Achmad Nasrudin Yahya, Jakarta – The National Alliance for Criminal Code Reform says it regrets a move by the Justice and Human Rights Ministry (Kemenkumham) to start socialising revisions to the Criminal Code (KUHP).

Antara, Jakarta – More than 11 million people in Indonesia have received their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine as of Monday afternoon, according to the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling.

As many as 70,312 people received their second jab on Monday, bringing the total number of fully vaccinated Indonesians to 11,197,069.

Bisnis, Jakarta – Bank Indonesia (BI) reported Tuesday, June 8, that Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves at the end of May-amounted to US$136.4 billion, which is a drop compared to the end of April of US$138.8 billion.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – A shooting incident in which an off-duty Timor-Leste policeman killed two innocent people and wounded another has sparked calls for police reform in the Catholic-majority country.

The incident, which also triggered clashes between youths and police, occurred in the early hours of June 5 in the capital Dili.

Jeffrey Hutton, Jakarta – When parliamentary Speaker Puan Maharani, the daughter of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, arrived at the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in Semarang, Central Java, on May 22, it was to meet 100 party leaders including district heads in person and online.

Jakarta – Activists from Fukushima Anti-Nuclear Indonesia (IANFU) held a protest action commemorating International Ocean Day on Tuesday June 8 demanding that the Japanese government not dispose of nuclear reactor coolant waste into the Pacific Ocean.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Indonesia says it will begin retiring coal-fired power plants for good – while still continuing to build more than a hundred new ones, in the latest mixed message from one of the last coal-friendly countries in the world.

Dicky Kurniawan, Jakarta – Traffic congestion in the capital city of Jakarta has visibly increased amidst the Covid-19 pandemic due the removal of the odd-even number plate policy as one of the culprits.

This policy, prior to the pandemic, has helped control the number of vehicles permitted to pass a certain street.

M Julnis Firmansyah, Jakarta – The North Jakarta Police arrested a teacher of religious studies identified as Heru Sucianto (58) for child molestation against five of his students in Penjaringan, North Jakarta.

Upon his arrest, the suspect attempted to flee from his house after he knew that the victims' parents had filed a police report on Friday last week.

Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – Usually, with the Haj season just weeks away, the two-storey shop selling supplies and gifts for people preparing for the Islamic pilgrimage would be a hive of activity.

Balinese musician Jerinx was released from Kerobokan prison this morning after having served his controversial conviction for hate speech.

Jerinx, whose real name is I Gede Ari Astina, was sentenced to 14 months in prison last November for hate speech, but had his sentence reduced to 10 months following an appeal. The 43-year-old had been detained since August.

Indonesia seems to be on the brink of a COVID-19 surge with a substantial increase in daily cases this week and with more regions now given the undesirable "red zone" tag.

Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Preparations are underway for Indonesia's G20 presidency in 2022, as the government teams up with the academia.

Rahel Narda Chaterine, Jakarta – The extended family of the late Suharto held a commemoration marking 100 years since Indonesia's second president's birth.

Aside from Suharto's extended family, also attending the event in person was Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Bambang Soesatyo and Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan.

Andreas Harsono – Hundreds of Muslims in Indonesia this week demanded that the local government in Sraten village, East Java, stop the Muhammadiyah congregation from building a mosque. The protest prompted the village head to order the construction halted until the Muhammadiyah group obtained a building permit.

Antara, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investments Luhut Pandjaitan, in a report by Antara News on Tuesday, met with Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China, Wang Yi on June 5.

Fransiska Nangoy, Toboali, Indonesia – From the shores of Indonesia's Bangka island, miners like Hendra head out by boat every day to scores of crudely built wooden pontoons dotted off the coast that are equipped to dredge the seabed for lucrative deposits of tin ore.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – A court in Timor-Leste has decided to conduct proceedings against an American ex-priest accused of child abuse by video conference after he failed to appear for the resumption of his trial for a fourth time.

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Family members of long-serving President Soeharto held a religious event at a Jakarta mosque on Tuesday to commemorate his centennial birthday and used the occasion to speak highly about his "outstanding services" to the country.

Police in Bali say they are increasing the supervision of foreign nationals in the province as a response to recent viral pornographic content made on the island.

Tibar Port in Timor-Leste is half-finished, with the grand opening expected in May 2022.

The new port is expected to handle 350,000 containers a year, replacing the existing facilities in Dili and ending an economic bottleneck.

Got a gripe about the way the country is run? Don't tweet about it or you may find yourself in a prison cell, should a proposed revision to Indonesia's Criminal Code (KUHP) get ratified.

Arjuna Pademme, Jayapura – The National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Papua has suggested the government return the refugees of armed conflict in Puncak Regency back to their respective hometowns.

Egi Adyatama, Jakarta – The political competition ahead of the 2024 presidential election has started to ignite even though no political parties have officially declared their candidates, a number of political figures have started to show their presence namely in social media.

Jakarta – The armed conflict in Papua has escalated recently with a series of armed contacts being unavoidable and more loss of life.

The West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organisation (TPNPB-OPM) has also warned all Indonesians working in Papua to immediately leave the land of the Bird of Paradise as Papua is known.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – A long-delayed project to construct the first railway on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is gaining traction, with contractors securing 693.8 billion rupiah ($48.5 million) in an Islamic law-compliant syndicated loan led by Bank Syariah Indonesia.

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja, Jakarta – The Indonesian health authorities have identified a new Covid-19 cluster in Bangkalan regency in East Java province's Madura Island, a week after reporting a similar flare-up in Kudus regency in Central Java, as the country scrambles to contain a surge in cases following the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays.

