Dinda Shabrina, Jakarta – Those who criticized the way floods were handled in Aceh, West Sumatra, and North Sumatra reportedly faced various forms of digital repression. The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) mentioned that several activists and influencers who voiced criticism experienced doxing, hacking, and cyberattacks after revealing the post-disaster conditions.

Alfitria Nefi Pratiwi, Jakarta – The Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, Zulkifli Hasan, plans to set a single highest retail price (HET) for rice nationwide. "Later, rice can have the same price throughout Indonesia," he said in a limited coordination meeting in Jakarta on Monday, December 29, 2025.

Alfitria Nefi Pratiwi, Jakarta – The Central Administrator of the Indonesian Association of Agricultural Economics, Khudori, considers the government's decision to halt sugar imports in 2026 to be potentially causing price fluctuations. "It's highly risky if there's no import," he said in a written statement on Sunday, December 28, 2025.

Ni Made Tasyarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's textile products will not be exempt from United States tariffs despite earlier talks seeking exemptions for several key commodities, according to Coordinating Economy Minister Airlangga Hartarto, who also heads the team for negotiating a reciprocal tariff agreement with Washington.

Ruth Dea Juwita, Jakarta – The government has granted special sentence reductions to 16,078 prisoners, including juvenile inmates, during the Christmas season, a move officials said would help reduce state spending.

The remissions are expected to save the state Rp 9.47 billion (US$610,000) in prison-related costs, according to the Immigration and Corrections Ministry.

Sekadau, Indonesia – Children's laughter skimmed over water the color of mud as mothers wrung laundry over banks where the Sekadau joins the Kapuas, the longest river in Indonesia.

Antara, Erfan Maruf, Jakarta – Bali Governor I Wayan Koster recently attributed the decline in the year-end domestic travelers to a shortage of planes.

Koster said that some planes had to undergo their regular maintenance work, thereby prompting Indonesian airlines to operate at a smaller capacity during the year-end holidays.

Candle Heiner Rogaga, Manado – A fire tore through a nursing home in Manado, North Sulawesi, late Sunday, killing 16 elderly residents, authorities said. The death toll represents half of the facility's occupants at the time of the incident.

Anastasya Lavenia Yudi, Jakarta – Indonesia's economic resilience is currently low, edging towards fragile, the Bright Institute reported. This is evident from the weak macroeconomic conditions, narrow-spaced fiscal policies, and a restricted monetary approach. The think tank also warns of sluggish economic growth for the next two years.

Hendrik Yaputra, Jakarta – Said Iqbal, Labor Party President, claimed police obstructed the access for hundreds of workers to rally in front of the State Palace on Monday, December 29. The workers eventually decided to demonstrate near Horse Statue area in Central Jakarta.

Novali Panji Nugroho, Jakarta – The death toll from floods and landslides that hit Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra at the tail-end of November continues to rise. The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) reported 1,140 people have been killed as of Monday, December 29, an increase of two from the previous day's count.

Erfan Maruf, Jakarta – Indonesia is considering easing restrictions on live cattle imports to secure domestic meat supplies, while moving to tighten controls on frozen beef imports to balance prices and support local value creation.

Ilona Estherina, Jakarta – The Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) will hold a protest to reject the determination of the 2026 provincial minimum wage (UMP). Thousands of workers will carry out the demonstration for two consecutive days on December 29 and 30, 2025, at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta.

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Indonesia's electric vehicle penetration has surpassed that of the United States for the first time, marking a major milestone in the country's clean-energy transition, according to new research by Ember Energy.

Sui-Lee Wee – In a remote corner of the island of Borneo on a recent Monday, a runner breezed down the middle of a freshly paved six-lane road. There was no traffic. Nearby, a gigantic eagle-like bird, made of thousands of copper bars, was perched on a hill.

This is the heart of Nusantara, a new, green metropolis rising from scratch from a forest in Indonesia.

Antara, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has transferred 1,882 high-risk inmates from prisons across the country to the maximum-security correctional complex on Nusakambangan Island, Central Java, by the end of 2025, officials said.

