Vento Saudale, Bogor – The Bogor chapter of the Indonesian Council of Ulema voiced its opposition on Tuesday to the planned holding of the Miss World 2013 beauty pageant at the city's S

Ezra Sihite & Nurdin Hasan, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Military chief of staff Adm.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who ends his second term in October 2014, said that Indonesia needed a leader with a strong commitment to improving the

Jakarta – Rights group the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has filed a report with the Indonesian Ombudsman complaining about the poor performance of th

Fikri Zaki Muhammadi, Jakarta – Cleric Hasan Ja'far Assegaf's molestation case might have escaped the national and local media spotlight, but anxiety among the victims and their familie

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – There is a reason the Presidential Palace remains clean, tidy and grand-looking, especially during the visits of state leaders.

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – The low-ranking soldiers alleged to be responsible for an attack on four detainees of the Cebongan Prison in Sleman, Yogyakarta, could have taken the fall fo

Nurfika Osman, Jakarta – Healthy economic growth has allowed for the logistics industry to enjoy a 14.5 percent growth to Rp 1,634 trillion (US$168.3 billion) this year, creating strong

Margareth S.

The alarming move toward street justice appears likely to continue, with a new survey finding 57 percent of the public were dissatisfied with law enforcement in the country.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Legislators have come out in defense of a controversial push by the government to reinstate criminal charges for insulting the president, a provision that was

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anastasia Wienanti Resardhy – A lack of transparency and scrutiny over last month's attack on Cebongan Prison in Sleman, Yogyakarta, has left many questio

Ikhwanul Habibi, Jakarta – The Cebongan Prison case in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta involving 11 members of the army's elite Special forces (Kopassus) is a result of the law fall

Amid calls for the president to issue a regulation in lieu of a law to allow soldiers to be tried in regular courts, a presidential staffer on Monday said that no such directive was nee

Camelia Pasandaran – Thirty members of Bekasi's beleaguered Ahmadiyah Muslim sect have been locked inside the shuttered Al-Misbah mosque since Bekasi Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) off

Nurdin Hasan – A teacher at an Islamic boarding school in Aceh sustained serious injuries after being beaten by the parents of a student he disciplined.

Rizky Amelia – The current furor over a decision by authorities in Aceh to adopt the flag of a defunct separatist group as the provincial standard highlights regional dissatisfaction wi

Bekasi, West Java – A score of Ahmadis in Bekasi, West Java, camped inside their sealed Al-Misbah Mosque on Saturday, refusing to leave until the municipal administration lifted the ban

Septiana Ledysia, Jakarta – Five men calling themselves the New Men's Alliance (ALB) held a silent action opposing all forms of violence and rape against women at the Hotel Indonesia tr

Ina Parlina and Bambang Muryanto, Jakarta – Diponegoro Military Regional Command chief Maj. Gen. Hardiono Saroso and Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen.

Jakarta – The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) criticized the House of Representatives' newly approved press code of conduct, which set rules on how journalists should cover st

Jon Afrizal and Indra Harsaputra, Jambi/Surabaya – The number of Sumatran tigers in national parks in Jambi is in decline due to the loss of its habitat, forcing the wild cat to venture

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The President is telling the people of Aceh to follow the law and to only fly the Indonesian flag – and not a flag inspired by a former separatist movement – for

Anastasia Winanti Riesardhy & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The debate over a government proposal to reinstate criminal charges for insulting the president is heating up, with critics

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi has said that the Education and Culture Ministry should address the spread of HIV/AIDS by providing proper sex and reproducti

Michael Bachelard – On the night of March 23, nine Indonesian soldiers stormed into the Cebongan prison about two hours drive from their base, dragged four remand prisoners out of their

Jakarta – While the Indonesian Military (TNI) has won kudos for its probe that determined that soldiers were behind the Cebongan Penitentiary raid and massacre, others doubt its transpa

SP/Asnie Ovier – A top regional military commander who had initially denied the fact that the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) members were involved in an attack on Cebongan Prison in Slem

Ina Parlina and Bambang Muryanto, Jakarta, Yogyakarta – The trial of 11 Army Special Forces (Kopassus) commandos for the raid and execution-style murder of four detainees at Cebongan Pe

Sampang, Madura – Eights months after dozens of Shiite Muslims on Madura Island were driven from their homes by mobs from neighboring Sunni villages, the displaced remain in poor condit

Jakarta – Around 50 Ahmadis in Bekasi, West Java, have sealed themselves in the Al-Misbah Mosque, which the municipal administration closed the day before in a crack down.

Jon Afrizal, Jambi – Abortion among women in Jambi City has become so prevalent that from 2011 to 2013, 40 percent of unwanted pregnancies ended in abortion.

Sabam Siagian, Jakarta – Everywhere, including in democratic countries, gaps are always noticeable between strong and clear statements delivered by their leaders and concrete actions im

Sabam Siagian, Jakarta – On Good Friday, March 29, Army chief of staff Gen.

Satria Sambijantoro, Jakarta – The slow disbursement of the state budget for infrastructure development may further threaten growth in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) that ha

Jakarta – Environmental groups are calling on the government to extend and strengthen the 2011 moratorium that prohibits the issuance of new licenses for the conversion of primary fores

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Convoys of people drove through the streets of Banda Aceh on Thursday, brandishing the flag of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), despite a request from Aceh'

Camelia Pasandaran – The Bekasi government shut down a mosque of Indonesia's beleaguered Ahmadiyah sect in Pondok Gede on Thursday, in the latest act of religious intolerance in the dis

Margareth S.

West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan has thrown his support behind the 2013 Miss World pageant which will be held in Bogor this September, as there will be no bikini category at the grand

Robert Isidorus & Dina Manafe, Jayapura/Surabaya – Activists in West Papua province say that up to 95 people have died of hunger in Tambrauw district since last November, with hundr

Three marines will each serve less than 12 months in jail for assaulting four journalists who were covering the demolition of unauthorized buildings in Padang, West Sumatra, in May last

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – The Army is saying that Special Forces (Kopassus) commandos have confessed to launching an unauthorized raid on Cebongan Penitentiary in Yogyakarta that culm

Ezra Sihite – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono slammed the alleged revenge killing of four Cebongan prison inmates by Kopassus special forces members, calling the executions a brutal

Nadya Natahadibrata and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta – A non-governmental organization (NGO), National Papua Solidarity (NAPAS), urged the government to investigate the cause of death of

Daurina L.

Banda Aceh – Thousands of demonstrators rallied in Indonesia's Aceh on Thursday in support of local leaders' bid to adopt a separatist flag as the staunchly Islamic province's official

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – The head of the Army's investigative team on the Sleman prison killings in Yogyakarta, Brig. Gen.

Enter the most controversial number, 10 years after the law on political parties lamely stated that parties "may" field 30 percent of women among their legislative candidates.

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) is reporting that the government has "improperly" continued to hire civil servants at a cost of trillions of rupiah.