Jakarta/Jambi – Haze from fires raging on the jungle-clad islands of Sumatra and Borneo thickened Thursday as officials met to prepare a plan for battling the blazes.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Four people were injured Thursday when protests against a plan to name the winner of the West Sulawesi gubernatorial election turned ugly.

Jakarta – After 44 four years of operation, state-owned television company TVRI has become a public television network, funded by the government but intended to be editorially independe

Ahmad Pathoni, Jakarta – Caswali has sold live chickens in a crowded traditional market in the Indonesian capital for over 10 years, but he has never been given any information on how t

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Depok – NGO activists are treating reconstruction projects as "battlefields" to compete for donor funding and misuse it for their own benefit, leaving locals to fe

The mudflow disaster in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java, has implicated many parties, not only Lapindo and the Bakrie family, but also the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ul

Warief Djajanto Basorie, Jakarta – The prime indicator of whether Indonesia is making strides toward greater freedom of information is the process at the House of Representatives surrou

Sidoarjo in East Java is the base for the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

While no one knows when the hot mud in Sidoarjo regency will stop gushing from the bowels of the earth, efforts have to be made to handle the increasing volume of the sludge so that it

"Dear Lapindo, I hope to go home soon I'm tired of living in the barracks. Will you be cleaning up the mud right away?"

"The dam's breaking... it's collapsing...," a resident of Siring, Porong, Sidoarjo, shouted as he noticed hot mud flowing toward his house last week.

Lapindo Brantas Inc., a unit under the Bakrie family, has responded to the unprecedented ecological disaster originating from its gas well by going on a public relations charm offensive

There is plenty of mud to go around in Sidoarjo, but the one party that looks set to come out of this disaster looking the dirtiest is the powerful Bakrie family.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The central government believes excesses in the implementation of regional autonomy are scaring away foreign investment.

Jakarta – The government is standing firm against allegations it attempted to whitewash the reality of poverty and unemployment in the country in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's st

Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Thousands of people displaced by the mudflow disaster in East Java held protests in two affected areas Tuesday to demand compensation commens

Palu – Lawyers for three Indonesian Christians on death row say the Supreme Court had exceeded its authority by refusing to process their second demand for presidential clemency.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Corruption watchdogs say there is no point in increasing the national education budget to the constitutionally required 20 percent of total spending unti

Ambon, Maluku – Angry residents attacked a police post in Nusaniwe, Ambon, with stones Saturday upon learning a man was killed in a fight with police.

Fadli, Tanjung Pinang – Illegal immigrant worker Ahmad Affandi recently landed back at Tanjung Pinang's Sri Bintan Pura Port with nothing more than the shirt on his back.

M.

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia has urged Indonesia to tackle the forest fires it blames for the choking haze that has engulfed the region.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Foreign investment still appears to be in the doldrums, with the second half of the year starting off to a 24 percent decline in direct foreign investment compar

Soeryo Winoto, Jakarta – Many had doubted Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto's capabilities of overseeing all the armed forces, especially the Army, before he was appointed as Indonesian M

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Activists demanded Friday that authorities revoke the license of PT Lapindo Brantas Inc., arrest its shareholders, and confiscate their assets, in connection with

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Activists say women are still not treated as equals in many regions, since governments allocate comparatively small amounts of money to empower them and

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's claim that his administration has made substantial inroads against unemployment is misleading and fails to recognize t

Marlina MS, Jakarta – The government is targeting state revenue of privatization activities to reach Rp3 trillion by next year.

Endy M.

A.J. Susmana – It has been 61 years since Indonesia declared itself as an independent nation. But the question so often asked by the cynical is: "Are we really free?".

Indra Manenda Rossi, Jakarta – The Department of Health has reported that until 2006 14 provinces have been classified as 'leprosy endemic' based on the high rate of death caused by the

Politicians may consider President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's state budget proposal for 2007 a boring document, devoid of bold fiscal measures and without any frills at all.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Palangkaraya – While millions of people celebrated the country's 61st Independence Day on Thursday, firefighters were busy battling flames in Central Kalimantan.

A terrorism researcher has warned of a new "bombing season" in Indonesia, as Islamic militants seek to repeat a pattern established since October 2002 of attacking Western targets betwe

Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – Residents of a village in West Lombok protested Tuesday outside the provincial forestry office in Mataram.

Houses of worship are an important topic of discussion for many people, as the recent debate over them showed.

Tb.

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – Workers whose companies are affected by hot mudflow in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java, said Tuesday they were not being properly compensated for their loss of

Jakarta – Although the central government has identified human trafficking as one of Indonesia's most serious problems, the trade continues to flourish here.

Jakarta – A coalition of environmental groups on Tuesday accused leading European flooring manufacturers of using wood stolen from Indonesia's last remaining rainforests.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Thousands of Tangerang residents living along the Cisadane river are at risk of various illnesses due to the increasing level of pollution in the river, a repo

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Five-year-old Trimo is placed in an old babywalker every now and then.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Depok – Suci Islamiyah will never forget the fact that her mother died in one of the leading government hospitals in Central Jakarta, deprived of proper medical tr

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – A rosier economic picture is expected to emerge in the second half of the year, with increased growth forecast after a recent easing of inflation and interest ra

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The government should take all the necessary measures to prevent Indonesian jihadis from leaving for Lebanon or they will only create more problems when they ret

Cath Hart and Samantha Maiden – John Howard has pulled the plug on his controversial migration bill to avoid facing a defeat in the Senate.

Hasballah Saad and Michael Shank, Washington DC – The United States Congress recently passed a contentious bill that allocates over US$6 million to Indonesia for military equipment and

Tom Hyland – The Indonesian Army manipulated the voyage to Australia of 43 West Papuan asylum seekers in a secret pyschological warfare operation that gave Jakarta a diplomatic and stra

Jakarta – Thick and acrid haze from fires set to clear land is blanketing parts of the Indonesian section of Borneo island, a meteorology official said.

Jakarta – The Jakarta administration will have to rethink its plan to increase public awareness about paying taxes in an SMS reward program after the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian U