Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Gloom fell over Megawati Soekarnoputri's private residence in Kebagusan, South Jakarta, as a small group huddled around the television set, hours after

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Hundreds of members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) checked in at the Mulia Hotel on Monday despite calls by their chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid to le

Banda Aceh – A senior separatist rebel on Tuesday was given 16 years in jail for treason in Indonesia's war-hit Aceh province.

Andi Hajramurni and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Makassar/Bandung – After two days of relative calm, violence broke out again in Aralle district, Mamasa regency, killing one man and injuring anoth

Veronica Brooks, Canberra – Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Tuesday headed to Jakarta to witness the swearing in of Indonesia's new president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, hoping

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Demonstrators rallied in Jayapura yesterday demanding that recently elected president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono allow international negotiators to end the dec

Jongker Rumthe, Manado – Three newly reelected North Sulawesi councillors stood trial at the Manado District Court here on Monday on charges of misusing some Rp 9.6 billion (US$1.06 mil

The prospect of an openly negotiated security treaty with Jakarta is welcome.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A three-day evaluation of regional autonomy in Papua ended on Friday, with one of the most contentious issues raised being the appointment of civil servan

Indonesia's Megawati Sukarnoputri, under increasing fire in her last days as president for failing to admit poll defeat, has come under new criticism from the country's military chief o

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – Two days before his inauguration as president, some 100 students from the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI) and the Greater Jakarta Student Execu

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Yulianti, a bartender at a nightclub in Surabaya, had a busy couple of nights before Ramadhan started on Friday.

Jakarta – Chief Justice Bagir Manan said the country's first sharia court in Aceh, which applies Islamic law, or sharia, could not work effectively due to the absence of related bylaws.

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Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Tension was still high on Sunday in a village in Aralle district, some 400 kilometers from the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, after two people were repo

Jakarta – The streets of central Indonesia's Sulawesi town remained tense yesterday after new communal conflict erupted, leaving at least two dead, the top local police official said.

In an example of prudence in the search for justice, the underused Press Council issued on Friday a momentous decision that should reignite freedom of expression's dimming light.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Observers demanded on Sunday a thorough investigation into officers allegedly involved in the escape of Adrian Waworuntu, a key suspect in the Rp 1.7 trillion (U

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta/Bogor – Outgoing President Megawati Soekarnoputri's decision to skip the inauguration of her successor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will bac

Megawati Sukarnoputri has won plaudits for smoothing Indonesia's path to democracy, but in her final days as president the taciturn leader is in danger of leaving a lasting image as a s

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Papuans have called on president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to enforce the Special Autonomy Law for Papua to resolve the prolonged issues in the provin

A new security treaty between Indonesia and Australia would symbolise the increasingly close relationship between the two countries.

Tiarma Siboro and M.

Angela Gregory – Pacific countries are ignoring the brutality of Indonesian armed forces towards West Papuans, a regional peace and security conference has been told.

Rendi A.

Eka Saprianawati, Jakarta – The inauguration of president and vice-president elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla (SBY-JK) on October 20 will be greeted with demonstrations.

Dili – East Timor's future oil and gas revenues must have positive effects for the world's newest nation, which is taking measures to prevent the damage that similar oil bonanzas have i

Jakarta – Thick haze began disrupting flights in Central Kalimantan province on Saturday, with an airplane from PT Dirgantara Air Service (DAS) reportedly rerouted after it was unable t

Australia is considering talks on a new security treaty with Indonesia to replace a pact abandoned during the bloody fallout from East Timor's independence ballot in 1999, Foreign Minis

Indonesia – The situation in Tinggi Nambut village, Puncak Jaya regency remained tense on Friday, following the murder of five construction workers, all migrants from Makassar, South Su

Rita A.Widiadana, Denpasar – The number of foreign tourists visiting Bali has continued to increase over the past few months, thanks to the improved security situation.

Jakarta – The Islamic fasting month of Ramadan started yesterday and the Indonesian entertainment industry is grumbling over local edicts to close nightclubs, massage parlours and amuse

Tiarma Siboro and M.

Semarang/Medan/Banda Aceh/Indramayu – Millions of Indonesian Muslims, who account for some 85 percent of the total 220 million population in the country, began fasting dawn-to-dusk on F

Jakarta – The coordinator of Indonesia's NGO Coalition for International Human Rights Advocacy (HRWG), Rafendi Djamin, hopes that president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) will rep

Bruce Loudon – At the time, the authorities dismissed it as a straightforward case of journalists tragically caught in the crossfire.

Jakarta – The central bank expects the rupiah to strengthen against the US dollar leading up to the year-end on the back of a better economic outlook and high hopes for the new governme

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A group of suspected Papuan separatists remained in control of a hamlet in Puncak Jaya on Friday, as efforts to negotiate the release of bodies of five mi

Jakarta, Kompas – In examining the Draft Law on the Fundamentals of Intelligence, the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) has the potential to became a body which will be inseparable fro

Jakarta – Parts of Indonesia have been enveloped in one of the worst days of haze this year, officials said, as residents donned face masks to ward off thick, choking fumes.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – After many delays, state prosecutors finally submitted the file on Abu Bakar Ba'asyir to the South Jakarta District Court on Friday, charging him with mastermind

Jakarta, Kompas – The Aceh Working Group or AWG is urging the government to investigate human rights violations which have taken place in Aceh, many of which have been suffered by polit

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Director of the National Police economic crimes division Brig. Gen.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Indonesia's global competitiveness has improved over the past year, and yet it is battered by an inefficient bureaucracy, inconsistent policies and corruption, a

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Wearing face masks and unfurling banners, some 100 students from 21 elementary schools throughout Jakarta made an impassioned plea for cleaner air in the metropo

Martin Jenkins, Jakarta – In Indonesia, much debate has recently centered on how the government should tackle the problem of rising fuel subsidies as the price of crude oil on the inter

Yogyakarta – A student protest marred the inauguration of the Sunan Kalijaga Islamic State University on Thursday in Yogyakarta, with students calling on the government to prevent educa

Andi Hajramurni and ID Nugroho, Makassar/Sidoarjo – Police here named at least 14 of 75 South Sulawesi legislative council members as suspects on Thursday in a graft case, while East Ja

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Bogor – Indonesia's President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said yesterday he would pick a non-military defence minister as part of efforts to rein in the powerful armed forces through