment of projects also considers commercial feasibility, emissions, network readiness, data security, and environmental and social impacts.

The organisation has said the latest developments in its AI investments will be announced at the forum, which takes place on 3–4 December 2026.

Forum targets $30 billion in investment

Held under the patronage of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, with Danantara Indonesia as a founding partner, the New Asia Forum aims to mobilize US$30 billion in investment across the region.

Organisers expect more than 1,000 global leaders and over 100 speakers to attend more than 40 sessions. The forum will bring together government representatives, sovereign wealth funds , institutional investors, private equity and venture capital firms, banks and multinational companies.

Danantara will participate as a co-investor alongside global partners, with capital commitments and strategic investments due to be announced during the event.

“Danantara Investment Management’s mandate is to attract private and global capital to invest alongside us in Indonesia’s strategic sectors,” said Pandu Sjahrir, Danantara’s chief investment officer.

“At NAF, we will announce capital commitments and strategic investments, while demonstrating that Danantara Indonesia serves as an anchor investor capable of attracting high-quality capital into Indonesia.”

The programme is structured around two stages. The first day, titled “Discovery & Diligence”, will examine investment opportunities, feasibility, risks and financing structures. The second, “Action & Execution”, will focus on transaction terms, capital allocation and partnerships, concluding with presentations of commitments and agreed implementation steps.

Digital infrastructure and AI is one of eight investment sectors covered by the forum, alongside areas including energy, manufacturing, strategic resources and education.

Backed by Indonesia’s sovereign investment fund, Danantara Indonesia, and produced by Richard Attias & Associates, the forum will connect long-term investors with projects, policymakers and potential business partners.

Organisers say the investment target will be pursued through a selected pipeline of investment-ready projects, with discussions focused on securing commitments and advancing transactions. The $30 billion represents a target rather than investment already secured.

Eight sectors will be covered: strategic resources and downstream processing; energy and power; mobility and advanced manufacturing; digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence ; food and agribusiness; trade and connectivity; tourism and the creative economy; and education and human capital.

The forum also plans to track investment commitments and progress across future editions.

Rosan Roeslani, Danantara Indonesia’s chief executive and Indonesia’s investment minister, said the initiative would bring international investors closer to opportunities across the region.

“New Asia Forum brings long-term global capital closer to the opportunities being created across Indonesia and the wider region,” he said.

“As Indonesia’s sovereign investor and a founding partner of the Forum, Danantara Indonesia is inviting partners together to unlock these opportunities for long-term value.”

The launch comes as organisers seek to position Asia as both a destination for investment and a growing source of capital. Danantara’s announcement cited an International Monetary Fund estimate that Asia-Pacific accounted for close to 60 per cent of global economic growth in 2025.

Richard Attias, founder and chairman of Richard Attias & Associates, said the region’s role in international investment was changing.

“For decades, Asia has been viewed primarily as a destination for global capital. That story is changing,” he said.

“The New Asia will not simply attract capital. It will increasingly create it, direct it and determine where it can have the greatest impact.”

That was how Faisal, a resident of Palangka Raya in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province, described the thick smoke covering the city as forest and land fires continue to affect daily life.

The worsening haze has temporarily grounded flights, disrupted school activities and raised serious health concerns, with air pollution reaching Indonesia's highest classification of 'Hazardous' (Berbahaya) on Wednesday.

Dense smoke reduced visibility across Palangka Raya, leaving a bridge barely visible while motorists continued travelling through the city. Children were also seen playing in a park despite the conditions.

For residents like Faisal, staying indoors is not always an option because of the need to earn a living.

"In reality, we are being forced to continue our daily activities as usual. Because if we stop working, we cannot earn a living. We simply cannot afford to do that," he continued.

The city's education department has extended distance learning for preschool, primary and junior secondary pupils from October 15 to 17 as the hazardous air conditions persist.

Health authorities have also reported a growing number of respiratory illnesses linked to the period of worsening air pollution.

Between June and early October, officials recorded 10,240 cases of acute respiratory infection. Emergency oxygen facilities have been established to assist residents experiencing breathing difficulties.

Faisal called for stronger government intervention, arguing that the scale of the fires warranted a national disaster declaration.

"This should already have been declared a national disaster because the situation is extremely severe. Compared to the past few years, this year’s forest fires are the worst. If it is officially declared a national disaster, we hope we can receive assistance from various parties to help tackle this haze problem," added Faisal.

According to Central Kalimantan's emergency fire command, more than 18,000 hectares of land had been burned across the province by October 13.

Approximately 1,185 hectares of the affected land were located in Palangka Raya.

“I was just about to go to sleep when suddenly I heard people shouting, ‘Fire, fire, fire!’” resident Rohayati recalled, describing how quickly the flames spread through the tightly packed wooden structures.

The fire broke out in the Kramat Pulo Dalam area at around 18:45 local time. Narrow alleyways and crowds reportedly hampered emergency operations, with authorities deploying 33 fire engines and 156 personnel.

No casualties were reported, but dozens of families lost their homes and belongings. Rohayati said her immediate priority was replacing her children's school uniforms and books.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control after more than two hours and completed cooling operations early Friday. Authorities are investigating the cause.

Palestine and colonialism

Sugiono said stronger institutions alone would not protect multilateralism unless countries defended the principles supporting them.

“International law must be upheld consistently, sovereignty must be respected, and colonialism must be brought to an end,” he said.

He described violations of international law in Gaza and the West Bank as reminders of the period before the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the four Geneva Conventions of 1949.

Sugiono connected Indonesia’s position to its own struggle for independence.

“Indonesia knows what it means to struggle against colonialism, to struggle in a world where international law was weak and might was right,” he said.

Indonesia reaffirmed its support for Palestinian self-determination and an independent, sovereign state based on the two-state solution.

“Palestine is not only a question for one region,” Sugiono said, describing it as a test of whether the multilateral system could defend its founding principles and act when required.

Reforming multilateralism

Sugiono said the UN remained indispensable but needed to become more representative, agile and capable of delivering results.

“The answer to imperfect multilateralism is not less multilateralism. The answer is stronger and better multilateralism,” he said.

He also called for reform of the international financial architecture to provide developing countries with greater support and policy space.

Resilience from national to regional level

Sugiono argued that stronger multilateralism begins with countries capable of meeting their populations’ needs. He identified food security , energy, education, healthcare, employment and industrial development as foundations of national resilience.

“At the heart of our resilience are our people ,” he said.

He presented ASEAN as a regional model in which countries with different political systems and interests continue to maintain dialogue.

“We do not always agree, but we have made a conscious choice to stay together,” Sugiono said.

Security Council role

Indonesia is seeking a non-permanent UN Security Council seat for 2029–2030 under the theme “Fostering Unity, Advancing Peace .” The candidacy places Indonesia’s criticism of the international system alongside a commitment to participate more directly in its reform.

Sugiono said Indonesia would maintain dialogue, defend international law and convert shared responsibilities into practical cooperation if elected.

“Because resilience is not simply about surviving the storms, it is about having the strength to keep moving forward together,” Sugiono said.

Airport spokesperson Andi Wiguna said affected passengers were being provided with accommodation, food and drinks while awaiting updates from airlines. Some travellers had faced repeated cancellations over several days.

Flight disruptions began on September 17 as visibility deteriorated, falling to around 300 to 500 metres on Wednesday. The haze has been driven by ongoing forest and land fires across Central Kalimantan.

Air quality in Palangka Raya reached hazardous levels on Thursday, with an Air Pollution Standard Index reading of 352. Local authorities recorded 9,324 cases of acute respiratory infections between June and September.

President Prabowo Subianto has ordered police to investigate companies potentially linked to fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan as authorities battle the outbreaks.

“I came here looking for my younger brother, whose name is Sulisman. We still have not received any news about him,” Slamet Hermanto said. “Hopefully, we will receive some good news.”

By Thursday afternoon, officials had received 70 ante-mortem records and collected 31 DNA samples. Biological relatives are being prioritised for DNA comparison, alongside information on missing passengers' physical characteristics and personal records.

The Virgo Transport 8 was carrying 243 people from Surabaya to Banjarmasin when it capsized in bad weather early on Sunday. Six people have been confirmed dead and 108 rescued, leaving 129 missing.

The ferry was carrying 243 people, including 213 passengers and 30 crew, when it overturned in the Masalembo waters while travelling from Surabaya to Banjarmasin. Authorities deployed 17 ships and aircraft and around 622 personnel on Monday, alongside underwater teams and navy-operated drones , as the search continued for survivors.

