Jakarta – A lack of coordination between government institutions, as well as inconsistent and overlapping laws, have been preventing the government from taking the necessary measures to

Ridwan Max Sijabat – Being number one on the list of contesting parties means little in the grand scheme of the elections, and that is something that the People's Conscience (Hanura) Pa

Camelia Pasandaran & Febriamy Hutapea – A controversial measure aimed at bringing stability to Indonesia's notoriously chaotic multiparty system will likely succeed at limiting the

Febriamy Hutapea – With leaders of other major parties talking of grand coalitions, a confident President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has turned in recent days to some of the smaller parti

The Indonesian government has arrested at least 152 people for activities related to the raising of flags symbolizing regional independence over the past two years as part of a crackdow

Alfian, Jakarta – Major parties promised to treat foreign investors equally, although their representatives did not elaborate on whether they would maintain or revise business regulatio

Jakarta – The Constitutional Court partially scrapped Tuesday two articles in the 2008 legislative election law, effectively allowing former convicts jailed for serious crimes to contes

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Seemingly jaded with the parade of legislators standing trial for graft, Corruption Court judges have queried whether bribery is simply the norm in parliament

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – Best case, there will be plenty of lawsuits and demands for a revote nationwide.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Opinion surveys will not greatly influence the decision of voters in the April 9 legislative election, a discussion in Jakarta heard Tuesday.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence against Women has called for a vote of no confidence against political parties that exploit religious issues for their inte

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Shariah-inspired laws have increased discrimination against women, a new report by the National Commission for the Protection of Women, or Komnas Perempuan, in

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta – With its crumbling infrastructure, lack of a reliable mass transit system, and labyrinthine urban geography, Indonesia's capital of Jakarta was already

Panca Nugraha, Jakarta/Mataram – Student groups have called on the government and the General Elections Commission (KPU) for more transparency over the real condition of their preparati

Jakarta – The first week of the open campaign period saw many political parties rely on old strategies to address the different challenges facing them in the general elections.

Alfian, Jakarta – As the legislative election is around the corner, the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) is dealing with two biggest challenges; maintaining its clean image

Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence Against Women has urged all stakeholders in the upcoming legislative election to stop the ongoing intimidation and gender discrimination ag

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is "concerned" about the Indonesian government's failure to respect the rights of indigenous people in their own

Pagaralam, South Sumatra – A beauty contest for transvestites has become the Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI) latest target.

Putri Prameshwari – In the latest move by a local government to adopt regulations inspired by Shariah Law, a district in East Java Province has reportedly banned public elementary schoo

Jambi – Jambi has been seeing a rising number of layoffs in the province since early this year, due to the continued fallout from the global economic crisis.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – Civil groups in Southeast Asia urged the region's governments at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Friday to include more protection in the mandate for ASEAN's new

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Indonesia is unlikely to follow the path taken by regional peers to allow the local currency to fall against the dollar to make exports more competitive amid

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Despite its withdrawal from practical politics, the military remains one of the most powerful political institutions in the country, and questions on whether

Kafil Yamin – A group representing about 60 pharmacy owners in North and Central Jakarta has lodged a complaint with city police, claiming to have been blackmailed by a rogue police off

Jeffrey A.

Aubrey Belford, Jakarta – A former Indonesian general running for the country's presidency has gone to unusual lengths to shake a bloody reputation for human rights abuse, by recruiting

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta – Indonesia is in a heightened state of political confusion as national legislative and presidential elections approach.

Jakarta – Minister of Religious Affairs Maftuh Basyuni reprimanded religious leaders Friday for using religion to get or discourage votes for certain parties.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – National Police chief Gen.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The Supreme Court has ordered judges not to send drug addicts to prison any more, instead they should be put in rehabilitation centers.

Jakarta – A decade after it was established in 1998 by key reform figure Amien Rais and other academics seeking to form a reformist government, the National Mandate Party (PAN) seems to

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – A survey released Thursday found that more than 50 percent of voters have not yet decided which party they will vote for in the upcoming election.

Jakarta – Around 300 people displaced by the Lapindo mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, in 2006 returned to the State Palace on Wednesday for another protest.

Jakarta – Nearly two dozen Greenpeace activists were forcibly dragged away by security guards Thursday while protesting the destruction of Indonesia's forests by one of the country's la

Indah Setiawati and Alit Kertaraharja, Denpasar – An estimated 60,000 children in Southeast Asia are being exploited to work in a multimillion dollar of commercial sexual businesses, a

Halida Hatta, daughter of Muhammad Hatta, the co-founding father of Indonesia, remembers her father's words: Politics is dirty, but politics can be the only way to improve people's live

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Islamic parties might not be able to secure a significant number of votes in this year's legislative elections as the parties have been abandoned by supporters

Desy Nurhayati – With the exception of several major parties and one or two new parties, most parties contesting in the April 9 legislative elections do not have a strategy to woo voter

Alfian, Jakarta – Claims of massive fraud in the recent East Java gubernatorial election have raised the issue of the credibility of the April polls, coming days after the resignation o

Alfian, Jakarta – The chances for an unprecedented meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his predecessor Megawati Soekarnoputri look less likely, with both leaders at i

Jakarta – For young contenders like Eko Budiantara, the upcoming elections will serve more as a test-run for the 2014 polls than a chance to win a seat.

Jakarta – Indonesians should prepare for the worst as the global economy looks set to slide further over the next few years, economists and alumni from the association of the National R

Kafil Yamin – The recent buzz about the potential for last week's meeting, between former President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, to lead to a coalition between

Novia Stephani – When Muji (not her real name), 61, joined Pemuda Rakyat, or People's Youth, in 1965, she never imagined her involvement in the youth wing of the Indonesian Communist Pa

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has come under fire from human rights groups as being execution-happy, with campaigners pointing out that 19

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang – Hundreds of companies in Malang regency have yet to pay their workers based on the new minimum wage as required under the 2009 regency/municipal minimum w

Jakarta – A Muslim cleric whose marriage to a 12-year-old girl triggered controversy in Indonesia has been detained for violating child protection laws, police said Wednesday.

Jakarta – The food and beverage sector will be one of the business sectors to directly benefit from the general elections, with producers expecting the five-yearly event to generate Rp

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Jakarta – Once considered a threat by some, political Islam is now under threat.