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.

Arts

A stroll around Art Jakarta Gardens 2026

Josa Lukman

In its fifth edition, this year’s Art Jakarta Gardens convened more than 26 galleries to showcase a glimpse of the region’s burgeoning contemporary arts scene.

Wealth

Two people, one tab: How couples make Jakarta work

Sheena Suparman

Moving in together doesn't necessarily make life in the city cheaper, but doing so has made it feel at least more manageable for these four couples.

Wealth

The long math: The cost of raising a family in Jakarta

Michelle Anindya

Regardless of income, it's clear that spending on education is top priority for Jakartan households with children.

Features

The price you pay for living in Jakarta

Adelia Anjani Putri

It doesn't really matter where you live, Jakarta is expensive everywhere. The only real choice is what you're willing to pay with: your money, your time or your sanity.

Warm Takes

Every time I say I study journalism, people ask me ‘why?’

Kezia Laurencia

A journalism student reflects on newsroom pressure, public scrutiny, and the uncertain future of the media industry.

Culture and Entertainment

The rainmaker’s bet on an Iranian film about lost shoes

Reza Mardian

Why Manoj Punjabi’s remake of the Iranian classic Children of Heaven may become one of the boldest moves he’s ever taken.

Arts

60 paintings building to one question: Why do we stay?

Sheena Suparman

In a new exhibit in Singapore, Indonesian artist Clasutta uses animals, oil on canvas and a touch of humor to map the arc of a relationship. 

Work It Right

When the side gig was supposed to be the fun part

Aqraa Sagir

At first, it was just for fun; then came the pressure to monetize and optimize.

Family Matters

The parents who learn Roblox before their kids do

Michelle Anindya

Screen time limits are the easy part. Parents today are doing something much harder to keep their kids safe.

Warm Takes

Confessions of a quasi-nepo baby

Josa Lukman

As it turns out, not all nepo babies are created equal.

Warm Takes

'Friends' doesn’t prepare you for adulthood. 'Ally McBeal' does

Felix Martua

Rewatching two defining shows from the late ‘90s as a thirtysomething, it turns out one is far more honest about adulthood than the other. (Spoiler: It's not the one about friends.)