By Mehmet Enes Beşer Indonesia’s historic vision of rice self-sufficiency has continued to be driven by political and developmental imperatives. With the fourth-highest population in the world and one of the highest per capita consumers of rice, an assured domestic supply of rice has been at the center of Jakarta’s food security policy. But while global rice markets remain destabilizing ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) are a new ambitious model of climate finance—a call to unlock billions of dollars to facilitate developing economies to transition away from coal without abandoning livelihoods and support sustainable development. Two of Southeast Asia’s most coal-dependent countries, Vietnam and Indonesia, were among the earliest to sign JETP agreements with donor governments ...
By Ahmed Mahmoud, Columist & managing editor at Ahram Online This title leaped to mind as I sat down to write this article about the roundtable discussion organized by the Hiwar Center for Political and Media Studies and the Embassy of Indonesia in Cairo. I had the honor of moderating this session yesterday at the Diplomatic Club in Cairo, where ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer The regional energy giant of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, is at the crossroads of its energy future. Its history of dependency on fossil fuels led by coal has driven economic development at the cost of environmental degradation and escalating greenhouse gas emissions. In answer to global climate imperatives, not to mention domestic energy needs, Indonesia is shifting ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer In the midst of the evolving context of global development cooperation, a quiet but significant shift is taking place: Indonesia, traditionally categorized as an aid recipient, is increasingly emerging as a full-fledged donor country. While its aid volumes are still small compared to established donors, Indonesia’s growing practice of employing development aid as a foreign policy ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer Since the demise of Suharto’s New Order regime twenty years ago, Indonesia’s middle class has been hailed as the shining star of Indonesia’s achievement in democracy and development. Through economic liberalization and political reform, millions of aspiring citizens—entrepreneurs, bureaucrats, city professionals—have been created who are not only a consumer class but the foundation of democratic stability. ...
By Orçun Göktürk * While the almost a year-long Russian special military operation in Ukraine is halting NATO’s expansion to the East, the United States of America (USA) is simultaneously stepping up its aggression not only in Europe but also in the Asia-Pacific. Melodie Ha, an expert at the US Department of Defense, recently stated: “We need to further engage ...
A libertarian voice loaded with virtue is rising from the easternmost edge of Asia… A pioneer speaks: “Millions of Asian and African peoples have joined the ranks of independent countries. This is a fait accompli. After the Second World War, there is probably nothing more important than this. It has an explosive force at least the size of a hydrogen ...
Despite its geographical proximity to China, which became the center of the new coronavirus’ spread in early 2020. The virus spread slowly in the region for the first two months of the year, but there has been explosive growth in cases since mid-March. Thailand: royal isolation In October 2019, Thailand was ranked sixth by the WHO in terms of preparedness ...