Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia is on the upswing, with strong export and economic growth combining to drive the Jakarta Stock Exchange Index up by more than 55%, accounting for the wo

Muhammad Qodari, Jakarta – It has been more than eight years since the country began the transition to democracy, but the Indonesian political elite's understanding of democracy is stil

Few might have ever thought when this nation – through its representatives in the People's Consultative Assembly – agreed in 2001 to establish the Constitutional Court, that the new jud

The rage over a cleric's decision to take a second wife continues, particularly among women, but what it means for the women's movement here is an open question.

John McBeth, Jakarta – The United States may have finally lifted the arms embargo imposed on Indonesia in the wake of the 1991 East Timor massacre, but it could be decades before Jakart

Dr. Vedi Hadiz, Associate Professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore, is writing his fifth book Local Power in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

A display of individual commitment to peace by millions of Acehnese is what we are likely to see in the near future, following Monday's elections and the announcement of early unofficia

The timing could not have been worse.

One bad article in the newly passed Civil Registration Law spoils the whole legislation.

Ben Terrall and John M.

Djamester A. Simarmata, Jakarta – Most of Indonesia's fiscal problems are inherited from previous governments, especially from the Soeharto era.

Gary LaMoshi, Bali – US President George W Bush has come and gone for his quickie summit with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, leaving his hosts to pick up the bill and th

Gary LaMoshi, Bali – US President George W Bush's scheduled 10-hour trip to Indonesia on Monday has entailed vast security preparations and logistical inconveniences and has evoked mass

Charmain Mohamed – Despite all its recent progress, Indonesia remains far from a fully functioning democracy. Religious intolerance is on the rise. Military reform is stalled.

Amy Goodman – The troops marched slowly, their US-made M-16s raised. It was Nov. 12, 1991, a day that would forever be seared into my memory, and into history.

Let's hope that the head of the Hutt River Province, His Royal Highness Prince Leonard, does not have many ardent followers in Indonesia.

The idea of heroes is far from the minds of most people these days, with so many non-heroic deeds going on around them.

The outlook is bright on this side of the world for convicted murderers, particularly those who plot to assassinate the law enforcers who punished them for other crimes.

Damien Kingsbury – On Monday, Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, and Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirayuda, will sign a so-far secret treaty intended to bring the t

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – John Howard and Alexander Downer should trumpet a new security treaty with Indonesia, but their attempts to play down elements unpalatable to some Australians – s

The Regional Investment Forum here last week presented several business-friendly provincial governors and regional officials, who fully realize that conducive policies and bureaucratic

Hamish McDonald – With the near Pacific going pear-shaped on just about every front for Canberra, let us take a look at the crisis that kicked off the year, the Indonesian province of P

James Dunn – For Prime Minister John Howard, the recent Pacific Forum meeting must have been a rather uncomfortable experience.

Andreas Harsono, Jakarta – The restoration by the US of full military ties with Indonesia, in the common interest of combating global terrorism, has been used by Jakarta's generals to f

Mario de Queiroz, Lisbon – After centuries of Portuguese colonialism and more than two decades of Indonesian military occupation, instability and violence continue to plague East Timor,

The processes of justice in Indonesia's court system continue to baffle anyone looking for consistency or punishments fitting the crime.

Jakarta – The early release from jail of the son of former Indonesian President Suharto has thrown the spotlight on what critics say is a justice system still capable of being manipulat

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – As Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono enters his third year in office, the world's most populous Muslim country is widely viewed simultaneously as one

Matthew B Arnold – With America's adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan faltering and United Nations peace-keeping missions stretched thin and struggling from Haiti to the Ivory Coast and

Tim Johnston – East Timor used to be the poster child for international intervention, but a report published this week by a group of United Nations investigators illustrates just how sh

The East Timorese Government was handed a heaven-sent opportunity this week to begin the long overdue process of healing the rifts so vividly exposed by last May's wave of violence.

Reports on violence in East Timor have tended, in the past, to be followed by inaction.

Shawn W Crispin – With Thailand under military-appointed rule, the Philippines fresh off a stint of martial law and an unresolved vote-rigging scandal and the rest of Southeast Asia und

Damien Kingsbury – The relationship between Australia and Indonesia is the most testing of Australia's foreign relations, and one which has consistently been mishandled.

If the latest opinion poll by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) is any indication, then the combined votes of all the Islamist parties in Indonesia will plunge to 9 percent in the 2

Another life was eliminated on Monday by those who have an interest in the violence in Central Sulawesi prevailing.

Goenawan Mohamad, Ubud, Bali – Pramoedya Ananta Toer is no longer with us, but such is his stature that his absence constitutes an assignment.

There is a serious problem in Indonesia that needs to be addressed: People tend to be hypocritical and distrustful of everything.

The Indonesian government recently issued a ministerial decree to implement a citizenship law passed in July.

Dili – East Timor violence could return to East Timor ahead of general elections next year, a conflict-prevention group warned Tuesday, recommending that the country's president and for

Choking once again on what has become a yearly haze, Indonesia's neighbors could be forgiven for thinking that Jakarta could care less about other countries in the region.

East Timor will need to tackle security sector reform to get back on track after deadly unrest earlier this year, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report.

Ahmad Pathoni, Jakarta – Giving jobs to some 600 military rebels whose dismissal triggered deadly violence in East Timor this year is crucial to resolving a crisis there, the Internatio

Endy M.

B. Herry-Priyono, Jakarta – The recent exchange of words between former president B. J.

Four Indonesians have been arrested in the United States charged with conspiring to ship arms illegally to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas and customers in this country.

Debate about human rights in this country seems to be too often all sound and fury that signifies nothing.

Helen Hill – If accurate, recent revelations by John Martinkus about East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao are disturbing but not altogether unexpected.

Dita Indah Sari, Jakarta – For more then 60 years they have lived overseas after the land where they spilled their blood denied them an entry.

David O'Brien, Jakarta – The issue of continued slow recovery of the Indonesian economy and in particular the perception of Indonesia as a suitable investment destination has again hit