Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The country's police chiefs signed a contract Friday in an effort to push for bureaucratic reform within the force, dubbed the most bribe-riddled of all state institutions.

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors yesterday requested life in prison for a relative of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the country's central bank.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The police and military have faced increasing scrutiny over their commitment to remain politically neutral in the upcoming elections, with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono questioning the move and recent rumors.

Tara Ravens – Women in East Timor are forced into potentially fatal abortions because they cannot legally terminate a pregnancy even for medical reasons, according to a Darwin researcher.

Restrictive laws in the mainly Catholic country mean women cannot request elective abortion for any reason, including to preserve their health or save their lives.

Cecilia Castilla, Pangkalan Bun – In the forests of Central Kalimantan Province, a small environmental group is using education to arm villagers against the devastating onslaught of palm oil plantations.

Nurni Sulaiman, Balikpapan – The Balikpapan Bay is one of the city's landmarks, a place where foreign and domestic companies, mostly in the coal and oil sectors, have been carrying out their business for dozens of years.

Reh Atemalem Susanti, Jakarta – The secretary-general of National Commission for the Protection of Children, Arist Merdeka Sirait, said marriages between underage children and adults or among underage children is a humanitarian crime.

Jakarta – Although Indonesia has since 1984 adopted the UN convention on the elimination of discrimination against women (CEDAW), many women in the country still face violence and discrimination, a high-level meeting on the convention concluded here Thursday.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Most managers of mosques in Jakarta embrace a moderate brand of Islam and support the unitary state of Indonesia, a survey released Thursday reveals. Only a few wish for Indonesia to become an Islamic state, it added.

Timika, Papua – Six members of the Forensic Laboratory of Makassar, South Sulawesi, and detectives from the Papua Police examined the shooting scene of Simon Fader at the Queen Bar in Kodok, Timika, on Thursday. The officers have not found any projectiles at the scene.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Residents from Rancabentang, Ciumbeuleuit in Bandung, staged a rally Tuesday at the Bandung Municipal Legislative Council protesting its indecision on the construction of the Four R Hotel.

The crowd protested in front of the council building while beating drums, cans and plastic bottles.

Jakarta – The Star Reform Party (PBR) is positioning itself as a religious party that is 'socialistic', by not accentuating religious symbols, but rather with a substance that sides with marginal groups. Such a position has not yet been taken up by any other Islamic parties.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Indonesian Muslims will ignore the recent edict by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the country's highest Islamic authority, to ban vote abstention, as people's decision to vote will be determined by political calculation rather than religious dogma, politicians from major parties said Wednesday.

Jakarta – A survey on the city administration's performance in 2008 was released on Wednesday and showed illegal fees and dissatisfaction with public services still abounded.

Jason Tedjasukmana, Jakarta – Four days after the fatwa went out, students continued to fill the yoga mats in the classrooms of Jakarta's Jakartadogyoga Studio. On Jan. 28, the influential Indonesian Ulemas Council issued a religious edict forbidding all Indonesian Muslims from practicing yoga that incorporates pre-Hindu religious rituals such meditation and chanting.

Markus Makur, Timika – Dozens of police officers patrolled the streets of Yos Sudarso, Timika, Papua on Wednesday while relatives of a person shot to death by police during a riot last Sunday demanded an investigation into the officers' actions.

Heru Andriyanto – The National Commission on Human Rights, or Komnas HAM, said on Wednesday that it planned to hire a team of five legal experts to examine the decision to acquit former top intelligence official Muchdi Purwoprandjono of charges that he masterminded the murder of a prominent rights activist four years ago.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Businesses have warned the government against giving firms in labor-intensive sectors a waive in employees' taxes they normally bear, with details of the plan still sketchy.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – The legal stipulation requiring a political party to acquire a minimum number of seats in the House of Representatives before it can nominate a presidential candidate is unconstitutional, political and constitutional law experts said on Wednesday during a hearing at the Constitutional Court.

Blontank Poer, Surabaya – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) ended a two-day meeting Wednesday no closer to picking a running mate for chairwoman and presidential hopeful Megawati Soekarnoputri.

AI Index: ASA 21/001/2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, voted Sultan Hamengkubuwono X the party's preferred vice presidential candidate during the final day of its national conference on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Political experts and players on both sides of the controversy over the gender quota issued last week by the General Elections Committee (KPU) think there is little chance that the poll supervisory body can force the annulment of the most recent ruling of the Constitutional Court.

Laurencius Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Protest actions continue to enliven the main roads of Jakarta. Today, Thursday January 29, four demonstrations will contribute to the hustle and bustle of the capital.

Erwida Maulia, Surabaya – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched two education programs and announced he would dramatically increase spending on Islamic boarding schools during a visit to an Islamic school in Surabaya, East Java, on Wednesday.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – After giving conflicting figures, the government has finally set the stimulus at Rp 71.3 trillion (US$6.31 billion) to boost the economy amid the threat of crisis.

