Abdul Khalik, Ottawa/Jakarta – Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda will visit the United States this week, where he is expected to talk up Indonesia's improved human rights record and seek

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Leading human rights, democracy and antigraft activists, political analysts and lawyers joined forces Tuesday to condemn moves to clear former president Soehart

Femke van den Bos, Jakarta – It will only take up to two or three years of rain forest destruction if the current rate continues to determine the fate of the orangutan.

Bandung – The West Java capital city, Bandung, is in the midst of a serious garbage crisis, with 200,000 cubic meters of trashed piled along its streets.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Concealing your identity for more than 30 years is an arduous task.

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Jakarta – Most of the labor supply companies operating in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabotabek) are illegal, an association says.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has issued yet another damning report on the management of the state finances, revealing 5,377 cases of irregularities worth nearl

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Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Indonesia has praised Australia's new stance against Papuan asylum seekers, indicating a thaw in the diplomatic freeze imposed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyo

Ambon – The country is losing around Rp 45 trillion (about US$5 billion) a year because of widespread illegal logging, Forestry Minister MS Kaban says.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Two years after an official report on the May 1998 riots was submitted to the Attorney General's Office implicating top members of the security forces in wrongd

Bandung – Dozens of students went on a march in Bandung on Monday, urging the government to not to drop its graft case against former president Soeharto.

Jakarta – For many well-heeled Indonesians in jail for graft or other crimes, penitentiaries are not so different from hotels.

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Paul Toohey – The dirt roads and hills in the western districts of the country are now their home.

Jakarta – Two supporters of a former Jayawijaya regent died following a clash with the police in Papua on Monday, after they tried to prevent the police from picking him up to appear in

Former People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) chairman Amien Rais said for the sake of justice former East Timor pro-integration fighter Eurico Gutteres should be freed from all legal pen

Jakarta – Providing jobs, financial assistance and housing to thousands of former guerillas and political prisoners is essential for ensuring the success of the peace deal in Aceh, the

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's cornerstone policy of combating top-level corruption was badly dented after the Attorney General's Office dropped graft charges against former dicta

Jakarta – Representatives from the business sector and labor unions agreed Friday to jointly find the best ways to improve the business climate by holding an official national bipartite

Abdul Khalik, Nusa Dua – Indonesia and Malaysia on Saturday signed a long-discussed memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the protection of Indonesian migrant workers, especially domesti

Scott Burchill – The arrival of 43 West Papuan asylum seekers in northern Australia earlier this year pressed the pause button on the cosy relationship struck recently between political

Jakarta – Two people were killed and six injured Monday after police clashed with villagers defending a district chief charged with corruption in Indonesia's Papua province, police said

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The government's decision to drop graft charges against former president Soeharto has been slammed by anticorruption and human rights groups, which say the ailin

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Peace has returned to Makassar following protests triggered by a housemaid's death at the hands of her Chinese-Indonesian employer, but there's still an unea

The House of Representatives is scheduled to deliberate a number of important bills, including the long-awaited Freedom of Information Bill.

Damien Kingsbury – The recent Indonesian ban on academic contact with Deakin University over the West Papua issue is the latest shot in a wider political battle.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The government is setting aside at least Rp 3 trillion (some US$300 million) in funds from this year's state budget to help kick off financing for infrastructure

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Eight years after bringing down an authoritarian regime, the once thriving student movement is now in disarray.

Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta – Indonesian authorities on Saturday ordered the immediate evacuation of thousands of people who for weeks have refused to heed the ominous rumblings of Mount Mer

Jakarta – For 14 years, Murad Aidit lived in a penal colony on the jungle-covered Indonesian island of Buru with 12,000 other suspected communist sympathizers.

[In the Time of Madness: Indonesia on the Edge of Chaos by Richard Lloyd Parry. Reviewed by Scott B MacDonald.]

Dili – East Timor's foreign minister Jose Ramos-Horta said his country does not need foreign peacekeepers, shortly after Australia said it had sent two warships close to Timorese waters

Windoro Adi – "We are grateful that the government has finally acknowledged our fallen son a hero of reformasi.

Lloyd Jones, Port Moresby – A Papuan woman who says she fled to PNG after Indonesian intelligence officers forced her to plead for her daughter's return from asylum in Australia should

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – At a ceremony to mark World Labor Day (May 1) at Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT), Tanjung Priok port, Indonesian Seafarers Association (KPI

Kylie Williams, Canberra – International human rights groups have lodged a formal protest over Australia's tough new immigration laws in a letter urging the government to adopt humane r

Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence Against Women is seeking a revision of the Criminal Code Procedures (Kuhap) to make them more gender-sensitive.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Lampung province is no longer just a transit point for human trafficking, but has become a supplier of women for the sex trade in Batam, Malaysia, Sing

Wearing colorful traditional costumes, around 500 activists demonstrated outside the House of Representatives on Thursday, demanding lawmakers abandon their deliberation of the pornogra

Jakarta – There are only a few post-graduate students having dinner at around 7 p.m., in a cafeteria in a state university in Depok, some one hour south of Jakarta.

Jambi – Up to 3,464 out of about 16,499 elementary school classrooms throughout Jambi are so badly damaged they are unable to be used, an official said.

Jakarta – With growing support from politicians to halt the prosecution of former president Soeharto, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) says it is up to President Susilo Bamba

Eric Talmadge, Jakarta – Corruption charges against ailing former Indonesian dictator Suharto have been dropped, and he is a "free man," Indonesia's attorney general announced Friday.

Theresia Sufa, Bogor – Bogor train station and several shops inside the station became easy targets Thursday morning when commuters, who were waiting for the economy train to Jakarta, t

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – The South Sulawesi capital of Makassar is returning to normal despite rallies staged by students following the death of a domestic helper allegedly after bei

Banda Aceh – The European Union has agreed to extend the mandate of a peace monitoring mission in Indonesia's Aceh for three months until September, the mission said Friday.

Cath Hart and Samantha Maiden – A Papuan student activist was allegedly stabbed to death by Indonesian police after he was caught trying to flee to Australia along with 21 other student

Reporter: Steve Marshall