Triwik Kurniasari, Jakarta – Environmental impact assessments (Amdal) are still not being enforced, with rivers becoming increasingly polluted while many industries do not properly treat their waste, environmentalists said Wednesday.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The rupiah continued its slide Wednesday against the US dollar, with the market unresponsive to the government's newly launched set of fiscal policies, waiting for them to take effect.

The rupiah fell to Rp 11,025 per dollar at 5:15 p.m. in Jakarta, from Rp 10,900 at 4:19 p.m. on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported.

Slamet Sutanto, Yogyakarta – In Javanese tradition, a king or sultan is a figure with superlative abilities because of the divine revelation needed to become one.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The House of Representatives unanimously passed the presidential election bill Wednesday, bringing an end to a heated debate over the minimum support a party must win to nominate a presidential candidate.

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has fired six of its prosecutors, citing charges of bribery, extortion, drug abuse, negligence and disobedience.

Slamet Susanto and Tarko Sudiarno, Yogyakarta – After much speculation, Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X announced Tuesday his bid for the presidency in 2009, at a meeting that drew together the country's nobility.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Most factions in the House of Representatives are pushing for the controversial pornography bill to be passed Thursday, despite a threat by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to boycott the move and rejection from several provinces.

Jakarta – The results of research and a political study by Charta Politika (Political Charter) has revealed that the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) has three sources of strength to help it win the 2009 legislative elections.

Veeramalla Anjaiah, Jakarta – With concern setting in about the declining rupiah and share prices, there is good news yet: Indonesia next year will be much more stable than regional peers India, Malaysia and Thailand, a Hong Kong-based political risk consultancy said Monday.

Yogyakarta – The Sultan of Yogyakarta, a revered Indonesian royal who has long harbored political ambitions, told an audience of thousands made up of princes and commoners that he would run for president next year.

Abdul Khalik – The House of Representatives has moved closer to a compromise to unanimously pass the presidential election bill on Wednesday, after nine of 10 factions agreed on the minimum percentage of House seats a party or coalition must win to be able to nominate its own presidential candidate.

The House of Representatives has unanimously passed a bill that terms ethnic and racial discrimination as serious crimes.

Deputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar, who presided over the House's plenary session to approve the draft law, said Indonesia no longer had any room for any form of racial or ethnic discrimination.

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – The East Nusa Tenggara General Election Commission (KPUD) announced that at least 22 of the provinces 38 political parties have failed to meet the minimum quota of 30 percent women members.

KPUD's spokesman Djidon de Haan said Tuesday that KPUD lack the authority to punish the parties.

Jakarta – The Prosperous and Justice Party's (PKS) decision not to include President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on its list of presidential candidates will not hurt the President, presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said here Monday.

Dili – Mounting tension between East Timor's government and the opposition and continued regional-based rivalries in the police and army have left the country in a state of "pre-crisis and fatalism", a Timorese expert in strategic affairs warned Tuesday.

Eighty years ago today a group of young men and women from far-flung islands assembled in Jakarta to pledge that they would be united under one motherland called Indonesia, one nation called Indonesia and one language – Bahasa Indonesia.

Aceh – After a two-week-visit to several regions in Aceh, the supreme leader of the disbanded Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group Hasan Di Tiro left the province Sunday for his home in Stockholm.

Ross Peake – The Australian Defence Force is in East Timor for the long haul although the size of the contingent will vary according to the stability of the tiny nation.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has come under pressure to resolve the abduction cases of human rights activists from 1997 to 1998.

Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – Hundreds of people grouped under the Anti-Pornography Generation Alliance staged a rally at the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) governor's office Friday in support of the anti-pornography bill.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Lawmakers deliberating the controversial bill on pornography will meet Monday to decide whether to pass or delay it until after the House of Representatives ends its recess late next month.

Jenna Hand – East Timor's Opposition Leader has denied a rally of up to 70,000 anti-government protesters would breach the fragile peace in the South-East Asian nation.

Andra Wisnu, Denpasar – Commercial sex workers have been found roaming some of Bali's more remote villages, increasing the possibility of a wider spread of HIV, a report from the Bali Regional AIDS Commission (KPA) revealed Friday.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Ernawati recalls her outrage when her daughter, a second-grader at a private school in Bekasi, West Java, came home in tears one day.

"I was shocked to learn the teacher 'hit' my daughter with a ruler in front of the whole class, just because she made a mistake in maths," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Less than six months before the 2009 legislative elections in April, the public still have no idea about when they will take place, according to a survey released Friday by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

Suherdjoko, Semarang – The marriage of an underage girl to a wealthy Muslim cleric in Bedono village, Semarang regency, Central Java, has sparked controversy in the community.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Two contentious issues have once again held up deliberations of the presidential election bill, leaving the way open for legislators to pass the bill through a vote.

