Jakarta – The Jakarta administration claims that its decision to remove the roof of a pedestrian bridge on Jl. Sudirman connecting Wisma Bumiputera and Astra Tower has received widespread support from residents in the capital.
Jakarta Bina Marga Road Agency head Hari Nugroho even went so far as to say that around 80 percent of residents approved the move.
Benny Mawel, Jayapura – Four students detained by police in antiracism protests that turned violent in Wamena and Timika, Papua, in September have been released because they are under the age of 18.
Ivany Atina Arbi, Jakarta – A suicide bomber who blew himself up at Medan police headquarters in Medan, North Sumatra, on Wednesday, had pledged allegiance to a new Islamic State (IS) caliph (leader) before committing the attack, a global think tank has said.
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The North Sumatra Police and the National Police's counterterrorism squad Densus 88 are hunting a cleric believed to have influenced the suicide bomber that attacked the Medan Police headquarters on Wednesday.
Karina M. Tehusijarana, Jakarta – Two mothers whose sons were killed during prodemocracy protests in 1998 have marked the 21st anniversary of what became known as the Semanggi Tragedy by writing open letters to their late children, lamenting the fact that those responsible for their deaths have yet to be brought to justice.
Dyaning Pangestika, Jakarta – Journalists from Melanesian countries are urging the Indonesian government to put a stop to criminalizing journalism, following concerns about growing threats to media freedom in the country.
Beritasatu, Jakarta – New details have emerged a day after a suicide bomb attack at the Medan Metropolitan Police headquarters, with police saying the wife of the lone bomber is even more radicalized than her husband.
Rabbial Muslim Nasution, who died instantly during the attack, was reportedly radicalized by his own wife, the National Police said on Thursday.
Carlos Ky Paath, Jakarta – The government is mulling over a plan to require couples who want to get married to take pre-marital lessons on family life and children welfare and get certified before they tie the knot, a minister said.
Jakarta – Collusion between doctors and pharmaceutical companies over the sale of medicines still continues. An initiative is needed from the new minister of health.
Muhammad Hendartyo, Jakarta – Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo projected that halal food industry will be worth US$1.8 trillion by the end of 2023 as reported recently by Global Islamic Economy Report 2019/2020.
According to Perry, the figure could be achieved because of the increasing potential market of the global halal industry.
Indonesian Mirnawati once ate rice with every meal, but its link to diabetes convinced her to join a growing movement to quit a staple food in the third biggest rice-consuming nation on Earth.
Louis Lee Ray, Resty Woro Yuniar and Sri Kusmiati – The burning of plastic waste in Indonesia, much of which has been sent there by the West, is poisoning the food chain, the BBC has learned.
Environmental group IPEN found, in one East Java village, toxic dioxins in chicken eggs 70 times the level allowed by European safety standards.
Amy Chew – An Indonesian ministry last week banned its staff from wearing the niqab, or full-face veil, while on duty, as the government grapples with a rising tide of extremism and intolerance in the country.
Tjahjo Kumolo, the Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, told local media employees still had a choice to wear the garment when not working.
The Labour Movement With the People (GEBRAK) strongly condemns the coup d'etat in Bolivia against the government of Evo Morales.
Nina A. Loasana, Jakarta – The Jakarta administration is bracing for the upcoming rainy season by undertaking several measures to prevent severe flooding in the capital city, which is a perennial problem.
Riska Rahman, Jakarta – Indonesia's Islamic finance rank has improved exponentially this year, but challenges remain to further develop the sharia economy.
Panca Nugraha, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – State-owned electricity company PLN has imposed rolling blackouts on Lombok Island in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) for the past several weeks because of a decrease in its production capacity.
The policy will be implemented until the end of December.
Marchio Irfan Gorbiano, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo reiterated his determination to improve Indonesia's investment climate at the Regional Leadership Communication Forum (Forkopimda), held on Wednesday at the Sentul International Convention Center in Bogor, West Java.
Jakarta – The government plans to reduce the annual interest rate for its microcredit program (KUR) from 7 percent to 6 percent per year starting Jan. 1, 2020.
Markus Makur, East Manggarai, NTT – The local administration and legislative council are planning to provide new buildings for SMPN 10 junior high school and other schools in East Manggarai regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
Riza Roidila Mufti, Jakarta – State-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II is tightening security in its 19 airports following a suicide bombing that injured six people at the Medan Police headquarters in North Sumatra on Wednesday morning.
Jakarta – Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Wishnutama has asserted that he has no plans to make Bali and Lake Toba in North Sumatra more Muslim-friendly destinations, rebuking circulating media reports that suggested he would do so in two of Indonesia's favorite tourist sites.
Paul Daley – Suggestions that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is impeding or trying to censor an official history of Australia's East Timor peacekeeping mission are disturbing but unsurprising.
Jakarta – A key group in Indonesia's parliament expressed support on Wednesday for a plan by President Joko Widodo to replace dozens of existing, overlapping laws with bills to improve the investment climate, its chairman said.
