Arientha Primanita, Jakarta – Non-governmental organizations have called on the government to provide security for citizens to hold open discussions on the 1965 massacres, saying it would help the

Ni Komang Erviani, Denpasar – Hundreds of people have staged a rally in Denpasar to reject a planned reclamation project in Benoa Bay featuring both traditional and modern performances.

Erika Anindita, Jakarta – The government was absent in the Aceh Singkil incident after it failed to accommodate the wave of protests that lead to an incident that claimed one life and caused thousa

Haeril Halim, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI), one of the country's most reformed institutions that now focuses only on defense affairs, has gained the most public trust and respect, defeat

John Vidal – Raging Indonesian forest fires have advanced into dense forest on Borneo and now threaten one third of the world's remaining wild orangutans, say conservationists.

Arya Dipa, Jakarta/Bandung – Bima Arya, the mayor of Bogor in West Java, has come under heavy criticism from human rights groups over his decision to ban members of the Shia community in his city f

Fedina S.

Kyle Knight – Draconian new by-laws came into effect in Indonesia's Aceh province last week, mandating harsh punishments for gambling and adultery, and the option of 100 lashes for gay people "caug

John Sifton – There are lots of reasons why President Barack Obama is meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo today in Washington.

Kate Lamb, Jakarta – Raging forest fires across Indonesia are thought to be responsible for up to half a million cases of respiratory infections, with the resultant haze covering parts of Malaysia

Jakarta – A smear campaign against the national palm-oil industry is underway, the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (GAPKI) has claimed, as pictures went viral on social media showing youn

Lindsay Murdoch, Bangkok – A conservation scientist has described an acrid haze choking parts of South-east Asia as one of the worst ever man-made environmental disasters, saying that it is affecti

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo departed on Saturday to the US on his first visit to the superpower, where he is scheduled to hold a meeting with President Barack Obama

Serang, Banten – To prevent local people from becoming strangers in their own home, there should be no more foreign workers flocking to Banten province, the student wing of one of the country's key

Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – Panel sessions and a film on the 1965 anti-communist massacres in Indonesia were prohibited at an international literary festival in Bali due to a 1966 government regulat

Harry Bhaskara, Brisbane – The Herb Feith Foundation, which sponsored events at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) that were eventually cancelled by authorities, has expressed its disappo

KoPi – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), a social organisation concerned with the environment, has released a list of big companies causing the forest and land fires in Indonesia.

Janet DeNeefe – Twelve years ago, the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival was born of a terrorist attack in Bali; one that took many innocent lives in a tragedy that shocked us all.

Jakarta – Human rights groups have urged President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to drop a plan that would give the Indonesian Military (TNI) authority to get involved in security matters and civilian funct

Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has revealed that he recruited interns and special staffers who have affiliations with giant private companies and developers, including Lip

Bogor – Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto of Bogor has banned Shiites in the West Java city from commemorating Ashura this Sunday, citing security concerns, as Shiites in Bandung were forced by hard-liners

Jakarta – Rights group Amnesty International has called on Indonesian authorities to immediately repeal Aceh's Islamic Criminal Code, which came into effect on Friday, arguing that punishing people

Fedina S.

Jakarta – Ten people have died in Sumatra and Kalimantan due to smog from forest and land fires, which include those killed during fire extinguishing operations and victims of acute respiratory inf

Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – Indonesian officials have threatened to shut down Bali's prestigious international writers festival, compelling organisers to cancel sessions discussing the bloody massac

Aceh Singkil – The Aceh Singkil administration continued on Thursday to demolish 10 churches, which a group of Islamic youths had protested for not having building permits.

Kate Lamb, Jakarta – Indonesia is struggling to live up to its national motto "unity in diversity" after a mob attack on a church left one dead and the authorities responded by demolishing more chu

Dewanti A.

Ni Komang Erviani and Erika Anindita, Denpasar/Jakarta – The annual Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) has been forced to cancel a series of panel discussions on the 1965 Communist repression

Michael Safi – Indonesia's largest writers' festival has been forced to cancel a series of events marking the 1965 massacre of alleged communists, after threats by authorities to revoke its operati

Jakarta – Despite a threat from the management of state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga, around 1,000 outsourced workers will go ahead with their plan to strike next week, on Oct.

Human rights groups criticize the implementation of a tougher version of the Qanun Jinayat – Aceh's Islamic Criminal Bylaw, which takes effect Friday – and call on the central government to push fo

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The Aceh administration is officially implementing the Qanun Jinayat (Islamic Criminal Code Bylaw) on Friday for Muslims and non-Muslims in the province, criminalizi

Indra Budiari, Jakarta – Following mounting pressure to apply harsher penalties on child sex offenders, the government has given the green light to apply chemical castration on perpetrators in an e

Haeril Halim, Jakarta – Attorney General M.

Haeril Halim, Jakarta – South Jakarta District Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi, who ruled in favor of National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen.

Australia's new Prime Minister has indicated that his government will prioritise economic interests over support to reinscribe West Papua on the UN list of territories to be decolonised.

The Governor of Indonesia's Papua province has warned that indigenous Papuans could disappear as a people if they remain marginalised in their own land.

For the first time, Radio New Zealand International journalists have been able to enter Indonesia's eastern region of Papua.

Sadachika Watanabe, Jakarta – East Timor is looking to upgrade its natural-resource and transportation infrastructure, creating new business opportunities for overseas construction companies and pl

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The Coordinating Investment Board (BKPM) said despite the gloomy domestic outlook, Indonesia's realized investments showed a significant increase up until September 2015 a

The Governor of Indonesia's Papua province Lukas Enembe says moves to form a Melanesian Brotherhood among five Indonesian provinces is mainly about politics.The governor was explaining his reluctan

Reverend Dormon Wandikbo is a leading member of the GIDI, or Gereja Injili di Indonesia, a Protestant church which, unlike other leading Protestant churches in Papua, has a presence in other parts

Bandung – Twenty-nine couples in Purwakarta regency, West Java may be forced to marry for staying out past a dating curfew.

Jakarta – The Aceh administration will start implementing a new, tougher Qanun Jinayat (Islamic criminal bylaw) on Friday, with wider scope and harsher punishments for violators, an official said o

Jakarta – The Defense Ministry's Defending the State directorate general, Muhammad Faisal, said on Thursday that the Defending the State program, through which the government aimed to recruit 100 m

Jakarta – The Jakarta city Manpower and Transmigration Agency has proposed using an old formula to decide the 2016 minimum wage by taking into account items in the cost of living [KHL] in the city,

A note of caution has been sounded about Indonesian government plans to carve up another province out of Papua region.

Rochelle Jones – West Papuans have struggled for their freedom since they were annexed by Indonesia and robbed of their right to a fair referendum in 1969.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) calls on Muslims to conduct a prayer for rain to help manage the haze crisis in the country, a top official of the organization said on Wednesday.