The presidential election campaign has drawn criticism for being bereft of debate on specific social, economic and political policies.

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – A new regulation which lays down a one-stop service for the processing of investment licenses is a step forward in making Indonesia more attractive, but it a

Dili – Police in East Timor have arrested 10 members of an alleged human trafficking ring who brought women into the tiny country as sex workers, the United Nations mission and police s

Daniel Ten Kate and Arijit Ghosh – Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is projected to win a second five-year term with an enhanced majority after the resources-rich nation o

Anthony Deutsch, Jakarta – Just over a decade ago, mobs torched buildings across Indonesia's capital in an uprising that toppled a 32-year military dictatorship.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The presidential and vice presidential debates, particularly on the peace-maker issue, have considerably influenced the Acehnese and led them to rethink

[The following article is compiled from an article by Dominggus Oktavianus and reports by Ulfa Ilyas and Rudi Hartono. It has been translated by Data Brainanta.]

Judi Prasetyo, Jombang – Workers from the Independent Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI-Independen) have agreed to boycott the coming July 8 presidential elections by

Jakarta – Indonesia will launch a new system of independent certification for all timber exports to combat widespread illegal logging, the forestry minister said Monday.

Tom Benedetti – Legislative election results in April indicate that incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will likely win Wednesday's presidential vote in Indonesia.

Febriamy Hutapea, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Presidential candidates, politicians and analysts broadly welcomed Monday's Constitutional Court ruling aimed

Jakarta – A survey released Saturday has revealed presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla and his running mate Wiranto benefited the most from the series of televised debates ran for the fir

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's rivals in next week's presidential election claim the incumbent is clutching at straws to retain his presidency, after Yudhoyono's recent

Adianto P.

Prodita Sabarini – Writer Christopher J.

Jakarta – Indonesia's consumer confidence index rose to its highest in 4 years in June, boosted by spending ahead of a presidential election and a resilient economy, a central bank surv

Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – The fast-deteriorating Transjakarta busway system has forced Jakarta resident Ratih Puspitasari back to using taxis to commute.

Ferry Irwanto – There is an old local saying that bureaucrats will always turn something simple into something complicated.

Jombang – Thousands of workers have declared their opposition to participating in the July 8 presidential elections.

Norimitsu Onishi, Jakarta – The five men and one woman vying to become president or vice president in Indonesia's election on Wednesday are familiar faces.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is still the favorite to win next week's presidential election, says the latest survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute

Jakarta – ICW's head of public service monitoring division, Ade Irawan, said here Friday that his team had found discrepancies amounting to US$127 million during last year's haj pilgrim

Jayapura – Dozens of employees of the state-run RRI public radio station staged a rally in front of the Papua People's Assembly (MRP) office Friday, protesting a change in leadership at

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Sealing a political contract with a labor association is no guarantee of automatic support from the voters that constitute that group, a discussion heard Frid

Jakarta – The Constitutional Court announced Friday the media were allowed to publish any election-related news during the campaign-free period between July 5 and 7, prior to the July 8

Andra Wisnu, Jakarta – The police and the general public are not ready to be partners in establishing community policing, with the former still lacking accountability and tending to act

Angela Flassy, Jayapura – Papuan activist Bucthar Tabuni was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison for "provocation" at a pro-independence demonstration last year.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Who should be blamed for the increasing violence against Indonesian migrant workers overseas? Foreign employers and user countries? The government?

Agus Maryono and Oyos Saroso H.N., Purwokerto, Bandarlampung – Parents of students enrolling at state-run senior high schools have protested over the school enrollment system, which the

Ed Davies & Sunanda Creagh – Presidential candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri on Friday defended her choice of a running mate accused of human rights abuses, saying that he had taken re

Jakarta – The retail sector is doing better than most, but weakened purchasing power could dampen demand, so 2009 full-year growth in sales could fall below 10 percent, despite double-d

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The House of Representatives has played down the importance of an independent Corruption Court, stating it was "not urgent" to protect it with a government re

Katrina Nicholas, Singapore – Indonesia's improving economic outlook has pushed it out of the world's 10 riskiest issuers of sovereign bonds, according to credit-default swap prices fro

Sukabumi, West Java – National Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri said police would act firmly against anyone intending or trying to break up the unitary state of Indonesia.

Muhamad Al Azhari – The government says the national poverty rate has fallen due to steady economic growth, stable prices for staple foods and the impact of the economic stimulus packa

Dicky Christanto and Andra Wisnu, Jakarta – Presidential hopeful Jusuf Kalla criticized his rival Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for his frequently aired campaign ads calling for a single-rou

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Megawati Sukarnoputri's replacement at the helm of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle may not necessarily come from the Sukarno family line, the matr

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Megawati Sukarnoputri, who has placed well behind Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in recent polls, has blamed the incumbent president's "selective" policy on combati

Jakarta – Imagine Indonesia with a population of 470 million, nearly half a billion by 2060. Or perhaps this would be easier to picture: Jakarta with 24 million people by then.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The historic election of US President Barack Obama has marked a new era in Indonesia-United States relations, however one cannot overlook the fact that relations

Nivel Rayda, Febriamy Hutapea & Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Swords were finally crossed as a political ad became the center of a heated argument between two of the presidential candid

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – In what seems to be a last minute decision, television news network Al-Jazeera English decided not to premiere on Thursday a highly-sensitive documentary highlig

Nurfika Osman – Continued dialogues between religious and tribal leaders from Papua and Jakarta are necessary to bring about a mutual understanding that would lead to peace in the resti

Armando Siahaan – The night of Oct. 21, 1965, was one that Putu Oka Sukanta will never forget.

Jakarta – Activists and legislators on Wednesday blamed the stalemate in the four-year protracted military tribunal bill on the "psychological war" between the police and military, part

Matt Crook, Dili – Pressure to resign is mounting on East Timor's Prime Minster, Xanana Gusamo, amid claims that he misused authority when he signed-off on a multi-million dollar govern

Nivell Rayda – The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime expressed concern on Thursday that the fight against corruption in Indonesia would deteriorate in the wake of several attempt

Jakarta – The state will likely suffer more than Rp 100 billion (US$9.6 million) in losses, if the House of Representatives is unable to complete its deliberation of 64 bills by the end

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Less than a week before the election that will make or break their respective political careers, Indonesia's top leaders were forced to unite yesterday at

Muhamad Al Azhari & Dion Bisara – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has forecast that foreign direct investment for 2009 will be $6.2 billion, less than half of last year's tot