With approximately 840 million people still without electricity access, the world is failing to meet energy targets in the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. Globally, it was deemed as one of the most important indicators for measuring livelihood quality with the world aiming to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services by 2030.

Thailand could be the next major ASEAN city to move its capital.

Abandoning Jakarta for a new capital in Borneo won't save the fast-sinking Indonesian megacity from disaster and could even spark a fresh environmental crisis in a region home to rainforests and endangered orangutans, critics have warned.President Joko Widodo announced this week that the Southeast Asian nation's political heart would be moved nearly 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) east to a yet-to-be-built model city as a way of easing pressure on densely populated Java.Sprawling Jak

Indonesia will move its capital to the eastern edge of jungle-clad Borneo island, President Joko Widodo said Monday, as the country shifts its political heart away from congested and sinking megalopolis Jakarta.The proposed location – near the regional cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda – is an area at "minimal" risk of natural disasters, where the government already owns some 180,000 hectares (445,000 acres) of land, he added."The location is very strategic – it's in the

Indonesia’s decision to move its capital from Jakarta raises several key questions for Southeast Asia’s largest economy.Faced with notorious traffic jams, rapid sinking and a host of other problems, Indonesia’s President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo last week officially announced plans to shift ASEAN’s most populous capital to Kalimantan – an area on Borneo, an island which Indonesia shares with Malaysia and Brunei.With Indonesia located in the Ring of Fire, Kalimantan was identified as a possible lo

Time is running out for Jakarta. One of the fastest-sinking cities on earth, environmental experts warn that one third of it could be submerged by 2050 if current rates continue.Decades of uncontrolled and excessive depletion of groundwater reserves, rising sea-levels, and increasingly volatile weather patterns mean swathes of it have already started to disappear.Existing environmental measures have had little impact, so authorities are taking drastic action: the nation will have a n

Thrown off a motorbike as her parents blew themselves up, nine-year-old Mila was the sole survivor of a family suicide bombing, part of a wave of such attacks involving children that rocked Indonesia.Orphaned and radicalised, there were concerns for her future after the Islamic State (IS)-inspired strike, but a renewed focus on rehabilitating the children of terror suspects may offer Mila, and others like her, a chance at normality.She is among a small group who are being treated at a Jakarta

At least six people were killed as Indonesia's capital erupted in violence when police clashed with protesters opposed to the re-election of President Joko Widodo.Police sirens blared as fresh skirmishes broke out Wednesday evening with thousands of protesters chanting and waving Indonesian flags in the heart of the capital.Some hurled stones and fireworks at riot police who lined up behind a razor wire barricade near the election supervisory agency building. Police pushed back

Jakarta commuter Irnawati can spend up to four hours daily in her car, but now she and millions of others may get some relief as the traffic-clogged Southeast Asian city opens its first mass rapid-transit (MRT) system.Today, Jakarta will inaugurate the US$1.1 billion project seen as crucial to tackling some of the world's worst congestion, which can turn commutes into hours-long endurance tests.For Irnawati, the new line means she might now be able to move back to her suburban home on th

The traffic situation in Southeast Asia is famous for all the wrong reasons.