Hamish McDonald – During the 34 or so years of Soeharto's reign in Indonesia, outside analysts watched with diminishing expectations for signs of his grip weakening and rival power cent

Nurfika Osman – It's been a long time since 1955.

AHRC-STM-085-2009

Jakarta – On Wednesday, several NGOs filed a request for the Constitutional Court to review the 2009 Supreme Court law that extends the retirement age of justices to 70 years from 65 ye

Jakarta – On Wednesday, Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Ferry Juliantono to one year in prison for triggering a riot following a protest over the fuel price hike in June last y

Jakarta – As the global downturn is still nowhere near recovering, Indonesia's exports – having dropped 30 percent in the first quarter – will fall even faster in the second three-month

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Indonesia goes to the polls today amid widespread confusion about new voting rules, chaotic organisation and warnings of corrupted voter lists.

Rowan Callick – Following a raucous and colourful campaign season – with most candidates singing on stage – 240 million Indonesians will today start electing their next government by ch

Islamist groups expected to take back seat in vote

Adianto P.

Leony Aurora and Arijit Ghosh – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's 70 percent personal approval rating is his Democrat Party's strongest asset as it enters the election sea

Jakarta – The economy may have grown by 4.6 percent in the first quarter of the year from a year earlier, as the elections helped pushed up consumption, the finance minister says.

Fabio Scarpello – After the fall of president Suharto in 1998, Indonesia's powerful military found itself sidelined by enthusiasm for the nation's nascent democracy.

Megawati Wijaya, Jakarta – After weeks of raucous rallies and colorful campaigns, an estimated 170 million Indonesians are eligible to cast their votes at Thursday's legislative polls.

The government should carry out serious investigations into the pre-election violence, no matter where the evidence leads.

Singapore – Indonesia and Thailand are perceived as Asia's most corrupt economies, with last year's cellar-dweller the Philippines making a marked improvement, an annual survey of forei

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – Hundreds of tobacco farmers rallied against the planned kerosene subsidy cut Monday, at the West Nusa Tenggara governor's office in Mataram.

The police's credibility and professionalism are being questioned as they failed to progress in their month-long investigation into the contentious voter list fraud cases in the Madures

Arijit Ghosh and Aloysius Unditu – Indonesia's central bank may ease some bad-loan rules to enable lenders to boost credit as growth in Southeast Asia's biggest economy slows to an eigh

Semarang – Fifty-three of 182 regional legislative council members across Central Java implicated in corruption cases are seeking reelection in the April 9 polls.

Erwida Maulia and Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – At least 36 people, mostly legislative candidates from various political parties, were sentenced to prison during the open election campaig

The gubernatorial election in East Java is long over, but has bequeathed the police with the task of investigating the alleged voter list fraud in Bangkalan and Sampang regencies, Madur

Aloysius Unditu – Effendy Choirie has lost count of the T-shirts, baseball caps and food packages he has given away since he began campaigning for re-election to Indonesia's parliament.

Stephen Fitzpatrick – If it seems Indonesia's air safety record has improved since the Garuda crash two years ago that claimed 21 lives and has now seen pilot Marwoto Komar sentenced to

Jakarta – With a half full bag of plastic bottles, Maya, 40, mingled with thousands of supporters of the People Conscience's Party (Hanura in front of a stage on the main field of Bung

Anita Rachman – Nine years after Indonesia took up the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, the country still had a long way to go in proving its commitment to achievi

Andra Wisnu, Jakarta – Only nine of 38 parties contesting the April 9 elections will get seats at the House of Representatives in Jakarta, according to a number of recent surveys.

Camelia Pasandaran – The candidate sons of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a senior Golkar Party lawmaker are under investigation for alleged vote-buying, elections officials sai

Jakarta – Indonesia's political parties are turning to high-yielding rice seeds to woo an agriculture-based electorate in this year's parliamentary and presidential elections.

Achmad Faisal, Surabaya – A surplus in rice production is no guarantee that farmers' well being – measured by their buying power – will improve, as the latest statistics released this m

Tom Allard, Magelang, Central Java – Indonesia's President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, yesterday backed away from longstanding and highly controversial plans to build a nuclear reactor i

Medan – The North Sumatra Union for the Politics of the Poor Front (FPPRM) believes that the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has failed.

When Mirini was appointed No. 1 on the National Awakening Party's list of national legislative candidates in Aceh Province, she put it down to her local connections.

Surabaya – On Sunday April 5, protesters from the East Java People's Union Against the Elections (PRTP) held a demonstration at the Bungkul Park in the East Java provincial capital of S

Yogyakarta – On Sunday April 6, around 40 students from the United People's Committee (KRB) demonstrated at the Gadjah Mada University roundabout in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) denounced a report alleging its members and the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) group were undermining moderate Islam in t

Palu, Central Sulawesi – On April 5, scores of activists from the Central Sulawesi Union for the Politics of the Poor (PPRM Sulteng) declared their opposition to the 2009 general electi

Medan – On April 5 scores of people from the North Sumatra Union for the Politics of the Poor Front (FPPRM-SU) held a protest action at the Mejestik roundabout in the North Sumatra city

Andra Wisnu, Jakarta – Nationalist-oriented parties tend to turn a blind eye to polygamy as a women's group found in a recent study showing they endorsed legislative candidates who publ

Jakarta – With Indonesia lurching uncertainly towards national legislative elections next week, the shabby beer bars and brothels of Rawa Malang may seem like an unlikely spot for a bit

'PBR is open to new ideas, in contrast to the more established parties' - Dita Indah Sari, PBR

Jakarta – For the fifth month in a row, the central bank slashed its key interest rate to bolster domestic demand and stimulate economic growth slowed by a sharp drop in exports.

Jakarta – After attending a Friday prayer at a Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) mosque near his house in Surabaya, a young man said the cleric had told the congregation to vote in the upcoming gene

Balongsari, Indonesia - Ponari was just like any other kid in Indonesia until he was struck by lightning.

Pandaya – Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid has painfully lost his grip on the National Awakening Party (PKB) to his less popular cousin Muhaimin Iskandar, following a bitter leadership rift

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – This week's campaign sorties saw at least two Islamic parties try to boost their sagging popularity by calling for the government to outlaw Ahmadiyah, a contro

Joe Cochrane – Throwing a gauntlet down at the feet of radical Islam, a group of mainstream Muslim leaders led by former President Abdurrahman Wahid on Thursday announced the release of

Jakarta – Islamic extremists have infiltrated deep into Indonesia's government, businesses, schools and religious bodies, and are using cunning new tactics to seize control of mosques a

Jakarta/Bandung/Makassar/Jambi – With the legislative elections less than a week away, the eligible voter lists are still unavailable to the public in some areas of the country.

The threat to next week's voting day – Indonesia's 10th elections since independence – may not be so much the violence as the ignorance.