Book Review: Ben Bland, Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the struggle to remake Indonesia (Penguin, Lowy Institute, 2020)

Adrian Wail Akhlas, Jakarta – The government will probably fail to meet its tax collection target, because economic activity slowed more than expected amid the coronavirus pandemic, Fin

Riska Rahman, Jakarta – Indonesia's manufacturing activity has shown signs of improvement for the first time since February, but risks remain as new COVID-19 clusters emerge in factorie

Rizki Fachriansyah, Jakarta – The Jakarta administration is set to issue a policy that will require COVID-19 patients in the capital to be quarantined at coronavirus referral centers, i

Jakarta – With 15 of 18 districts in Yogyakarta's Gunungkidul regency hit by drought, authorities estimate that more than 120,000 residents will experience a shortage of water.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has sacked members who have refused to support the nomination of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's son

Rizki Fachriansyah, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has given his condolences for the deaths of frontline medical professionals working to address the country's COVID-19 crisis

Norman Harsono and Yunindita Prasidya, Jakarta – Indonesian natural resource exporters are waiting to see what Bank Indonesia's (BI) recently announced plan to require the companies to

Health authorities have placed the Darussalam Blokagung Banyuwangi Islamic Boarding School in East Java under quarantine after nearly 100 students test positive for COVID-19.

Jakarta – The Jakarta administration is hoping to recruit 1,800 medical workers by next week to address the COVID-19 crisis in the capital.

Imam Hamdi, Jakarta – The Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD) Commission B Speaker, Abdul Aziz, argues that Governor Anies Baswedan should already "pull the emergency brake" policy by st

Antara, Jakarta – Indonesia's Task Force for COVID-19 Response has revealed that the country has recorded a 32.9-percent increase in weekly coronavirus cases, with five provinces accoun

Christopher Knaus – The former Timor-Leste president Jose Ramos-Horta has urged Australia to show wisdom, honesty and compassion by stopping the unfair prosecution of Witness K and Bern

Ihsanuddin, Jakarta – Covid-19 Task Force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito has conceded that the positivity rate in Indonesia has continued to rise over time.

Budi Sutrisno, Jakarta – For the first time in Indonesia, a court has sentenced an illegal miner to multiple crimes in an attempt to create a deterrent effect to curb environmental and

Jakarta – Not every netizen who openly supports government policy is a 'buzzer' – social media propagandists.

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Adrian Wail Akhlas, Jakarta – The rupiah exchange rate fell significantly on Wednesday as investors worry about the independence of Bank Indonesia (BI) following a proposed bill that wo

Ardila Syakriah and Sausan Atika, Jakarta – COVID-19 patients are crowding hospitals as bone-tired medical workers continue to bear the brunt of rising case figures, with at least 183 o

Mardika Parama, Jakarta – The Transportation Ministry and the Public Works and Housing Ministry, in charge of infrastructure projects, have spent less than 50 percent of their respectiv

Ghina Ghaliya, Jakarta – House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, has finished the deliberations for a revision of the Constitutional Court Law, despite ci

Yunindita Prasidya, Jakarta – The Finance Ministry's State Assets Directorate General (DJKN) has said it will accelerate the disbursement of Rp 20.5 trillion (US$1.4 billion) in state c

Yuddy Cahya Budiman and Tommy Ardiansyah, Tangerang, Indonesia – For the residents along Indonesia's Cisadane River, the coronavirus has brought not just deadly disease, but also a delu

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The North Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) has evacuated a female Sumatran tiger from Tapus Sipagimbal village in Aek Bilah district, South

Adrian Wail Akhlas, Jakarta – Indonesia's economy faces a "near-certain recession" in the third quarter this year, economists say, as a robust economic recovery will depend on whether t

Jakarta – The Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry has said female civil servants are prohibited from practicing polyandry – taking more than one husband – after minister Tja

Norman Harsono, Jakarta – State-owned electricity company PLN has called on the Environment and Forestry Ministry to revise emission caps for fossil fuel-fired power plants, arguing the

Ghina Ghaliya, Jakarta – House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani claimed on Tuesday that lawmakers maintained transparency when deliberating bills, amid criticism questioning the

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Nina Loasana, Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia has called for a thorough investigation into the recent death of 21-year-old George Karel Rumbino in the custody of the Sorong Ci

Jakarta – Despite recent reports of overwhelmed COVID-19 hospitals in several regions, the Health Ministry has claimed that the nationwide capacity was still sufficient to accommodate p

Jakarta – The South Tangerang administration announced that a new COVID-19 cluster has emerged after a number of staff members and teachers in one school in the city tested positive for

Jakarta – North Jayapura Community Health Center (Puskesmas) in Jayapura, Papua, has reopened its doors to provide medical services for the public despite being understaffed since a num

Adrian Wail Akhlas, Jakarta – Indonesia recorded the lowest inflation in two decades in August as consumer prices fell due to weakening purchasing power, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) anno

Harry Suhartono and Fathiya Dahrul – Indonesia's second-largest lender by assets says the nation's companies are set to demand more loans, as they scoop up assets made cheaper by the pa

Jakarta – For the umpteenth time since the two institutions broke up as part of sweeping reforms introduced to protect hard-won democracy 20 years ago, Indonesian Military (TNI) and Nat

Wilmar Salim, Bandung – Indonesia saw 5.32 percent economic contraction year-on-year (yoy) during the second quarter due to the impact of COVID-19.

Jakarta (Reuters) – Indonesia's farming ministry has ordered breeders to cull millions of chickens and reduce the number of hatching eggs to control a slump in poultry prices, the minis

Jakarta has set course to continue "transitioning" away from its lockdown measures despite alarming caseload spikes in recent weeks.

With domestic tourism slowly taking off and domestic flights are once again in demand, policy makers say they have reason to worry that some airlines are not entirely compliant with hea

Tri Indah Oktavianti, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court (MK) has said that deputy ministers cannot hold concurrent roles at state-owned and private firms, arguing that they should focu

Jakarta – A female junior high school student in West Tanjung Jabung, Jambi, was allegedly locked up and raped multiple times by her own tutor over the course of 20 days.

Jakarta – The acting director general for health services at the Health Ministry, Abdul Kadir, says that Indonesia no longer needs large scale social restrictions (PSBB), despite the fa

Yudha Baskoro, Banten – The Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) is developing a detection kit for coronavirus it claims has the accuracy level of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – The number of coronavirus cases continued to surge in Indonesia on Tuesday after the country saw the highest single-month rise in August, with Jakarta remaini

Jakarta – Deskiel Haning of the Rote Ndao Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) said the five villages were Holulai, Nentenaen, Meoain, Lifuleo and Pukuafu.

Indonesia aims to begin producing its locally developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate by the middle of 2021, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said during a limited Cabinet meeting at the Bog

Private television stations RCTI and iNews TV have recently come under fire for submitting a petition to the Constitutional Court calling for a judicial review of the Broadcasting Law t

The House of Representatives passed a revision of the Constitutional Court Law on Tuesday amid criticism from activists and experts over a potential conflict of interest that is feared

Depok municipality in West Java will impose a curfew to restrict people's movements in the city after health authorities confirmed a significant surge in the number of COVID-19 cases re