Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Febriamy Hutapea – The National Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to issue a decree on the establishment of

Jakarta – The National Police has not changed its old violent culture as it has maintained the use of torture to obtain confessions from suspects during interrogation, a police watchdog

Fidelis E Satriastanti – Several major regulations issued over the past five years have made the country's natural resources more prone to exploitation, an environmental law expert says

Anita Rachman – Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi said on Tuesday that pushing for clean toilets at the nation's ports was going to be one of his priorities for his first 100 days

Jakarta – The Development and Financial Comptroller Agency (BPKP) must look into the use of the Defense Ministry's budget to make sure budget allocation for low-ranking military officer

Farouk Arnaz, Heru Andriyanto & Camelia Pasandaran – Tensions worsened between the country's prosecutors and police, and the anticorruption agency on Monday with the release of a tr

Kinanti Pinta Karana – Deputy Attorney General Abdul Hakim Ritonga said he only followed orders and procedure when processing the alleged bribery case involving two antigraft officials

Camelia Pasandaran – A book published on Tuesday paints a picture of widespread corruption and power-sharing agreements between Indonesia's political parties.

A political analyst has labeled a plan to raise the salaries of government ministers as "insensitive." The controversial proposal to raise salaries has divided opinion in the House of R

Camelia Pasandaran – Undeterred by previous failed efforts to sack the General Elections Commission, lawmakers and officials from the Elections Supervisory Board on Monday said they hop

Baban Gandapurnama, Bandung – Workers from the Preparatory Committee for the Indonesian Labour Movement Union (KP-PPBI) are demanding a minimum wage increase across all regions in 2010

Irawaty Wardany – The fanfare of legislative and presidential inauguration ceremonies have already passed, but there remain many flaws in the electoral system and related laws, detailed

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – Hundreds of victims affected by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, have renewed calls for the government to compensate them for their land and houses threa

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang (East Java) – The illegal trade of protected animals remains widespread, despite relevant institutions carrying out regular raids against such practice, an

Budi Otmansyah – Greenpeace activists will live in the heart of the Kampar forest area in Riau for several weeks to draw attention to the impact of deforestation on climate change.

Jakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) says that it aims to build a more business-friendly, open and pluralist image under a new leadership in the future in order to gain politica

Jakarta – The Indonesian and Australian governments have agreed to put their bilateral defense cooperation on a firmer basis and to continue it in the future.

Aditya Suharmoko, Alfian – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's new administration, backed by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), is working on an economic road map for the n

Agus Maryono, Purwokerto – The presence of more than 5,000 bylaws and draft bylaws is a major hindrance for potential investment in provinces across the country, says an Investment Coor

Carmel Budiardjo, London – As Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono begins his second term as President, it is worth considering the prospects for dialogue to resolve Indonesia's most intractable co

Iman D. Nugroho, Jakarta – A short afternoon trip that Dandhy Dwi Laksono took recently turned out to be the key to opening a kind of Pandora's box.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held on Friday the maiden Cabinet meeting of his second term, consolidating relations with new members and underlining his in

Blontank Poer, Surakarta – Bloggers and online community groups have urged lawmakers to scrap an article on libel from the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction Law.

Tapaktuan, Aceh. The Sumatran tiger population has continued to decline as the animal is pushed to the brink of extinction.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Wives and women's rights activists have raised concerns over the recent formation of the Global Ikhwan polygamy club in Bandung, West Java, condemning it for

Sara Schonhardt, Jakarta – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday took the presidential oath of office before Indonesia's 240 million people, marking the beginning of his second term in of

Jacqueline Hicks, Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's announcement late on Wednesday of his government's new cabinet was a function of a complicated political calc

Jakarta – The House of Representatives this term is unlikely to provide a strong checks-and-balances mechanism against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's new administration even thoug

Erwida Maulia and Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – The government's new economic team has set its goals for the next five years, focusing primarily on breaking through obstacles to revive th

April Aswadi – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday reminded the new cabinet that he expected all his ministers, whatever their political affiliation, to be loyal to him.

Febriamy Hutapea – Stung by sharp criticism of some of the selections for the new cabinet, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democrat Party on Friday leapt to defend some of the appo

Ardian Wibisono – The Attorney General's Office announced on Friday that the Rp 6.7 trillion ($710.2 million) bailout of PT Bank Century was above board and involved no wrongdoing.

An investigation conducted by Indonesia Corruption Watch and the Asia Research Center has uncovered major points of concern regarding the allocation of money used to fund regional gover

Jakarta – People living around campuses should be wary of any activities that may aim to recruit terrorist cadres, an official said Thursday.

Anne Barrowclough Kepuhsari (Java) – Until his death in a police shoot-out last month he was South-East Asia's most wanted man; an Islamic militant responsible for countless atrocities

Sophie Black – The 255 asylum seekers docked at the port in Merak in West Java are still refusing to leave their boat and be processed by Immigration Officials.

Nurfika Osman – Labor activists said on Wednesday they were wary that overseas internships offered to vocational high school students could be used as a cover for female trafficking, an

Irvan Tisnabudi & Muhamad Al Azhari – The government had spent less than a quarter of the Rp 11.55 trillion ($1.22 billion) allocated to infrastructure projects this year as of the

Jakarta – Civil society groups and the press are expected to serve as opposition functions during the next administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as most political parties

Camelia Pasandaran – One basic problem in the long list of problems related to campaign finance irregularities is bad legislation, according to an antigraft watchdog report released on

Ismira Lutfia & Dessy Sagita – Local journalists had mixed reactions to a recent report from France-based Reporters Without Borders that indicates press freedom in Indonesia improve

Febriamy Hutapea – Were they politically motivated appointments made to secure and preserve power, or a political compromise designed to create a government that would work well togethe

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Ismira Lutfia & Camelia Pasandaran – Former Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo AS gave his successor a parting gift on

Febriamy Hutapea & April Aswadi – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday announced the lineup of his new cabinet, with only one last-minute change and the only surprise bei

Fidelis E.

Calling them "the chosen ones", President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono oversaw the swearing-in of 34 ministers and 3 minister-level officials at the Presidential Palace on Thursday.

Febriamy Hutapea – Despite being implicated in at least two major corruption scandals, lawmaker Emir Moeis of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has been appointed chai

Ben Doherty, Lindsay Murdoch and Karuni Rompies – Indonesia will take the 78 asylum seekers on board an Australian Customs ship in a diplomatic breakthrough following talks last night b

Damien Kingsbury – As we learned from foreign minister Stephen Smith last night, there is now an agreement between the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and Indonesia's President Susilo Bamba

Indonesia's rupiah fell the most in more than two months on concern emerging-market central banks will follow Brazil's example in imposing a tax on overseas investment to temper currenc