Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Women activists have criticized the state for intervening in people's personal affairs using religion as a justification, which they say has led to disc

Sari P.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – As the projector flickered, people in interfaith relationships told their stories.

Almost all religions forbid homosexuality as can be seen in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible or the people of the Prophet Luth in the Koran.

Mujiburrahman, Paris – Over the past two decades, debates and controversies have abounded among Indonesian Muslims on the interpretations of Islamic theological and legal doctrines on i

Tiarma Siboro and M.

Muhammad Uzair and Suherdjoko, Palembang/Semarang – In observance of Jilbab (Muslim headscarf) International Solidarity Day on Saturday, hundreds of Indonesian Muslim women staged separ

Jakarta – The United States yesterday announced US$468 million (S$802 million) in aid to Indonesia, earmarking part of it for improving Islamic schools, which have been blamed for encou

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – After weeks of controversy, the government-sanctioned Film Censorship Institute (LSF) pulled local movie Buruan Cium Gue (Kiss me quick) from cinemas.

Olivier Roy, Project Syndicate – Many believe that religious revival and political radicalism among Muslims who reside in the West reflects the traditions and conflicts of the Middle Ea

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri has ordered a review of the teaching of religion in Indonesian schools, saying the current methods encouraged rising radicalism

Jakarta – Over 1,000 supporters of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) staged a rally at the Proclamation Monument in Central Jakarta on Sunday, condemning the United States' occupation

Tangerang – A group of ulema have asked Tangerang Mayor Wahidin Halim to eliminate prostitution in the municipality, citing fears that sex workers could spread HIV/AIDS.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Noted Muslim scholars played down on Tuesday fears of rising radicalism among Indonesian Muslims, saying the phenomenon would not last long and would only affect

Jakarta – Indonesian Muslims reacted angrily to the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by Israel, with rallies held in several major cities on Java island on Friday in a

Jakarta – The leaders of Indonesia's Islamic parties have reluctantly accepted the defeat of political Islam by Malaysia's dominant secular political grouping in the recent elections, b

Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – A new Islamic fad is sweeping across Indonesia.

Devi Asmarani, Makassar – For them to graduate, primary school students in Bulukumba regency, about a three-hour drive from here, must take proficiency tests in Quran reading.

Jakarta – Thousands of white-clad, religious conservatives rallied and prayed in cities across Indonesia on Sunday, demanding the imposition of traditional Islamic law in the world's mo

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Non-governmental organization activists criticized local administrations across the country, including in Jakarta, for handing out unofficial "severance pac

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister Said Agil Al Munawar is under fire after the government admitted errors and cancelled bookings for 30,000 Muslims who had reg

Jakarta – Indonesia made progress in promoting respect for religious freedom, but in a number of cases the government failed to punish extremists responsible for murder and other crimes

Jakarta – Indonesia's peak Islamic body has put a religious ban on terrorism and suicide bombings.

Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – Idris Kemal, a senior security guard at the famous 1001 Nightclub in the Kota district of West Jakarta, popularly known as Chinatown, has been having restless e

Jakarta – Leaders of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah Islamic organizations, Hasyim Muzadi and Ahmad Syafii Maarif, in the meeting on Wednesday in Bali will tell US President Georg

Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – Moderate Islamic leaders say they are prepared to give US President George W.

Bandung – Charismatic Indonesian Muslim preacher Abdullah Gymnastiar, popularly known as Aa Gym, said on Thursday he would not meet with US President George W Bush when the latter comes

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Terrorism will top the agenda during US President George W. Bush's visit to Indonesia.

Jakarta – The jailed head of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) urged Jakarta officials on Tuesday to shut down bars, discos and nightclubs during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan or fa

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Blontank Poer, Bandung – Around 200 hard-line clerics urged the government to include Islamic sharia law in the revised Criminal Code (KUHP) as they cut short their

Jakarta – A group of Indonesian Muslims, handpicked by the US Embassy here for their moderate views, told an expert panel from Washington in plain terms last week why America is unloved

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – About 150 members of the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) raided a number of nightspots in Cilincing area, Muara Baru and North Jakarta, early Sunday mo

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – First it was militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.

Commentary by Sayidiman Suryohadiprojo, Jakarta – It seems that Americans are wondering why more and more Muslims in Indonesia are getting annoyed with the US, including "moderate" Musl

Richard S Ehrlich, Jakarta – Washington has linked al-Qaeda to the bomb attacks on Bali and the JW Marriott Hotel, but Muslim extremists' demands for a strict Islamic society are not po

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian government yesterday called on Muslims in the country to stop talking about conspiracy theories against the religion and start uniting in the fig

Jakarta – A hardline Indonesian Muslim group agreed yesterday to retain suspected terror group chief Abu Bakar Bashir as its leader for another five years.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The much-publicised three-day meeting of the Indonesian Mujahideen Council (MMI) was meant to show that the radical Islamic movement is very much alive despite

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – A survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre last December revealed some startling facts about Muslim attitudes in Indonesia towards terrorism.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, the country's two largest Muslim organizations, led a chorus of condemnation against the bomb attack on JW Marr

Muklis Ali and Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesia's president denounced on Friday what she called the "blind fanaticism" of Muslim militants accused of the Bali bombings, describing it as

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The central message of a recent seminar here on Islamic extremism was clear and pointed: that moderate Muslims in Indonesia should stand up against radicalism.

Phar Kim Beng, Hong Kong – As the international spotlight focuses its glare upon the Bali bombing trial in Jakarta and renewed separatist violence in Aceh, it is all too easy to assume

Dozens of supporters of a hardline Indonesian Muslim cleric snatched him from prosecutors and spirited him away shortly before he was due to be taken to jail, reports said.

Jakarta – An Indonesian Muslim militant turned himself in to authorities on Monday after supporters had spirited him out of police custody, a prosecutor said.

Ed Aspinall – Immediately after the bombings in Bali on 12 October, there was much speculation in the foreign, especially Australian, press, that this was a watershed event for Indonesi

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – At a glance, Vila Ilhami is a typical housing estate, one of the dozens developed on the outskirts of Jakarta in the past decade to cater to the ever growing nu

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – With Muslims in Indonesia becoming increasingly devout in recent decades, an exclusively Islamic market has now evolved, offering strictly halal products.

Australia's Islamic neighbour Indonesia has fiercely opposed the US-led attack on Iraq calling on the UN to hold an emergency session.

Jakarta – A charismatic Muslim cleric in Indonesia has adopted as his foster daughter a singer whose dancing has stirred controversy in the country.