Banjarmasin search and rescue chief I Putu Sudayana said nearby commercial vessels helped rescue 103 people from the water .

“As of noon, some of the passengers have been successfully evacuated by vessels operating in the area,” Sudayana said.

The ship left Surabaya on Saturday with more than 240 people aboard and lost contact early Sunday after its captain reported that it was listing amid bad weather and high waves. It later capsized about 148 kilometres from Trisakti Port.

Indonesia's search and rescue agency deployed vessels and a helicopter, while the navy sent the KRI Nala to assist. Commercial ships operating nearby also joined the rescue effort.

At Trisakti Port, relatives said they had received little information about those still missing, with some relying on social media posts for confirmation that loved ones had boarded the vessel.

The biggest BRICS summit yet closed in New Delhi with eleven member states, ten partner countries, and a 140-paragraph declaration adopted, in host prime minister Narendra Modi's words, without a single objection.

Sovereignty first

In only his second summit as a full member, Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto told the leaders' session that Jakarta would not take instruction from anybody.

"We do not like being dictated to by one or two specific powers," he said.

His answer is to look to his people first: feeding, fuelling and educating Indonesians ahead of flashy interventions abroad.

Vladimir Putin expressed a similar sentiment that he and his fellow leaders were seeking to develop their own nations, "not building our work in opposition to anyone".

But the issue of sovereignty goes wider.

"The Global South stands in the front row of global crises," India's Modi told delegates, "yet occupies the back row in decision-making." He wants a "pyramid of privilege" replaced by a "platform for partnership", and rule-takers turned into rule-shapers on artificial intelligence, cyberspace and biotechnology.

On institutional reform the declaration reiterated previous demands for change to the United Nations Security Council's outdated configuration; better representation at the International Monetary Fund for the countries most closely involved with it; and calls for a functional World Trade Organisation.

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa made the case for Africa hardest, noting that a continent with 54 UN seats and nearly a fifth of humanity still has no permanent voice on the UN's most powerful council. "This is neither just nor sustainable," he said, before demanding accountability for what he called the ongoing genocide against Palestinians, the crimes in Sudan and the illegal war against Iran.

Money talks

De-dollarisation was progressive rather than revolutionary. The main steps were for the BRICS Payment Task Force to keep working towards cross-border payments that are "fast, low-cost, more accessible, efficient, transparent and safe", and to promote settlement in local currencies. Cautious, because the stakes are so high, but the direction of travel is not in doubt.

The war in the Middle East was unavoidable on the topic of energy sovereignty, awkwardly so with Iran and the UAE effectively on opposite sides of the conflict. The final declaration calls energy security "a crucial foundation" and defends mixed energy systems that still include fossil fuels. But the declaration avoided any blame around the current blockages in the Strait of Hormuz as the price of securing unanimity.

Climate language has hardened. Carbon border levies are condemned as punitive and protectionist, "net zero" has disappeared, and the demand is for adaptation finance that is additional, predictable and accessible. Ethiopia's COP32 presidency and India's COP33 bid both won backing.

Food delivered the most concrete result: Russia's long-pushed Grain Exchange, a digital trading platform for a bloc growing more than forty percent of the world's food. But across BRICS, members have been building their resilience.

"For years, Indonesia was a major importer of grains, rice, and corn," Prabowo said. "Now, we have become an exporter."

Like the wider Global South, BRICS has no shortage of internal differences. Nevertheless it has enough shared needs, hopes, and increasingly power, to be a unified force for change.

The ferry was last reported about 150km south of Banjarmasin at around 02:00 local time on Sunday. Authorities received a distress report from the vessel's operator, PT Virgo, at 04:10.

Indonesia's search and rescue agency, navy and maritime police are involved in the operation, with ships, a helicopter and around 280 personnel deployed. Vessels operating in the area have also been asked to report any signs of passengers.

Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee would investigate the incident.

Families have gathered at ports in Banjarmasin and Surabaya seeking information about missing relatives.

Search operations for the remaining passengers and crew are continuing.

The latest information indicated the boat was still near Anak Krakatau at around 18:13 on Monday, Amrad said. "So far, the search has yielded no results."

Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency, Basarnas, deployed four teams to search waters around Anak Krakatau, Rakata Island and Panjang Island. All eight people remained missing as of Wednesday morning.

Anak Krakatau has continued to erupt intermittently, with authorities maintaining a three-kilometre exclusion zone around its active crater.

German traveller Ana said her flight to Lombok had been cancelled and passengers were struggling to get clear information. "It's a little bit difficult for us because nobody can tell us anything about the flights and where we can get our money back and what the next step is," she said.

Passenger Ronald Tampubolon said his flight had been delayed from 11:00 to 14:00, while another traveller, Maurin, said long queues made both refunds and rescheduling difficult.

Reports said hundreds of flights and around 22,800 passengers were affected at Soekarno-Hatta. A further 31 Jakarta-bound flights were cancelled at airports across Malaysia.

Anak Krakatau, located in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, erupted repeatedly on Saturday. Indonesia's meteorological agency reported ash plumes reaching up to 6,000 metres on the Java side and as high as 15,000 metres on the Sumatra side and over parts of Banten province.

"Indonesia does not want to join any military alliance, but we seek to join economic alliance. Our FTA within the Eurasian Economic Union is exactly that - not an alliance against anyone, but a partnership for the prosperity of everyone," he said.

Prabowo said Indonesia would continue engaging with countries in all directions as "a sovereign and equal partner," adding that Jakarta's foreign policy was based on friendship rather than confrontation.

"For us, 1,000 friends are too few. One enemy is too many," he said.

He also rejected the idea that the Global South should be seen as a new geopolitical bloc, describing it instead as a grouping seeking greater fairness in the international system.

"The Global South is not a new bloc. It is a constituency for fairness, for a fair share of prosperity, and a fair voice in writing global rules," Prabowo said.

Protesters also called for the death penalty for people convicted of graft as anti-corruption anger spilled onto the streets around parliament.

Demonstrators marched towards Parliament carrying Indonesian flags and banners calling on lawmakers to "pass the asset confiscation bill" and "fight injustice".

The protest later intensified at the gates of parliament, where some demonstrators burned banners and placards, threw stones and climbed the gates. Police carrying riot shields moved in before the crowd began to disperse.

According to reports, Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad met representatives of AMPB and signed a commitment to complete the Asset Forfeiture Bill by December 15.

Parliamentary leaders also reportedly agreed to resign as lawmakers if the deadline is missed.

The demonstration follows years of delays surrounding Indonesia's Asset Forfeiture Bill. The legislation was first submitted to Parliament in May 2023 but was not passed before the lawmakers' term ended in 2024.

The bill has since returned to the legislative agenda. Supporters argue that it would strengthen the ability of authorities to seize assets linked to corruption and other serious crimes.

Indonesia's government says existing anti-corruption and criminal laws already allow the death penalty in certain circumstances, although any sentence would ultimately be decided by the courts.

AMPB's campaign began in Pati, Central Java, where mass protests erupted in 2025 over plans to increase land and building taxes by up to 250 per cent.

The movement initially called for the removal of Regent Sudewo, who was later arrested in a separate corruption case. It subsequently developed into a broader campaign against corruption and illicit wealth.

Emergency workers stopped to pick up patients, including one on a stretcher. The exact location of the pickup could not be independently verified.

The three victims were flown by a Dauphin AS 365 N3+ helicopter from the Satar Kampas command post to Komodo International Airport in East Manggarai Regency.

"We received information that several victims suffered fractures, and we needed to evacuate them as soon as possible from East Manggarai," Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) chief Air Marshal Mohammad Syafii said.

"This morning we are also pushing forward several medical personnel – doctors, nurses, pharmacists – and medical supplies. These must reach East Manggarai immediately, as the land journey from Labuan Bajo takes over seven hours. Hopefully, with this helicopter, we can reach the site in 25 minutes."

According to local media , the helicopter reached the Satar Kampas command post at 10:28 local time and landed at Komodo Airport in Labuan Bajo at 11:00 with the three patients. They were then taken to hospital with medical personnel.

The three victims, including a five-year-old girl, were residents of Haju Wangi and Satar Padut villages in East Manggarai. They suffered fractures and dislocations, according to Basarnas.

The earthquake struck Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara, on August 15. Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) measured it at magnitude 7.7 and said the shallow quake was caused by activity along the Flores Back-Arc Thrust.

Tsunami waves were recorded at several coastal locations, reaching around 1.6 metres at Pota in East Manggarai.

Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said 68 people had been confirmed dead by Monday, including 24 in East Manggarai, while 213 people were injured across the affected region.

Panicked guests rushed out of the Sylvia Hotel moments after the aftershock and gathered outside as staff assessed the situation.

"Yes, it seems to be an aftershock. The earthquake was quite strong as well," hotel staff member Richard said after guests evacuated the building.

At Hillers Regional General Hospital, patients are being treated under emergency tents. Relatives remain by their side as nurses care for the injured.

Earthquake survivor Karlina is receiving treatment for injuries sustained during Saturday's earthquake. She said she had escaped outside before realising her child was still inside the building.

"Once I came back outside, the earthquake was incredibly strong, the ground was shaking violently, and eventually, I fell," she said.

Hospital director Dr Paulus Lameng said continued aftershocks are preventing patients from returning to the main building.

"Our main challenge is the condition of the building structure, which still needs to be assessed by the Public Works Agency," he explained.

"We are treating patients in the hospital yard using tents. We have sufficient medicines and equipment, but we urgently need additional support, particularly an orthopaedic doctor and a neurosurgeon," he added.

Manggarai was among the areas hit by the earthquake. Landslides struck communities across Flores, while buildings collapsed and roads were badly damaged. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, along with schools , health facilities and other public buildings.

Indonesia's disaster response remains in operation after Saturday's magnitude 7.7 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks killed at least 54 people , injured 135 others and displaced nearly 7,700 residents across East Nusa Tenggara.

More than 1,300 homes, schools and public facilities have been damaged. Emergency teams continue to deliver food, clean water , medical supplies and temporary shelters to affected communities.

Authorities have recorded nearly 1,000 aftershocks since the main earthquake, including Monday morning's magnitude 5.7 tremor. The continued shaking is complicating rescue and recovery operations.

A 14-day state of emergency remains in force as structural inspections continue and thousands of displaced residents remain in temporary shelters.

The procession was among several events in Yogyakarta marking the anniversary, with musical parades and exhibitions drawing public participation.

"This event marks the commemoration of Indonesia's 81st Independence Day, featuring public participation to honour the services of our past heroes," participant Selasih said.

Yogyakarta played a significant role in Indonesia's independence struggle, serving as the country's capital from 1946 as the young republic resisted Dutch attempts to restore colonial rule.

Indonesia celebrates Independence Day on August 17, marking the proclamation of independence by Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta in 1945.

The earthquake struck shortly before 5 a.m. local time at a depth of about 15 kilometres, according to Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

Three strong aftershocks followed within half an hour, measuring magnitudes 5.9, 5.6 and 6.1.

Around the port town of Maumere, rescuers recovered 20 bodies and found six people injured, while two remained trapped under rubble, Fathur Rahman, head of the city’s rescue agency, told Reuters.

Authorities had yet to reach Nagekeo regency, the area closest to the epicentre, as disrupted communications and outages complicated efforts to determine the full extent of the destruction.

At Maumere port, video showed chunks of concrete falling from a terminal building as passengers waited to board an inter-island ferry. Some people were thrown into the sea when a gangway collapsed.

East Nusa Tenggara Governor Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena said some victims were killed in their sleep by collapsing rubble.

BMKG issued a tsunami warning for affected coastlines, prompting residents to move inland and seek higher ground. The warning was lifted about three hours later after no significant rise in sea level was detected.

BNPB said around 2,000 people had evacuated or relocated on their own. Many residents remained outdoors as repeated aftershocks left them afraid to return home.

One earthquake after another

Saturday’s earthquake follows a series of powerful tremors recorded around the world over the past two months.

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Colombia on 10 August, while a magnitude 6.8 tremor hit Japan ’s Kyushu region on 28 July, according to data from the British Geological Survey.

Mexico’s Chiapas region was struck by a 7.3-magnitude earthquake on 17 July, while Venezuela recorded two major tremors, measuring magnitudes 7.5 and 7.2, on 24 June.

Indonesia itself recorded a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in Sulawesi on 16 June.

The archipelago sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a belt of intense seismic and volcanic activity, making it one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries.

This Open Letter has two objectives. Firstly, the Netherlands must concede that the repression of the Indonesian fight for justice and freedom between 1945 and 1949 was not an internal Dutch affair but an illegal invasion of another country. Hence the atrocities committed by the Dutch army and its local collaborating militias were war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Secondly, the Netherlands must recognise that more than 300 years of colonial rule over Indonesia was not some effort to do good that went wrong. It was always a criminal endeavour exclusively aimed at enriching the Netherlands at the expense of millions of brutally enslaved people. Colonialism was and is a crime of theft, as codified in the UN Charter, UN Resolutions and international law.

What to the uninformed outsider may seem a trivial detail about a specific date touches on the core of the problem. 81 years after Indonesian independence from its former coloniser, the Netherlands still refuses to accept full accountability for its crime of colonialism.

On March 10, 2020, King Willem-Alexander expressed his apologies in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta for what he called “the excessive and disproportional violence of the repression” during the liberation struggle of Indonesia between 1945 and 1949.

On June 14, 2023, prime minister Mark Rutte 1 followed up by recognising August 17, 1945 as the official date of Indonesian independence. He did so during a debate in parliament and declared to do this “fully and without any reservations”. To the outside world that seemed to settle the issue. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The words spoken by the King and the prime minister do not match the facts. In practice, the Netherlands still maintains the legal fiction of the date of November 27, 1949 as official date of independence, when the Netherlands signed an agreement to finally end the futile attempt at reconquering its colony.

This allows Dutch courts up to this day to dismiss any claims of reparations for war crimes by victims of the colonial repression (and their descendants) during the period of 1945 and 1949, as they consider these victims still to be ‘Dutch citizens’ until 1949.

Why is recognition of the date of 1945 so important?

Right after World War II the Netherlands, assisted by allied British colonial forces and remnants of the Japanese occupation army, tried to reestablish its racist colonial hegemony over the Indonesian archipelago.

After liberating its own country of the scourge of Nazism, the Dutch ruling elite considered that justice and freedom were an exclusively European privilege not to be extended to lesser brown people in a distant country, more than 11,000 kilometres from its shores. It did so with deadly repression, massacres, extrajudicial executions, torture and disappearances.

By now claiming to recognise ‘fully and without reservation’ the independence of Indonesia since 1945, while doing the opposite in its courts, the Netherlands prove to the world that postcolonial racism is still rampant.

The brutal repression of the fight for freedom of the Indonesian people was not some ‘internal affair’, it was the illegal occupation of another country. Likewise, 300 years of Dutch colonialism was an occupation, a massive system of theft, exploitation, racism and corruption. The violence of colonialism was not some ‘excess’, it was its essence.

As long as the Netherlands refuse to accept full accountability ‘without reservations’ for its international crime of colonialism, the country has no moral authority to lecture any other country on human rights , justice and freedom.

Next August 17, 2026, the Dutch leading newspaper De Volkskrant will publish the Open Letter. The fight for justice is international. We therefore invite people all over the world to sign the Open Letter on the web page of De Goede Zaak (‘the good issue’). This essay represents the views of its author. The content has been edited by Global South World only for clarity of reading.

Drone footage shows towering flames engulfing the factory as thick smoke rises across the area. Firefighters are seen directing water hoses at the blaze while residents gather nearby.

The fire is believed to have started shortly after midnight at the factory on Jalan Pondok Kelapa Selatan.

"Suddenly, there was what sounded like an explosion, and then the fire suddenly grew bigger," recalled a local. "The area behind it (the factory) is densely populated, so residents immediately tried to evacuate themselves and save their valuables."

A local security officer also recalled hearing an explosion as the fire spread.

"I heard that it may have started from burning rubbish. Not long after that, the fire grew bigger, and there was a sound of an explosion. It wasn’t very loud, just a small one," the officer said.

Around 100 personnel and 22 fire department units were deployed to fight the blaze and prevent it from spreading through the densely populated area, according to local media .

Firefighters reportedly struggled to find nearby water supplies. Narrow access routes through the surrounding neighbourhood also made it difficult for crews to reach the fire.

The firefighting operation was still underway at the time of publication. Authorities had yet to determine the cause of the fire or confirm whether anyone had been killed or injured.

"Earlier, at around 10 am, I was looking from the street, and I saw what looked like orange flames on the top floor of this building," one resident said.

Another witness described seeing the fire intensify as debris began falling.

"What I saw was that the fire had started to die down; it suddenly grew larger from inside this side of the building. Some debris fell from above. I think the fire may have weakened the structure, causing some of the debris to fall," the resident said.

