Activists are condemning as repressive a draft bill on mass organizations currently under deliberation by the House of Representatives.

Lisa Siregar – After the end of the New Order, Indonesian press became free from government control. Anyone can now run and publish their own news without a permit.

Jakarta – This year's Indonesian Military executive meeting (Rapim TNI), which takes place from Jan.

Jakarta – Urban planners are urging the central government and the Jakarta administration to leave behind their old-fashioned ways to counter the capital's endemic flooding problem and

Banjir Ambarita – Papua Armed Forces Chief Maj. Gen. Christian Zebua said on Monday that they have learned of plans to disrupt the provincial gubernatorial polls this week.

Farouk Arnaz & Banjir Ambarita – While cold, hard cash is typically the preferred medium of exchange for kidnappers the world over, an armed group in Papua has given new meaning to

Jakarta – Indonesia's army special forces (Kopassus) and Japan's self-defense forces army will continue to develop their cooperation to later even cover natural disaster mitigation.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is under growing pressure to raise fuel prices and curb oil imports as currency risks persist and the window to act narrows ahead of elections in 2014

Spiritual leaders say that religious-based clashes in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, have highlighted the inability of the government to address the root causes of conflicts that have pl

Torrential rains across Indonesia triggered a pair of fatal landslides in Sumatra and another one in Bogor on the weekend and prompted flood evacuations in parts of Kalimantan, reigniti

Arya Dipa, Bandung – Around 200 members of the Banua Niho Keriso Protestan (BNKP) or the Nias Protestan Church in Bandung, West Java, were unable to conduct Sunday service following loc

Amid all the controversy on illegal wives and polygamy is the silent hope among some women – the hope for a spouse, one way or the other.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The NasDem Party's first national congress in Jakarta on Friday was filled with uplifting and encouraging remarks from the fledgling party's leaders in the

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & SP/Robertus Wardi – They can sing, dance, act and walk the runway, but the question on voters' minds is whether they represent the people and can pass qua

Jakarta – The National Police on Friday defended their plan to spend Rp 1.366 trillion (US$140 million) for a number of procurements including the purchase of seven horses and 90 dogs t

Tito Summa Siahaan – Frustrated over the low realization of investment commitment in the exploration of oil and gas sector, the government will tighten its supervision over oil and gas

A group that had crossed the Papuan border to join the Free Papua Movement (OPM) led by Daniel Kogoya in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have handed over three firearms to the Cenderawasih Milit

Nurfika Osman, Jakarta – Indonesian Logistics Association (ALI) has predicted that logistics costs in the country will increase by about 3 percent this year following a rise in port fee

Banjir Ambarita & Camelia Pasandaran – Jayapura/Jakarta.

Fitri, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – Advocates of ethnic and religious tolerance have demanded that police immediately bring to justice those responsible for instigating an attack on Tu

Margareth S.

The residence of the Minister of Finance, Emilia Pires, which is of luxurious architecture, clearly demonstrates discrimination between the incumbent Minister of Finance and other membe

Jakarta – The government officially started its campaign to strike off three zeros from the rupiah on Wednesday, with top officials expressing their optimism that the "redenomination" w

James Balowski, in Jakarta – Ignoring outrage and mockery at home and overseas, a town in Indonesia's northernmost province of Aceh is pressing ahead with a by-law banning female passe

Nurdin Hasan – Women's rights activists in Aceh have urged the chief of police in Simeulue district to show more seriousness in addressing a case in which three policemen allegedly drug

Margareth S.

Former Justice Minister Lucia Lobato has begun serving her five year prison sentence inside Gleno Prison.

Nurfika Osman and Raras Cahyafitri, Jakarta – As the government has withheld its approval for PT Pegadaian and PT Pos Indonesia to debut on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), it is alm

Ina Parlina and Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono again called for religious tolerance in the country, a demand that will ring hollow among members of the S

The National Police Commission has criticized law enforcers' recent naming of a woman as a suspect in a traffic accident in Banyumas, Central Java, that killed her 11-year-old daughter

East Timor's former justice minister Lucia Lobato is in jail, after losing her last appeal against corruption charges.

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – The Religious Affairs Ministry's office in Blitar, East Java, has finally recommended the closure of six Catholic schools for refusing to provide Islamic te

Chris Brummitt, Jakarta, Indonesia – Cheering crowds greeted the new leader of this Asian megacity as he toured its flooded business district atop a handcart typically used to haul garb

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Representatives of displaced Shia adherents from Sampang, East Java, met with presidential advisor on human rights Albert Hasibuan on Wednesday to convey the

Papuan civilians around Timika have again been made wary of military provocations that may potentially revive a bloody horizontal conflict, after a former Freeport mine worker's mutilat

Margareth S.

Muhamad Rizki, Jakarta – National Anti-Narcotics Board (BNN) public relations division head Sumirat Dwiyanto says that Timor Leste is still considered a crucial point of entry for drug

The President of the Republic Taur Matan Ruak has criticized the quality of domestic public works projects that the government contracted private companies to undertake because they are

A last ditch attempt by Lucia Lobato to appeal against a decision to sentence her to five years imprisonment over corruption has been rejected by the Court of Appeals, Timor-Leste's hig

Kusumasari Ayuningtyas, Klaten, C.

Yoseph Kelen, Kupang – Police in the East Nusa Tenggara island district of Lembata are closely monitoring a group who have syncretized various religions and are suspected of spreading d

Bandung – The Bandung State Court has decided to add one more year to the prison term of Sebastian Joe, who was sentenced to four years imprisonment for blasphemy of Islam by the Ciamis

Dion Bisara – Foreign direct investment in Indonesia accelerated in the final quarter of last year due in part to investment in the metal, machinery and electronics industries.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Islamic clerics in Aceh have demanded that the three police officers in the Simeulue district, who allegedly drugged and raped a 19-year-old woman, be caned f

Margareth S.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) is bucking a United Nation's campaign to ban female circumcision, demanding that the government keep the practice legal.

Edio Guterres and Ivo Mateus Goncalves, Dili – The euphoria of the Christmas and New Year period has settled in Timor Leste as the country enters a new era.

SP/Edi Hardum – Legislators have urged Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar to crack down on officials who extort illegal fees from migrant workers returning from over

Tasikmalaya – Thirty six followers of Ahmadiyah "converted" to Sunni Islam during a ceremony conducted at Agung grand mosque in Tasikmalaya, West Java, on Thursday.

[Lecture by Sidney Jones at International Policy Studies program of Stanford University, 5 December 2012, as amended 22 January 2013.]