The Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java, has once again come under scrutiny following a fatal landslide in March, in a new report that ranked it among the world’s largest methane-emitting landfills in 2025, highlighting the country’s mounting waste crisis. The government has since enacted Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 109/2025 to accelerate investment in waste-to-energy (WtE) projects, while state asset fund Danantara has stepped in to coordinate investment and operations nationwide. However, major hurdles remain, including regulatory uncertainty, high investment costs and environmental as well as public concerns.

There is renewed hope for police reform following President Prabowo Subianto’s approval of the police reform committee’s recommendations. Although several points merely preserve the status quo, the recommendations also call for more substantive action, particularly a revision of the 2002 National Police Law.

The rupiah recently plunged to an all-time low of Rp 17,514 per United States dollar, and pressure on the currency may intensify in the second quarter as Indonesia faces a convergence of external and domestic challenges. Maturing government debt, dividend repatriation by foreign investors and soaring oil prices are tightening dollar liquidity, while the latest MSCI Indonesia rebalancing threatens further capital outflows.

Housing is shifting inexorably from a milestone to a mirage in Indonesia. With a national backlog of 15 million houses, housing affordability has turned into a crisis spanning income groups, pushing many families to rent rather than buy. The government’s proposed 40-year mortgage scheme might ease monthly payments but raises a harder question: Does extending debt across most of a person’s productive life solve the housing crisis or merely redefine what desperation looks like?

Indonesia is tightening its grip on food trade. Through Trade Ministerial Regulation No. 11/2026, the government has imposed stricter import controls on a range of agricultural commodities while expanding the authority of the Agriculture Ministry across the food supply chain. Framed as a push toward food self-sufficiency, the policy signals a broader shift toward a more centralized and interventionist food regime, but it also raises concerns that tighter restrictions could drive up food prices before domestic production is ready to fill the gap.

The Indonesian government is looking to dimethyl ether (DME) and compressed natural gas (CNG) as alternatives to import-reliant liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), as it grapples with the impact of the global energy crisis triggered by the United States-Israeli war with Iran. Competing blockades by Iran and the US have shown little sign of easing, pushing up global energy prices and increasing pressure on Indonesia’s state budget, particularly energy subsidies for 3-kilogram LPG cylinders. In response, the government has raised prices for unsubsidized LPG products, sought alternative import sources and accelerated efforts to develop DME and CNG as substitute fuels.

This year appears to be a significant moment for the Indonesian government to test its content moderation mechanisms. As the state expands its authority over digital platforms, a major challenge remains: balancing the need to protect users from harmful and illegal content while ensuring that moderation efforts do not evolve into broader censorship and restrictions on freedom of expression.