Han Revanda Putra, Jakarta – The Trade Ministry will implement a high tax tariff on imported ceramics. Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan, also known as Zulhas, stated that this policy aims to maintain domestic ceramic prices.

Annisa Febiola, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, disclosed that the budget for Prabowo-Gibran's free lunch program will be allocated gradually. In the initial stage, it is expected to be Rp20 trillion.

Luhut said the program was being discussed together with President-elect Prabowo Subianto's team.

Bagus Pribadi, Jakarta – Tempo Media Group has published guidelines outlining terms and conditions for the use of its journalistic content by generative artificial intelligence (AI) companies, which can be accessed at tempo.co.

Andika Dwi, Melynda Dwi Puspita, Jakarta – A wave of layoffs is sweeping across large companies worldwide, including tech startups in Indonesia. This trend reflects the ongoing "tech winter", a period of economic slowdown impacting the technology sector since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Antara, Jakarta – Bank Indonesia (BI) Deputy Governor Doni Primanto Joewono said the circulation of counterfeit money continues to decline in Indonesia.

Antara, Jakarta – The head of the Industrial Human Resources Development Agency (BPSDMI) of the Ministry of Industry, Masrokhan, said that Indonesia's industry needs for human resources have reached 682 thousand per year.

Laila Afifa, Jakarta – A number of Prabowo Subianto supporters have been appointed as SOE commissioners. This risks compromising their oversight function.

Monique Handa Shafira, Jakarta – The digital economy sector has contributed Rp 25 trillion ($1.5 billion) to government tax revenues in the past four years and five months, according to data from the Taxation Directorate.

Jayapura – The Papua Human Rights Lawyer Association (PAHAM Papua) believes that the Indonesian Military (TNI) police headquarters (Puspom) appears to be covering up and has been silent about the legal process involving the 13 suspects in the torture of three Papuan civilians in Puncak Regency, Central Papua Province.

Duncan Graham – There's nothing profound about the Biblical quote; variations are embedded in many religions and cultures.

So it needs no prophet, seer or conman to make this prediction: After a war like the current one in Gaza has cooled, the survivors will be bent on revenge.

Yurike Metriani, Surabaya – Mining giant Freeport Indonesia's new smelter in Gresik is expected to create a multiplier effect for East Java's economy.

Windarto, Herman, Jakarta – The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has uncovered several issues and fraudulent activities within the ailing state-owned pharmaceutical company Indofarma (INAF) and its subsidiary, Indofarma Global Medika (IGM).

Jakarta – Labour rights organisations in Indonesia are urging the House of Representatives to commence deliberations on a bill protecting the rights of domestic workers in the country, before a leadership shakeup in October.

This comes on the back of a spate of alleged recent violence and abuse against domestic workers which spread outrage across the country.

Celvin Moniaga Sipahutar, Jakarta – An analyst recently said that the public should not interpret clashing opinions among ministers as disharmony within President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's cabinet.

Hendro Dahlan Situmorang, Jakarta – Chief Cultural Affairs Minister Muhadjir Effendy addressed the issue of several pilgrims having to sleep outside tents due to overcapacity in Hajj accommodations and inadequate toilet facilities.

Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Indonesia is aiming to increase its gross national income (GNI) per capita beyond $5,500 in 2025 as the country wants to escape the middle-income trap, according to the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas).

Algi M Gifari, Bandung – Efforts to clean up the Citarum River in the BBS area of Bandung Barat Regency seemed promising after a week of intensive cleaning, and years of restoration. However, rain brought a resurgence of garbage flooding the river on Thursday.

Yustinus Patris Paat, Jakarta – In a reconciliatory gesture, the National Democratic Party (Nasdem) announced on Thursday that it has invited both President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and his successor Prabowo Subianto to separately attend its upcoming congress and deliver the opening and closing remarks.

Yvette Tanamal, Jakarta – Indonesia calls for an effective, inclusive and balanced process to push for peace following its decision to not back a joint communique seeking to resolve the war in Ukraine adopted during a high-level world peace summit over the weekend.

Jakarta – The Constitution grants the president the prerogative to replace cabinet members at any time, especially if they fail to perform or to follow the head of government's policies and directives.

Jakarta – The issue of transportation should be one of the themes covered during a debate between candidates ahead of the Jakarta gubernatorial election, a transportation experts association has urged.

Alifia Sekar, Jakarta – The Communications and Information Ministry is planning to "take care" of Elaelo.id, a website that claims to be a social media site that emerged and went viral following the government's announcement of its intention to block X because of its pornographic content.

Advist Khoirunikmah, Jakarta – The leader of the West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Movement or TPNPB-OPM Egianus Kogoya plans to release the Susi Air pilot Philip Mark Mehrtens without political demands, a Tempo source said. The time for the release, however, remain unknown.

Tempo.Co, Jakarta – The No-Trash Triangle Initiative (NTTI) launched the 'No-Trash River' project this week which aims to install 20 barriers throughout Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, to reduce the amount of plastic waste entering the Bunaken Marine National Park.

Daniel A. Fajri, Jakarta – President Joko Widodo or Jokowi gathered cabinet ministers at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Thursday, June 20 to discuss Kratom plants. Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko said three issues would be highlighted: governance, trade, and classification of the plants, which are suspected of containing narcotics.

Daniel A. Fajri, Jakarta – Indonesia's Minister of Communications and Information Technology (Kominfo), Budi Arie Setiadi, confirmed that the government will block Telegram if the messaging application from Russia does not comply with the third warning regarding cooperation to eradicate online gambling that the ministry sent this week.