Robertus Robet – Scientific knowledge may be universal but the organisation of knowledge is always political. Knowledge can expand our minds, reveal the truth, and challenge absolutism. But because knowledge exists in specific historical and social contexts, the organisation of knowledge is affected by a variety of interests and power structures.

Hengky Yeimo & Abeth You, Nabire – Rights activist Yones Douw said his party had received a testimony from a number of residents in Ilaga District, saying three civilians from Nipuralome Village were shot dead by the Police's Nemangkawi task force on Friday, June 4, 2021.

Dewi Nurita, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has officially ratified presidential regulation (Perpres) No. 49/2021 – which revises a previous Perpres (No. 10/2021) that is one of many derivatives from the Job Creation Law (Cipta Kerja) – that states liquor industries are closed-off for capital investments.

Dewi Nurita, Jakarta – Face-to-face learning at schools will resume in the new academic year in July 2021. In a limited meeting this afternoon, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo emphasized that limited on-site studies must be held under extra care. Among them, schools' learning and teaching activities can only be done two days a week with a maximum study time of two hours.

Konradus Epa, Jakarta – A full autopsy has been conducted on the body of a Protestant pastor shot dead in Indonesia's Papua region last year as part of an official investigation into a group of soldiers suspected of killing him.

The autopsy on Reverend Yeremia Zanambani of the Gospel Tabernacle Church of Indonesia was carried out on June 5 in Papua's Intan Jaya district.

Chris Barrett, Singapore – The road up to the village of Kutet in East Timor's western enclave of Oecusse is so rough that most highlanders walk the jungle trail when they need to visit the coast.

Often hauling bags of rice on their backs, the steep and rocky journey takes them up to three hours if they're fit.

Lenny Tristia Tambun, Maria Fatima Bona, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Monday gave his approval for in person learning in the upcoming academic year starting in July with strict requirements to ensure a safe return to schools during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia – The National Police is going to autopsy the body of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani, who was allegedly shot dead by Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel in Intan Jaya Regency in September last year.

Antara, Jakarta – Police in the regency of Karawang, West Java, has questioned six witnesses in the case of alleged gas poisoning that has affected dozens of residents at the Ciampel subdistrict, which many believe is caused by a leak from a pipe owned by paper manufacturing firm PT Pindo Deli Pulp And Paper Mills II.

Antara, Jakarta – Indonesia has long planned to establish a travel bubble with a number of countries in an attempt to recover the pandemic-affected tourism sector that logged a GDP of Rp95 trillion in 2018. The initial plan is to prepare Batam, Bintan in the Riau Islands, and Bali for the travel bubble.

Lani Diana Wijaya, Jakarta – The bed occupancy rate for COVID-19 patients in Jakarta hospitals continued to increase for the last three weeks.

The Jakarta Health Agency Head of Referral Health Services and Health Crisis, Sulung, confirmed the surge was in the occupancy rate of isolation beds and ICU rooms in a number of hospitals in the capital city.

Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman, Jakarta – The information and communications technology (ICT) sector is expected to lead economic growth in Indonesia both this year and in 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic has induced a faster-than-expected takeup of digital services.

Eduard Lazarus – For years, Indonesia has been plagued by so-called "elastic laws" – a set of bills that can see a person indicted for violating poorly defined provisions, such as defaming an individual or group, religious blasphemy, committing treason, or inciting public disorder.

IndonesiaLeaks – Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Chairperson Firli Bahuri used the pretext of the 'Taliban' and the nationalism test (TWK) to remove 75 KPK employees from their routine duties of fighting corruption. Out of the 75 employees, Bahuri weeded out 24 he felt could be promoted to state civil servants (ASN) providing they took part in a "guidance" program.

Jakarta – Paper giant APRIL Group recently kicked off the self-funded Covid-19 vaccination program for all its employees at Pangkalan Kerinci, Riau, through its local operating arm Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper, or RAPP.

Antara, Jakarta – Indonesian and US marine soldiers took part in a joint training exercise on conducting military operations on urban terrain (urban warfare) in Situbondo district, East Java on Saturday.

Jakarta – Indonesia received another 313,100 doses of Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccine via the global sharing scheme Covax at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang on Saturday.

Peter Baker – If you are looking for a good read that will give you, the happy reader, a no-small glow of pride in how Australia, the country of the "fair go", applies itself on the international scene in general, or perhaps more locally – say in that area just north of us, East Timor – then you are in for a crashing disappointment.

Emma Connors, Singapore/Jakarta – Two well-known global institutional investors have backed Indonesia's new infrastructure-focused sovereign wealth fund, in what could be seen as an early win for President Joko Widodo's efforts to break with the country's protectionist past.

Yudha Baskoro, Jakarta – Environmental activists have staged a demonstration at the Arjuna Wijaya Statue area in Central Jakarta on June 4, demanding President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to issue policies to save the environment and people from the impact of the climate crisis.

Alarmed by the mountains of plastic waste leaching into Indonesia's waters, two best friends are taking on the environmental menace by turning crisp bags and shampoo packets into paving bricks.

Ovy Sabrina and Novita Tan launched Rebricks after their country drew headlines as the second-biggest producer of marine waste in the world, behind China.

Jakarta (Xinhua) – Timor-Leste on Saturday received a batch of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines and syringes donated by China.

Pulau Idaman, Aceh – A boat filled with dozens of Rohingya, mostly women and children, landed on an island off Aceh coast early Friday, according to an AFP reporter and the UN refugee agency.