Riyadi Suparno, Bandung – The planned launch of Playboy Indonesia and the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by European newspapers are two issues that could affect pres

Dili – An inquiry commission began hearings Friday on the complaints of hundreds of East Timorese soldiers who went AWOL to protest alleged discrimination and ill-treatment by commander

Dili – Most of the 400 East Timorese soldiers protesting against alleged discrimination bowed to President Xanana Gusmao's ultimatum to return to barracks and dispersed early Thursday f

Ann Harrison – The citizens of East Timor who perished during Indonesia's brutal 24-year occupation of their tiny island nation might have died unaccounted for – as many civilians do in

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Bending to pressure, the governor of East Java recently revised the monthly minimum wage, but the move failed to please either workers or businesspeople in

The uproar over the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad has yet to blow over.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Playboy magazine, which was due to make its debut in Indonesia next month, is at the center of a growing anti-pornography debate in Indonesia.

Leony Aurora and Anissa S.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Police and media in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, are too lax in their treatment of radical Islamic groups and their violence, a leadi

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – Greenomics, a local non-governmental organization supporting good forestry governance, has warned the government that the devastating floods affecting many p

Cirebon – Environmentalists blame illegal sand mining for recent floods that damaged thousands of hectares of paddy fields and houses in the West Java towns of Cirebon and Indramayu.

Some 20 ships loaded with illegally cut logs and sawn timber are docked outside Tanjung Balai Karimun Customs Office in Riau Islands province.

Jakarta – Although most of the nation's political parties declare their opposition to the enforcement of sharia, inconsistencies in what is said and done seem to rule in regions where I

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Pematang Siantar, Jakarta – When the recruiter passed through the small village in North Sumatra promising young women good-paying jobs in Malaysia, "Salma" seized w

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has come to the defense of opposition legislators after the police monitored parties probing the

Jakarta – Indonesia will miss a deadline to move tens of thousands of people made homeless by the 2004 tsunami into temporary houses because of problems obtaining timber, a senior gover

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The prospect of a strike by tourist industry workers could not come at a worse time for the country, an Indonesian Tourism Council official says.

What the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten did in September was absurd. It failed to exercise self-restraint or consider what is fit to print.

Hugh White – In Jakarta, they fear that one of their worst nightmares may be coming to life.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Despite the police crackdown on what they term "porn", prospective buyers of erotica, be it cheesecake magazines and tabloids or hard-core VCDs, can still find w

Jakarta – Foreign companies will soon receive guidelines on seeking military protection for their operations in Indonesia, the defense minister said Monday.

Abdul Khalik and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – A police decision to investigate members of two political parties opposed to the government's policy of importing rice from Vietnam w

Peter Short, Perth – "The voice of West Papua must be heard, it has been silenced for 45 years", West Papua solidarity activist Ned Byrne told a crowd of 140 people who packed into Frem

Sarah Stephen – Greens Senator Kerry Nettle received a warm welcome when she finally managed to get to Christmas Island on January 28-30 to visit the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers and a

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Activists grouped in the Aceh Network for Democracy have demanded an rewrite of the Aceh governance bill, which they say accommodates Jakarta's interests more t

Paul Kingsnorth – "Tomorrow," said Galile, "I will take you to the Bird of Paradise. We know where they live. You will hear them, and maybe see them too. They are very beautiful."

Dili – Hundreds of East Timorese troops who gathered outside Dili's presidential palace Wednesday to demand the dismissal of a senior commander have left the complex and will meet Presi

Jon Lamb – Journalists and human-rights organisations within East Timor and internationally are increasingly concerned about the consequences of a new penal code on defamation, which in

Dili – President Xanana Gusmao sent copies Wednesday of the East Timorese Truth Commission's report on a quarter century of human rights violations and crimes against humanity, mostly c

M Isma & Saiful Bahri, Banda Aceh – Demonstrations "opposing" the Home Affairs Department's revisions to the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh (RUU-PA) are continuing and spreading

Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) entered into a collaborative arrangement Monday to eliminate corruption

Jakarta – Activists and economists are outraged at Indonesian plans to cut a swathe through one of the world's largest remaining areas of pristine rain forest to create a massive Chines

Robin McDowell, Jakarta – Soon after scientists landed by helicopter in the mist-shrouded mountains of one of Indonesia's most remote provinces, they stumbled on a primitive egg-laying

Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya – Despite calls for restraint, protests intensified in the country's main cities Monday over the publication in European media of caricatures depicting the P

Jakarta – Indonesia's foreign debt has many people seriously worried.

Jakarta – Despite record 2005 export earnings, a closer look at the trade statistics suggests the country's manufacturers are having a tough time competing overseas, particularly agains

Jakarta – Police officers involved in the crackdown on obscene materials in the capital are not second guessing themselves on whether covers of local adult magazines and tabloids qualif

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta – Both the Helsinki Accord and the BRR (Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency) are failing to include women, says Samsidar, Nobel P

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The House of Representatives has yet to start deliberating the bill on Aceh's future governance but opposition and criticism of its contents have alre

Eko Nopiansyah, Jakarta – Edwin Partogi, the operational head of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), has said that retired Major General Muchdi Purwopr

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – At least 200 officials at state-owned companies (BUMNs) are being investigated for their alleged involvement in graft and abuse of authority, State Minister for

Tony Hotland and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government has been criticized for the slow process in the selection of members of the long-awaited Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KK

Jakarta – Activists from several NGOs dealing with women's issues on Saturday came out against the much-debated pornography bill, which they claimed would repress women.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Water is the great equalizer for Jakartans, whether they live in a swank neighborhood of the city or a crowded kampong only a stone's throw away.

Indonesia has ramped up pressure on the Howard government not to grant asylum to 43 Papuan boat people, with a senior minister denying that human rights abuses are systemic in the troub

Jakarta – Indonesian Muslims staged noisy but peaceful protests in four cities on Monday demanding Denmark apologize over controversial cartoons that Muslims say insult Islam and the Pr

Jakarta – The government has been called upon to take action against those responsible for Saturday's attack on houses owned by members of the Jamaah Ahmadiyah congregation in West Lomb

Greg Roberts – The number of people crossing illegally from the Indonesian province of West Papua into Australia may be much greater than was thought.

Nancy-Amelia Collins, Jakarta – The Indonesian defense minister has acknowledged that some military and police personnel have committed rights abuses in the eastern province of Papua.

Jakarta – Indonesia will maintain a ban on foreign media reporting from its easternmost province of Papua to prevent an escalation of tension in the restive region, Minister of Defense