Jakartans had high hopes when they picked Fauzi Bowo to be the city's governor three years ago.

Could President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's skin be any thinner? Once again the president has lashed out after perceiving an incident as a personal transgression against him.

Christian Donny Putranto – Just moments before what was to be a historic flight to the Netherlands on Tuesday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono surprised quite a few people – his ento

Stanley A Weiss, Jakarta – One of the mesmerizing dances performed here is Jaipongan, a style that mixes Indonesian martial arts with village ritual music.

Bramantyo Prijosusilo – In the wake of the threats and wrath coming from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) against the gay film festival in Jakarta, a Democratic Party politician questi

"If you want to borrow some too, I have some [money] here," Gayus Tambunan, a defendant in a tax corruption mega-case told the judge during a hearing last week at South Jakarta District

Duncan Graham – Traffic jams are expected to vanish throughout Indonesia once a new edict by a leading agency takes effect.

Zely Ariane – We undertake united front work because it is a principal tactic with which to bring broader layers of the poor majority into the movement challenging the power of the ruli

Max Lane – In the Indonesia News Digest 31, August 16-23 there are more than 70 news items covering a wide range of issues relating to struggles for social justice and full democracy in

Neles Tebay, Abepura, Papua – The central government under the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is committed to continue establishing constructive dialogue with Papua.

Hendra Teja, Jakarta – Indonesia in the reform era has made significant strides in its efforts to eradicate corruption.

The right to worship freely is clearly enshrined in our Constitution. But to our nation's chagrin, this guarantee may only exist in theory, and not yet in practice.

Teddy Lesmana – Poverty remains a serious problem in Indonesia, despite the country's improved economic performance and robust economic growth in recent years.

Damien Kingsbury – As the new consolation prize, Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd's first job will be to try to implement the government's "East Timor solution" for asylum seekers.

Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – We are not in competition with each other.

Taufik Darusman – It is only a matter of weeks or even days before the Corruption Eradication Commission ushers in a new chairman.

"The greatest threat facing the US is the tyranny of the majority," penned nineteenth-century French writer Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America.

Putri Prameshwari& Arientha Primanita – FPI flexing its muscle again. The Brown Shirts in Nazi Germany did that too – and no one stood up to them – and look what happened.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar, Bali – Six years ago, academic Greg Barton understood why Indonesian moderates were reluctant to clash with the country's radical Islamist minority.

Robert M Cutler, Montreal – Jakarta's principal stock market index has more than doubled since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won the July 2009 presidential elections with a margin

Pandaya, Jakarta – The generous presidential pardon and remissions granted to graft convicts has strengthened Indonesia's status as a haven for corruption and eroded public trust in Pre

Clifford McCoy – The arrest last week of radical Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was the highlight of a government crackdown on Islamic militants following the discovery in February

Pandaya – The House of Representatives needs to make a breakthrough to improve its poor legislative performance as indicted by its almost certain failure to reach its target of endorsin

Jason Tedjasukmana – Rising tensions in Papua have Indonesian authorities worried about possible international intervention in the nation's easternmost province, reports the head of a g

Chris Chaplin and Carole Reckinger – West Papuans and Papuans are not only fighting for independence but also to live free of poverty.

Muh Taufiqurrohman – The police's elite Densus 88 counterterrorism unit arrested five alleged terrorists in West Java this past week, and while Abu Bakar Bashir grabbed the headlines, t

The Indonesian government has banned a Dutch funding agency, for allegedly supporting Papuan separatists and running a commercial enterprise.

Al Makin, Yogyakarta – Islam, like Buddhism, teaches us to endure suffering, through which we can learn some lessons including in patience, disquietude and self-control.

The New York Times has called Indonesia a "golden economic child" and said that the nation once known for inefficiency, corruption and instability had earned a new reputation.

Pandaya – The police's failure again on Tuesday to present the court with crucial evidence it had previously claimed to possess – in the form of wiretapped conversations between Corrupt

The release of the International Crisis Group's latest report again highlights the important – yet often neglected – issues surrounding our easternmost province.

A leaked video clip from Indonesian controlled West Papua should be as unsettling for Indonesia as the Wikileaks 2007 video showing a helicopter strike in Baghdad was for the United Sta

Norimitsu Onishi, Jakarta – It is the political relationship that has long mystified Indonesia's chattering classes, one whose ups and downs regularly send tremors throughout the capita

Despite remarkable strides in the last 11 years after the economic, social and political chaos of the Asian financial crisis, Indonesia remains to some extent caught in the coils of Suh

In a widely anticipated move, the US government eventually lifted the 13-year-old ban on Indonesian Army's Special Forces' (Kopassus) participation in any joint Indonesia-US military ac

Debnath Guharoy, Jakarta – The army is in the barracks. The press is free. The constitution is alive.

Andrea Booth – Australia's failure to consult Indonesia about an asylum processing centre in East Timor is likely to exacerbate tensions between our two northern neighbours.

Johannes Nugroho – The government is moving steadily toward a sizeable reduction in fuel subsidies, arguing that budgetary discipline mandates it.

Explosive gifts of three Molotov cocktails were thrown at 3 a.m. Tuesday at the office of Tempo magazine in Central Jakarta, immediately leading to condemnation all around.

Damien Kingsbury – A few years ago, a Burmese couple on the run from that country's brutal military regime sought asylum in Australia.

Damien Kingsbury – The announcement by the Gillard government that it intends to use East Timor as a processing stop-over for asylum seekers is either a very clever political ploy or a

Sara Schonhardt, Semarang, Java – A pitched argument is unfolding between convicted terrorists and high-level criminals detained in a prison in Central Java, where police have been raid

James Van Zorge – Is Indonesia's democracy and long tradition of secularism under threat from an onslaught of Islamic fundamentalism?

Pandaya, Jakarta – The police's threat to sue Tempo magazine over its piggy bank cover is both amusing and intimidating at the same time, although it's possible that they are only sound

Flower garlands and a downpour of congratulations will mark the 64th anniversary of the National Police today, but the celebration has already turned sour following an investigative rep

Most urban swells seem prone to it – gang violence, mob culture and a general abandonment of the law and order.

Bonnie Malkin, Sydney – Anthony Corbyn, who holds dual British and Australian nationality, was attempting to sail from Australia to the Philippines as part of a bid to circumnavigate th

Answer Styannes – Today's UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture offers us a chance to pause and consider the stilted nature of our human rights progress in recent years.

Police have declared Nazriel "Ariel" Ilham, the front man of the popular Peterpan band, a suspect in a pornography case, and his two alleged sex partners in sex videos will very likely

Sara Schonhardt, Jakarta – Shootings, protests and violent attacks are on the rise in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province, home to a low-level separatist struggle and the operations