Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Homosexuals and homosexuality are natural and created by God, thus permissible within Islam, a discussion concluded here Thursday.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned employers across the country Wednesday against resorting to layoffs whenever disagreement arose between them and their

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Usman Hamid and family members of victims of violence

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Thirteen marines went on trial at the Surabaya tribunal Wednesday on murder charges for their alleged involvement in the shooting to death of four villagers

Canberra – Australia and Indonesia will strengthen their defence relationship on issues such as terrorism, regional security and piracy, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said Thursday.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The President should issue a new decree slashing corporate tax if the House of Representatives refuses to pass the income tax bill, the chairman of the Indonesia

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – While the global economic slowdown is not expected to greatly affect Asian economies, Indonesia's biggest challenge lays in subduing its inflation rate to pr

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Families of victims of human rights violations on Wednesday received assurance from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono they would finally find justice.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – Failure to provide clear definitions in a new law banning online pornography will hamper its enforcement, the government is being warned.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Ulema have agreed to promote civil nationalism within and outside their Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) to help protect all citizens from different religio

Ken Yunita, Jakarta – Traffic conditions in Jakarta appear set to worsen today, Tuesday March 26, with five protest actions enlivening different parts of the capital.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The World Bank has criticized the government's continuing refusal to cut the onerous fuel subsidy despite evidence the allocation has only benefited wealthy

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors demanded on Wednesday a local court outlaw the Jemaah Islamiah Islamic militant group, which has been blamed for a string of deadly bombings in recent y

Jakarta – Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, has been ranked at the top of a survey of Asian countries for believing shopping is an alternative recreational family activity.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is set to pass a bill today (Tuesday) that would jail users and providers of pornographic websites, despite fears the legislation

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has insisted on summoning retired Army generals for questioning in connection with the 1989 killings in t

ID Nugroho and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Surabaya/Malang – Protesters from nine villages affected by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, blocked the Porong highway and railway tracks for ov

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The situation in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara, was returning to normal Monday in the wake of a clash between Timor Leste refugees and locals Sunday that left on

Jonathan Pearlman – Soaring food prices are threatening to destabilise countries in the region and have prompted the Federal Government to consider changes to its aid priorities.

Rohman Taufiq, Sidoarjo – Thousands of Lapindo victims again blocked the road access to Jalan Raya Porong at five points this morning (24/3).

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Political parties in East Java have recruited members from a dominant local Muslim organization in an apparent strategy to win the province's first-ever gubernato

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – Ratna, a resident of a slum in Cilincing, North Jakarta, has struggled for years to cope with chronic water shortages.

Sydney – Hardline Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has likened tourists to "worms, snakes, maggots" and called for signs to be placed in Muslim areas warning them to dress modestly, a

Jakarta – The national reform movement and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) may appear to be two sides of the same coin.

Andrea Tejokusumo, Jakarta – There is no better moment to address the importance of sanitation than this year's World Water Day, which takes on the issue in conjunction with the UN's 20

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Political bargaining was involved in the selection of five Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) members by the House of Representatives, observers said Friday.

Nurvita Indarini, Jakarta – Seventy percent of the earth's surface is covered with water. Not all of it however is fit for consumption, because only around 2.5 percent is fresh water.

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Environmental and law enforcement activists called on the government Tuesday to put an end to industrial pollution in rivers running through Surabaya, the capital

Novia D.

Ramadhian Fadillah, Jakarta – A number of protest actions will enliven Jakarta today, from with a solidarity action for Tibet, a protest by factory workers and a student demonstration.

Tom McCawley, Jakarta – Indonesia, one of Asia's largest fuel exporters, now faces dire power shortages, threatening to hold back an economic recovery which at 6.3 % reached its fastest

Gagah Wijoseno, Jakarta – The European Union Parliament has issued a declaration calling on the Indonesian government to fully investigate the murder of human rights activist Munir.

Jakarta – A group of non-governmental organizations has asked Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono to revise a statement telling retired military generals not to attend questioning session

The bird flu situation is "critical" in Indonesia, where the virus could mutate and cause a human pandemic, the UN food agency warned yesterday.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Despite a compulsory basic education program launched by the government in 1994, enrollment figures remain disappointing in many regions.

Ken Yunita, Jakarta – Three protest actions will enliven the House of Representatives (DPR) in Senayan, Jakarta, on Monday March 18.

Neles Tebay, Abepura, Papua – The Indigenous Papuans have begun calling for referendum to decide the future political status of Papua province. The call was raised by the Papuan youth.

Novia D.

[The following statement was issued by Kontras, the Commission for the Disappeared and the Victims of Violence, together with eight other human rights NGOs, on 18 March 2008.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Experts, activists and teachers said they would consider filing a request for the Constitutional Court to revoke its recent decision ordering the inclusion of

Jakarta – Indonesia's attorney general has removed two of his top officials in the wake of the arrest of a top prosecutor for allegedly accepting bribes, an official said Tuesday.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited Indonesia in late February.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Former president Megawati Sukarnoputri on Saturday said a PDI-P win in the upcoming gubernatorial election in West Java would pave the way for the party to w

Lilian Budianto and Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is still split over simultaneous legislative and presidential elections, one of the main issues in ongoing d

When we amended the 1945 Constitution in 2000-2002, we decided power must no longer be concentrated in the hands of a single person as it was when Soeharto ruled the country unopposed f

Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid says he intends to run in next year's presidential elections.

Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta – As many as five protest actions will enliven Jakarta for the start of the new week.

Erwinda Maulia, Jakarta – Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari has accused the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States of conspiracy in the collection of bird flu virus sam

Jakarta – About 500 Indonesian Muslims took to the streets of the capital to demand the government bring down food prices after media reports of cases of starvation.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Indonesia has said the film Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders plans to release about the Koran could derail interfaith dialog and harm efforts toward global st