The most controversial issue concerns the threshold – the minimum percentage of House seats a party or coalition requires to be able to nominate its own presidential candidate.

Jakarta – Most child molestation cases are committed by teachers, a study by the National Commission for Child Protection (KPIA) recently revealed.

"What's worst is that most of these teachers commit sexual transgressions," KPIA chairwoman Masnah Sari told a media gathering on Friday.

Dicky Christanto, Bali – As many as 30 people from the Bali People's Component (KRB) organized a silent protest against the pornography bill at Sanur Beach on Thursday.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Entering their final year in office, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla remain unable to live up to their campaign promises to significantly cut the poverty rate and provide more employment, a discussion concluded Thursday.

Matt Crook, Dili – The streets of Dili are quiet – for now. Clashes between rival gangs have subsided and thousands have finally returned to their homes after fleeing the fighting that erupted in East Timor in 2006.

But behind the veneer of calm, the entrenched conflicts that sparked that street violence simmer.

Sunny Tanuwidjaja, Jakarta – The latest survey by Lembaga Survei Indonesia (LSI) seems to confirm a pattern of declining support for Islamic political parties since the reform era. Using a simple typology, Islamic political parties received 40 percent of total votes in the 1999 elections. In the 2004 election, votes for Islamic political parties decreased to 30 percent.

Jakarta – At least 500 Muslims from an Islamic party marched through the Indonesian capital on Thursday to push legislators to pass a controversial anti-pornography bill.

Banda Aceh, Indonesia – A grenade exploded outside the office of former separatist rebels in Indonesia's once-restive Aceh province Thursday, but no one was reported injured, a police official said.

Resource-rich Aceh was torn by conflict for nearly 30 years before a peace deal between Jakarta and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in 2005.

Villagers from Julah in Tejakula, Buleleng, tow (see photo) a pregnant cow behind a boat into open sea as part of a local traditional ritual.

The cow, which is five months pregnant, was thrown out to the sea about 3 kilometers from land Monday. The villagers believe the animal was impregnated by a village elder.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – A farmer from Terbanggi Besar district, 58-year-old Surono Danu, has been diligently carrying out research into superior rice seedlings for decades.

The Bogor Institute of Agriculture alumnus has been leading a quiet life in Nambah Dadi village in the Lampung countryside since his early retirement.

East Timor's Opposition Leader has rejected Government accusations that the Fretilin party is stoking security tensions by planning a mass demonstration.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao says the Government will not hesitate to arrest violent demonstrators.

Jakarta – House of Representatives inquiry team tasked with investigating the kidnappings of democratic activists from 1997-1998 summoned human rights activist Hendardi on Thursday.

Inquiry team chairman Effendi Simbolon of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said Hendardi would help the team collect data about the missing activists.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The House of Representatives' move to probe the abductions of democracy activists in the 1997-1998 period has received mixed reactions, with some pundits calling it politically motivated, and others supporting its legal validity.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Observers are warning the 2009 legislative elections could fail because of the poor performance by the General Elections Commission (KPU) in preparing the national event.

Dadan Widjaksana and Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta, Beijing – The government has brushed aside claims there is a conflict among Cabinet members that has placed the position Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in jeopardy, in relation with her handling of companies hammered by the recent stock market dive.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has exercised a "disclaimer opinion" on financial reports from the Defense Ministry and the Indonesian Military (TNI) over the last two years for failing to include huge amounts of non-tax income.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has established four special teams to probe graft cases centered on Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds, which it will take over from the Attorney General's Office.

Jakarta – Jakarta should brace for even stronger flooding this rainy season after forest in the north of the city was cleared to make way for a road project, a group of NGOs said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal stated here on Tuesday that no country supported separatism in Papua.

"Not a single member country of the United Nations supports separatism in Papua so that Indonesia's position in the matter is solid," he said at the president's office.

Another person has revoked his testimony against former State Intelligent Agency (BIN) deputy chief Muchdi Purwopranjono, who is on trial for the murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib.

A BIN agent identified only as Kawan, testified on Tuesday that his own testimony in a case file read by prosecutors was false.

Karen Michelmore, Ubud, Bali – Naldo Rei's thick, wavy hair trails down his back. He has worn it this way for much of his life, for protection, and as a symbol of resistance.

Although the fight to free East Timor is long over, the 33-year-old continues to wear his hair this way, perhaps as he battles his own lingering personal demons.

Rendi A. Witular and Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Vested interests are launching a covert attempt to replace Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati following her stern moves to guard the state budget from abuse and clamp down on violators, sources say.

Abdul Khalik and Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – The House of Representatives' special committee on the abduction of democracy activists in 1997-1998 decided Tuesday to continue summoning retired generals to clarify their roles in the cases.

The West Sepik provincial police commander Sakawar Kasieng yesterday warned people in Vanimo and border villages not to travel to Jayapura in the Papua Province of Indonesia because of current unrest there.