Bandung – About 150 guests from throughout the nation attended the launch of the Indonesian branch of a controversial international polygamy club during an upscale get together here on

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – In a bid to help prevent misappropriation in the use of the school operational aids (BOS) fund, the Surabaya municipal administration is to draft a bylaw on

Jakarta – Religious figures are calling on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to revamp the Religious Affairs Ministry and restore it to its original function of encouraging harmony and

Achmad Faisal, Surabaya – Thousands of workers from the PT Maspion Group in Surabaya, Sidoarjo and Gresik, had their wage cut over the weekend after the East Java High Court won the cas

Alfian, Jakarta – The government estimates that the balance of trade in oil and fuels will remain negative this year with imports outweighing exports.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must replace attorney general Hendarman Supandji as he has failed to cleanse his office or raise the quality of prosecutor

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang – As well as displacing thousands of residents, last month's earthquake that devastated much of West Sumatra is likely to render many workers in the provinc

Farouk Arnaz – There was a major reshuffle in the ranks of the National Police over the weekend as some officers reached the mandatory retirement age of 55 and others were promoted, an

Amir Tejo, Surabaya – While the president and vice president-elect were busy putting possible cabinet ministers through the fit and proper test over the weekend, some 20 sex workers and

Fidelis E Satriastanti – As attempts to contain an oil spill from a well operated by Thai and Australian companies proved futile, a conservationist warned on Sunday that the disaster wo

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The new government has to improve the policy framework for rice production as many farmers remain poor despite helping to produce a rice surplus, a ministry

Palu – At least 2,443 of 20,000 workers in Palu, Central Sulawesi, are still not registered with state-owned worker insurance firm PT Jamsostek, according to data from the city's manpow

Adianto P.

Jakarta – The removal of a Health Law clause on tobacco may have occurred within the House of Representative's internal process, the House speaker said on Friday.

Jakarta – Thirty percent of Indonesia's children are underweight and have a lower-than-average height for their age, mostly because of early childhood malnutrition, an expert says.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The Supreme Court Chief Justice Harifin A Tumpa believes most judges under his institution's supervision are not acting independently when handing out verdict

Khairul Saleh and Apriadi Gunawan, Palembang, Medan – The Supreme Audit Agency's (BPK) South Sumatra office has revealed graft cases in the province have caused an annual state loss of

Jakarta – Gorontalo mayoralty administration has obliged its Muslim civil servants to read the Koran every Friday.

Jakarta – An alliance providing legal advocacy on religion freedom is to hold a national symposium in December to discuss common social and human rights problems in Central and Eastern

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) will not ask for any posts in the next Cabinet, but will accept any position that might be offered, chief pa

Stephen Fitzpatrick in Merak and Patrick Walters – The Sri Lankan asylum seekers holed up on board a boat in Indonesia intend to end their two-day-old hunger strike and are considering

Tom Allard, Merak (Indonesia) – They are promised a bright future awaits, that the gods will take care of them, but the 31 Tamil children among the 255 asylum seekers moored in Merak ar

Jakarta – Religious leaders and NGOs are urging the government to pick up the pace in its effort to end poverty in Indonesia.

Ika Krismantari, Jakarta – As confidence in the economy continues to rise, investors in Indonesia remain bullish about the stock market – already one of the world's best performing bour

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday refused to be swayed by hundreds of Sri Lankan asylum seekers who declared a hunger strike after their boat was stopped in Indonesia en ro

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – A large area of mangrove forests in Lampung, which acts as a buffer for coastal residents from tidal waves, has been depleted rapidly over the past yea

Erwida Maulia and Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Around 90,000 families are still homeless in Padang, West Sumatra, two weeks after the 7.9-magnitude quake hit the province as the UN pledges t

[My Friend the Fanatic: Travels with a Radical Islamist. By Sadanand Dhume. Reviewed by Ioannis Gatsiounis.]

On a scale of one to 10, what would be a fair score for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla as they end their five-year term on Monday?

Muhamad Al Azhari & Dian Ariffahmi – A new Trade Ministry regulation issued on Friday will allow alcoholic-beverage makers to supply their products directly to retailers without hav

Janeman Latul & Venisa Tjahjono – Mining industry representatives said on Friday they were confused by a recently issued regulation restricting the work contractors were allowed to

Camelia Pasandaran – The smiles, firm handshakes and backslaps that marked Friday's farewell party for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's outgoing cabinet betrayed the fact that despi

Kinanti Pinta Karana – A political contract signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and five other parties on Thursday night amounts to a conspiracy, one politic

Jakarta – The House of Representatives' two smallest parties – the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) – have pledged to keep the govern

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Febriamy Hutapea – Despite calls from some former lawmakers to stop the debate over the controversial deletion of a section identifying tobacco as an addi

Pandaya, Jakarta – Outgoing legislators may well be remembered for their crude sense of humor, but their last legacy, losing a contentious provision on tobacco from the health bill they

Jakarta – While President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised a more prominent role for women in his next Cabinet, one of his aides says it is still too early for women to hold more s

Nurfika Osman – Women activists on Friday criticized Democratic Party's deputy chairman Achmad Mubarok for suggesting that women were not ready to take up strategic ministries in the ne

Anita Rachman – Four districts and a municipality in West Java have submitted reports estimating the total damage caused by the Sept. 30 West Sumatra earthquake at Rp 6 trillion.

Fidelis E.

Sunanda Creagh, Jakarta – Indonesia's tough new environment law, passed last month and aimed at any firm with an effect on the environment, may take as long as two years to implement, a

Dicky Christanto and Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – The radical ideology that fueled the recent bombings in Indonesia has a firm rooting in the country's universities and sprouts largely f

Aditya Suharmoko and Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – Economic ministers held their last meeting Wednesday and left plenty of homework for their successors, with unresolved problems ranging

Purbalingga – Half of all workers in Purbalingga regency in Central Java are not registered with the state social security company, PT Jamsostek, an executive said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia has indefinitely suspended the traffic of domestic helpers to Kuwait due to concern over widespread abuse and exploitation by their employers, the labour ministry sa

Jakarta – The much-awaited presidential regulation on the takeover of military businesses drew criticism due to the lack of detailed information, raising concerns on whether the transfe

Jakarta – Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri now faces a bigger task than merely to determine her party's political stance, since her deci

Adianto P.

Jakarta – A series of attacks on followers of the Ahmadiyah religious sect has once again drawn criticism, with an expert in religion and democracy urging the government to exercise its

Jakarta – Some 200 Indonesian workers gathered peacefully in front of the worker's quarters of the YP Plantation Holdings in Rompin, Malaysia, on Wednesday to protest against attempts b