Election fever mounts as candidates discuss strategic alliances and running mates, but academic and Indonesia expert Max Lane says this may be an election characterized by disappointmen

Jakarta – A former son-in-law of Indonesian dictator Suharto who is running for president said Friday his "conscience is clear" over human rights abuses he committed as a senior army ge

Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Saturday that it would take a courageous "thug" who dared to face risks to lead the country to a better future.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says he is not bothered by Vice President Jusuf Kalla's decision to stand as his rival in the presidential election this July

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The government will continue trying to improve the investment climate, which has been reformed since 2005, to attract more investment to stimulate the countr

Adianto P.

Aubrey Belford, Jakarta – With its harrowing scenes of rape and abuse and its rousing calls for equality, a new film on the oppression of women in Islamic societies is courting controve

Camelia Pasandaran – The Constitutional Court is scheduled to hear the first legal challenge to the controversial Pornography Law today, after several Christian, student and ethnic mino

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla sent Friday a clearer signal of his preparedness to contest the presidential election that could put his party on a collision cour

Jakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) will support the nomination of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla if the two decide to contest the election i

Adianto P.

Heru Andriyanto – An anti-graft group on Friday accused the Attorney General's Office of being willing to negotiate with corruption suspects after the AGO declared publicly that suspect

Jakarta – The new election system and the massive campaigns of some prominent politicians may have caused women legislative candidates to lose their confidence before struggling to part

Ad hoc judges have been introduced in human rights and corruption courts, but efforts to reform the criminal justice system in the country have so far proved unconvincing, an expert say

Washington – With its giant population and moderate brand of Islam, Indonesia is fast emerging as a cornerstone US ally for President Barack Obama's administration, observers say.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, says it is breaking new political ground by requiring all of its legislative candidates to stake their r

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Golkar looks likely to nominate a presidential candidate from within the party, after most regional members vowed to have a candidate of their own.

Anita Rachman & Heru Andriyanto – The Indonesian Council of Ulema, or MUI, is demanding a public apology from Transparency International Indonesia following the publication of surve

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto on Friday expressed optimism that his past human rights record while he was in the Army would not get in the way of his b

Endy M. Bayuni, Sydney – Australia wants a better investment climate and Indonesia wants assistance with its own production capacity.

Jakarta – Indonesia's central bank will support the rupiah currency and may "add more ammunition" to contain the volatility, the central bank governor said on Friday, reiterating earlie

Camelia Pasandaran – Election observers and the head of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday condemned a General Elections Commission, or KPU, request that the government issue a gover

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The door has now been firmly closed shut by the Constitutional Court on candidates for the presidential elections who have no backing either from major politica

Heru Andriyanto – Muchdi Purwoprandjono, who was cleared last December of charges that he ordered the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, on Wednesday demanded

Muhammad Taufiqqurahman, Jakarta – Students demonstrating against US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday February 19 'forced' police to help them trample on US flags.

Suherdjoko, Temanggung, Central Java – Thousands of farmers joined a rally Monday at a public park in Temanggung regency, Central Java, to protest a bill on the health impacts of tobacc

Palu – Hundreds of farmers and NGO activists in Toili district, Banggai regency, Central Sulawesi, staged a rally Tuesday to demand ownership of their farms that they said were being cl

Jakarta – House of Representatives lawmakers and human rights groups have mounted pressure on the government to submit a bill on accession to the International Criminal Court (ICC), say

Nurfika Osman – The Attorney General's Office was responsible for worsening the injustices already done to human rights victims and their families through its repeated failure to resolv

Febriamy Hutapea – The Golkar Party admitted on Wednesday that it would have to work a lot harder for a strong showing in the April 9 national legislative elections.

Jakarta – Indonesian exporters, especially labor-intensive ones, may get some much-needed support – in the form of relief on debt payments and capital expenditure subsidies – to help th

Lachlan Carmichael, Jakarta – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was cheered Thursday as she visited a slum in Indonesia's teeming capital at the end of her first trip to a Muslim-ma

Matthew Lee, Jakarta – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton moved Wednesday to boost US ties with Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, and with its neighbors.

[The following was written in response to an article by Kelik Ismunanto titled "Indonesia: Tracing a path towards parliament"

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Independent candidates have won a number of regional elections, but their quest to contest the presidential race has been halted by a legal obstacle, at least t

An Indonesian Islamic leader rejected Wednesday an invitation to dine with Hillary Clinton, as she seeks to rebuild ties with the Muslim world on her first trip abroad as US secretary o

Febriamy Hutapea – Indonesia on Tuesday finally joined the official international campaign against the trafficking and smuggling of people by ratifying United Nations protocols that out

Jakarta – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Indonesia on Wednesday in a visit intended to demonstrate US determination to mend ties with the Islamic world.

Zakki Hakim – Indonesia has lifted a yearlong moratorium on the use of peatland forests by palm oil companies, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said Wednesday, angering environmen

Ari Saputra, Jakarta – At least 50 pairs of shoes were held up then after receiving a command from the action coordinator who shouted in a shrill voice "Destroy America", the shoes glid

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono on Tuesday said that the government would first have to significantly enhance the welfare of its soldiers before his office

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – With the country preparing for elections and the military calling for a budget increase, the government has decided to accelerate the spending of 2004-09 stat

Jakarta – Activists said Wednesday that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should use her visit to Indonesia to urge the country's military to stop human rights abuses or risk losing

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – A man from the East Java town of Blitar says he will continue to sell "tickets to heaven" for Rp 4 million ($336), despite the Indonesia Council of Ulema, or M

Heru Andriyanto – Corruption suspects may avoid detention while being investigated by the Attorney General's Office if they return misappropriated funds under a controversial policy foc

Camelia Pasandaran – With legislative elections less than two months away, nothing is being done to correct shambolic final voter enrolment lists other than a frenzied game of finger po

Indra Subagja, Jakarta – The University of Indonesia (UI) will not be giving permission for a concert event titled "Tribute to Munir" at its Depok campus in West Jakarta on February 20

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The economy grew the slowest in two years in the fourth quarter of 2008 as the global economic slowdown slashed commodity prices and export demand.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – British celebrity footballer David Beckham and US President Barack Obama have taken unexpected lead roles in the run-up to Indonesia's legislative elections in

Wasti Atmodjo, Denpasar – A voting simulation held Sunday by the Denpasar General Elections Commission (KPUD) revealed a flaw that almost everyone – laymen and pundits alike – had alrea