Fitri Bintang Timur, Singapore – In his speech to welcome the New Year, Lhokseumawe Mayor Suaidi Yahya announced his plan to enact a regional ordinance (qanun) that will prohibit women

Pitan Daslani – In present-day Indonesia, market monopolies are strictly forbidden.

Peter Yeo – I was standing outside a Timorese refugee camp on the day Carlos Caceres pulled me aside with a frightening message – "The militias know who I am and where they can find me.

Since 2007, when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched the new deal for Papua, the government has initiated numerous measures to improve the welfare of people in the natural resou

Cillian Nolan – The UN peacekeeping mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) is now in the final stages of its long-planned withdrawal.

Pitan Daslani – The past week has seen an extraordinary escalation in Indonesia's political temperature leading up to the 2014 presidential election.

Nathanael G.

Tom Clarke – Various solidarity gatherings will be held around the world this weekend to mark the 51st anniversary of the first raising of West Papuan "morning star" flag – an act that

Pitan Daslani – Shortly after retired military generals were reported to be preparing for a "Star Wars" in the 2014 presidential election, former chief of State Intelligence Agency (BIN

Ati Nurbaiti, Baucau/Ermera/Dili – The UN mission in Timor Leste is closing down next month and at least 1,000 local staffers are seeking other means of income.

John McBeth – When I picked up a newspaper the other morning and read that Golkar was considering former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as a running mate for its presidential ca

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The occupational social security programs will certainly raise further problems and worsen the labor situation if they are implemented under the current em

In July, the national human rights body issued its report after four years of investigations – that the witch hunt and widespread abuse and killings in the 1960s entailed a gross violat

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – The Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili was full of people on Nov. 1. In preparation for Nov.

Mark Fenn, Singapore – This has been a big year for Timor Leste, with one of the world's smallest and most impoverished countries passing a series of important milestones.

Samsul Maarif, Yogyakarta – Indonesia is a country where religious education is taught to school students probably in the most extensive way in the world.

Foreign direct investment in Indonesia continued to grow in the third quarter, rising more than 22 percent, year-on-year, to Rp 56.6 trillion ($5.9 billion).

Debnath Guharoy, Roy Morgan – That is no rhetorical question. In Indonesia, it is a very real prospect.

The Jakarta Corruption Court's conviction of suspended House of Representatives' lawmaker Wa Ode Nurhayati on Thursday has sent yet another unfortunate message that whistle-blowers who

Ron Jenkins, New York – For almost half a century, Indonesia has avoided public discussions of the mass murders committed in 1965 and 1966.

Hamish McDonald – Just over a month ago, popular Darwin identity Vikki Riley was riding her bike on one of her regular visits to asylum seekers at the Airport Lodge, a motel turned into

B. Herry-Priyono, Jakarta – The biggest prize in Jakarta politics has been captured by the charm of sheer ordinariness.

Whatever criticism, including this editorial, is directed toward the National Police, it cannot harm the credibility of the country's central law enforcement agency.

Farah Wardani – I love movies about villains.

Paul Cleary – For most of its history, East Timor has been justified in blaming foreign powers for its woes.

Michael Bachelard – Despite a highly professional anti-terrorism police unit, Indonesia is still home to some dangerous nurseries of radicalism.

Faiza Mardzoeki – Last month I visited the Monumen Pancasila Sakti at Lubang Buaya, Jakarta, for the first time.

The excellent new ABC Television Four Corners documentary Taxing Times in Timor highlights critical issues for Timor-Leste, and will open they eyes of Australians and others.

Gary LaMoshi, Bali – On October 12, 2002, a ragtag gang of radicals set off a series of bombs here that left 202 people dead, mostly foreign tourists.

Rendi A.

Hamish McDonald – There comes a point in the curve of political authority for a limited-term leader where it turns inexorably downwards and he or she becomes more and more of a lame duc

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – Amelia Yani, the daughter of one of the generals slain between Sept. 30 and Oct.

As soon as he takes office as the Jakarta governor on Oct.

Stanley A. Weiss, Jakarta – Five years ago, one of the most respected soldiers in US history died too soon.

Yohanes Sulaiman – Based on quick-count results, Joko Widodo, the mayor of Solo, seems to have defeated incumbent Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo with what could be a significant margin in

Endy Bayuni, Jakarta – Here is a new film that should stir more controversy in Indonesia than the trashy Innocence of Muslims, one that every concerned Indonesian must watch: The Act of

AE Priyono and Teresa Birks, Jakarta – The politicization of religion in the Jakarta gubernatorial election isn't without precedent.

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – An American-made film insulting Islam is expected to attract more protests at home and abroad.

Phil Lynch – It should be a matter of great concern to all Australians that Defence Minister Stephen Smith, says he has "no concerns" about the human rights implications of Australia's

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Jakarta – "It's Jokowi, stupid, not Prabowo!" one friend replied, paraphrasing Bill Clinton's famous slogan, to a colleague who had argued that it was the Prabowo f

Kornelius Purba, Jakarta – How can we believe in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ability to realize his promises on big issues when he intentionally broke the pledges he expressed

Sue Ingram – On 8 August 2012 the Fifth Constitutional Government of Timor-Leste, formed following Parliamentary elections on 7 July and led by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, was sworn i

Hundreds of Indonesians are on the brink of being driven permanently from their homes by fellow citizens, sharing the fate of thousands before them in other sectarian conflicts.

Richard Di Natale – Severe abuses of human and democratic rights continue in West Papua as the indigenous population struggles for the right to decide their own future as a people.

Asvi Warman Adam, Jakarta – The recent publication of "The 1965-1966 Indonesian Killings Revisited" seminar results in Singapore in 2009, entitled The Contours of Mass Violence in Indon

Tobias Basuki, Jakarta – The country's top officials have finally paid attention to the brutal attack on the Shia community in Sampang, East Java, which not only claimed two lives and d

Calvin Sidjaya, Jakarta – Early last month, the Indonesian government held its first ever congress of Indonesian diaspora in Los Angeles.

Pitan Daslani – The biggest difficulty in Indonesia today is finding capable democratic leaders with statesman qualities.

Pitan Daslani – A powerful wave of aspiration for a total overhaul of the presidential election system has begun to take shape over the past month following appeals by President Susilo

The death toll from traffic accidents involving holiday revelers traveling to and from their hometowns for Idul Fitri had reached a staggering 574 as of Tuesday, with the police predict