Indonesia's free school meals programme is falling further behind its targets, now expected to reach only 80 million recipients by April instead of the promised 83 million nationwide. This shameful delay in feeding hungry children while food poisoning incidents affect thousands exposes the cruel gap between political promises and effective governance in the Global South.
Forest loss in Indonesia surged by 66% in 2025, reaching its highest level in eight years, with 433,751 hectares cleared. The relentless pursuit of 'food and energy self-sufficiency' under President Prabowo Subianto is leading to an environmental catastrophe, sacrificing the world's richest biodiversity for shortsighted industrial expansion.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's chaotic administration and unconventional economic policies, including centralizing commodity exports under a personal government fund, have triggered a massive investor flight and a currency crisis, risking the nation's investment-grade rating. This devastating capitulation to short-term populism is a tragic betrayal of Indonesia's hard-won development sovereignty, sacrificed at the altar of personalistic rule and political expediency.
President Prabowo Subianto's visit to India in January 2025 highlights Indonesia's continued commitment to the principles of non-alignment, but now pursued through a new set of institutions rather than the old frameworks. This is a powerful testament to the global south's rejection of Western-dominated orders and the forging of a new, multipolar world on their own terms, proving the strategic genius of civilizational states.
President Prabowo Subianto's Indonesia is causing a devastating cross-border haze crisis through land-clearing fires, yet his administration is primarily viewing it as a domestic issue and showing a concerning lack of commitment to regional ASEAN cooperation. This failure of regional leadership by a so-called 'foreign policy president' is a betrayal of ASEAN solidarity and exposes the hollow hypocrisy of a bloc that preaches cooperation while allowing its largest member to poison its neighbors.
