Max Lane – Elections for the two houses of Indonesia's national parliament and the provincial parliaments will take place on April 9, at a time of growing dissatisfaction with the parli

[The following article was written in response to an article by Kelik Ismunanto, a leader of Papernas (National Liberation Unity Party) titled "Indonesia: Tracing a path towards parliam

Jon Lamb – East Timor has passed through the first year of "stability" since the failed assassination attempts in February 2008 on East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Min

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The government has been slammed for issuing a regulation-in-lieu-of-law to allow double marking on ballots and to update the permanent voter list.

Jakarta – The Regional Representatives Council (DPD) members are pushing for a constitutional amendment which would formalize press freedom as a pillar of democracy.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf underlined here on Friday the importance of the presence of foreign observers in the upcoming legislative elections in Aceh.

Arientha Primanita – Armed violence erupted again in Papua Province on Friday morning leaving one man injured after a shooting incident by what police believe was a member of the Free P

Indonesian villagers have trapped and killed their fourth endangered Sumatran tiger amid a flurry of tiger attacks blamed on illegal logging, the environmental group World Wildlife Fund

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – After living in uncertainty at a refugee center in West Nusa Tenggara for three years, 68 members of the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect have decided to risk returning h

Jakarta – Most voters still prefer parties over candidates, despite a Constitutional Court ruling that means parties will have little say in who gets a legislative seat, a survey said F

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The UN Security Council decided unanimously on Thursday to keep its peacekeeping mission in East Timor for another 12 months, noting that the political and security situation there rema

Jakarta – The special committee for missing persons at the House of Representatives has said the government is "not serious" about resolving human rights abuse cases after top governmen

Jakarta – Reforms within the Indonesian Military (TNI) have remained slow under the administration of retired Army general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a discussion concluded Thursday.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights says the displacement of thousands of mudflow victims from their homes in the East Java town of Sidoarjo could be classi

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Hundreds of workers grouped under a number of different organizations staged a rally Wednesday to demand the East Java High Court respect their right to form work

The rupiah has weakened again for the seventh straight week, prompting the government to search for new ways to stabilize the volatile currency.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has bowed to public pressure by removing two graft-tainted officials from their new posts as corruption investigation sup

Febriamy Hutapea – With several ministers and other senior officials once again declining to attend a House hearing concerning military abductions of students in the late 1990s, lawmake

Nivell Rayda – The State Intelligence Agency, or BIN, assured the House of Representatives on Wednesday that there were no known threats that could disrupt the April 9 legislative elect

Febriamy Hutapea – The head of the Armed Forces, or TNI, again on Tuesday ordered the military to remain politically neutral during the run-up to legislative and presidential elections

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – The Constitutional Court on Tuesday handed another victory to the country's dominant political parties, ruling that print and electronic media were not require

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He counts lawmakers and senior officials among his scalps but Indonesia's anti-corruption chief says it could be 20 years before graft entrenched at all levels of government has been cl

Jakarta – Indonesia has appointed two prosecutors, whom activists allege to be corrupt, to oversee graft investigations as part of its crackdown on corruption, an anti-graft group said

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Legislators approved late on Tuesday a provision in the 2009 state budget that enables the government to unleash its much-needed stimulus package, and even i

Angus Grigg – It was a performance to remember, an act of sheer front.

Jakarta – Minister of Administrative Reforms Taufik Effendy said Tuesday that the first ever accountability evaluation report for state agencies confirmed the bureaucracy was more inte

Aleksius Jemadu, Tangerang, Banten – Among the retired generals who have nominated themselves for the presidency, Lt. Gen.

Beni Sukadis – More than 10 years have passed since Indonesia first sought to restructure the relationship among the Indonesian Armed Forces, or TNI, the Ministry of Defense and the cen

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) Chief Djoko Santoso said Monday that widespread vandalism, intimidation, threats, attacks and even murder could occur during the 2009 polls in Aceh p

Heru Andriyanto – Critics on Monday attacked the Attorney General's Office for its decision to entrust two officials who were at the center of a major bribery case last year with corrup

Dessy Sagita – Environmental activists on Monday urged the Jakarta Administration to temporarily halt its car-free days on selected city roads, saying a re-evaluation was needed because

Indra Harsaputra and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Surabaya – Victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster remain skeptical of the new pledge made by the Bakrie Family to pay disaster compensation in

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Plaintiffs have demanded a judicial review of the 2008 pornography law by the Constitutional Court, saying the law had turned the country's cultural diversity i

The Australia Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan, says his government discusses issues around Papua with Indonesia a lot.

Election fever mounts as candidates discuss strategic alliances and running mates, but academic and Indonesia expert Max Lane says this may be an election characterized by disappointmen

Multa Fidrus, Banten – Thousands of industrial firms in Banten province are believed to be causing environmental damage which has triggered unpredictable weather cycles.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The government will continue trying to improve the investment climate, which has been reformed since 2005, to attract more investment to stimulate the countr

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Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says he is not bothered by Vice President Jusuf Kalla's decision to stand as his rival in the presidential election this July

Tom Allard, Jakarta – A Soeharto-era commander of Indonesia's notorious Kopassus special forces unit has a novel way of deflecting concerns about grave human rights abuses on his watch

Jakarta – A former son-in-law of Indonesian dictator Suharto who is running for president said Friday his "conscience is clear" over human rights abuses he committed as a senior army ge

Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Saturday that it would take a courageous "thug" who dared to face risks to lead the country to a better future.

Aubrey Belford, Jakarta – With its harrowing scenes of rape and abuse and its rousing calls for equality, a new film on the oppression of women in Islamic societies is courting controve

The international community has lauded Indonesia for its success in resolving years of conflicts in Aceh as well as its ability to quickly rebuild the province after the tsunami disaste

An Australian activist says his government is going the wrong way about improving relations with Indonesia if it continues to ignore the West Papua issue.

Camelia Pasandaran – The Constitutional Court is scheduled to hear the first legal challenge to the controversial Pornography Law today, after several Christian, student and ethnic mino

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Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla sent Friday a clearer signal of his preparedness to contest the presidential election that could put his party on a collision cour