Sarjan Lahay, Pohuwato, Indonesia – Moji Tiok has spent more than a decade casting off into the Gulf of Tomini, where he spends hours hunting with traditional fishing gear among a diminishing pool of octopus south of Indonesia's Gorontalo province.

Ihsanuddin, Jakarta – A Kompas Research and Development (Litbang Kompas) survey shows that many lower-class people are satisfied with the performance of the administration of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin.

Jakarta – Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Hadi Tjahjanto, who leads the newly established anti-online gambling task force, said on Wednesday that his team was investigating how fraudulent bank accounts and payment services at mini-marts allegedly had been used for online gambling.

Agnes Theodora, Iqbal Basyari, Jakarta – The high level of public satisfaction with the performance of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin's administration, which even reached its highest level during Widodo's second term in office, is believed to due to the government consistency working for the public.

Yerica Lai, Jakarta – The political parties behind the victory of president-elect Prabowo Subianto plan to join hands once again for the upcoming regional head elections in key regions in Java, which look increasingly like showdowns between candidates aligned with both the incoming and outgoing governments and those considered outsiders.

Chandra Adi Nurwidya, Yogyakarta – The Foreign Affairs Ministry revealed on Thursday that 165 Indonesian nationals are currently facing death sentences on various criminal charges.

Of that figure, 155 are being prosecuted in Malaysian courts, said Judha Nugraha, the ministry's director of Indonesian citizen protection.

Arnoldus Kristianus, Jakarta – Bank Indonesia announced Thursday that they would keep the benchmark interest rate, also known as the BI Rate, at 6.25 percent.

The central bank also sets the deposit facility rate at 5.5 percent, while the lending facility rate stands at 7 percent. The freshly announced BI rate also aligns with analysts' projections.

Jauhari Mahardhika, Jakarta – The shares of tech conglomerate GoTo Gojek Tokopedia (GOTO) plummeted to an all-time low of Rp 50 on Thursday. Although the stock briefly touched Rp 51, it quickly fell back to Rp 50, which is less than 1 cent.

jakarta – Indonesia's Awyu tribe of the Papua region has filed a case to the Supreme Court seeking to cancel permits for palm oil concessions on thousands of hectares of rainforest over which it has ancestral rights.

Ihsanuddin, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo was not present at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) which is hearing a lawsuit against the honorary four-star general rank Widodo gave to Defense Minister and president elect Prabowo Subianto in February.

Livia K, Tegar Nurfitra, Jakarta – The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) visited Indonesia's Papua and observed that the easternmost region of the country is generally in a stable and conducive region, allowing its people's socio-economic activities run properly.

Tanjungpinang, Indonesia – Morwan Mohammad walks down an old hotel corridor on Batam Island in northwestern Indonesia before entering a 6-square-meter room that has been home to him and his growing family for the past eight years.

Annisa Febiola, Jakarta – The incoming Prabowo-Gibran administration is expected to face a serious debt burden, assessed Yusuf Wibisono, director of the Institute for Demographic and Poverty Studies (IDEAS). He predicted that the annual principal and interest installments could reach Rp1,300 trillion.

All parties, including Papuan rebels who took Phillip Mehrtens hostage, want the New Zealand pilot released but freeing him is "complicated".

In February 2023 Mehrtens, a husband and father from Christchurch, was working for Indonesian airline, Susi Air, when he landed his small Pilatus plane on a remote airstrip in Nduga Regency in the Papua highlands.

Simon Butt – In late May 2024, Indonesia's Anti-corruption Commission (KPK) began prosecuting former Supreme Court Judge Gazalba Saleh in the Central Jakarta District Court. It indicted him for taking a bribe of around Rp 650 million to overturn a businessperson's conviction and one-year prison sentence (for failing to properly manage hazardous waste his company produced).

The Centre for Climate Crime and Justice at Queen Mary University of London will host a Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on State and Environmental Violence in West Papua later this month.

Victor Mambor and Pizaro Gozali Idrus, Jayapura and Jakarta – Hundreds of residents in Indonesia's restive Papua region have sought shelter in a church after clashes between security forces and West Papua independence fighters left two insurgents, a soldier and a civilian dead.

Yerica Lai, Jakarta – The National Awakening Party (PKB) has reached out to Marzuki Mustamar, a prominent Muslim cleric and former East Java branch head of the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), over potentially running in the province's gubernatorial election against its popular former governor, Khofifah Indar Parawansa.

Jakarta – The West Java administration is expanding its cleanup operation of the Citarum River, known as one of the dirtiest rivers in the region.

The local administration last week deployed a team of workers to clean up the Citarum after a post by environmental activist group Pandawara showing a massive stretch of floating trash in the river went viral.

Tenggara Strategics, Jakarta – Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, has decided to divert trillions of rupiah funds from state-owned Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI), the country's largest sharia bank, to other sharia banks.

Jakarta – It is not exactly good corporate governance but it has been a well-worn practice in Indonesian politics.

It is also a classic patron-client relationship in which a patron grants favors in return for political services, loyalty and allegiance shown by the client.

Nur Janti, Jakarta – A recent Constitutional Court ruling ordering a legislative election revote in Gorontalo may set the precedent for parties to fulfill the 30 percent minimum quota for women's representation in elections.

Celvin Moniaga Sipahutar, Jakarta – Political analyst Arifki Chaniago recently said that the possibility for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to hold a cabinet reshuffle remained large despite his term about to come to an end.

Arnoldus Kristianus, Jakarta – Indonesia's trade deficit with China in May 2024 nearly tripled to $1.3 billion, marking a significant increase from the $500 million deficit recorded in April, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).