Jakarta – The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has accused politicians, community leaders and local governments of being in thrall to the tobacco industry to perpetuate the industry's i

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Democratic Party executives must follow through President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's vow to clean up his party by imposing strict sanctions to all corrupt an

Dessy Sagita – As someone living with HIV, Chacha said he was concerned by reports suggesting his much-needed antiretroviral medication may soon be harder to come by.

Lauren Zumbach – Human Rights Watch has called on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to focus on military abuses, freedom of expression and religious minorities' rights during her vi

Police in East Timor have started a major security operation in Dili, following several shootings in the capital.

Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) says the government needs to evaluate its military operations in Papua, as more soldiers and civilians are

Kinanti Pinta Karana – Tifatul Sembiring, the minister of communications and information technology, has been acknowledged as Indonesia's most famous politician by a Web site that gauge

Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has called on the Law and Human Rights Minister to eliminate the death penalty provision in the anti-corru

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – A lawmaker said that the government should improve how it monitors foreigners' activities in Indonesia to prevent espionage.

Ulma Haryanto – In a rare display of unity, top law enforcement officials on Tuesday agreed to give better protection to whistle-blowers, recognizing them as an integral part of the cou

Jakarta – A survey conducted by the human rights watchdog Imparsial found that there is a widespread public perception that the police frequently use torture as a weapon against suspect

Anita Rachman – The Judicial Commission could soon have the authority to demand the tapping of the phones of errant judges after the House of Representatives voiced its approval of the

Less than two weeks before the fasting month of Ramadan begins, locals in Pamekasan district, East Java, are being encouraged to dress "properly" to respect the holy month, including wh

Hangga Brata, Karanganyar, Central Java – The second of two Islamic schools mired in controversy for refusing to carry out mandatory flag-raising ceremonies that they deemed idolatrous

Dessy Sagita – A global human rights group criticized Jakarta police for its failure to investigate the attack on a human rights training session for a group of transvestites in Depok,

Indra Harsaputra, Pamekasan – The Pamekasan District Court sentenced a woman to time served on Monday. Her crime was stealing a used sarong valued at Rp 3,000 (35 US cents).

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – The bill on intelligence currently deliberated within the House of Representatives is flawed because it focuses more on the State Intelligence Body (BIN)

Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has dismissed and demoted 24 prosecutors and 94 others were punished for abusing their authority, lack of discipline or other violations.

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – The military denied allegations that a woman and three children were shot and wounded during operations to combat suspected separatists in Papua's Puncak Jay

Chrestella Tan – The Bogor administration has been given 60 days to reopen the embattled GKI Yasmin Church, after a government oversight body declared the mayor guilty of "maladministra

Ulma Haryanto – Members of radical Muslim group Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid say they took offense at being labeled terrorists following a weekend incident in which residents of an East Java

Police found more than two dozen home-made bombs in eastern Indonesia following an explosion last week inside an Islamic boarding school suspected of being a bomb factory, a spokesman s

Ulma Haryanto – Indonesian Antigraft officials revealed on Tuesday that they were working with the Finance Ministry to attempt to recover Rp 1.6 trillion ($187 million) owed in unpaid t

Dessy Sagita – The mother of a teacher at an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia who was burned to death two years ago after he was accused of impregnating a female student is still se

Zaky Pawas & Chrestella Tan – Parts of Jakarta resembled an urban battlefield over the weekend, with by far the worst outbreak of street brawling yet and damage caused across the ci

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The main obstacle to the immediate passage of a long-awaited bill on social security is the government's reluctance to relinquish control of four lucrative st

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – It is common knowledge that poor performance has been the major hindrance of government administration in Indonesia.

Fidelis E.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Sixteen political parties in Aceh, two of them local parties, have called for the rescheduling of the gubernatorial election and have threatened a boycot

As the country's largest Islamic organization celebrated its 85th anniversary on Sunday, religious and national leaders vowed to tackle the rising tide of Islamic radicalization and to

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Corruption fugitive Muhammad Nazaruddin has been fired from the Democratic Party.

Sara Schonhardt, Jakarta – A long-running tax saga is keeping this summer's Hollywood blockbusters out of Indonesian cinemas and drawing new negative attention to the country's often dy

Dion Bisara & Francezka Nangoy – The government's plan to ban the export of raw minerals under a deadline three years from now may be feasible and could even create jobs once smelte

Jakarta – Following the lead of the former head, other executives of the West Java chapter of the National Democrat (Nasdem) renounced their membership of the organization due to its tr

Ismira Lutfia – Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring denied on Friday that he had called for government control over social media sites, saying his remarks a day earlier had been m

Oyos Saroso H.N.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – A security guard, sitting and smoking at the reception of Building C at the Agriculture Ministry complex, answered, "Fifth floor", when asked about the locat

Rangga D.

Jakarta – Several non-governmental organizations grouped under the People's Coalition for Police Reform rallied in front of the National Police headquarters on Friday, demanding a full

Jakarta – The government should revise the 2004 Migrant Worker Law to better protect Indonesians working overseas amid rising concerns for their safety, experts say.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anita Rachman – Youth organizations and labor unions appealed to the House of Representatives on Thursday to ensure the immediate passage of the controver

As if to mock the fruitless efforts to bring former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin to justice, an NGO is offering a Rp 100 million (US$11,700) bounty for anyone who can

An Indonesian volcano has erupted, spewing rocks, lava and ash hundreds of metres into the air, an official says, three days after its alert status was raised to the highest level.

Bruce Gale – An elderly man was left literally rolling in pain outside the emergency room of the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta in mid-May after being den

Disgraced Prosperous Justice Party lawmaker Muhammad Misbakhun was spotted enjoying a day out of prison at a mall in South Jakarta on Wednesday.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tifatul Sembiring said that the Indonesian government was obligated to serve as a gatekeeper for the Internet, including social med

Jakarta/Brussels – Indonesia should put the passage of a controversial intelligence bill on hold until there is a more comprehensive assessment of its security needs, according to a new

Andreas D.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Among the many reforms Indonesia instituted after 1998, the resolution to downsize a bloated bureaucracy and make government more efficient stands out as one of the most significant.