One hundred and twenty-five Islamic boarding schools or pesantren from Java and Madura island issued a fatwa banning transvestites from cutting and/or styling Muslim women's hair unless

Surabaya – A preacher and former chairman of the Reform Star Party (PBR), a splinter of the United Development Party (PPP), Zainuddin MZ, said politics was "no place for clerics".

Ulma Haryanto – Hard-line groups that convinced or intimidated Bekasi authorities into ordering the destruction of an imposing statue of three women in a private residential complex hav

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anita Rachman, Bandung – Two months of intense, often-bitter campaigning ended on Sunday as the ruling Democratic Party finally chose as its new leader a

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Tension heightened Saturday in Bandung as the three candidates contesting the Democratic Party's top post launched an all-out campaign

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Bandung – The congress of the Democratic Party proposed Saturday the establishment of a body within the party that will allow its chief patron,

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The Democratic Party congress began on Friday as tensions grew between rival can didates for the chairmanship, with both Anas Urbaningrum and Andi Mallarangen

Anita Rachman – Members of the Democrat-led ruling coalition are broaching the need for a stronger, more solid grouping that would last beyond 2014, based on the Malaysian National Fron

Stephen Coates – A dozen years after the dawning of Indonesia's Reformasi movement, there are fears the country is on a slippery slope backwards.

Amir Tejo, Mojokerto (East Java) – At least 19 people were injured, 22 vehicles destroyed and a meeting room at the district legislature burned in organized rioting here on Friday that

Hen Hen, Jakarta – A number of social and student organisations held a protest action in front of the House of Representatives (DPR) building on May 21 to commemorated 12 years of refor

Yogyakarta – Activists from the United People's Movement (GRB) in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta held a protest action by placing flowers on a grave at the zero kilometer point nea

A mob set cars alight and damaged the Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) building in Mojokerto, East Java on Friday.

Jakarta – The United States on Friday clarified that a recent Indonesian media report of an impending restoration of a cooperation between the US armed forces and Indonesian Army Specia

Ulma Haryanto – The National Commission on Human Rights on Friday blasted the Bogor Police and administration for failing to protect the rights of the GKI Yasmin congregation to practic

Let us unite to overthrow the pro-imperialist government of SBY-Boediono and the rotten political elite. Replace them with a United Government of the Poor!

Pingit Aria, Jakarta – The likelihood that the police will commit human rights on suspected terrorists will increase if their detention period is extended to more than seven days.

Jakarta – After 12 years of reform following the fall of Soeharto in 1998, Indonesia still faces many barriers in its efforts to uphold human rights, observers say.

B. Herry-Priyono, Jakarta – Unlike most accounts these days, this note is not a paean to Sri Mulyani Indrawati; neither is it a swan song for her departure.

Armando Siahaan, Irvan Tisnabudi & Anita Rachman – New Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo today begins the tall task of filling in the big shoes left by Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Five candidates in Surabaya's upcoming mayoral election participated in the first of a planned series of debates on Tuesday, the first campaign day leading up the

Nivell Rayda – Muhammad Amari, who was recently appointed deputy attorney general for special crimes, was criticized on Wednesday by antigraft groups after he promised to follow in the

Apriadi Gunawan and Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) declared on Wednesday that it would reject all agreements made during the Governors'

Anita Rachman – Seeking a media outlet free of the chains of corporate ownership, a group of journalists is planning to develop a Web site that will carry stories conventional news orga

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Some 200 employees of cement company PT Semen Kupang are angry they have still not been paid their pensions and allowances after being made redundant by the co

Jakarta – After 12 years of reform following the fall of authoritarian ruler Soeharto in 1998, Indonesia still faces many barriers in its efforts toward better human rights enforcement.

Armando Siahaan, Faisal Maliki Baskoro & Irvan Tisnabudi – In a move seen as trying to please political and economic circles, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday night n

Armando Siahaan – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's choices for finance minister and his deputy reflected a good combination of the best political options available, analysts said on

Faisal Maliki Baskoro, Irvan Tisnabudi & Armando Siahaan – Lawmakers on Wednesday turned up the pressure on the tax office, encouraging companies to take legal action it they felt t

Nurfika Osman – The number of divorces registered by the country's Islamic courts has been rising sharply in recent years, despite a costly ongoing government program that provides coun

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Ismira Lutfia – Crumbling support among coalition parties to invoke the legislative right to express an opinion on the PT Bank Century bailout has opposit

In early May violence once again struck in Papua.

Ismira Lutfia & Putri Prameshwari – Despite the optimism aired by Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar that the president would sign a long-awaited agreement on In

The Attorney General's Office on Tuesday rotated five deputies, in a move seen as another bid to sweep controversial officials under the rug.

Nurfika Osman & Ismira Lutfia – As Indonesia called for calm, Muslim scholars expressed outrage over a page on the social networking site Facebook that encourages people to draw ima

Adianto P.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Members of the government's ruling coalition have agreed to disagree on the touchy issue of invoking the House of Representatives' right to express a further

Armando Siahaan – A meeting between the House of Representatives' team monitoring the Bank Century bailout investigation and the National Police ended in farce on Wednesday, after angry

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Indonesia's departing Finance Minister has taken a sharp swipe at the forces she believes made her position untenable, describing them as rapacious and "j

Irvan Tisnabudi – With Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati's term close to an end, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday denied that her move to become managing director of t

Ismira Lutfia – In his latest call for more stringent Internet controls, Communication and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring has unearthed more statistics on teenage sex that are s

Christen Broecker – "Democracy in Indonesia is irreversible and a daily fact of life," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the World Movement for Democracy's annual assembly, in Jak

Jakarta – A Javanese tradition that holds that domestic workers must be considered as part of the families that employ them is a major hurdle for passage of a House domestic worker prot

Tolerance is the social glue that keeps us from degenerating into conflict.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Indonesian authorities are red-faced after admitting their primary terrorism fugitive, a 32-year-old believed to have replaced slain mastermind Dulmatin a

Dessy Sagita, Armando Siahaan & Ismira Lutfia – With four lawmakers convicted on Monday for their part in the Rp 24 billion ($2.6 million) Bank Indonesia bribery scandal, all eyes a

Putri Prameshwari – A child protection group is shocked by the results of a survey in which 94 percent of the teenagers polled said they have engaged in oral sex.

Putri Prameshwari – A shocking survey that found more than 9 out of 10 teenagers in major cities engaged in sexual activity has been disowned by the agency that supposedly carried out t

Ardian Wibisono, Muhamad Al Azhari& Dion Bisara – The departure of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati for Washington and allegations made against top tax officials in the House

Jakarta – The 2004 Social Security Law remains dead in the water pending the passage of the Social Insurance Management Agency (BPJS) bill, and the issuance of supportive regulations on