Police on Tuesday expressed surprise that prosecutors only demanded a six-month prison sentence for gang leader Hercules Rozario Marshall despite him being charged with three crimes wit

Tassia Sipahutar, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ambition to make the country self-sufficient in beef, among other main commodities, will likely remain out of sight, tha

Wellington – The governments of New Zealand and Timor-Leste on Wednesday signed a defense agreement to enable smoother cooperation between their armed forces.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & SP/Carlos Paath – The House of Representatives decided to postpone the passage of the highly-debated mass organizations bill on Tuesday after several poli

Jakarta – Former Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq went on trial on Monday for his part in the imported beef bribery case.

Novianti Setuningsih – The scope of the beef import quota scandal that dragged down former Prosperous Justice Party chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq seems to have ensnared the party's chief

Dili – Timor-Leste needs to do more at the national and district levels to boost disaster preparedness, especially in rural areas, say experts.

More rigorous oversight of development projects is needed to improve aid effectiveness in Timor-Leste, according to the consensus reached following the annual Timor-Leste Development Pa

The European Union plans to donate 20.5 million euros to Timor-Leste (East Timor) to repair and maintain roads in three districts of the country, under the terms of an agreement signed

Fundasaun Mahein has raised questions about the process of purchasing guns for the PNTL from Indonesia last year.

Prodita Sabarini – Rahmat Sulaiman, information and documentation manager with the Community Mapping Network (JKPP), sat facing his laptop at his office in Bogor.

On May 16, the Constitutional Court issued a ruling favoring the country's indigenous peoples.

Margareth S.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment, or Walhi, objects to the House of Representative's plan to ratify the mass organization bill since it would threaten the freedom of t

Prodita Sabarini – The government is signaling the possible restitution of customary forests to indigenous communities after the Constitutional Court annulled the government's ownership

Fikri Zaki Muhammadi, Jakarta – Prosecutors on Monday demanded a six-month prison term for former gang lord Hercules Rozario Marshal despite the nine-year jail sentence he faced initial

Carlos Paath – The fact the country's biggest Islamic party remains in the ruling coalition despite its opposition to a fuel price hike signals the increasingly tenuous grip that Presid

The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation says the decision by the Melanesian Spearhead Group to retain its application for MSG membership is a major boost to efforts to bring th

Jakarta – Mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia will resume operations in its open-pit with government permission after being idle for more than a month following a fatal tunnel collapse.

Jakarta – Despite the recent increase of fuel prices and inflation on the horizon, the Employers Association (Apindo) indicated there will be no wage increase this year.

Andi Hajramurni and Apriadi Gunawan, Makassar/Medan – The disbursement of the temporary direct cash assistance (BLSM) to low-income households began on Saturday, but grumpy residents ha

Satria Sambijantoro, Jakarta – All signs point to a less than rosy outlook for Indonesia, as weaker purchasing power is poised to drag down economic growth, which is already under press

Jakarta – The Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) accused the National Police of using brute force, including by hiring local thugs to harass protesters, mostly students, in street protests ag

According to a recent survey conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), nearly 80 percent of Indonesian citizens oppose the government's decision to increase the price of subsidiz

Novianti Setuningsih – With poverty rates still high across the nation, a budget analysis and advocacy group has reported that government officials in one of the country's least-develop

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – The Witness and Victims Protection Agency (LPSK) has said that the latest developments in the trials of 12 of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) members

Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – Indigenous communities will be erecting placards in their customary forests, stating that they do not belong to the state, following the Constitutional Court

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – Rights activists have called on the New York-based interfaith organization the Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF) to reconsider its decision to grant Pres

Indonesia is locking up hundreds of child asylum-seekers and migrants in squalid detention centers where they are sometimes assaulted, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

Arya Dipa, Bandung – Quick count results show only some 57 percent of voters in Bandung turned up to vote in the mayoral election as Ridwan Kamil and his running mate lead the count on

Jakarta – Not only are political parties nominating more female candidates for the 2014 legislative election but some are placing 10 at the top of their candidate lists, a study has sho

Issues of decolonisation and self-determination took centre stage at the just-completed 19th Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders Summit in New Caledonia.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group says it "fully supports" the right of West Papuans to self determination.

Presenter: Geraldine Coutts

Eoin Blackwell, Papua New Guinea – Papua New Guinea's opposition has launched a broadside against Prime Minister Peter O'Neill over his government's recent signing of an extradition tre

Rizal Harahap and Nurfika Osman, Pekanbaru – Preliminary investigations have singled out eight plantation companies owned by Malaysian investors as the source of forest fires in Riau th

Andreas Harsono, Jakarta – In 2012, Indonesia reached a milestone. For the first time in recent history, the number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum in Indonesia topped 1,000.

Presidential Regulation (Perpres) 40 of 2013, a new order issued by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to "Build Roads to Faciltate the Expansion of Development in Papua and West Papua

Jakarta – Fires on Indonesia's Sumatra, which have cloaked Singapore in record-breaking smog, are raging on palm oil plantations owned by Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean companies

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) fears intimidation of witnesses at the trials of 12 of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) members a

Diska Putri Pamungkas – Greater cooperation between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia may be on the horizon following a three-day visit by Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and 100 of the count

Anastasia Winanti Riesardhy & Agustiyanti – Payments for the poor designed to compensate for the impact of the fuel price rise will undermine the benefit to the state budget of the

Bayu Marhaenjati – Students across the capital rallied and closed down some streets following the government's announcement of a hike in the price of subsidized fuel on Friday.

Made Arya Kencana, Denpasar – Up to 20 percent of Indonesian migrant workers have fallen victim to human trafficking, a figure that suggests that the criminals involved are just as well

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Indonesia and neighboring Timor Leste have agreed to enhance what they deemed "good relations", as well as shoring up support for Timor Leste's bid for membership

According to the President of the Parliamentary Women's Group of Timor-Leste, MP Josefa Alvares Soares, now is not the time to localize prostitution to one place because society and the

Ina Parlina and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Jakarta – Members of the Sampang Shia community have been evicted from a sports complex where they had sought refuge for the past year, and have be

Amir Tejo, Camelia Pasandaran, Arientha Primanita & Ezra Sihite, Surabaya/Jakarta – The bedraggled group of 162 men, women and children had since August last year been forced to liv

Nurfika Osman, Jakarta – Government spending on improving infrastructure and transportation facilities will likely fall significantly in 2014 as legislators have proposed a sizable cut

Ina Parlina and Slamet Susanto, Jakarta/Yogyakarta – The first trial in the Cebongan Penitentiary murder case at Yogyakarta Military Court was marred when National Commission on Human R

Ezra Sihite – Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie said he was confused claims by several leaders of the House of Representatives that they were unaware of an article in the 2013 revis