The fire spread from the 11th to the 16th floors, according to Jakarta authorities. Strong winds complicated firefighting efforts and caused the flames to flare up again.

A renovation worker trapped on the 15th floor was rescued and taken to Tarakan Regional General Hospital for treatment. No deaths were reported.

Jakarta's fire and rescue service initially deployed 37 fire units and 185 personnel, supported by three Bronto Skylift aerial vehicles. A later update increased the response to 40 units and 200 personnel.

The fire was brought under control after roughly four hours of firefighting. Crews then carried out cooling operations and inspections for remaining hotspots.

"Regarding the latest developments involving the KMP Mutiara Sentosa II, which caught fire at the location, we are coordinating with Meratus Project III, TB Khas No. 26, the British Mentor and four other vessels already at the scene through the Kalianget communications post. They are assisting with the evacuation of passengers from the KMP Mutiara Sentosa II," he said.

"Basarnas is currently deploying the Kaisar Permadi to the location, with an estimated travel time of approximately six hours," he added.

The Mutiara Sentosa II was carrying 271 passengers and crew. Authorities said 225 people had been rescued as search teams continued looking for survivors in the Java Sea.

Some passengers reportedly jumped into the sea to escape the flames as nearby vessels evacuated those still on board.

The ferry had departed from Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya and was travelling to Makassar in South Sulawesi. Authorities said the fire broke out several hours into the journey.

Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency said the rescue operation remained underway and that the cause of the fire had not yet been determined.

Footage recorded on Thursday shows a studio photoshoot in South Jakarta featuring Pawstyle's latest collection. The brand dressed dogs in elaborate wedding-style gowns and modern kebaya-inspired outfits, while their owners wore matching ensembles ahead of a pet photography exhibition in Jakarta.

The collection is made from premium fabrics with hand-sewn embellishments and is designed for formal parties, fashion shows and professional photoshoots.

Pet owner Citra Skolastika said dressing her dog in matching clothing creates lasting memories.

"It's such a wonderful feeling to see my beloved fur baby wearing a special outfit, just like I am. It makes me feel like we're perfectly in sync. Moments like these are always exciting for me and my fur baby because I want to capture and preserve as many sweet memories as possible," she said.

Pawstyle founder and designer Alvin Oey said the brand was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 after years of designing clothing for people .

He said public attitudes towards pet fashion have changed, creating opportunities for more specialised designs.

"I design these outfits using fabrics that ensure dogs stay cool and comfortable. The materials adhere to the same safety and comfort standards as those used for children's clothing," Oey explained.

He added that while the tailored outfits are stylish, they are intended only for short periods during special events because comfort remains the priority.

Pawstyle has expanded beyond Indonesia, with customers from Thailand, Vietnam and the United States placing orders online, reflecting growing international interest in premium pet fashion.

It was a crisis response dressed up as diplomacy.

For those who have watched Australia’s agricultural supply chains with growing alarm, the arrival of the MV Medi Luna was not a triumph. It was a confession - that Australia, a continent that feeds 100 million people and exports more agricultural produce per capita than almost any other nation on earth – relies for its own food on a 21-mile-wide passage in the Persian Gulf.

The Strait of Hormuz is Australia’s farm gate. And someone else has the key.

How Australia got here

Australia consumed 8.7 million tonnes of fertiliser in 2024, valued at A$5.5 billion (US$3.8 billion). Of that, 7.9 million tonnes - more than 85 per cent - were imported. Domestic production has collapsed to just 1.3 million tonnes, 15 per cent of national consumption. When Incitec Pivot shut the Gibson Island urea facility near Brisbane in 2022, citing an inability to secure affordable long-term gas supply, Australia lost its last significant domestic nitrogen production capacity. From that point on, Australian farmers became entirely dependent on the goodwill of Middle Eastern petrochemical states and the uninterrupted passage of cargo ships through one of the most contested waterways in the world .

Perdaman’s planned new facility Karratha, Western Australia won’t go near to closing the shortfall.

Australia imports approximately 3.85 million tonnes of urea annually. More than half comes from the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia - countries whose gas production and export terminals are anchored in the Persian Gulf. More than 60 per cent of that urea travels through the Strait of Hormuz, a passage barely 21 miles wide at its narrowest point. As the UN has confirmed, up to 30 per cent of internationally traded fertilisers - nitrogen, phosphate, sulphur - move through this chokepoint. When the Strait closes, Australian farming is suffocated.

When the gulf closed

Following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz declined by more than 95 per cent. Qatar Energy halted downstream urea production. Saudi and UAE terminals fell silent. Nearly a million metric tonnes of fertiliser cargo were physically stranded in the Gulf, with major producers declaring force majeure. For Australian farmers entering their critical winter-crop planting window - April through June - the timing could not have been worse.

The price response was immediate and severe. Urea, which had traded at around A$675 per tonne in February 2026, broke through A$1,000 per tonne by the end of March - a 50% increase in seven weeks. As Professor Marit Kragt of the University of Western Australia observed: “The current impacts are much more profound. We seem to have not learned anything.”

She was right. This was Australia’s third major fertiliser supply chain disruption this decade. COVID-19 severed Chinese export pipelines. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 pushed prices to historic highs and shuttered the Gibson Island plant, at first temporarily and then permanently. After each disruption, Australia scrambled and promised to rethink its supply chains. After each one, it didn’t.

By April 2026, according to government figures, Australia had secured only 20 per cent of the urea it needed for the current farming season - still 1.25 million tonnes short. The government threw A$7.5 billion into a Fuel and Fertiliser Security Facility. Minister for Agriculture Julie Collins worked around the clock. Prime Minister Albanese cut short a trade tour to return to Geelong after a fire at one of Australia’s two fuel refineries added a second crisis to the first. To be clear, the country was never in danger of famine. But it is in danger of something that, for Australian farming, is almost as bad: a season in which the numbers just don’t add up.

What farmers actually lose

The arithmetic of fertiliser deprivation is merciless. Canola requires around 80 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare to reach optimal yield. Without it, farmers have three choices: plant anyway and accept lower yields, switch to lower-input crops like barley, oats or pulses, or leave land fallow. Each choice is a loss. ABARES forecast in March 2026 that the gross value of Australian agricultural production would fall to around A$95 billion in 2026–27, down from an expected A$101 billion the year before - a A$6 billion contraction driven substantially by fertiliser uncertainty and rising input costs. Farm profits were forecast to decline following several strong seasons, not because of drought or flood or disease, but because a geopolitical event 10,000 kilometers away had closed the pipeline through which Australia’s fields are fed.

The FAO has estimated that cereal producers globally could face income losses of up to 5 per cent in 2026, with lasting impacts through 2030. For Australian wheat and canola farmers competing in global markets, a 5 per cent yield reduction means a mortgage payment, a school fee, a piece of machinery not purchased, a farm debt that rolls forward another year.

And the damage is not limited to farms. One in five Australian households currently skips meals or goes full days without food, according to the 2025 Foodbank Hunger Report. Claiming that Australia is food-secure simply because it exports more calories than it consumes - as governments have repeatedly done - is, as Kimberley Reis of Griffith University puts it, “a mind-numbingly unenlightened thing to say.” Food security isn’t an abstraction about aggregate calories. For the household facing a grocery bill inflated by a conflict it cannot influence, in a country that chose not to build the buffer it needed, it is a weekly calculation.

Indonesia steps in

The deal with Indonesia was important, and welcome. PT Pupuk Indonesia, the state-owned fertiliser producer whose subsidiary PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur operates the Bontang terminal, has a production capacity of 9.4 million tonnes of urea annually. Against domestic demand of 6.3 million tonnes, that leaves a meaningful export surplus. Indonesia is, in fact, the world’s fourth-largest urea producer. It was able to help when the Gulf could not, and it chose to do so.

The government-to-government framework coordinated by President Prabowo and Prime Minister Albanese - formalized into a commercial deal between Incitec Pivot Fertilizers and PT Pupuk Indonesia - will deliver 250,000 tonnes of urea to Australia by year’s end, with the potential to scale to 500,000 tonnes in a second phase worth approximately USD 440 million. The first cargo of 47,250 tonnes, loaded from PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur’s terminal in Bontang, arrived in Brisbane on 22 June 2026. Indonesian Ambassador Siswo Pramono called it a demonstration of Indonesia’s growing contribution to regional food security. Australian officials called it a testament to the strength of the bilateral relationship.

