Yohanes Sulaiman – Last week, Indonesia was again entertained by the embarrassing spectacle of a standoff between the Corruption Eradication Committee and the House of Representatives B

Tobias Basuki, Jakarta – Religious liberty is the proverbial canary in the mine," according to Doug Bandouw, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

After a long deliberation process – costing three successive parliamentary hearing sessions – the House of Representatives' Commission I defense, foreign affairs and information and the

Armando Siahaan – In the world of Marvel comics, "With great power comes great responsibility," as the oft-quoted Spider-Man line goes.

Max Lane – On September 20, the State Electricity Company Trade Union of Indonesia issued a call for support for a campaign against the privatisation of the state-owned company, and aga

Bramantyo Prijosusilo – Just as he did following the Cirebon Police mosque bombing in April, after last Sunday's suicide bombing at a Solo church, the minister for communications and in

Michael Vatikiotis – A suicide bomber attacks a church in Solo, a homemade bomb is found near another church in Ambon, more bombs are hurled at police posts in South Sulawesi and two me

Tumbang Saan, Central Kalimantan – In this village near the heart of Borneo's great, dissolving rainforest, Udatn is regarded as a man of deep spiritual knowledge.

Is Indonesia headed for another round of deadly sectarian violence?

Julia Suryakusuma, Jakarta – We all know about "four-letter words" in the English language. Considered profane they've been used for many centuries for cursing.

The House of Representatives unanimously endorsed on Tuesday a new bill on electoral administration, which politicians claim will improve the quality of elections and democracy in the c

Max Lane – On Sunday, September 18, around 100 women staged a lightning protest in Jakarta's main thoroughfare, Jalan Thamrin, to protest statements by Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo in re

Taufik Ramadhan Indrakesuma – For several months now, residents of South Jakarta have been forced to endure road closures and detours because of the Antasari flyover project that aims t

Arto Suryodipuro, Jakarta – Members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) are regrouping on Sept.

Links between the state security apparatus and militia groups, such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), have long been alleged but remain unsubstantiated as no real proof has ever eme

Max Lane – It is 13 years since the Indonesian dictator Suharto was forced to resign by a student-led mass protest movement.

Simon Roughneen, Dili – Land, corruption and poverty are all on the table as Timor-Leste gets into political mode ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for 2012, w

Klas Lundstrom – Blackouts remain a significant part of East Timor's capital, Dili, although Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has promised the country's thirteen districts electricity by th

John McBeth – When criminal court judges are fearful of dishing out tough punishment or, worse, allow a certain empathy for the accused to colour their judgment, it is important to look

It happens so frequently that expectation does not live up to reality.

Elaine Pearson – What do US Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Patrick Leahy, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have in common?

Elisabeth Oktofani – The government must quickly set up a long-awaited body to oversee political and economic development in the restive province of Papua if it is to stem a rising tide

What new excuse will Bogor's controversial mayor Diani Budiarto come up with next to prevent the GKI Yasmin church from opening, one wonders?

Yanto Soegiarto – The summit conference of International Lawyers for West Papua held earlier this month in Oxford, England, should not be regarded by Indonesia as merely a focus group d

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Nazaruddin terrorized his former political allies and proteges while on the lam with taunts that they were bandits just like him.

Veby Mega Indah – When I ask Indonesian bureaucrats about the latest proclamations from some environmental group, I often get the same question: "Why are you journalists so close to the

Aris Ananta – As Indonesia grows richer and its citizens acquire increasing mobility, domestic migration between the country's five major islands and 30 smaller island clusters, which f

David Webster – What does a mining company need to do to get a top score for "corporate social responsibility"?

Vidhyandika D.

Wider autonomy granted to Papua in 2001 and a new deal to accelerate development in the resource-rich region in 2006 raised fresh hopes for its people to realize their long-standing que

Yohanes Sulaiman – Last week, House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie barged into the headlines, displacing Muhammad Nazaruddin's allegations of corruption within the Democratic P

John McBeth – A recent public opinion survey showing a drop in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's approval rating from 56.7 per cent to 47.2 per cent over the past six months is the c

Zely Ariane – It was not just for the sake of democracy that the Indonesian people overthrew Suharto's New Order dictatorship in May 1998, but also for justice and prosperity.

Pandaya – It seems that national politics gets more muddled every day. The media is filled with depressing news, from corruption, malfunctioning bureaucracy to communal violence.

Michael Vatikiotis, Singapore – These days it's so easy to look back at the past decade and marvel at Indonesia's transition to democracy.

Bruce Gale – Visiting Jakarta in the early 1990s, when health officials in Asia were just beginning to wake up to the challenge posed by a global HIV/Aids epidemic, I had occasion to di

Robert Finlayson – Your monkey has been following reports that soon some foreign motor car manufacturers might be making very cheap, small cars here.

Donny Syofyan, Padang – Democratic Party executives are supposed to question themselves over the party's politicians getting entangled in corruption.

Lisa Siregar – Dewi Triana found herself sitting cross-legged in a small room listening to sermons denouncing Indonesia and exhorting her to help make the country an Islamic state.

What do Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, and Richard Marles, the parliamentary secretary for Pacific island affairs in the Gillard government, have in common?

Stephanie Riady – This past May the national education minister proudly announced a staggering 99.2 percent passing rate for students taking the national exam.

Sara Schonhardt, Jakarta – A long-running tax saga is keeping this summer's Hollywood blockbusters out of Indonesian cinemas and drawing new negative attention to the country's often dy

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Matt Crook, Dili – It was a humid night and I wandered home in the dark, cursing the government of Timor-Leste for yet another power cut in Dili, the country's tiny capital.

Among the many reforms Indonesia instituted after 1998, the resolution to downsize a bloated bureaucracy and make government more efficient stands out as one of the most significant.

It has been three months since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono put his signature on a landmark immigration bill.

Nadya Khalife and Aruna Kashyap – The Indonesian government has long praised its migrant workers as "economic heroes" for their immense contributions to the economy in their home countr

Brad Nelson & Yohanes Sulaiman – The recent arrest and sentencing of Abu Bakar Bashir, co-founder and spiritual leader of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, to 15 years in prison

"Polling is merely an instrument for gauging public opinion.