Category: Special Columns
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Digital Civilization and Global Ethics: Toward a Planetary Future Without Moral Anchors
In this essay, I would like to discuss how digital life and digital culture can create a concept of Global ethics. Perhaps many want to know what would happen when the power of science can compete with God’s technology. Human science has almost reached the point of dominating this world. Almost everything can be manipulated…
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When Influencers Enter Politics: Indonesia’s Digital Democracy and the Rise of the Millennial Elite
What happens when Indonesian influencers decide to enter politics? This essay explores how social media power, wealth, and digital charisma could reshape — or commodify — democracy in the 2024 election era.
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Virtual Ethnography on YouTubers’ Social Experiments: A Step-by-Step Guide
Virtual ethnography is becoming an essential tool for studying YouTubers’ social experiments. These staged scenarios, often presented as pranks or challenges, reveal deep insights into human behavior and audience culture. This article provides a step-by-step guide to conducting a virtual ethnography on YouTubers’ social experiments, showing how researchers can organize data, identify findings, and analyze…
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Intelligence, Power, and the Indo-Pacific: How America Uses Knowledge as Strategy
The Indo-Pacific has become the central arena of twenty-first-century power competition, where military presence alone no longer determines strategic advantage. This essay argues that America’s real strategy in the region is built upon intelligence: the ability to collect, process, interpret, and weaponize knowledge before rivals convert capability into irreversible action. From CIA HUMINT and NSA…
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Mental Health Is Health: Why Everyone Deserves Free Access
Mental health is just as important as physical health, yet millions of people are denied access to care simply because they cannot afford it. Free mental health services are not a luxury but a basic human right that ensures equality, dignity, and well-being for all. By removing financial barriers, society can create a healthier future…
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United Against Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia: An Islamic and Interfaith Perspective
This keynote reflection highlights the urgent need to end human trafficking in Southeast Asia through interfaith solidarity and Islamic principles of human dignity. Emphasizing compassion, justice, and cooperation, the article calls for united action to dismantle modern slavery and restore the rights of vulnerable communities across the region.
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Religion as Commodity in the Digital Age: Ramadan, Media, and Planetary Civilization
Ramadan reshapes Indonesian television and digital platforms, embedding Islamic values into advertisements, entertainment shows, and celebrity pilgrimages. Religion becomes more than devotion—it becomes a commodity. This article examines how faith is transformed into marketing strategies, from hijab shampoo commercials to Umrah packages, reflecting a global trend of commodified spirituality. Drawing on Charles Taylor’s A Secular…
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Javanese Supremacy and the Politics of Culture in Indonesia: From Wayang to Pancasila
Indonesia’s political culture is deeply shaped by Javanese values—sacred, mythical, and mystical. From Sukarno’s role as the dalang in a wayang performance to Suharto’s self-image as a ksatria and later pandito, Javanese cosmology has dominated the Republic’s political imagination. Yet this dominance has marginalized other traditions, including Aceh’s rich Islamic political culture. Through quotations from…
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Indonesia After Jokowi: Political Shifts, Global Balance, and Indonesia’s Future
Indonesia after Jokowi faces four key challenges: navigating global balance, political conflicts, security dynamics, and diplomatic strategy. Jokowi’s legacy leaves opportunities and tensions, shaping the republic’s next chapter.