Bandung – About 150 guests from throughout the nation attended the launch of the Indonesian branch of a controversial international polygamy club during an upscale get together here on

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has to pick more women to sit in his next Cabinet to promote gender equality, say women activists.

A New Zealand based Indonesian human rights group says it's totally opposed to the importation of the tropical hardwood, Kwila, regardless of whether it is certified sustainable or not.

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang – As well as displacing thousands of residents, last month's earthquake that devastated much of West Sumatra is likely to render many workers in the provinc

Fidelis E Satriastanti – Green groups on Monday called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to fulfill his stated commitment to reducing carbon emissions during his second term, which

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – In a bid to help prevent misappropriation in the use of the school operational aids (BOS) fund, the Surabaya municipal administration is to draft a bylaw on

Achmad Faisal, Surabaya – Thousands of workers from the PT Maspion Group in Surabaya, Sidoarjo and Gresik, had their wage cut over the weekend after the East Java High Court won the cas

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must replace attorney general Hendarman Supandji as he has failed to cleanse his office or raise the quality of prosecutor

Jakarta – NGOs will request a judicial review of the newly endorsed bylaw in Aceh that condemns adulterers to be stoned to death.

Jakarta – Religious figures are calling on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to revamp the Religious Affairs Ministry and restore it to its original function of encouraging harmony and

Alfian, Jakarta – The government estimates that the balance of trade in oil and fuels will remain negative this year with imports outweighing exports.

Nurfika Osman – Indonesia ranked 81st out of 133 countries in a global tourism competitiveness report, indicating that the country needed more improvements to boost the tourism sector,

A young woman in Bandung has put her kidney for sale online for 600 million rupiah (60 thousand dollars).

Amir Tejo, Surabaya – While the president and vice president-elect were busy putting possible cabinet ministers through the fit and proper test over the weekend, some 20 sex workers and

Fidelis E Satriastanti – As attempts to contain an oil spill from a well operated by Thai and Australian companies proved futile, a conservationist warned on Sunday that the disaster wo

Farouk Arnaz – There was a major reshuffle in the ranks of the National Police over the weekend as some officers reached the mandatory retirement age of 55 and others were promoted, an

Adianto P.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Hundreds of relatives of Acehnese people who went missing during the conflict, which lasted from 1976 to 2005, have strongly urged the provincial governm

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) will not ask for any posts in the next Cabinet, but will accept any position that might be offered, chief pa

Jakarta – Religious leaders and NGOs are urging the government to pick up the pace in its effort to end poverty in Indonesia.

Tom Allard, Merak (Indonesia) – They are promised a bright future awaits, that the gods will take care of them, but the 31 Tamil children among the 255 asylum seekers moored in Merak ar

Stephen Fitzpatrick in Merak and Patrick Walters – The Sri Lankan asylum seekers holed up on board a boat in Indonesia intend to end their two-day-old hunger strike and are considering

Jakarta – An alliance providing legal advocacy on religion freedom is to hold a national symposium in December to discuss common social and human rights problems in Central and Eastern

Jakarta – Gorontalo mayoralty administration has obliged its Muslim civil servants to read the Koran every Friday.

Khairul Saleh and Apriadi Gunawan, Palembang, Medan – The Supreme Audit Agency's (BPK) South Sumatra office has revealed graft cases in the province have caused an annual state loss of

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The Supreme Court Chief Justice Harifin A Tumpa believes most judges under his institution's supervision are not acting independently when handing out verdict

Jakarta – Thirty percent of Indonesia's children are underweight and have a lower-than-average height for their age, mostly because of early childhood malnutrition, an expert says.

Palu – At least 2,443 of 20,000 workers in Palu, Central Sulawesi, are still not registered with state-owned worker insurance firm PT Jamsostek, according to data from the city's manpow

Jakarta – The removal of a Health Law clause on tobacco may have occurred within the House of Representative's internal process, the House speaker said on Friday.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The new government has to improve the policy framework for rice production as many farmers remain poor despite helping to produce a rice surplus, a ministry

Nurfika Osman – Women activists on Friday criticized Democratic Party's deputy chairman Achmad Mubarok for suggesting that women were not ready to take up strategic ministries in the ne

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The Aceh government said on Friday that it would not let recently crowned Putri Indonesia Qori Sandioriva represent the province as she had failed to comply w

Dili – East Timor's opposition Fretilin party said there had been a "huge swing" against the government in recent village or 'suco' elections, even though candidates were supposed to b

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The aging former leader of the disbanded Free Aceh Movement is expected to arrive in the province on Saturday for the second time since he fled the country in

Steve Holland – An East Timorese government delegation led by Prime Minster Xanana Gusmao is in China looking for support for its bid for a major gas processing plant to be built in Ea

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday refused to be swayed by hundreds of Sri Lankan asylum seekers who declared a hunger strike after their boat was stopped in Indonesia en ro

[My Friend the Fanatic: Travels with a Radical Islamist. By Sadanand Dhume. Reviewed by Ioannis Gatsiounis.]

On a scale of one to 10, what would be a fair score for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla as they end their five-year term on Monday?

Muhamad Al Azhari & Dian Ariffahmi – A new Trade Ministry regulation issued on Friday will allow alcoholic-beverage makers to supply their products directly to retailers without hav

Ika Krismantari, Jakarta – As confidence in the economy continues to rise, investors in Indonesia remain bullish about the stock market – already one of the world's best performing bour

Janeman Latul & Venisa Tjahjono – Mining industry representatives said on Friday they were confused by a recently issued regulation restricting the work contractors were allowed to

Camelia Pasandaran – The smiles, firm handshakes and backslaps that marked Friday's farewell party for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's outgoing cabinet betrayed the fact that despi

Kinanti Pinta Karana – A political contract signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and five other parties on Thursday night amounts to a conspiracy, one politic

Jakarta – The House of Representatives' two smallest parties – the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) – have pledged to keep the govern

Dicky Christanto and Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – The radical ideology that fueled the recent bombings in Indonesia has a firm rooting in the country's universities and sprouts largely f

Pandaya, Jakarta – Outgoing legislators may well be remembered for their crude sense of humor, but their last legacy, losing a contentious provision on tobacco from the health bill they

Belinda Lopez – In Blok AA1 of the Christian cemetery in Kebayoran Lama, an engraved headstone marks the resting place of young journalists shot by the Indonesian military.

Erwida Maulia and Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Around 90,000 families are still homeless in Padang, West Sumatra, two weeks after the 7.9-magnitude quake hit the province as the UN pledges t

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – A large area of mangrove forests in Lampung, which acts as a buffer for coastal residents from tidal waves, has been depleted rapidly over the past yea

Sunanda Creagh, Jakarta – Indonesia's tough new environment law, passed last month and aimed at any firm with an effect on the environment, may take as long as two years to implement, a