Despite having a smoking prevalence already among the highest in the world, Indonesia has slackened its efforts to control the tobacco industry in the face of powerful lobbying by business players.

Pandaya – "Just tobacco.

Jakarta – Indonesia, which has the world's highest prevalence of smoking, is facing an uphill attle to keep its burgeoning young population away from tobacco, an addiction that may in turn jeopardi

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Despite wreaking environmental havoc and causing more than US$16 billion in economic losses, hundreds of companies behind last year's massive peatland and forest fires

Jewel Topsfield and Amilia Rosa, Jakarta – A 53-year-old woman who tearfully begged officials not to confiscate food from her roadside stall as punishment for trading during the fasting month of Ra

Gatra Priyandita, Indonesia – Military figures have publicly warned of discreet attempts by communists to launch a revolution and reminded citizens to steer clear of communism or risk imprisonment.

Margareth S.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAU-011-2016

Dear Friends,

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Having introduced economic deregulation at a national level since September last year, the government has now shifted to removing local stumbling blocks to investment.

Prima Wirayani, Jakarta – Ministries and government agencies have been relying too much on state funds allocated to them instead of finding private sector partners to work on infrastructure project

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu has denied providing armed military training to gang members and mass organizations as part of Bali's state defense program.

Arya Dipa, Bandung – In another show of intolerance toward minority faiths in Indonesia, mass organizations have extorted churches in Bandung, West Java, in the process of attaining building permit

Jakarta – Civil society groups have slammed the police's handling of an anti-mining rally in Merigi Kelindang, Central Bengkulu, at the weekend after four local residents were shot and two police o

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The government will not back down from its plan to castrate child rapists despite the country's doctors' association refusing to conduct the procedure.

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The nation waits to see how President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo will handle the inevitable political furor over who is to take charge of the National Police.

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The government has called on regional police chiefs to prevent raids during Ramadhan to ensure a peaceful atmosphere throughout the holy month, Coordinating Political, Leg

Jakarta – A Muslim intellectual has voiced his concern over the Serang Public Order Agency's (Satpol PP) recent raid on an elderly woman's food stall that had served customers at midday during Rama

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Indonesian Military commander Gen.

Jewel Topsfield and Karuni Rompies, Jakarta – The fight to prove the innocence of cleaners and teachers accused of sodomy at a prestigious international school in Jakarta is being waged not just by

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The Mathla'ul Anwar Islamic organization has called on the government not to revoke sharia inspired bylaws that are in place in many regions across the country as it says

Jakarta – Palm oil plantation workers in North Sumatra work under alarming rates of exploitation, a report by environmental NGO Rainforest Action Network report released on Wednesday (08/06) found.

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – A leading human rights activist has cited the 2012 Law on Yogyakarta's special status as the source of agrarian conflict and injustices in Yogyakarta and has called f

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The government has only managed to collect 26.8 percent of its total tax revenue target set in the 2016 budget in the first five months of 2016.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Last week, Environment and Forestry Ministry spokesman Novrizal Tahar headed to a minimarket near his house in Kampung Utan, Ciputat, South Tangerang, to buy four larg

Jon Afrizal, Jambi – An area of forest the size of eight soccer fields is lost every hour in Jambi, Sumatra, leaving forests in the province in a critical condition, according to a conservation org

The free expression of identity is one of the new-found freedoms to have emerged since the fall of the New Order regime.

Arif Gunawan Sulistiyono, Jakarta – Indonesia's social media networks have once again shown their might, as an impromptu donation campaign raised more than Rp 80 million, or around US$6,000, in les

Liza Yosephine, Jakarta – The government is stepping up its efforts to spare the lives of 208 Indonesians abroad who are facing the death penalty, an official said on Thursday.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the detainees and prisoners in Indonesia face serious problems, in particular those related to overcrowding.

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – The Defense Ministry's plan to establish its own intelligence agency reflects its lack of willingness to coordinate with the country's existing intelligence bodies

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The government has raised Rp 496.6 trillion (US$37.35 billion) in state revenues as of May 31 with Rp 685.8 trillion in spending, pushing the state deficit to Rp 189.1 tri

Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) says there is an urgent need to pass a sexual violence bill into law as many crimes cannot be processed due to loophol

Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has dismissed the Indonesian Doctors Association's refusal to carry out chemical castration, a mooted punishment for sex offenders, an official said on

Jewel Topsfield and Karuni Rompies, Jakarta – On March 19, 2014, 18-year-old Indonesian maid Dewi Sukowati had the temerity to serve her employer a glass of water on a plastic tray instead of a sil

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Human rights group Imparsial urged lawmakers to remove the role of the Indonesian Military (TNI) from an antiterrorism bill during deliberations on Thursday, sayin

Agnes Anya, Jakarta – The regulation obliging female Muslim students in state schools to wear the headscarf has aroused tensions over religious segregation among some members of the public, includi

Ina Parlina and Margareth S.

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Jakarta and Canberra have agreed to enhance counterterrorism cooperation following a meeting in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday.

Anton Hermansyah, Jakarta – The mapping out of the political powers involved in the aborted coup of 1965 remains unclear to this day, with historians yet to reach consensus on what forces were behi

Jakarta – The Internet should be an equal world for all of its users, without any discrimination in terms of accessing content or expressing ideas, activists have said.

Hannah Gould – One of the world's largest producers of palm oil has drained and planted on areas of peatland supposed to be protected by Indonesian law, claims a new report from Greenpeace, with le

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Jakarta – Lawmakers on Wednesday slammed the government's proposals to reduce the number of civil servants, insisting there were better ways to cut spending.

Jakarta – The Communications and Information Ministry has rejected a recent call from the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association (ICMI) to block search engine giant Google and video hosting si

Fadli, Batam – In the apparent absence of transparency and close media scrutiny, the government has continued with its plan to set up Defense Ministry offices in each of the country's 34 provinces.

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and Rendi A.

Jakarta – Indonesians on Monday celebrated 115 years since the birth of the country's first president, Sukarno, best remembered as a national hero who proclaimed independence more than 70 years ago

Erika Anindita Dewi, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) is aiming to expand its cooperation with the National Police to promote a human-rights approach among police pers

Severianus Endi, Fadli, Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta/Pontianak/Batam/Jayapura – The Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry's proposals to reduce the number of civil servants has sparked a f

Pandaya, Jakarta – In March, furious Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politicians vowed to teach the Jakarta governor a lesson over his abrasive assertion to rerun as an independent

Prima Wirayani, Jakarta – The government has revised down this year's economic growth target to 5.1 percent from 5.3 percent year-on-year (yoy).