Warm Takes

Saya Orang Indonesia?

Xu Xi

Born an Indonesian citizen but raised in Hong Kong, a transnational writer with a hyphenated identity reflects on language, inheritance and the complicated question of what it means to call a country home.

Arts

The storied past of wayang in Indonesia’s currency

Aqraa Sagir

Nearly a century ago, Indonesia’s banknotes featured gods, heroes and demon kings from the world of wayang. Their story reveals how culture can shape our relationship with money.

Table Setting

Senopati's newest wagyu spot has a 48-year-old story behind it

Sheena Suparman

Ushino Kura brings 48 years of Kagoshima craftsmanship to Senopati, and only 4 percent of cattle ever make the cut.

Table Setting

An elevated warteg, a table of strangers and a reason to love this country again

Adelia Anjani Putri

Somewhere between Senopati and Madura, I found myself lost among strangers and a table of unfamiliar dishes, before finding my way back to a complicated love for home.

Little Big Things

The art of war and peace, at home

Pallavi Aiyar

After more than two decades of marriage and countless arguments, an unconventional lesson on how to disagree deeply, fight with passion, and still choose one another.

Table Setting

What does an Italian summer taste like?

Aqraa Sagir, and Kiran Louis

At AWkitchen Pasta House, Chef Toru Yomoda’s seasonal lineup is built almost entirely around beef, handled the way classic Italian kitchens always have.

Warm Takes

Gang’s all here

Sheena Suparman

Eleven years after college, six friends reunite for a wedding in Greece. Amid the dancing and laughter, one woman confronts the invisible grief, and unexpected gifts, of being chronically single.

Little Big Things

You can't argue a child into loving books

Pallavi Aiyar

Instead of fighting screens, a mother learned to wrap books in rituals her son would come to love and anticipate with joy.

Market Pulse

When the game stops: The hidden cost of the fitness boom

Sheena Suparman

Padel courts are booked out, race registrations sell out and Hyrox competitions are drawing thousands. The fitness boom is real, and so is the injury bill that comes with it.

Little Big Things

Non-transactional kindness: What schools should teach in the age of AI

Pallavi Aiyar

If AI can increasingly handle memory (delete recall) and even analysis, schools must ask a deeper question: what remains uniquely human?

Market Pulse

Running over the mountain, through the night

Aqraa Sagir

Trail running used to be a niche pursuit for hardcore enthusiasts. Now thousands of Indonesians are signing up to run through jungles and up mountains for 45 hours straight. We went looking for the reason why.

Little Big Things

Make way for the Al-Raj

Pallavi Aiyar

Corrupt, self-serving and increasingly despised — what if politicians were simply replaced by AI?

Warm Takes

Why we run

Jet Damazo

From bucket list goals to Sunday morning long runs, a runner unpacks the strange appeal of voluntarily doing something so difficult again and again … and again.

Little Big Things

The need for generosity of listening

Pallavi Aiyar

We spend a lot of time learning how not to offend. A cross-cultural communication expert argues we should spend more time learning how not to be offended.

Features

The real cost of being a recreational athlete

Adelia Anjani Putri

For a growing number of Indonesians, sports have stopped being a hobby and started being a life. We asked three of them what that actually costs, and whether it’s worth it.