Pandaya – It seems that national politics gets more muddled every day. The media is filled with depressing news, from corruption, malfunctioning bureaucracy to communal violence.

Jakarta – Regional authorities have warned people against carrying out vigilante street raids as the Islamic fasting month approaches.

Jakarta – House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie is defending his statement that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has failed and should be disbanded.

The Betawi Brotherhood Forum continued to allege on Saturday that Greenpeace's presence in Indonesia violates the law, and was seeking to compel the environmental organization to report

Adianto P.

Jakarta – Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Linda Amalia Sari and National Police Chief Gen.

Jakarta – Thousands of members from the hard-line Muslim group, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), staged a rally in front of the State Palace on Saturday, calling on the President to i

Christian Solidarity Worldwide has expressed renewed concern about continuing violations of religious freedom in Indonesia following the sentencing of the perpetrators of violence again

Elly Burhaini Faizal – The beheading of Ruyati binti Satubi, a migrant worker from Bekasi, West Java, last month triggered a moratorium on sending Indonesian workers to Saudi Arabia.

Jakarta – National Democrat (Nasdem) founder Surya Paloh deplores Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie's instruction that all Golkar members involved in the newly-declared Nasdem polit

Ismira Lutfia – Indonesian Islamic scholars had mixed reactions to criticism launched by Western nations of the apparent light sentences handed down to Islamist extremists who killed me

Hundreds of conservative Muslims have held a noisy but peaceful rally in Indonesia's capital to demand the government outlaw an Islamic sect they consider heretical.

Arya Dipa, Bandung – A forum held by university students concluded that the government failed to bring prosperity to the people.

Michael Vatikiotis, Singapore – These days it's so easy to look back at the past decade and marvel at Indonesia's transition to democracy.

Nivell Rayda – The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it had withdrawn its defamation claim against a member of the Judicial Commission, the body charged with overseeing the court s

Cilacap – The construction of the Central Java II steam power station (PLTU) in Bunton in Central Java's Cilacap regency has been suspended for the past two weeks due to protests from l

Critics have called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to cancel plans to purchase a private presidential plane.

Ali Kotarumalos, Jakarta, Indonesia – Foreign governments and human rights groups say the relatively light sentences given to 12 men who participated in the brutal killings of three min

Heru Andriyanto & Ulma Haryanto, Serang, Banten – A wave of condemnation greeted the lenient sentences handed down on Thursday to 12 men found guilty of attacking members of the min

Indonesia on Friday dismissed expressions of outrage and disbelief over the perceived light sentences handed down to Islamic extremists who killed three minority sect members in a mob f

Amir Tedjo, Surabaya – Despite pledges not to conduct Ramadan-related raids, hard-line groups on Thursday descended on Surabaya's infamous red-light district to demand its closure durin

Bruce Gale – Visiting Jakarta in the early 1990s, when health officials in Asia were just beginning to wake up to the challenge posed by a global HIV/Aids epidemic, I had occasion to di

Indonesia's controversial speaker of the House of Representatives, Marzuki Alie, has come up with a new idea to encourage graft fugitives to return home – forgiving them if they return

Slamet Susanto and Panca Nugraha, Yogyakarta Mataram – With more than 100 hectares of agricultural land converted to residential use every year in Bantul regency, production of dried un

A member of the committee tasked with selecting commissioners on the Corruption Eradication Commission has rejected suggestions that three high-profile candidates were rejected because

Speaker of the House Marzuki Alie called for the dismantling of the Corruption Eradication Commission following the latest controversy surrounding a number of top officials.

Tifa Asrianti, Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) called on the government and the House of Representatives to ratify a 1990 UN convention on

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Former President Megawati Sukarnoputri remains the hot favorite to run on the main opposition party's ticket in the 2014 presidential election, but others als

Ismira Lutfia – The Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday that a controversial draft bill on national security was not an attempt to return to the country's repressive past.

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – One of former president Sukarno's most memorable speeches was titled "Jas Merah", an acronym for Jangan Sekali-kali Melupakan Sejarah (Don't ever try to

Robert Finlayson – Your monkey has been following reports that soon some foreign motor car manufacturers might be making very cheap, small cars here.

Jakarta – Pilots with state-run carrier Garuda Indonesia cut short their 24-hour strike Thursday after company officials agreed to reopen negotiations over pay and working conditions.

A prominent rights organization said on Thursday that the light sentences handed down to 12 men involved in the deadly February attack on an Ahmadiyah community were a result of frustra

Jakarta – An NGO and representatives from the EU expressed concerns at the rulings in trials over attacks on religious minorities in Cikeusik, Banten, saying they expected the governmen

The United States Embassy in Indonesia has expressed "disappointment" in response to the light verdicts handed down in relation to the bloody attacks on members of the Ahmadiyah sect in

Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) on Thursday urged the Democratic Party to publicly reveal its financial reports from between 2010 and 2011.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The Army's top soldier says that the Indonesian Military (TNI) is "not confident" about a recent proposal to involve the TNI in domestic counterterrorism eff

Fidelis E.

Five hundred men gathered at a television station at the center of a dispute between a daughter of former dictator Suharto and media mogul Hary Tanoesoedibjo on Wednesday morning but ev

Jakarta – The Nasdem Party, which is linked to the mass organization National Democrat (Nasdem), declared Tuesday its establishment as a political party ahead of the 2014 general electi

Nani Afrida – Paddy farmer Sewi, 50, spent heavily before the harvest in May to save his crops from rats and pests.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Despite their financial hardships, many poor families in Indonesia prioritize spending on cigarettes rather than on other needs.

Arya Dipa, Bandung – West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan has told Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto to settle once and for all a protracted local religious dispute about an under-construction Ta

This is the second of two reports on misappropriation in agricultural development.

Debnath Guharoy, Roy Morgan – Asked who they would vote for if an election was held today, eligible voters from across the country continued their drift away from the coalition.

This is the first of two reports on agriculture development in Indonesia – an alleged victim of political misappropriation in many rural areas, where efforts to increase productivity

Jakarta – It is not uncommon for Indonesian politicians to spend billions of rupiah to win elections, especially in the regions; but only a few seem to care if their money is spent effe

Anita Rachman – After re-electing its chairman earlier this month, the United Development Party on Monday decided on its new executive leadership board, promoting young members to more

A retired military intelligence official said on Tuesday that he had been part of a group that planned a notorious and deadly attack against members of the main opposition party 15 year

Lisa Siregar – Internet users in Indonesia are now spending more time online than they are reading newspapers or listening to the radio, according to a survey released by Yahoo!