Adrian Wail Akhlas, Jakarta – Nickel mining and smelting companies have agreed to support the government's plan to ban nickel ore exports from January 2020 onward, as stipulated in an Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry regulation, Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Bahlil Lahadalia has said.
Jakarta – The Jakarta City Council's Commission A has recommended that the budget for the Governor's Team for Accelerated Development (TGUPP) be scrapped from the capital's 2020 budget priorities (KUA-PPAS).
Jakarta – Close oversight in the drawing up of the Capital's budget also shows the biggest benefit of democracy: a control mechanism that will only work properly if there is strong opposition.
Sarah Ervina Dara Siyahailatua, Jakarta – The Tobacco Control Support Center recorded that Indonesia ranks third with the world's most smokers with at least 90 million active smokers in 2015.
Larissa Huda, Jakarta – Directorate General of Customs and Excise at the Finance Ministry recorded a total of 1,064 imported waste containers retained at Tanjung Priok Port as of October 30. This occurred because importers had not yet submitted Import declaration form (PIB), said the sub directorate import head Djanurindro Wibowo.
Jakarta (Antara) – The Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces have resolved to forge military cooperation.
Rahel Narda Chaterine, Jakarta – A group of students from the Semanggi Student Action Front held a commemoration marking 21 years since the Semanggi I tragedy. They even managed to put up a huge banner demanding that the perpetrators of human rights violations be brought to trial.
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan and Jakarta – A 24-year-old man who was formerly an online-delivery motorcycle driver has been identified by police as the suicide bomber in the attack on the Medan Police precinct headquarters in Medan, North Sumatra, on Wednesday.
Nur Yasmin, Jakarta – The government is looking to develop an amphibious aircraft in the next five years to solve the perennial problem of inter-island transportation in the archipelago, Research and Technology Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said at the International Conference of Transportation Research and Innovation in Jakarta on Wednesday.
James Massola, Karuni Rompies and Amilia Rosa, Jakarta – A suicide bomber launched an attack on the Medan City police headquarters in North Sumatra, Indonesia, killing himself and injuring at least six people.
The blast occurred on Wednesday at 8.45am local time.
Fikri Arigi, Jakarta – The communication and informatics ministry (Kominfo) initiated a partnership with 10 state-ministries and agencies to launch the aduanasn.id, a website that enables suspected radicalized state apparatus (ASN) to be reported.
The website is claimed to ensure that Pancasila (five state ideologies) is being upheld by state-apparatuses.
Jakarta – The government looks set to realize its plan to form two new provinces in Papua, or at least one of them, after hearing what it claims as "grassroots aspirations".
There is a worrying attitude emerging in Indonesia that the pursuit of economic development runs in conflict with democratic freedom, or is even a priority over it.
Kristian Erdianto, Jakarta – During a working meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto explained the concept of defense and security which he will pursue over the next five years.
Jakarta – The Papua Advocacy Team has protested the continued restrictions on access to six Papua activists who are being detained at the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters (Mako Brimob) detention centre in Depok.
Jakarta – The Jakarta administration has scrapped its budget for the procurement of 118 plots of land for the Ciliwung River normalization project as the city faces a 2019 budget deficit.
Jakarta – The immigration office denied on Monday that the government had issued an order prohibiting Muslim cleric Habib Rizieq Shihab from returning to Indonesia, rejecting Rizieq's claim that he could not come home because of such an order.
Karina M. Tehusijarana, Jakarta – Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Jazuli Juwaini has asked Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto to pay closer attention to people entering Papua claiming to be missionaries.
Jakarta – A man named Samsul of Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, has completed a decades-long venture to open a road for his fellow villagers through a wild jungle.
Jakarta – Jakarta City Council Speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi has asked the city administration to stop cutting down trees on several sidewalks in the capital following complaints from residents over what happened to the trees on the sidewalks of Jl. Cikini Raya, Central Jakarta.
Jakarta – A resident of Garut, West Java, was detained by the police on Saturday in relation to a mobile game application that contained insults to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
Jakarta – Indonesia plans to construct its first spaceport in Biak, Papua, to serve as the location of the country's rocket test launches, the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) has confirmed.
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The Journalist Safety Committee has said that the murders of Maratua Siregar and Maraden Sianipar in Labuhan Batu, North Sumatra, suspected to be related to palm oil, did not constitute violence against journalists because neither of the victims were journalists at that time.
Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo warned during a speech at the NasDem Party's anniversary celebration on Monday that he would "bite" anyone who stood in his way of addressing the country's problems.
"Don't try to stop me from resolving the problems I mentioned earlier. I will definitely bite [you] in my own way," Jokowi said as reported by tempo.co.
Jakarta – Two separate acid attacks have been reported within a week of each other in West Jakarta. The police are still investigating the incidents.
In the Central Java province of Indonesia, amid a patchwork of rice fields and farms where sugar and indigo crops once dominated, garment factories are now bustling.