Indonesia may face a tax revenue shortfall this year, as recent data show the country had realized only 74.62 percent of its annual tax target as of November, underscoring mounting difficulties in sustaining revenue growth amid global and domestic economic headwinds. The World Bank Group (WBG) has projected Indonesia's tax ratio, the share of tax revenue in gross domestic product (GDP), to fall to 9.4 percent in 2025, down from 10.1 percent in 2024. The downward trend is a worrying signal for future state spending, particularly as the government rolls out costly flagship programs that risk widening the fiscal deficit.

Foreign investors from Malaysia and China are reportedly interested in investing Rp 62.3 trillion in total to Central Java Province. Central Java Governor Ahmad Luthfi revealed that foreign investors from the two countries had signed Letters of Intent (LoIs) for the investments.

The direct election mechanism as a way of choosing political leaders could become a thing of the past in Indonesia, starting with the election of the heads of regional administrations, but it could go all the way up to the election of the head of state.

In a surprising turn of events to cap off the year, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, has been shaken by turmoil that many observers are calling an internal coup. At the center of the storm is the sudden political ousting of Yahya Cholil Staquf as chairman of NU’s executive body Tanfidziyah.

Rather than safeguarding justice, Indonesia's legal instruments are increasingly being bent to serve institutional interests. The standoff between the Constitutional Court (MK) and the National Police over the assignment of active officers to civilian posts exposes not merely regulatory inconsistency, but a deeper disregard for constitutional authority.

The administration of Prabowo Subianto is reforming the disbursement of fuel and electricity subsidies to improve state budget efficiency. These subsidies have long been criticized for disproportionately benefiting upper-middle-class households, who consume more energy, rather than the poor and vulnerable groups they are intended to support. As a result, the government now aims to better target subsidy distribution and reduce its long-standing fiscal burden. The urgency to optimize subsidy spending has also grown amid rising expenditures for several major government programs.

Grief has engulfed Sumatra. Flash floods and landslides have devastated the provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, leaving behind not only the ruins of homes and infrastructure but also the deepening realities of hunger, displacement and profound uncertainty. Yet the government's decision to slash disaster funding to its lowest level in years is now testing its ability to help the affected rebuild their lives.