Tom Allard, Jakarta – Indonesia looms large in the Australian psyche as a dysfunctional country, besieged by natural disasters, financial crises, terrorist attacks and political and soc

Hotli Simanjuntak – Thousands of Aceh residents held communal prayers in places of worship across the province on Friday as they honored the victims of the devastating 2004 tsunami that

Ni Komang Erviani, Denpasar – Dozens of students followed their counterparts across the nation in protesting against the recently passed education legal entity law, claiming it will tur

Agus Maryono, Purbalingga – Around 1,000 state-school teachers in Purbalingga, Central Java, have protested against a cut in their certification allowance, to which they are entitled in

Mark Dodd – Australia is poised to take a bigger role in the training of East Timor's police force, described in a UN report as beset with "tremendous institutional gaps", weakly manage

Erwida Maulia,, Jakarta – Police came under fire Friday from lawmakers and activists for their decision to drop an investigation into 13 forestry companies accused of illegal logging ac

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Approaching the year's end, the rupiah seems stable at around 11,000 per US dollar, after a wild volatility in the past months – but it may slightly deprecia

Agnes Winarti, Bekasi – The 2004 ruling against prostitution in Bekasi may have noble intentions but only targets sex workers while allowing pimps and clients get away.

Jakarta – Rights group Amnesty International urged Indonesian police Wednesday to investigate a crackdown on protesting villagers in which hundreds of houses were destroyed in Riau.

Bandung, West Java – Deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Mochamad Jasin, said Tuesday that the body's strict grip on graft cases has forced corruptors to cha

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has dismissed doubts cast over its promise of neutrality in the 2009 elections Thursday.

Dozens West Aceh citizens staged a rally Friday marking the fourth anniversary of the tsunami to demand the government organize the reconstruction of the devastated areas in the provinc

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Women politicians have been dealt a serious blow ahead of next year's legislative elections, after the Constitutional Court ruled that candidates winning the

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The support for female candidates from political parties for next year's general elections is very small, activists and politicians say.

Jakarta – Companies in Indonesia will have shed 40,000 jobs by the end of 2008 as a result of the global financial crisis, a government minister said Tuesday.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono has promised the families of victims of the Talangsari massacre and the late 1990s activist abductions that he will bring the

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Democracy looks certain to prevail in next year's legislative election after the Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that seats in the nation's legislatures

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Political surveys have become a lucrative business ahead of next year's elections with reputable marketing firm Markplus Inc.

Ika Krismantari, Jakarta Post – In a clear sign of a slowdown, investment in the country's industrial sector is forecast to drop by 18 percent this year, from a year earlier, with a fur

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The impacts of the global financial crisis should not be politicized to attack the incumbent government in the upcoming general elections, President Susilo Bam

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Indonesia has suffered major setbacks in upholding religious freedom and tolerance, enshrined in the Constitution, as evident in a series of attacks on plurali

A respected newspaper in East Timor has been charged with defamation over a series of stories it published accusing the country's Justice Minister of corruption, collusion and nepotism.

Dili – East Timor's president and the United Nations played down reports Wednesday that the tiny Asian nation was staggering under the weight of social and economic problems and on the

Purwokerto – Hundreds of students at Jenderal Soedirman University (Unsoed) in Purwokerto, Central Java, staged a rally and blocked the rectorate building on Tuesday, demanding the rect

Andra Wisnu, Denpasar – The Bali People's Component (KRB) organization has finished its draft judicial review of the recently signed anti-pornography law, the first legal challenge to t

Adianto P.

Usman Hamid, Jakarta – 2009 will be the year of politics – electoral politics to be precise.

Wasti Atmodjo, Denpasar – To coincide with Mother's Day on Monday, women legislative candidates from different political parties in Bali banded together to create the Inter-Party Women'

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – The nation's most powerful business lobby group ended its national meeting on Monday with reelected chairman Mohamad Suleman Hidayat throwing his support beh

Jakarta – Mitra Perempuan Women's Crisis Center reported Tuesday that 275 women came forward as victims of domestic violence this year.

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – The footwear industry may earn zero profits in the second quarter of next year as the global economic downturn has severely affected overseas consumer purcha

Kuala Lumpur – Timor Leste, which witnessed assassination attempts against its president and prime minister February this year, is now making good progress in the development of the cou

East Timor risks a repeat of the anarchy that gripped the country in 2006, as it has a dysfunctional police force, a chaotic justice system, a divided political leadership grappling wit

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – A nationwide community empowerment scheme for villages is causing trouble for the central government with many local administrations refusing to carry out the

Jakarta – House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono has expressed concern that the number of lawmakers attending plenary sessions and meetings will decrease due to their tight sche

Jakarta – Seputar Indonesia has named President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the winner of the "People of the Year" award in politics.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Thousands of Muslim women from the hardline Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) organization staged a rally Sunday calling for the country to enforce sharia law and

Jakarta – Two-and-a-half years after a volcano erupted in the East Java province of Sidoardjo, the mud shows no signs of abating.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Calls are mounting for a revision of the 1974 marriage law which activists claim justifies polygamy and exploits disadvantage women.

Indonesia has specifically stated that people's productive years are between the ages of 18 and 55, but there is little agreement on an appropriate retirement age.

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office will scrap 8,000 positions as part of a plan to streamline its bureaucracy in a bid to prevent corruption and abuse of power.

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – The nation's most powerful business lobby group, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), used its national meeting on Sunday to set out reco

Jakarta – A one-month survey by the Indonesian Consumer Foundation (YLKI) shows that dirty tap water and a "mysterious" tariff increase are the top complaints about tap water by consume

Jakarta – Security forces stormed airports, glitzy hotels, passenger ships and the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Sunday during a massive national counterterrorism exercise.

Surabaya – Dozens of students under the Surabaya Students Central Movement (SGMS) staged a rally on Monday in front of 17 Agustus University, Surabaya, in protest against the new law on

[Timor Timur, Menit Terakhir – Catatan Seorang Wartawan (East Timor, The Last Minute – A Journalist's Notebook). C.M. Rien Koentari, Mizan Pustaka, 2008. 438 pages]

Jakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), a major Islamic party, is not interested in joining an alliance of Islamic parties, a party executive, Mahfudz Siddiq, said in Banjarmasin,

Jakarta – The government has asked Muslim clerics to avoid actively participating in politics, as it will keep them from serving their followers and will threaten social unity.

Connie Levett – It was a throwaway line from old Uncle Gordon: "We had a lot of 'Javos' in Wallangarra during the war."

Jakarta – Indonesia's economic growth is set to slow to 4.5-5.5 percent in 2009 because of weak commodity prices, while easing inflation should allow to lift domestic spending with more