The package will include the Rp 27.5 trillion stimulus previously announced, and is higher than the figure of Rp 50 trillion touted by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Timika – Four people were wounded Tuesday when Indonesian police opened fire on hundreds of people in Papua province during a protest against alleged police violence.

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – The lengths people will go to get what they want this election year is amazing, though not all that surprising. A case in point is the latest fatwa, or legal opinion, issued by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), which essentially states that it is a moral sin if you don't cast your vote in this year's elections.

Ed McWilliams – During the Cold War, the United States built alliances with notoriously corrupt, abusive regimes, including that of Suharto in Indonesia. Since September 11, 2001, a policy of strengthening relationships with disreputable militaries has re-emerged in the name of fighting terrorism.

Julie Shingleton, Jakarta – Indonesian smokers and the country's tobacco industry have slammed a move by the nation's top Islamic body to place restrictions on tobacco use by Muslims, calling it an interference in private lives.

Jakarta – Most businesses may wait until after elections before deciding whether to lay off workers permanently, to minimize potential social unrest.

The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) said steps should be taken to help avoid economic and political crises reminiscent of the previous turmoil in the late 1990s.

Banda Aceh – A spate of recent deadly animal attacks in Indonesia has thrown the spotlight on growing conflicts between humans and animals triggered by the rapid dwindling of the country's forests.

Three of the six fatwa issued by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) have drawn strong resistance, not only from the general public, but also from individual Muslim organizations whose representatives sit in the country's highest Islamic authority.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Sally Piri – Sultan Hamengkubuwono X should be expelled from the Golkar Party for "violating party discipline" by signalling a willingness to run for vice-president with a rival political party in the upcoming national elections, senior Golkar figure Muladi said on Tuesday.

Febriamy Hutapea – The Indonesian Council of Ulema, or MUI, went too far when it banned Muslims from abstaining from voting, House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono said on Tuesday.

"To vote or not to vote is purely a political matter, and not in the religious domain," he said. "It can't be forced and shouldn't be linked to religion."

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Bandung, Padang – Regional general election commissions (KPUDs) are concerned with the new way to vote in which voters have to tick instead of punch the ballot.

The Bandung KPUD, for example, conducted various simulations and found that some 30 percent of the votes would be void as many voters still punched the ballot.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who is currently setting her sights anew on the presidency, lashed out at President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and outlined her platform for getting the nation back on track on Tuesday.

Blontank Poer and Erwida Maulia, Surakarta/Malang – Potential vice presidential candidates attended the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) meeting Tuesday, but were left guessing with no definite announcement made.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – A political watchdog has criticized legislators for taking unnecessary overseas trips and threatening the progress of a crucial bill they are working on.

Jakarta – The newly Sworn-in Supreme Court Chief Justice Harifin Tumpa faces an uphill battle against corruption with the nation's top legal institution under investigation for a number of scandals, a watchdog says.

Jakarta – A Christian political leader has criticised a religious edict or fatwa issued by Indonesia's top Islamic body stating that only a Muslim could become president of the country.

David Jardine – Some controversies simply will not go away. One of them is the continued denial by leading Japanese politicians of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan more or less since the end of World War II, of the ill-treatment of Asian peoples in countries occupied by Japanese forces.

Agus Maryono, Purwokerto – The Constitution Court's Regulation No. 8/2008 on granting legislative seats to candidates who win the most votes, rather than handing out seats according to the age-old practice of party hierarchies, could spark an explosion in the practice of money politics, experts say.

Jakarta – Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation has attacked a move by the country's highest Islamic authority to impose bans on smoking, practising yoga and voting abstention.

A 'fatwa' or a religious edict was issued by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) during its two-day national meeting in the West Sumatran town of Padangpanjang at the weekend.

Blontank Poer and Slamet Susanto, Surakarta, Yogyakarta – A duet between Megawati Soekarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X has come closer to reality.

Surabaya – Due to the global economic downturn, the provincial government has allowed 14 troubled companies to underpay their workers.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – NGOs conducting public opinion and exit polls have established an association that obliges members to reveal their sponsors and donors in an effort to fight their tainted image ahead of the upcoming elections.

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) today called on Timor-Leste's (East Timor) prosecutor-general to drop criminal defamation charges against the local weekly Tempo Semanal and its editor, Jose Belo.

Sara Webb, Jakarta – Indonesia's former president Suharto has been dead for a year, but the country he ruled for three decades until his ouster in a populist uprising in 1998, is still dealing with his legacy.

Dili – A rights group Monday urged East Timor to drop criminal charges against a weekly newspaper and its editor for alleged defamation of the justice minister.