Zakki Hakim – Indonesia has lifted a yearlong moratorium on the use of peatland forests by palm oil companies, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said Wednesday, angering environmen

Ari Saputra, Jakarta – At least 50 pairs of shoes were held up then after receiving a command from the action coordinator who shouted in a shrill voice "Destroy America", the shoes glid

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono on Tuesday said that the government would first have to significantly enhance the welfare of its soldiers before his office

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – With the country preparing for elections and the military calling for a budget increase, the government has decided to accelerate the spending of 2004-09 stat

Jakarta – Activists said Wednesday that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should use her visit to Indonesia to urge the country's military to stop human rights abuses or risk losing

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – A man from the East Java town of Blitar says he will continue to sell "tickets to heaven" for Rp 4 million ($336), despite the Indonesia Council of Ulema, or M

Heru Andriyanto – Corruption suspects may avoid detention while being investigated by the Attorney General's Office if they return misappropriated funds under a controversial policy foc

Camelia Pasandaran – With legislative elections less than two months away, nothing is being done to correct shambolic final voter enrolment lists other than a frenzied game of finger po

Indra Subagja, Jakarta – The University of Indonesia (UI) will not be giving permission for a concert event titled "Tribute to Munir" at its Depok campus in West Jakarta on February 20

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The economy grew the slowest in two years in the fourth quarter of 2008 as the global economic slowdown slashed commodity prices and export demand.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – British celebrity footballer David Beckham and US President Barack Obama have taken unexpected lead roles in the run-up to Indonesia's legislative elections in

Wasti Atmodjo, Denpasar – A voting simulation held Sunday by the Denpasar General Elections Commission (KPUD) revealed a flaw that almost everyone – laymen and pundits alike – had alrea

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – The AGO has come under fire for failing to build a strong case against a former top spy in the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has set up a public examination team to verify a court verdict acquitting former top spy Muchdi Purwopran

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Up to 2,500 public minivan and bus drivers staged a strike in Bandarlampung on Monday to protest a decree on fare cuts.

In a letter sent today on the eve of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Indonesia, the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) and representatives of three dozen other

Amir Tejo – Tired of waiting for PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya to pay for the damage to their property, thousands of Lapindo mudflow victims in Sidoarjo, East Java Province, staged yet anothe

Ismira Lutfia – Local media and bloggers who transmit ideas electronically should not feel that their freedom of expression is under threat from the controversial 2008 Electronic Inform

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The National Human Rights Commission, or Komnas HAM, said on Monday that the House of Representatives would be wise to approve the request of the Indonesian A

Jakarta – The bill on halal product assurance, now being deliberated at the House of Representatives, discriminates against non-Muslims and has serious impacts for people who consume it

Election fever mounts as candidates discuss strategic alliances and running mates, but academic and Indonesia expert Max Lane says this may be an election characterized by disappointmen

Parwito, Temanggung – Thousands of tobacco farmers throughout Central Java gathered at the Temanggung regency town square on Monday February 16 to hold a massive protest against the Ind

Urgent Appeal Case - AHRC-UAC-013-2009

Dear Friends,

Jakarta – Indonesian civil servants will be ordered to buy locally made products for everything from clothes to movies under rules intended to boost demand amid the global economic cris

Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – In a rare day off from housekeeping and childcare Sunday, maids emerged from the domestic sphere to gather at the Hotel Indonesia Traffic Circle, Central Jak

Jakarta – Indonesia's economy grew 5.2 percent in the final quarter of 2008, the slowest annual pace since mid 2006, and is expected to cool further, raising the spectre of deeper inter

Wasti Atmodjo, Jakarta – A simulation exercise held in Denpasar, Bali, over the weekend showed that 44 percent of eligible voters chose to abstain, an election committee member said.

Alfian, Jakarta – As it tries to ward off the fallout from the global recession, Indonesia's economy should focus more on developing the agriculture sector.

Adianto P.

Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – In order to discover the truth behind the murder of human rights activist Munir, the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has formed a public examinatio

Arijit Ghosh and Michael Munoz – Indonesia's economy, Southeast Asia's biggest, probably expanded at the slowest pace in more than two years in the fourth quarter as exports slumped.

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – The government is intensifying efforts to bolster the domestic market, already boosted by the introduction of import restrictions.

Jakarta – An average of 2.3 million women, 30 percent of whom are teenagers, report having abortions in Indonesian each year, according to a report released by an NGO on Monday.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Female legislative candidates and activists remain pessimistic that their representation at the House of Representatives could drop drastically.

Adianto P.

Jakarta – The increasing use of contract labour is undermining the strength of national trade unions and making it difficult for workers to struggle for decent working conditions.

Ati Nurbaiti, Kuala Lumpur – Equality is necessary and possible in Muslim families, and not just so-called modern women demand such equality, women said Saturday at an international gat

Nivell Rayda – "Freddy" – who entered Jakarta's huge pirated video and later pirated DVD market more than 20 years ago – has experienced police raids several times.

Indonesia – Jaipong artists slammed president of the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Tifatul Sembiring for his statement, which they said discredited the traditional West J

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – It has been more than a decade since Suharto relinquished power, yet some political parties are still seeking political points through connections to the late

Jakarta – The Golkar Party is eyeing alternative coalitions with other key major political groups, in case the current Yudhoyono-Kalla pairing turns sour.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court overturned Friday a demand to scrap the parliamentary threshold of 2.5 percent giving a major boost to efforts to simplify the politica

Andra Wisnu, Denpasar – Opposition parties took jabs at the ruling ones for allowing last year's passage of the pornography law, ensuring the issue will become a central theme in Bali's

Concerned with the KPK's weakening performance in early 2009, journalists presented the agency with a canvas of handwritten valentines critiquing the commission's performance to mark Va

Febriamy Hutapea – The Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, on Wednesday denied allegations that it used "backdoor channels" to secure its budget for 2009.

Alfian, Jakarta – Despite their fundamental ideological differences, the secular-prone Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PK

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Hopes abound for Indonesia to further boost ties with the US under President Barack Obama, with the upcoming visit of his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ind

Yayat Supriatna, Jakarta – Indonesia's trade minister said on Saturday export volumes for non-oil and gas are set to fall 20-30 percent this year from 2008 as global trade slows, dealin

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Amid the increasing threat of mass layoffs in the province, business continued as usual Friday in the industrial areas of Rungkut, Surabaya, and in Sidoarjo, whil

Anita Barraud – Democracy in Indonesia is fragile and the economy struggling. In a nation of 240 million, half the population live on less than $2 a day.