Nandito Putra, Jakarta – The Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Authority recorded a surge in public visits to the Nusantara central government district (KIPP) during the Christmas and New Year holidays. Around 37,000 people visited the area on December 25.

Alfitria Nefi Pratiwi, Jakarta – A total of 36 governors have announced the 2026 provincial minimum wage (UMP) as of Saturday, December 26, 2025. Two remaining provinces, namely Aceh and Highland Papua, are still in the process of calculating and determining next year's UMP.

Irsyan Hasyim, Jakarta – The floods and landslides that swept northern Sumatra last month serve as important lessons on the vital role of climate science in handling hydrometeorological disasters. This was conveyed by Putu Santikayasa, an agrometeorology expert from the Department of Geophysics and Meteorology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at IPB University.

Anastasya Lavenia Yudi, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, confirmed that Indonesia's textile products are not exempt from U.S. import tariffs. Indonesia has proposed several flagship commodities to be exempted from the 19 percent duties.

Nandito Putra, Jakarta – PT Pertamina Internasional EP (PIEP), a subsidiary of Pertamina Hulu Energi's upstream subholding, has shipped 1 million barrels of crude oil from Algeria to Indonesia, marking the first such delivery under its operations in the country.

The shipment departed from the Port of Arzew in Oran, Algeria, on December 24, 2025.

Dian Rahma Fika, Jakarta – Lecturer of the Master of Disaster Science program at Syiah Kuala University in Aceh, Teuku Alvisyahrin, has warned that the recent disasters affecting three provinces in Sumatra could trigger further tragedies.

Jakarta – An Indonesian Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) patrol vessel arrived safely in North Aceh carrying 92.2 tonnes of disaster relief aid on Tuesday.

Yerica Lai, Jakarta – Indonesia's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has reached a breakthrough in its internal leadership dispute, with rival camps agreeing to hold an early congress next year to elect a chairman.

Amroe, South Tapanuli, North Sumatra – At a church in South Tapanuli, North Sumatra, dozens of worshippers sang hymns at a Christmas service, gathered together for their first service since deadly floods swept the province and its neighboring regions of Aceh and West Sumatra.

Eva Fitriani, Jakarta – Palm oil issuers are expected to enjoy a good year in 2026, according to analysts, amid a likely uptrend in production and prices.

Arnoldus Kristianus, Jakarta – Indonesia's long-running tax holiday incentive is facing renewed scrutiny as economists question its effectiveness in driving investment beyond government-backed downstream industries, even as authorities move to extend the policy into 2026.

Ilham Oktafian, Jakarta – A parliamentary commission is drafting a proposal to establish a new disaster management ministry, aiming to address coordination failures exposed by recent floods and landslides across Sumatra, a legislator said on Friday.

Erfan Maruf, Jakarta – The Indonesian Trade Union Confederation, or KSPI, has expressed disappointment over Jakarta's 2026 minimum wage hike, as workers feel that Rp 5.73 million (around $340) is not enough to make a decent living.

Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto and US President Donald Trump are expected to sign a landmark reciprocal trade agreement within the next month, a deal welcomed by Indonesian businesses but seen as falling short of broader tariff relief.

Irsyan Hasyim, Jakarta – Professor Syartinilia, a landscape management expert at IPB University, stated that Sumatra has the highest trend of biodiversity loss in Indonesia. Recent data confirms this decline is sharper than in any other region.

Jakarta – The national car is a recurring dream of the Indonesian government. Appearing in every regime, proposals for a national car end in uncertainty and then fade away. During Prabowo Subianto's administration, the plan to develop a national car raised many questions because people without experience managed it, and it had deep roots in cronyism.

Muhammad Aulia Rahman, Jakarta – Indonesia has deployed 1,500 additional police personnel to strengthen disaster response efforts in flood- and landslide-hit areas of Sumatra, as senior officials warn that frontline officers are facing severe physical and psychological fatigue after nearly a month on duty.

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Public narratives surrounding the floods and landslides that have affected parts of Sumatra for more than a month remain largely positive and neutral, but require stronger empathy and more decisive government responses to prevent escalation, according to new research.

