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.

The Neighborhood

Where Dutch and Indonesian culture keep meeting

Josa Lukman

Throughout the years, Erasmus Huis has connected the two nations with a long, shared history.

Little Big Things

Your national dish is lying to you

Pallavi Aiyar

From the croissant to ketchup, a tour of the surprising, border-crossing origin stories behind the dishes nations love to call their own — including one that traces back to Sumatra.

Little Big Things

Boredom is the new luxury

Pallavi Aiyar

As the distraction economy steals our ability to think and focus, the most radical thing we can do could be nothing at all.

Conversation

Pride in Indonesia is longer than a coming-out story

Reza Mardian

Three queer Indonesians, three different relationships with the closet and one thing they all share: a conversation that never ends.

Culture and Entertainment

Pride in the shadows: Five films about being queer in Asia

Reza Mardian

Beyond rainbows and quiet celebrations, five films bring to light intimate stories of how queer Asians navigate love, family, shame, and belonging in their own cultural contexts.

Warm Takes

The way we live

Maggie Tiojakin

A personal reflection on Jakarta’s contradictions and unfinished ambitions — and why, despite all its failings, the city continues to ground us.

Little Big Things

Hindu epics in a Muslim majority nation

Pallavi Aiyar

Nothing captures Indonesia's pluralism better than wayang kulit. This essay explains how the Ramayana and Mahabharata continue to shape the country’s society, politics, and everyday life.

Warm Takes

Jakarta: A city of stations, a city of selves

Lutfiya Tussifah

Jakarta's train stations don't just take you places, they make you someone different at each stop.

Features

All of me: A journey of becoming nonbinary

Nia

Through personal reflection and conversations with others, one writer explores gender, belonging, and the long – often arduous – process of becoming oneself.

Little Big Things

The caste system of travel

Pallavi Aiyar

From embassy queues to airport holding rooms, a personal journey through passportism and the hidden privileges of global mobility.

Market Pulse

A small industry built on the blank page problem

Aqraa Sagir

Indonesia’s guided journal industry is small, indie and reaching people across the archipelago and beyond.

Warm Takes

On leaving and returning: The map of a divided heart

Dedari Arane Wibowo

Living in more than one place means loving more than one home, and becoming more than one self.

Features

All the streams. Where are the crowds?

Felix Martua

Local music now dominates streaming charts across Southeast Asia. So why aren't Indonesian artists filling bigger rooms?

Wealth

Making it work: What it costs to be single in Jakarta

Aqraa Sagir

Wages haven't kept up, the middle class is shrinking and the city gets more expensive every year. Three young Jakartans in their mid-20s explain how they've made it work anyway.