It is both of those things. But the deal also illustrates exactly how fragile Australia’s position remains. In a moment of acute crisis, the country’s fertiliser security rested entirely on the discretion of a foreign government - one that, however friendly, had no obligation to prioritize Australian farmers over its own. Indonesia’s domestic fertiliser stockpile stood at 1.23 million tonnes as of June 2026, and its domestic subsidized distribution was running 30 per cent above the previous year. It could afford to be generous. In a different configuration of crisis, the answer from Jakarta or Riyadh or Doha might not be yes.

Alliances and bilateral frameworks are instruments of statecraft, not substitutes for industrial policy. The 250,000 tonnes secured from Indonesia covered roughly 20 per cent of what was still needed for the season. The remaining 80 per cent had to be sourced from wherever it could be found, at whatever price the disrupted market demanded. Prime Minister Albanese is right that strong regional relationships matter. What he hasn’t said is that relationships work best when there is something to offer in return. Australia imports its key fertiliser. It does not make any.

The case for domestic production

Australia has all the ingredients to be a world-class urea producer. It has vast natural gas and coal resources - not the coal of conventional open-cut mines, but deep seams, stranded deposits, coal that cannot be sold on export markets but can, through the proven technology of underground coal gasification, be converted into the syngas that feeds an ammonia and urea plant. It has the land, the port infrastructure, the regulatory frameworks, and - if it chose to deploy them - the sovereign capital.

For decades, Australia has debated sovereign fuel reserves, domestic manufacturing capacity, critical minerals supply chains, and defense self-sufficiency with varying degrees of urgency. Fertiliser has always been way down the list. The two largest short-term threats to Australian agricultural output are drought and a closed strait. We build dams for the first. We are still debating the building of plants for the second.

The question is when

Australia feeds 100 million people, including almost 30 million Australians. That is a responsibility, and currently, a gamble. Every tonne of wheat sown in the Wheatbelt, every canola crop planted across the Eyre Peninsula, every nitrogen application on every paddock from Western Australia to Queensland depends on an unbroken supply chain that passes through one of the world’s most contested maritime chokepoints.

The current crisis will pass. The Strait of Hormuz will reopen, as it has before. Urea prices will fall. Shipments will resume. And Australian agriculture ministers will announce that the supply chain has been “diversified” - meaning a few more cargo shipments from Southeast Asian producers have been penciled into trade agreements, and a working group has been established.

It can be done, as Perdamon’s Project Ceres demonstrates. But one plant won’t be enough.

Another domestic urea and ammonia plant, built in South Australia or Western Australia or Queensland, fed by gas produced beneath Australian soil, employing Australian workers, would still not entirely eliminate the risk of another disruption. But it would mean that the next time a strait closes or a government says no, Australia farmers aren’t scrambling. The MV Medi Luna was a lifeline. The question is whether Australia will use the time between crises, or simply wait to need another one.

But there is another part of the story that deserves more attention: the navy.

Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands. It sits across some of the most important sea lanes in the world . It is huge, but split by the sea into many, many parts. And because it is physically different from other nations, it needs to think and plan differently.

So when Indonesia thinks about its navy, it is not thinking about sailing around the world to project power and menace adversaries. It is thinking about dozens of different roles. Protection. Enforcement. Disaster response. And something more fundamental: the ability to enforce the rules it says it believes in.

"Rules mean nothing if we cannot enforce them"

Start with President Prabowo Subianto, because his language gives us a useful way into the issue.

"Freedom of navigation is a sacred right that we must respect under all circumstances," Prabowo told French media outlet Atlantico. That sounds like a conventional statement of support for the international maritime order. But he followed it with the line that actually matters for Indonesia's defence policy.

"Rules mean nothing if we cannot enforce them. Hence, as you know, Indonesia is in the process of upgrading the capabilities of our navy, air force and army, not for aggression but to ensure we have the means to maintain a rules-based order."

A couple of things worth noting. First, notice the order in which a former army commander listed the three services. The navy came first. Second, there is a tension in that quote that Prabowo did not try to hide. Indonesia opposes Might is Right. But it recognises that Right needs Might.

The economic case for a stronger fleet

For the Indonesian economy to flourish, it needs the sea. The sea is what connects Indonesia with itself, as well as with the outside world.

Indonesia is a trading nation. But it does not want to be an exploited nation, as it once was, sending raw materials away for other countries to process and add value to them. So a few years back the country introduced a policy to protect one of its most valuable assets: nickel.

Somewhere between a quarter and a third of the world's nickel comes from Indonesia. It is a key ingredient in high-performance batteries, the kind you find in electric cars. Demand is not going anywhere.

What Indonesia's downstreaming policy means is that instead of exporting raw nickel ore, the country is forcing more processing, refining, and manufacturing to happen inside its own borders. The results have been significant. In just six years, Indonesia went from exporting a few billion dollars' worth of raw ore a year to ten times that amount in processed goods.

But all of that trade depends on ships being able to move freely to and from the country. And it depends on Indonesia being able to deter anyone who might want to pressure it over its policies, or claim chunks of its territory.

More than just deterrence

Protection and deterrence is only one function of the Indonesian navy. There are several others.

Illegal fishing costs the economy close to a billion dollars a year by some estimates. The navy has to monitor and police those waters. Indonesia is also one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth. Volcanoes, earthquakes , tsunamis, cyclones. Its geography makes responding to them exceptionally difficult. The navy plays a major part in any emergency response. During the Hajj season, it even operates as a logistics service, moving pilgrims between islands.

These tasks, officially termed Military Operations Other than War, are written into law as a formal part of the navy's role. The navy does not just need ships that can fight. It needs ships that can do a great many things.

The fleet being built to do it

Indonesia's navy is generally considered a green-water force. That sits somewhere between a coastal patrol navy and a blue-water navy capable of operating indefinitely far out to sea. A green-water navy is not designed to defeat a major power's fleet in open ocean. It is designed to operate effectively in nearby seas, around islands, in straits, and across the maritime approaches that matter most to national security.

For Indonesia, that makes sense. The country does not need to match China or the United States ship for ship. It needs to make sure that foreign vessels, illegal operators, and potential adversaries cannot move through Indonesian waters as though Jakarta is not watching.

To do that, it is building, buying, and designing in ways that reflect both its priorities and its geography.

The most striking vessel in the fleet is the KRI Golok stealth trimaran. It looks, and there is no more accurate way to put this, like something from a James Bond film. It has a shallow draft of around a metre and is driven by water jets rather than propellers, which means it can go where traditional craft cannot. It is fast, built from composite materials that allow it to slice through water, and should be resistant to corrosion. The weapons are not immediately visible, because they are concealed within the structure to preserve the stealth profile.

Light, fast ships remain the core of the fleet, built at public and increasingly private shipyards. Cutting reliance on foreign suppliers has become a priority, particularly after Norway blocked a missile sale to neighbouring Malaysia earlier this year. Indonesia does not want to find itself in that position.

There is also the KCR-60M, a 60-metre fast attack craft built domestically. Fast, affordable, and suited to patrol and enforcement work in crowded coastal waters. The fleet includes Bung Karno-class corvettes, built in Batam. Again, the larger point is not the individual ship but the effort to connect defence procurement with Indonesian industrial capacity.

Indonesia is also doubling to four the number of frigates it is building based on designs from British defence firm Babcock. A frigate is slightly smaller and less heavily armed than a destroyer, but these are still substantial vessels, around 140 metres long. Stand one vertically and it is roughly the height of a 40-story building.

Alongside those, Indonesia has acquired a pair of Italian-built PPA-class frigates. The first, KRI Brawijaya, arrived in 2025 after a six-week voyage and was soon followed by a sister ship.

Then there are the submarines, a small fleet of them. And, very soon, an aircraft carrier.

That last one is worth dwelling on. Only ten countries in the world currently operate fixed-wing-capable carriers, which puts Indonesia in significant company. The ship in question is the former Italian flagship Giuseppe Garibaldi, donated by Rome, which had found the $5 million annual running costs difficult to justify. Jakarta is not planning to use it in the classical sense to project power around the world. Instead it is envisioned primarily as a mobile emergency platform, capable of transporting supplies and helicopters to remote regions at scale.

Why these waters matter

Look at a map of Indonesia and the strategic geography becomes immediately clear.

