Jakarta – The draft law on land acquisition soon to be submitted to the House of Representatives will ensure fair compensation to residents displaced by public infrastructure projects,

Ridwan Max Sijabat – Indonesia seems far removed from Afghanistan, where the Taliban recently stoned to death a couple that had eloped after a long hiatus in applying the sharia punishm

Dessy Sagita & Anita Rachman, Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's biggest Islamic organization with as many as 30 million members, has drawn a mostly negative response from rel

Farouk Arnaz, Jakarta – Three logging company executives and a forestry department official are among 10 people arrested and charged with illegal logging.

Jakarta – Indonesia's biggest palm oil producer on Friday rejected fresh allegations of illegal forest clearing after foreign auditors suggested it had misrepresented the findings of an

David Fogarty, Jakarta – As part of $1 billion deal with Norway to fight carbon emissions through a partial deforestation ban, Indonesia plans to initially protect less than half its re

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – The revelations of institutionalized bribery unearthed in the saga of rogue tax official Gayus Tambunan paint a bleak picture of the state of the country's ju

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Dozens of soldiers Tuesday night attacked the Siantar Police station in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, over news that a police officer had earlier issued a ti

Camelia Pasandaran & Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Former police chief of detectives and whistle-blower Susno Duadji was on Thursday refused a stay of prosecution by the Constitutional

Anita Rachman, Jakarta – Legislators have seemingly turned a deaf ear to the recent furor over their poor attendance at House of Representatives hearings by failing spectacularly to sho

Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta – The Indonesian Council of Ulema have rejected comments from West Aceh district head Ramli Mansur that woman who fail to wear Islamic clothing are "asking to be

Pandaya – The House of Representatives needs to make a breakthrough to improve its poor legislative performance as indicted by its almost certain failure to reach its target of endorsin

Nurfika Osman, Jakarta – Indonesia has been experiencing its most extreme weather conditions in recorded history, meteorologists warned on Wednesday as torrential rains continued to pou

Hamong Santono – Last month, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring access to clean water and sanitation a fundamental human right.

Dessy Sagita, Jakarta – The government on Thursday announced a plan to provide free birth care to all, helping to prevent cases of mothers selling their babies to pay for the deliveries

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asserted he had no intention to extend his tenure and would leave office in 2014.

Dewi Kurniawati, Aceh – Meet Ramli Mansur, a 46-year-old leader of the Aceh Party, whose members are mostly drawn from the ranks of former combatants of the disbanded Free Aceh Movement

Dewi Kurniawati, Banda Aceh – Agnes Monica, the famous Indonesian actress and singer, is a given to wearing sexy clothes, whether on stage, TV or advertising billboards.

Dewi Kurniawati, Banda Aceh – It doesn't take much to notice "Echa," a transvestite who lives in Banda Aceh.

Dewi Kurniawati, Banda Aceh – On a recent Friday afternoon, the face of a young woman detained at a Shariah Police station in Aceh's provincial capital Banda Aceh was contorted in anger

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Despite the prosecution pushing for alleged case broker Anggodo Widjojo to be jailed for six years, an antigraft group has slammed it for not taking his alleg

Jayapura – Local church leaders have called for an independent investigation of a series of church shootings in Puncak Jaya, Papua, that started in 2004.

Indonesia – A dramatic spike in ocean temperatures off Indonesia's Aceh province has killed large areas of coral and scientists fear the event could be much larger than first thought an

Report Katrin Figge – "As a 13-year-old girl, Ronasih was picked up on her way home from school by a soldier nicknamed Sideburns and locked up in a nearby barracks.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday backed away from comments from a member of his party that the Indonesian Constitution should be amended to allow Yudhoyono to r

Dicky Christanto – The police said they had evidence to charge firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir with funding and promoting terrorist activities in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – Indonesia's two main Muslim organizations decreed on Wednesday that corrupt officials were "infidels," or a person without faith.

Anita Rachman, Jakarta – It seems no on has a kind word for the House these days.

Bagus BT Saragih – It's quality, not quantity, as the saying goes. But when it comes to the parliament's lawmaking function, it has received poor grades in both.

Jakarta – In recognition of Indonesia's 65th Independence Day, on Tuesday the government reduced prison terms of most inmates nationwide, including high-profile graft convicts such as f

Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch has criticized Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar over his inconsistency in upholding restrictions of jail-term remission to graft an

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The police admitted on Monday they had never had evidence that case broker suspect Ary Muladi had phone-called Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) offici

Jakarta – The National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri has denied all speculations and assumptions related to his unclear absence over the past three days.

Jakarta – Indonesia observed its 65th Independence Day solemnly on Tuesday marked with flag hoisting ceremonies, particularly at government offices, throughout the country.

Irwan Firdaus, Bekasi, Indonesia – Tired of government inaction, Christians and other religious minorities in Indonesia are pushing back against rising violence by Islamic hard-liners.

Arientha Primanita, Jakarta – Hundreds of Christians prayed near National Monument Square in Central Jakarta on Sunday afternoon, in protest against what they say is government inaction

Jason Tedjasukmana – Rising tensions in Papua have Indonesian authorities worried about possible international intervention in the nation's easternmost province, reports the head of a g

Jakarta – Analysts and opposition politicians have criticized Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's state-of-the-nation address on Monday, labeling it "flat" and lacking in so

Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – With the debate over a proposal to double the legislative threshold intensifying, discussion is also heating up over whether the move would improve the legisl

Jakarta – As many as 1,500 members of Solidarity Forum of Interfaith Harmony (FSKUB) staged a rally Sunday in front of the State Palace, expressing their frustration over a series of re

Jakarta – As protesters prepare for a prayer vigil and peaceful rally at the Presidential Palace on Sunday, residents and activists on Saturday demanded that President Susilo Bambang Yu

Jakarta – A legislator has called on the government to be more serious in curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Indonesian province of Papua.

Eliswan Azly, Jakarta – Indonesian and Norwegian negotiators will meet in Jakarta this week to discuss the implementation of a bilateral climate deal to combat deforestation in Indonesi

[The Circle of Silence: A Personal Testimony before, during, and after Balibo Author: Shirley Shackleton, Publisher: Pier 9, 2010, Pages: 390.]

Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and House legislators questioned Friday the credibility of the police's "call data records", which were offered in lieu of tape recordings in

Jakarta – The whereabouts of National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri were unclear on Friday in the wake of the latest scandal to rock the tainted Indonesian institution.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Rights activists proposed Thursday that the intelligence bill should accommodate a monitoring mechanism and rehabilitate people who become the wrong target o

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – The ruling Democratic Party has softened its stance on a proposed increase in the legislative threshold following pleas from smaller parties, saying

Indonesia – As downpours continue to cast a cloud over the dry season, resource producers have slashed output targets and the government has been forced to look abroad to meet local dem

Chris Chaplin and Carole Reckinger – West Papuans and Papuans are not only fighting for independence but also to live free of poverty.