Jakarta – Indonesia plans to issue a new law to crack down on rampant smuggling which has hit commodity prices, Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said yesterday.

Pandaya, Jakarta – In recent years Indonesia has sadly been witnessing a wide variety of religious conflicts that have corroded the glue that keeps this multiethnic, multi-religious nat

Kurniawan Hari and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – At least Rp 1.35 billion (US$150,000) in taxpayers money will be wasted as the House of Representatives prepares to deliberate 36 of

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Commissions of the House of Representatives held their first hearings on Wednesday – nearly a month after it went into session – seeming to indicate that the H

Surabaya – The East Java chapter of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) will propose that the country's largest Muslim organization establish a new political party to accommodate the interests of its

Jakarta – It is hoped that the government can resolve the conflict in Aceh peacefully in the lead up to the end of the period of civil emergency on November 18.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The Indonesian Government has barred all foreign journalists from the troubled provinces of Aceh and Papua, the first such ban for at least four years.

Tiarma Siboro and Adianto P.

Veronica Brooks, Canberra – East Timor's government must return to the negotiating table with more realistic expectations if a protracted maritime boundary dispute between Australia and

Jakarta – Two oil and gas firms plan to make new investments next year in what seems to be a positive development in the country's oil and gas sector, which has seen output declining du

Jon Afrizal, Jambi – Dozens of farmers in Tungkalulu district, West Tanjungjabung regency, Jambi province, ran amok on Wednesday at an oil palm plantation, destroying several security p

Jakarta – Indonesia said yesterday its new Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono will soon visit the United States to lobby for an end to an arms embargo imposed over the Indonesian militar

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – Foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals have declined by 11 percent this year as of October, as compared with the same period in 2003, the latest data from

Jakarta – The former governor of East Timor, Abilio Jose Osorio Soares requested that the gross human rights abuse cases in East Timor be determined through a Truth and Reconciliation C

Meriam Debora, Jakarta – The United Worker Alliance (Aliansi Buruh Bersatu, ABB) says it has rejected the new provincial minimum wage (UMP) increase for Jakarta to 711,843 rupiah becaus

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Jakarta – The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Widodo AS, has admitted that the operation to restore security in Aceh, as one of five programs which make

Neither the current East Timor government nor the international community has made a particularly high priority of bringing to justice those responsible for the human rights abuses perp

Ramidi, Jakarta – Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) says the policy of implementing a state of civil emergency in Aceh has failed.

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Jakarta – The North Jakarta administration plans to send squatters living on the riverbanks in its jurisdiction elsewhere, as it holds them responsible for annual floods in the city.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Golkar deputy leader Marwah Daud Ibrahim said on Monday that she was ready to challenge party leader Akbar Tandjung in the party's leadership election at its 7

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The study of a joint team involving 14 government agencies has found indications that Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi has high levels of arsenic, promptin

Our society is so image conscious. We love the ceremony, the symbolism, the pageantry, but without grasping the substance.

Nur Raihan, Banda aceh – The commander of the Iskandar Muda Territorial Military Command, Endang Suwarya, says that Aceh needs to remain under a state of civil emergency when the curren

Oxford, UK – The international campaign calling on Kofi Annan to set up an official United Nations review of the UN's conduct in the 1969 Act of "Free" Choice received a huge boost toda

Jakarta – TNI (armed forces) chief General Endriartono Sutarto says that placing TNI headquarters under the department of defense requires maturity on the part of the minister of defens

Indonesia's Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is taking-on one of the toughest problems of his presidency – the long-running separatist conflicts in Aceh and Papua.

Yenni Djahidin, Washington, D.C. – Indonesian Ambassador to United States, Soemadi D. M. Brotodiningrat followed the US elections closely.

Jephraim P Gundzik – Compared with other countries in Southeast Asia, economic performance has been disappointingly modest in Indonesia since the 1997 regional financial crisis.

Indonesia looks set to reassert itself in international fora with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono bringing a new dimension to foreign policy. The Jakarta Post's Endy M.

Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is having a tough time fulfilling his electoral promises.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Separate communal clashes on Friday and Saturday in South Sulawesi and Central Java left several people injured and dozens of houses and ships damaged.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Observers have criticized House of Representatives members for going ahead with their plan to summon President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to explain his position

Jakarta – Indonesia's parliament Speaker Agung Laksono has said that the two opposing coalitions in the legislature have agreed to put an end to their current deadlock, with the People'

Jakarta – Soaring oil prices raising government spending on the fuel subsidy, and coupled with the shortfall in a number of revenue targets, has left the government under intense pressu

Jakarta – Governor Sutiyoso said on Friday the large number of migrants pouring into Jakarta looking for work was to blame for many of the city's problems.

In Indonesia, at least three people are dead, and as many as 20,000 may have been displaced, after raids in Puncak Jaya district in Papua province.

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The restive Indonesian province of Papua was a ticking time bomb that could drag Australia into its wreckage, a prominent Papuan human rights campaigner has warned.

Agus Supriyanto, Jakarta – Eurico Guterres, the former commander of the Pro-Integration Youth (PPI)(1), visited the Cipinang Correctional Institution to look in on former East Timorese

Jakarta/Bandung – In a move that could worsen its relationship with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the House of Representatives' defense commission said it had endorsed Army chief

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – While welcoming defense minister Juwono Sudarsono's plan to eradicate corruption and markup practices in arms-purchase procedures, an expert has urged for the r

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Saturday (6/11/04) vowed to take strong measures to combat corruption and terrorism, as well as boost democracy, in order to attract US investment

Jakarta – The acquittal of former East Timor governor Abilio Soares could further erode people's confidence in the country's commitment to justice, a senior Cabinet minister announced o

The only Indonesian jailed for abuses during East Timor's violence-marred independence vote has been cleared on appeal in a move that has angered rights groups and embarrassed the Jakar

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Despite attempts to allay their fears, Chinese Indonesians remain concerned about President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's commitment to fighting discrimination.

The ongoing feud between parliament and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over the leadership of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) demonstrates the enduring political power of the mi

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Long-time comrades President Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and former presidential rival Gen. (ret) Wiranto held a brief reunion on Friday.

Andi Hajramurni, Parepare – Police said on Friday they believed that local politicians masterminded the latest violence in Mamasa regency, West Sulawesi, in which three villagers were k