The Malacca Strait sits to the north. It is probably the busiest maritime choke point in the world, on the shortest route between India and China, carrying perhaps a quarter of global seaborne trade. The Makassar Strait, between Borneo and Sulawesi, is a major north-south corridor through the archipelago. The Lombok Strait further south offers an alternative deep-water passage between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Then there is the South China Sea, the most contested maritime region in the world. Indonesians refer to the portion they claim as the North Natuna Sea. It is a sensitive area, and the Americans and Europeans send warships through regularly on so-called freedom of navigation operations.

Indonesia has never had a formal objection to those passages. But other nations' warships around your waters are a reminder that it helps to have some of your own nearby. Remember what Prabowo said. Rules mean nothing if you cannot enforce them.

For Indonesia, enforcement is not only about security. It is about sovereignty over the economic model the country is trying to build.

A different approach

Indonesia is not going to have the largest navy in Asia . It is not trying to match China's fleet or the United States Navy.

Its goal is more specific: to make Indonesian waters more visible, more enforceable, and more difficult for outsiders to treat as empty space.

That is why these ships matter. The fast attack craft, the trimarans, the frigates, the submarines, the domestically built corvettes, and the shipyards producing them are all part of the same argument. Indonesia wants to be a major economic power. It wants more of the value from its resources to stay at home. And it knows that in an archipelago, economic sovereignty has a maritime dimension.

Prabowo's line is a useful summary of the whole strategy.

Rules only matter if they can be enforced. Indonesia is now building the navy it believes can do that.

World Reframed episode 42

Click here to watch our previous episodes

World Reframed is produced in London by  Global South  World, part of the Impactum Group. Its editors are Duncan Hooper and Ismail Akwei.

ISSN 2978-4891

Family members allege the child had previously been bullied and extorted by other children, and say footage shows him being taken towards the pole before the incident. The boy was taken to hospital in critical condition but later regained consciousness, though he remains traumatised and under medical observation as investigations continue.

Prabowo Subianto told Atlantico that he did not regret radical decisions such as the creation of the powerful Danantara wealth fund.

“Some of the changes we introduced may have rattled people in the short run, but it is for the good of the country in the long run,” he said in an interview, pointing out that he has cut $18 billion of what he described as “fat” from the government budget.

This is money that would have gone “to the private coffers of corrupt officials - not for the people,” he claimed.

The Indonesian rupiah is at around record lows against the dollar as a result of surging energy prices caused by the War in Iran. Indonesia, like most of its neighbours, is a net oil importer which relies significantly on supplies from the Middle East.

But an even bigger drag has been years of trade manipulation, which has seen hundreds of billions of dollars lost as a result of companies avoiding levies by underreporting international transactions. Indonesia’s economy would have been 60 per cent larger today without this fraud, Prabowo said, adding that a range of measures were set to deliver results for his people in the coming years.

“I must admit, we could do better in communicating to the outside world what we are doing in Indonesia,” he said.  “The changes we are making today, with Danantara, with our single window for export policy, with the free meals program, with our Village Cooperatives and fisherman villages, are transformational.”

He hit out at biased commentators who he said have been misrepresenting these projects. 

The biggest economic shakeup of Prabowo’s presidency has been the creation of Danantara Indonesia, the seventh-largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, managing $900 billion in assets. 

The fund manages Indonesia’s vast state-owned enterprise portfolio and is charged with helping achieve government targets around economic growth and industrial transformation.

The fund reports to the presidency, unlike some other national wealth funds, because it needs to be accountable to the Indonesian people, Prabowo said. But it answers operationally to its own supervisory board and takes day-to-day decisions independently.

Might vs Right

Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, has always steadfastly pursued a policy of non-alignment. Prabowo said the country has benefitted from tensions between China and the US as businesses seek alternative locations to diversify their supply chains. But he noted that the long-term interest of the whole world is for a harmonious relationship between the two superpowers.

Prabowo reiterated his absolute support for freedom of navigation, rejecting suggestions that Indonesia might one day seek to monetise shipping through the Strait of Malacca as Iran is trying to do in Hormuz. The country is expanding its military to ensure that it can defend the rules-based order, he told Atlantico: “Might must not make right.”

Indonesia subscribes to the One China policy, and Prabowo said that he believes China will always act “rationally” in its relations with Taiwan. Image via Deposit Photos

“Israel’s military action against the GSF fleet and the volunteers within it is a clear violation of international law,” she said during a press conference.

The Indonesian Foreign Ministry later confirmed that all nine Indonesian citizens detained during the operation had been released.

“The protection of Indonesian citizens is our top priority,” Wewengkang said, adding that Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi had been in contact with Turkey, Jordan and other countries whose citizens participated in the mission.

The Global Sumud Flotilla was attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza amid severe shortages caused by the ongoing blockade.

Videos showing activists kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs sparked international criticism, with several countries summoning Israeli ambassadors in protest .

Israel said its naval forces intercepted the flotilla in international waters earlier this week, detaining 428 participants from dozens of countries. Israeli authorities defended the blockade as lawful and denied wrongdoing.

Officials later confirmed that all remaining foreign activists had been released and transferred to deportation flights to Turkey.

Indonesia’s National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has become a powerful institution through President Prabowo Subianto’s Free Nutritious Meals programme. At a May 5, 2025, cabinet meeting, Prabowo claimed the programme had a 99.99% success rate, with only 200 poisoning cases among 3 million beneficiaries. He praised BGN head Dadan Hindayana for targeting “zero deviations, zero errors”. Despite controversy over food safety and procurement, political analyst Mirah Mahaswari called BGN “one of the main political instruments in the Prabowo administration”, arguing its success is tied directly to the government’s political legitimacy.

Bank Indonesia tightens dollar purchases amid concerns over economic impact

Bank Indonesia has cut the amount of US dollars individuals can buy without supporting documents from $100,000 to $50,000 per month, with plans to reduce it further to $25,000. Governor Perry Warjiyo said the move aims to stabilise the rupiah amid global market volatility and geopolitical tensions. Purchases above the limit will require documents proving genuine economic activity, such as import or service payment records. The central bank is also increasing oversight of banks and corporations with high dollar-buying activity in coordination with the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

Medan City Government promotes an inclusive and harmonious social life

The Medan City Government has reaffirmed its commitment to building a more inclusive and harmonious society, emphasising coexistence and social unity within one of Indonesia’s most diverse urban centres. Medan, located in North Sumatra, is known for its ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity, making social cohesion an especially important governance priority. Efforts to strengthen harmony often involve community engagement, religious tolerance initiatives, and programmes designed to reduce social tensions while encouraging civic participation.

Police arrest man accused of blocking and damaging ambulance in Depok

Police in Indonesia have arrested a man accused of blocking and damaging an ambulance in Depok, an incident that sparked public outrage and renewed discussion about respect for emergency services and public behaviour. Cases involving ambulances often trigger strong emotional reactions because they are directly associated with life-saving services and emergency response. Interference with medical transport is widely viewed as a serious public safety issue, especially in densely populated urban areas where traffic congestion already poses challenges for emergency access.

Megawati Hangestri officially joins Hyundai Hillstate in Korean Volleyball League

Indonesian volleyball star Megawati Hangestri has officially joined Hyundai Hillstate in the Korean Volleyball League, marking another major international step in her sporting career. Her move is significant not only for Indonesian volleyball but also for the growing visibility of Southeast Asian athletes in international professional leagues. Playing in South Korea’s highly competitive volleyball system offers increased exposure, higher-level competition, and opportunities for regional sports recognition. Megawati’s transfer also reflects the broader expansion of Asian sports markets, where cross-border recruitment and fan engagement are becoming increasingly common.

This means drivers will now receive at least 92% of each fare, up from about 80%.

Prabowo said the decision was driven by concerns over fairness in the sector, where drivers shoulder most of the work and risk.

The change comes in one of the region’s biggest ride-hailing markets. The sector in Indonesia is expected to be worth about $4 billion in 2026, with steady growth in the years ahead as more people rely on app-based transport.

It’s also a highly concentrated market. Two companies, GoTo and Grab, dominate the space, together controlling more than over 90%  of ride-hailing services.

That level of dominance is quite different from some of Indonesia’s neighbours. In countries like Vietnam and Thailand, the market is more fragmented, with several players competing more actively. Singapore, on the other hand, has a smaller market, shaped by tighter regulation.

Indonesia also stands out for how people use these services. Motorbike taxis account for a large share of trips, more than 60%, making ride-hailing cheaper and more accessible in congested cities like Jakarta.

The regulation also requires ride-hailing companies to provide accident and health insurance for their drivers, adding a layer of social protection in an industry long criticised for weak welfare support.

The new rules are expected to affect major players such as GoTo and Grab, which dominate Indonesia’s ride-hailing market.

