Indonesia's Government has demanded all instant message apps remove same-sex emojis or face a ban in the Muslim-majority country.

Indonesia's instant messaging providers must remove gay emoji and stickers from their apps, the government has ordered, prompting a human rights outcry.

Jakarta – The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in a letter sent to the Presi

Bogor – The mayor of Bogor, West Java, Bima Arya Sugiarto, has been severely criticized by a number of civil society organizations after he made a speech at the opening of an office of Hizbut Tahri

Dave Majumdar – Indonesia hopes to sign a deal with Russia to purchase ten advanced Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E fighters next month.

Erika Anindita, Jakarta – Representatives of 20 mass organizations signed on Friday an agreement with the Defense Ministry to support a state defense program that will involve Indonesian civilians.

Tassia Sipahutar, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's plan to overhaul the government's spending system will depend on his ministers and whether or not they have a clear and strong will to d

The alcohol industry has called on the House of Representatives to draft a bill that would become the legal basis to regulate the distribution of alcoholic beverages in society.

Grace D.

Jakarta – Students in Kediri in East Java have been banned from celebrating Valentine's Day in any form as the romantic celebration of love is considered by some in the city to be antithetical to I

Jakarta – International human rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch urged President Joko Widodo's administration to lift a ban on the Ahmadiyah religious community placed by local authorities in

Kate Lamb, Jakarta – As Abu Tholut sips on his guava juice, his wispy silver beard brushing against the glass, he mulls the state of global jihad and his not insubstantial role in it.

The Democratic Party (PD) has joined Gerindra in opposition to amending the Corruption Eradication (KPK) Law, which has been proposed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and supp

Haeril Halim and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leaders have dropped a plan to dislodge investigator Novel Baswedan following an order from President Joko "Jokowi" W

New York – Local Indonesian authorities have banned the activities of the Ahmadiyah religious community in the town of Subang in West Java province, Human Rights Watch said today.

Nani Afrida, Jakarta – Last year saw more journalists become victims of violence and various other forms of abuse and disruption when doing their jobs, reports the Alliance of Independent Journalis

Indra Budiari, Safrin La Batu and Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Police have once again bowed to hardliners at the expense of minority groups and civil society by shutting down an LGBT group's close

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – Yogyakarta is the repository of Javanese culture, a famed center for intellectuals and students.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Most of the cities planning to join a campaign to tax plastic bags have withdrawn from the program, saying that they were not ready to implement it.

Jakarta – Activists and lawyers suspected that there is a plan to oust one of the country's most prominent anti-graft investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission and reassign him to on

Jakarta – All ten parties at the House of Representatives' Legislative Body agreed to form a working committee for the proposed revisions to the laws governing the powers of the Corruption Eradicat

Jakarta – Around 20,000 contract government workers staged a rally in Central Jakarta's main streets demanding full-time civil servant status on Wednesday morning (10/02).

Callistasia Anggun Wijaya, Jakarta – American documentary film director Joshua Oppenheimer is set once again to focus global awareness on Indonesia's past human rights abuses as his critically accl

Jakarta – The association of pesticide producers, CropLife Indonesia, expects a further increase in pesticide demand in Indonesia thanks to the government's intensified program of improving farming

Khoirul Amin, Jakarta – Investors will be allowed to kick off the construction of their factories and other investment facilities without having to wait for the issuance of environmental assessment

Reject overbroad proposed restrictions on citizenship and speech

Jakarta – An Ahmadi group in Srimenanti, Bangka, has reportedly been discriminated against by the local administration, including being evicted.

Erika Anindita, Jakarta – A coalition of anticorruption civil society groups has urged all political party factions in the House of Representatives to retract their support for the amendment of Law

Farida Susanty and Tassia Sipahutar, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's plan to speed up the development of toll-roads in the country may face further delays as the government is running ou

Tassia Sipahutar, Jakarta – State revenues are estimated to fall between Rp 67 trillion (US$4.91 billion) and Rp 100 trillion this year, as declining global oil prices gnaw away at the state's coff

Nani Afrida, Jakarta – Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Rizal Ramli has conveyed a plan to improve the national defense industry by encouraging countries in Southeast Asia to obtain minority

Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – An Indonesian meatball seller who claimed he was lured to join Islamic State in Syria by the promise of a large payment will serve three years behind bars.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives should reject proposed amendments to Law No.

Jakarta – Former commissioner of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Bambang Widjojanto has criticized the government for its lack of awareness and understanding of the articles of the KPK

Haeril Halim and Indra Harsaputra, Jakarta/Surabaya – Following the recent controversy over LGBT groups on university campuses, an ulema group has paved the way for banning all activities that advo

Khoirul Amin, Jakarta – The local electronics industry is expected to remain stable amid layoff concerns surrounding Japanese electronics giants operating in the country, an official says.

Jakarta – The Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPI) has urged the government not to relax requirements for Chinese investors who want to use their own unskilled workers for projects in

Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSPI) chairperson Said Iqbal is again talking up the issue of mass dismissals (PHK), saying most recently that the wave of layoffs has also hit the pharmaceuti

Callistasia Anggun Wijaya, Jakarta – The American documentary film director Joshua Oppenheimer is set to make his way up the red carpet at the 2016 Academy Awards later this month, voicing the impo

Jakarta – As many as 23 workers, a student and two Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) officials have been named suspects in relation to an October 30, 2015 action that ended with police attacking w

Nivell Rayda – There is something about the mysterious death of 27-year-old Wayan Mirna Salihin that captures people's imagination so much that when the Jakarta Police announced that they finally h

Jakarta – Indonesian courts have been very lenient toward corruption defendants last year, sentencing them to an average of just 26 months in prison, the country's most prominent antigraft watchdog

Tama Salim and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The traditionally inclusive National Awakening Party (PKB), the political party of the country's largest moderate Muslim organization, is debating whether it w

Raras Cahyafitri, Jakarta – The government is revising the regulation on the assessment of smelter development, connected to leniency in export permits, as part of its efforts to support mining fir

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Women and children of the Ahmadiyah religious sect in a district in Bangka regency, Bangka Belitung province, were evacuated on Friday evening to save them from the wrath o

Jakarta – A senior member of the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Hidayat Nur Wahid, has insisted that the opposition Red-and-White Coalition (KMP) continues to remain in existence, de

Erika Anindita, Jakarta – One faction of the internally riven United Development Party conveyed its intention to reach an islah or reconciliation in a national meeting on Friday.

Ahmad Masaul Khoiri, Jakarta – House of Representatives (DPR) Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon from Prabowo Subianto's Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) has had frequent discussions with DPR collea

Jakarta – Thousands of Indonesian labor union members flooded into Jakarta for a massive rally on Saturday, urging the government to stop layoffs at multinational corporations.

Fedina S.