Dede Leni Mardianti, Jakarta – The Chairperson of the Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Society (MPBI), Avianto Amri, has provided an update on the conditions in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra after a month under the emergency response status for disaster mitigation.

Defara Dhanya, Jakarta – The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) stated that climate change in Indonesia has been clearly observed through long-term monitoring of various climate indicators, especially temperature and rainfall.

Alfitria Nefi Pratiwi, Jakarta – Minister of Agriculture Amran Sulaiman is seeking the opening of 100,000 hectares of sugarcane plantations next year, which requires up to Rp1.6 trillion in budget.

"A total of 100,000 hectares throughout Indonesia. Seventy percent here, in East Java," Amran said in a written statement on Tuesday, December 23, 2025.

Ayu Cipta, Jakarta – A total of 16,078 Catholic and Protestant inmates across Indonesia received special remission during Christmas 2025. From this number, 174 inmates were declared free immediately.

Ardito Ramadhan, Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has criticised the Attorney General's Office (AGO) for displaying a pile of cash valued at 6.6 trillion rupiah, the result of the saving of state finances.

ICW Legal and Investigation Division head Wana Alamsyah said this is not substantial and was just image building.

Alfitria Nefi Pratiwi, Jakarta – The Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) predicts that economic growth targets for this year and 2026 will be difficult to achieve due to floods in Sumatra.

Stefani Wijaya, Jakarta – About 1.2 million vehicles have exited the Greater Jakarta area over the past week leading up to Christmas, Indonesia's national traffic police said, accounting for 41.5 percent of the projected 2.9 million vehicles expected to leave the capital during the year-end holiday period.

Aep Sopandi, Bandung – The city of Bekasi has once again recorded the highest monthly minimum wage in Indonesia, with the figure set just short of Rp 6 million ($358.5) for 2026, according to an announcement made on Wednesday night.

Hanaa Septiana, Jakarta – The East Java Provincial Government has set the 2026 Minimum Wage (UMP) at Rp2,446,880. This figure was finalized through Governor's Decree Number 100.3.3.1/934/013/2025 on Tuesday evening, December 23, 2025.

The new rate represents an increase from the previous year's wage of Rp2,305,985. In total, the 2026 East Java UMP rose by Rp140,895.

Andrew Tito, Jakarta – The Jakarta provincial government has officially launched a large-scale flood control initiative worth Rp2.62 trillion ($156.25 million), aiming to strengthen the capital's resilience against chronic flooding and coastal inundation.

Dinda Shabrina, Jakarta – The Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency's (BPOM) appointment as a WHO Listed Authority (WLA) places Indonesia among the few global regulators of medicines and food. This status not only signifies international recognition but also has a direct impact on the national healthcare system and the domestic pharmaceutical industry.

Dinda Shabrina, Jakarta – The Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) reported the latest data on poisoning cases linked to the free nutritious meals (MBG) distribution throughout Indonesia. As of December 23, 2025, National Coordinator of JPPI Ubaid Matraji said over 20,000 cases of food poisoning have been recorded.

Jakarta – Those who are in power find it all too easy to conclude that the natural disasters striking the country are caused solely by extreme natural phenomena. The disaster in Sumatra, for instance, has been narrowed down in explanation as merely the impact of Tropical Cyclone Senyar. This perspective is dangerous because it turns a blind eye to the true cause of the problem.

Sultan Abdurrahman, Jakarta – Academics from various universities in Indonesia will be involved in conducting environmental audits on at least a hundred corporations after the flood in Sumatra. The government stated that experts will evaluate the impact of these corporations' operations on the hydrometeorological disasters that occurred at the end of November.

Indah Handayani, Jakarta – State-owned fertilizer producer Pupuk Indonesia has begun construction of Indonesia's first ammonium nitrate-based NPK fertilizer plant in West Java, a project aimed at cutting imports and strengthening domestic fertilizer supply.

Jihan Ristiyanti, Jakarta – The prosecutor charges former Chief Executive Officer of PT Sri Rejeki Isman (Sritex), Iwan Setiawan, and former Deputy Chief Executive Officer Iwan Kurniawan Lukminto with engineering and manipulating the company's financial conditions.