A start date for the policy has not yet been announced.

Recent figures show that $1 converts to about 1.29 Singapore dollars and 1.28 Brunei dollars, placing both nations at the stronger end of the regional spectrum. Their currencies have remained relatively firm, supported by stable macroeconomic conditions and, in Singapore’s case, a tightly managed exchange rate system.

Bloomberg has noted that sustained capital inflows and prudent monetary management continue to reinforce the city-state’s currency resilience.

Across much of the region, however, the dollar stretches further. In Malaysia, it trades at roughly 4.04 ringgit, while Thailand’s baht stands near 32.59 per dollar.

The Philippine peso, at about 60.64 to the dollar, reflects ongoing pressures tied to inflation and external balances. According to Bloomberg analysis, currencies in these economies have remained sensitive to global financial tightening and shifts in investor sentiment.

Indonesia’s rupiah, hovering around 16,947 per dollar, illustrates this balancing act. While the country has benefited from commodity exports, Bloomberg reports that its currency remains exposed to global interest rate movements, prompting periodic intervention by the central bank to maintain stability.

The divergence becomes more pronounced in frontier markets. Vietnam’s dong trades at approximately 26,340 per dollar, while Laos and Cambodia register around 21,632 kip and 4,010 riel, respectively. Myanmar’s kyat, at roughly 2,100 per dollar, reflects deeper structural and economic challenges.

These variations go beyond exchange rates. They point to fundamental differences in purchasing power, economic structure, and policy frameworks. A stronger currency often signals stability but raises domestic costs, while weaker currencies can support exports yet reduce the ability to absorb imported inflation.

Monetary strategy plays a central role. Singapore’s reliance on exchange rate management contrasts with the interest rate-focused approaches seen in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines. Bloomberg has highlighted how this divergence shapes currency performance, particularly during periods of global monetary tightening.

With the U.S. Federal Reserve maintaining a cautious stance on easing, the dollar has remained firm. Bloomberg suggests that this trend could persist in the near term, keeping pressure on Southeast Asian currencies and reinforcing the disparities seen across the region.

Taken together, the figures underline a simple but important reality: Southeast Asia is far from economically uniform. The reach of a single dollar continues to reflect the region’s varied economic conditions, offering insight into both opportunity and risk for policymakers, businesses, and investors alike.

Data from World Visualized places the Norwegian capital at the top, with 48.9% of cars being electric, followed by Bergen at 38.9%, highlighting the country’s clear advantage in adoption rates.

This position reflects a sustained national strategy. Electric cars make up r oughly 82% of new vehicle sales in Norway , a figure that continues to edge higher, supported by tax reliefs, lower road charges and an extensive charging network, according to the Norwegian Road Federation.

Buyers benefit from exemptions on purchase taxes and VAT, often making electric models more affordable than petrol alternatives. Additional advantages, including access to bus lanes and reduced parking and toll costs, further strengthen their appeal.

Chinese cities are also making significant strides, though with a different model focused on scale and public transport.

Shenzhen, with roughly 33.5% of cars electric, has electrified its entire bus fleet and taxi system, more than 16,000 buses and over 20,000 taxis, making it the first city in the world to do so, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Shanghai follows with around 28%, supported by strong subsidies and a policy that prioritises EV buyers through easier access to licence plates, which are otherwise costly and restricted.

China is now the world’s largest EV market, accounting for nearly 60% of global electric car sales in 2023, the IEA said.

Elsewhere in Europe, Amsterdam stands out with about 22% EV share, supported by one of the densest charging networks globally and strict low-emission zones that discourage petrol and diesel vehicles.

The Netherlands has consistently ranked among the top countries for EV infrastructure , with more than 100,000 public charging points nationwide, according to government data.

In the United States, San Francisco leads major cities with roughly 18.5% of cars being electric, reflecting California’s aggressive climate policies and high consumer purchasing power.

California alone accounts for nearly 40% of all EV sales in the U.S., driven by state mandates requiring a transition to zero-emission vehicles by 2035, according to the California Energy Commission.

However, nationwide adoption remains uneven due to infrastructure gaps and varying state-level policies.

On the other hand, Jakarta’s EV share remains low at around 2.4%, highlighting the challenges faced by emerging economies.

Indonesia has introduced incentives, including reduced value-added tax and regulatory support for domestic EV production, as part of a broader strategy to build a regional electric vehicle hub.

President Prabowo Subianto has signalled ambitions to accelerate the transition, though analysts say infrastructure and affordability remain key barriers.

That figure places Java ahead of major countries, including Russia, Japan, Mexico and Ethiopia, according to demographic comparisons circulating widely online and reflected in global population data.

With more than half of Indonesia’s roughly 282 million people living on Java, the island accounts for about 55% of the country’s population despite covering only a small fraction of its landmass.

Globally, this concentration is striking as roughly 1 in every 50 people on Earth lives on Java alone.

The island’s population exceeds that of Russia (around 143–146 million), Mexico (around 130 million), Japan (about 122–123 million), Ethiopia (about 132–135 million), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (over 100 million), based on recent international estimates.

Java’s outsized population is closely tied to its economic dominance. The island hosts Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, along with major industrial hubs and infrastructure networks that draw migration from across the archipelago.

This concentration has created one of the most densely populated regions globally, with more than 1,100 people per square kilometre in some areas.

While this density fuels economic productivity, it also places strain on housing, transport systems and environmental resources. Policymakers have long attempted to ease pressure through “ transmigration ” programmes aimed at redistributing people to less populated islands, with mixed success.

The comparison between Java and sovereign nations highlights a broader demographic reality that population is increasingly concentrated in specific urban and regional clusters rather than evenly distributed across countries.

What this really means is that geographic size no longer correlates with population weight. Russia, the world’s largest country by land area, has fewer people than a single Indonesian island.

Lyons was arrested on March 28 at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport after arriving from Singapore, when immigration systems flagged him as the subject of an Interpol Red Notice. 

Who is Steven Lyons?

Lyons is identified by law enforcement agencies as a senior figure in an international crime syndicate and the alleged leader of the Lyons crime group in Scotland. Police said the group has been involved in a long-running and violent feud with a rival organization for more than two decades.

Lyons previously lived in Spain before relocating to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. He has been on Spain’s wanted list for about two years, following a 2024 killing linked to investigations in the country. His wife was also arrested in Dubai in a related operation, and both are wanted by Spanish authorities.

Indonesian police said Lyons is suspected of leading a transnational criminal network operating across multiple jurisdictions, including Spain, Scotland, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Turkey.

What is he wanted for?

Spanish authorities are seeking Lyons over allegations of drug trafficking, money laundering and membership in a criminal organization. Investigators from Spain’s Civil Guard estimate that funds laundered by the network exceed €30 million.

Officials said the group allegedly used shell companies across Europe and the Middle East to conceal illicit proceeds and facilitate financial flows linked to narcotics trafficking routes between Spain and the United Kingdom.

The case is part of a broader multinational investigation involving Indonesian, Spanish and Scottish authorities, with coordinated raids carried out in locations including Glasgow, Barcelona and Malaga. Additional arrests have been reported in Turkey, the Netherlands and the UAE, with support from Europol.

What Indonesian authorities said

Indonesian officials described Lyons as a “mafia boss” and Interpol fugitive, emphasizing that his deportation reflects the country’s stance against international criminal activity.

“We will not allow Indonesian territory, especially Bali, to become a haven or operational base for international criminals,” said Bugie Kurniawan, head of the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office.

Bali police chief Daniel Adityajaya said Lyons was believed to be the leader of a “large-scale transnational criminal organisation engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering.”

Untung Widyatmoko, secretary of Interpol’s Indonesia bureau, said the group’s operations spanned multiple regions, underscoring the cross-border nature of the investigation.

Authorities added that two associates who arrived in Bali on the same flight as Lyons remain unaccounted for, with no arrest warrants currently issued against them.

These allow teachers to explain subjects with an almost unlimited range of visuals and hold the attention of students far better than traditional approaches.

The scheme had reached at least 21 million students by November 2025 and 55,000 teachers have been trained.

“We get bored just looking at the whiteboard. With the digital board we are inspired to be more motivated to study,” said one student.

The screens are designed to work online and offline and can be solar powered in areas not connected to the grid. This will allow them to benefit all the country’s children with a goal of better preparing them for the jobs of the future.

Alongside the technology, the curriculum is also focusing more on areas related to technology with subjects such as coding and AI introduced.

