Emmy Fitri & Ismira Lutfia – Slapping criminal libel charges on journalists constitutes a major threat to freedom of expression, because such charges have long since been eliminated

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) says that the Supreme Court has yet to display a serious commitment to eradicate corruption from the country.

Camelia Pasandaran – Minister of Home Affairs Gamawan Fauzi is fast becoming a political liability for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, with a spokesman saying on Friday that the pre

Ismira Lutfia – The Corruption Eradication Commission's performance is "still far from what is expected" and is not properly performing its three main functions – preventing graft, puni

Adianto P.

Sukmawati, Makassar – The South Sulawesi Moslem Women for Islamic Shariah Enactment Corps has asked that women be involved in formulating Islamic Shariah local ordinances (Perda).

Bagus Budi Tama Saragih, Jakarta – Lobbying between politicians has intensified and observers now say the President, the Vice President and Finance Minister, in the hot seat over the Ba

When you call my name, it's like a little prayer, sang Madonna, the diva with a Catholic background who later followed the Kaballah faith, which is based on an ancient Jewish belief sys

Nivell Rayda – The country's most prominent antigraft group on Thursday condemned a Corruption Eradication Commission official for allegedly protecting a former state prosecutor on Thur

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – Religious minorities have expressed their support for a group of NGOs that have requested the 1965 Blasphemy Law be reviewed, saying the controversial

Jakarta – The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) said they would defend the controversial blasphemy law, calling the move to scrap the 45-year-old law as an

Farouk Arnaz – Investigating the reasons for the disbursement of Rp 6.7 trillion ($710 million) for the bailout of PT Bank Century was no longer a priority for the National Police, form

Febriamy Hutapea & Muninggar Sri Saraswati – How should the PT Bank Century scandal be settled?

Nivell Rayda – The Constitutional Court on Thursday held its first session to review the 1965 law on religious blasphemy, much to the chagrin of the government and hard-line Muslim grou

Camelia Pasandaran, Cipanas (West Java) – The otherwise successful 100-day program were plans to develop the country's first integrated food production zone and bring about improvements

Amir Tejo – Dozens of villagers demolished an auditorium on Tuesday night that was being used for Koran recital activities by a hardline Islamic group in Mojokerto, East Java.

Rana Akbari Fitriawan, Bandung – Violations of freedom of worship and intolerance among different faiths in West Java remained high last year, according to a study carried out by the In

Nivell Rayda – Corruption was the root cause of the country's rapid pace of deforestation, threatening to hamper the government's effort to cut at least 26 percent of Indonesia's carbon

Erwida Maulia and Dicky Christanto, Cipanas/Jakarta – The ongoing gubernatorial meeting has added an unusual topic to its agenda: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's question on what t

A political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Syamsudin Haris, has said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should not have over-reacted to the anti government rall

Police have thwarted an attempt at a protest comeback for a controversial buffalo that offended Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Hery Winarno, Jakarta – As usual, Jakarta will again be marked by protest actions by people wishing to convey their demands.

Muhammad Taufik, Jakarta – Hundreds of residents in East Java Regency of Mojokerto joined a protest on Wednesday (3/2) at a local flour factory to demand compensation over environmental

Muninggar Sri Saraswati & Ismira Lutfia – A faction within the United Development Party is considering withdrawing from the ruling coalition in response to the Corruption Eradicatio

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has said that they are very concerned about the content of a new Indonesian horror flick, titled "Hantu Puncak Datang Bulan" ("The Menstruating Puncak

Sara Schonhardt, Jakarta – United States President Barack Obama will make a much-anticipated official visit to Indonesia in March, raising speculation of a possible upgrade in bilateral

Nurfika Osman – In another blow to Indonesia's drive for religious tolerance, a report released on Wednesday said 200 violations against freedom of worship were filed with state agencie

Dili – An academic and human rights activist has been named East Timor's first anti-corruption commissioner.

Hans David Tampobolon, Jakarta – The move to impeach President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has taken another hit as the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the largest opposit

Bagus Budi Tama Saragih, Jakarta – Receiving gratuities, kickbacks and bribes has been business as usual for local officials across the country in the past two decades, reveals a study

Hans David Tampobolon and Adianto P.

Irvan Tisnabudi & Ardian Wibisono – Indonesian exports hit an all-time monthly high of $13.3 billion in December as commodity prices rose in line with the global economic recovery,

Candra Malik, Batang (Central Java) – A day after an Indonesian judge warned that frivolous cases should never end up clogging the courts, the Batang District Court sentenced Manisih, 3

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Indonesia's exports were down nearly 15 percent last year as the global economic crisis cast a shadow over the country's major export earners, dampening dema

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The Ministry of Defense on Tuesday said it would work with the Retired Military Soldiers Association to resolve the ongoing eviction dispute with families of

Jakarta – Five hundred contract workers from PT Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT) staged a protest on Monday in front of the main gate of Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakar

Camelia Pasandaran – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on the public to make its protests more polite.

Amanda Ferdina, Jakarta – Greater Jakarta will be rocked by five protest actions today, which will be held at a number of different locations.

Angus Thompson – Fed up with protests snarling Jakarta's already chaotic traffic, the authorities in one of the world's most congested cities plan to build a park dedicated to keeping p

Sidoarjo, East Java – Five victims of the Sidoarjo mudflow forced the workers from the site to protest against PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya for the lateness in paying their compensation.

Ulum, Jakarta – Thousands of workers of the state steel producer Krakatau Steel rallied outside the Cilegon Regional Legislator's office on Tuesday (2/2) to demand immediate completion

Febriamy Hutapea & Muninggar Sri Saraswati – In some of the Democratic Party's strongest language yet, legislator Ruhut Sitompul on Tuesday urged the Golkar Party and the Prosperous

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Inflation in January accelerated to a seven-month high with rising commodity and food prices, without provoking worry that the central bank should raise its

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – A string of murders, mutilations and corpse rapes of Indonesian street children has prompted outrage and led political leaders to question the lack of a s

The fate of two senior leaders is hanging in the balance pending the findings of the inquiry committee of the House of Representatives on the Bank Century bailout.

Bagus Budi Tama Saragih, Jakarta – A group of NGOs have lambasted the government for failing to give women more of a voice in politics despite the ratification of the UN's anti-discrimi

Max Lane – Abdurrahman Wahid, the president of Indonesia between 1999 and 2001, died on December 30, aged 69.

Max Lane – On December 23, the Indonesian Attorney General's Department announced the banning of five books.

Some pesantren, or Islamic boarding school, leaders in Bogor are backing the use of social networking site Facebook to facilitate communication within their school communities, despite

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization, said Sunday it was against the move made by some NGOs and backers of pluralism to request th