A teacher who is working with the new screens said: "The best thing is the enthusiasm of the children to try to work," pointing out young people used to smartphones wanted digital interactivity in their learning too.

The situation escalated in the week as Wikimedia Commons, the organisation’s multimedia library, was temporarily blocked after being incorrectly flagged for hosting illegal gambling content. The site was subsequently restored following a manual check, but the country’s digital regulator said that the problem would not have arisen if it had been correctly registered according to the law.

A group of Wikipedia’s editors has called on users to write to the government about the restrictions imposed since February that prevent its editors from logging in or adding new volunteers to the system. That makes creating new content or updates difficult.

The Ministry of Communication and Digital says it will end the block once Wikimedia has completed the process of registering under the PSE license system. It says the system is necessary to ensure digital security and protect consumers.

Prabowo pointed to Pakistan’s response to similar pressures, including pay cuts for officials, remote working arrangements and delays to non-essential spending, as a model for Indonesia.

The proposal has since drawn support from several parties within the governing coalition. The Golkar Party, which holds a significant share of cabinet posts, said it was prepared to comply.

“If the country requires it, Golkar is ready for its members serving in the cabinet and the legislature to have their salaries cut,” secretary-general Muhammad Sarmuji said, describing the move as a signal of the government ’s “willingness to adapt.”

The National Mandate Party (PAN) also backed the plan. Deputy chair Eddy Soeparno said the party would “stand at the forefront” of efforts to ensure public acceptance if the policy is implemented.

Even the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has not objected, though it stressed that any cuts should begin at the highest levels of government. Lawmaker Andreas Hugo Pareira said savings “should start with the top, from the President and Vice President down.”

Several cabinet members have echoed that stance. Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai said he would accept a pay cut “even if I don’t receive a salary… for the greater good,” while Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa confirmed the government was reviewing the proposal’s details.

He said Indonesia had “never committed to contributing financially at all” and was not present at the founding donors’ meeting in Washington on February 19, where several countries made funding pledges.

Foreign Minister Sugiono had already moved to clarify the issue on March 17, saying the $1 billion figure was not a mandatory membership fee and that Indonesia’s participation in the board was not tied to any fixed financial contribution.

The Board of Peace is a 28-country coalition backing a US plan for post-war Gaza.

Earlier reports said donors at the Washington meeting had pledged an initial $17 billion for reconstruction, emergency relief and security stabilisation, including $10 billion from the United States and $7 billion from nine other countries.

Prabowo said Indonesia’s main contribution would instead be the possible deployment of peacekeeping troops, adding that Jakarta could take on a larger role once reconstruction begins. He pointed to Indonesia’s earlier humanitarian support for Palestine, including assistance channelled through the National Alms Agency and the construction of a hospital.

He also said Indonesia joined the board because it saw a pathway towards Palestinian statehood, citing parts of a 21-point US proposal that refer to statehood and dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians. Those provisions, he said, were in line with Indonesia’s long-standing support for a two-state solution.

The clarification comes as Indonesia’s support for the board faces sharper questions following the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran. The conflict has complicated Jakarta’s earlier enthusiasm for the US-backed initiative and raised pressure at home over how closely it should align itself with Washington on Middle East policy.

With his younger brother, Robert Budi Hartono, he transformed a modest family tobacco business in Kudus, Central Java, into the Djarum Group, one of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates. 

Its flagship kretek — clove-flavoured cigarettes — became household names, including Djarum Super and Djarum Black, in a country where tens of millions smoke.

Through their holding company, they became controlling shareholders of Bank Central Asia, Indonesia’s largest private lender, and invested in sectors ranging from property and electronics to telecommunications and e-commerce. Their redevelopment of Jakarta’s landmark Hotel Indonesia into the Grand Indonesia complex symbolised that shift from manufacturing to modern urban capital.

Hartono’s fortune was estimated at $18.9 billion in 2026, making him Indonesia’s richest man and one of the world’s wealthiest individuals.

Yet he was equally known in another arena: the card table .

A lifelong bridge enthusiast, Hartono began playing at the age of six and went on to become one of the sport’s most prominent advocates in Southeast Asia. He served as president of the South East Asia Bridge Federation and was instrumental in lobbying for bridge’s inclusion in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.

At those Games, Hartono competed himself, winning a bronze medal in the supermixed team event at the age of 78 — becoming the oldest Indonesian medalist in the competition’s history. 

When awarded a cash prize by the government, he donated it to support the development of bridge.

He often drew parallels between the game and his business career. “First you get the data, the information. You analyse the information, and then you make a decision,” he said. “Business, real life and bridge are the same.”

Born on October 2, 1939, Hartono he inherited the cigarette business after his father’s death in 1963. Over the following decades, he helped turn it into a global brand — but it was at the bridge table, as much as in the boardroom, that he said decisions truly revealed themselves.

But the surge in demand is colliding with a global energy shock . The conflict in the Middle East has disrupted oil supplies, pushing crude prices above $100 a barrel and tightening refined fuel markets, particularly in Asia.

For Indonesia, a major fuel importer, the timing is crucial. Petrol consumption is forecast to rise by around 12% during the Eid period, while demand for aviation fuel and cooking gas also increases sharply as families travel and prepare festive meals.

Higher fuel costs are already feeding into transport prices. Airlines across the region have raised fares or added surcharges as jet fuel prices surge, with some warning of sustained increases if the conflict continues.

At home, the government is attempting to shield consumers through subsidies and assurances that supply remains stable. However, the fiscal burden is mounting. Officials have warned that prolonged high oil prices could push Indonesia beyond its legal budget deficit limit, forcing spending cuts or new revenue measures.

Fuel prices are also politically sensitive in Indonesia, where past increases have triggered protests. Any disruption during the Eid period — when travel and household spending peak — could quickly amplify public frustration.

The central bank has already signalled that the war is limiting room for economic manoeuvre, citing inflationary pressures and currency weakness linked to higher energy costs.

For now, the mudik exodus continues, with packed airports, long ferry queues and congested roads.

By comparison, workplace happiness levels stood at 57% in Australia, 56% in Singapore and 47% in Hong Kong.

The findings are based on an online survey conducted by research firm Nature between October and November 2025, involving around 1,000 Indonesian respondents aged 18 to 64.

Beyond general satisfaction, the report found that 86% of workers feel valued by their employers, while 75% say their work is fulfilling or meaningful.

Not just about salary

The survey indicates that workplace happiness in Indonesia is shaped largely by non-financial factors rather than salary alone.

The most frequently cited contributor was strong relationships with colleagues or teams, mentioned by 77% of respondents. Workers also highlighted convenient workplace locations (76%) and having meaningful work (75%) as major drivers of satisfaction.

Although wages remain important, only 54% of respondents said higher pay was their main aspiration, suggesting that salary is not the dominant factor behind workplace wellbeing.

According to Wisnu Dharmawan, acting managing director of Jobstreet by SEEK Indonesia, competitive wages may help attract workers, but long-term satisfaction depends on whether employees feel their work has purpose and whether they can maintain work–life balance.

Gen X is the happiest

The report also found variations in workplace happiness across demographic groups and industries.

Generation X recorded the highest satisfaction levels at 85%, followed by Millennials at 84%, while Generation Z reported the lowest score at 76%.

Industry also plays a role. The technology sector recorded the highest happiness level at 93%, reflecting strong workplace culture and career prospects.

Geographically, Greater Jakarta recorded the highest satisfaction at 87%, compared with 75% in western parts of Indonesia.

Burnout, job security concerns

Despite the high levels of reported happiness, workplace pressures remain present.

The survey found that 56% of workers experience heavy workloads, while 44% report stress and 43% say they have experienced burnout.

Around 40% of workers who described themselves as happy also reported feeling mentally exhausted, highlighting the complex relationship between job satisfaction and workplace demands.

Meanwhile 42% of respondents said they are concerned about job security due to the rise of artificial intelligence, particularly in the technology sector.

Broader reasons behind workforce satisfaction

Indonesia’s broader labour environment may also shape workplace conditions.

According to the International Labour Organization , the country has developed a comprehensive legal and institutional framework to combat forced labour and human trafficking, with laws and enforcement mechanisms that apply across different employment sectors.

The government is also moving to increase wages. Under a new wage-setting framework signed by President Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia’s minimum wage is expected to rise by around 5% to 7% in 2026.

In Jakarta, where the current minimum wage is about Rp5.4 million ($318) per month, the formula suggests a potential increase to around Rp5.68 million ($334) to Rp5.77 million ($339) in 2026, depending on economic growth data.