Ayomi Amindoni – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has urged local governments to accelerate budget spending to boost both local and national economic growth.

Anton Hermansyah – Activists have urged the government to cancel the tax amnesty program and focus on law enforcement instead, citing that such a program had already been implemented in 1984 and fa

Transfers from the Oil Fund allowed the 2015 budget in Timor-Leste (East Timor) to post a surplus of US$471.8 million, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance issued Wednesday in Dili

Ayomi Amindoni – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has instructed his Cabinet members carry out budget reform in the ministries and institutions they lead, highlighting that budgets must follow progra

Ayomi Amindoni – The anticipated shortfall in tax collection this year has prompted the government to rethink its revenue target and make budget efficiency the key point of discussion at a plenary

Farida Susanty, Jakarta – Public Works and Public Housing Ministry still faces problems, ranging from land to regulatory issues, in its flagship one million houses program, hampering its housing de

Jakarta – The Central Information Commission (KIP) has called on the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to apply transparency and provide access to its financial reports as the organization receives fu

Tama Salim, Jakarta – House of Representatives Speaker Ade Komarudin says legislators will be able to pass the tax amnesty bill shortly after they reconvene in early April, paving the way for the u

Hipolitus Yolisandry Ringgi Wangge & Djali Gafur – Far from bringing them closer together, Papua's integration into Indonesia in 1969 was a controversial and deeply flawed process that has driv

Lisa: New Zealand has committed peacekeepers to Timor Leste for 13 years and lost five soldiers there.

Jakarta – The government is scrambling for a quick plan to plug the gap in state finances after legislators from the House of Representatives stopped deliberations on a draft bill related to a tax

Raras Cahyafitri, Jakarta – Observers say that an internal Cabinet rift involving two ministers over the fate of an important gas block has stained the government's credibility and cast doubt on it

Tassia Sipahutar, Jakarta – The government is seeking to maintain infrastructure funding at current levels while trimming other sectors' funding amid a cash-strapped budget in a measure lauded by a

Khoirul Amin and Tassia Sipahutar, Jakarta – In a world where everything moves so fast and economic rivalry becomes fiercer among nations, Indonesia should no longer take anything for granted, or i

Tassia Sipahutar, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's plan to overhaul the government's spending system will depend on his ministers and whether or not they have a clear and strong will to d

Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo appointed former Corruption Eradication Commission cadre Johan Budi Sapto Pribowo as his spokesman on Tuesday, citing Johan's vast experience as a vocal rep

Ayomi Amindoni, Business – Indonesia narrowed its current account deficit (CAD) to US$17.5 billion (Rp 243.25 trillion) in 2015, a 35 percent improvement on the 2014 deficit, which stood at $27 bil

While tax revenues reached an all-time record of Rp 1.06 quadrillion (US$76.1 billion) in 2015, they fell 18 percent or Rp 234 trillion short of the target of Rp 1.29 quadrillion set by the governm

Venidora Oliveira – The Deputy Human Rights and Justice Ombudsman (PDHJ) Jesuina Gomes said in 2015 cases amounting to good governance offences registered higher than other types of violations.

Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) was the worst-performing government institution last year, according to a report issued by the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry.

Tassia Sipahutar, Jakarta – The state budget deficit in 2015 was far wider than had been estimated, the latest Finance Ministry data show, after numerous state income components fell short of their

Jakarta – Historian and social activist Hilmar Farid has been sworn in as the new culture director general at the Culture and Education Ministry on Thursday.

Business – While failing to meet the target set out in the state budget, the government in 2015 collected more taxes than ever before.

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has proposed regular discussions with civil society groups in an effort to achieve wider public participation in reaching targets s

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The Central Information Commission (KIP) and President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo have called on all public institutions, local administration and state-owned companies

Tassia Sipahutar, Nusa Dua, Bali – The planned implementation of a tax amnesty may not yield the desired results as such schemes usually have many downsides, experts have warned.

Timor Leste's government will have to think long and hard about diversifying its economy, Prime Minister John Key says.

Timor Leste is running out of money due to the decline of its oil industry and government overspending.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Airforce has purchased a $55 million helicopter set to arrive in the country next year to support President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's busy schedule.

Paulina Quintao – National Member of Parliament MP Francisco da Costa said the public's money is going to waste because the government does not consider the monitoring results provided by MPs follo

Jakarta – The government will cut certain projects from the revised 2015 budget (APBN-P) as a result of slow disbursement, Vice President Jusuf Kalla has announced.

Samantha Hawley in Jakarta, staff – One year after he was inaugurated as Indonesia's president, Joko Widodo has disappointed the hopeful and angered the pessimists.

Arientha Primanita, Jakarta – In the first year of his administration, furniture businessman cum politician Joko "Jokowi" Widodo still lacks the strong leadership necessary for realizing the progra

Jakarta – Today's first anniversary of the Joko "Jokowi" Widodo administration brought a common theme as supporters and detractors alike both lamented a year of "lost opportunities" and internal di

Jakarta – Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said that the ministry would still achieve its year-end targets despite lower-than-expected spending that barely reached 50 per

Tassia Sipahutar – Regions with low budget absorption stand to see their regional funds "frozen" by the central government.

Raras Cahyafitri and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo made a rare rebuke on Wednesday after a rift between two members of his Cabinet came under public scrutiny and created a c

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Kanupriya Kapoor, Jakarta – The biggest, and possibly riskiest, move in Indonesian President Joko Widodo's cabinet reshuffle this week was the appointment of Luhut Pandjaitan as coordinating minist

Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – Indonesia's president announced a Cabinet reshuffle Wednesday in a move aimed at reviving the sputtering economy and stabilizing the rupiah.

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Indonesian President Joko Widodo has revamped his ministry, elevating econocrats and an investment banker to key posts while consolidating the power of his political patron, t

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the political party of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, has given him a deadline to reshuffle his Cabinet by saying

Jakarta – Home minister and PDI-P politician Tjahjo Kumolo proposed on Tuesday increasing regional heads' salaries to Rp 50 million (US$3,713), or five times higher than the current figure.

Raras Cahyafitri, Banggai, Central Sulawesi – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has said that numerous big projects in the country are being left idle and unfinished for years because there are "big f

Andreyka Natalegawa, Jakarta – President Joko Widodo must put careful consideration and thought into planning prospective changes in the composition of his Working Cabinet, observers note as calls

Rieka Rahadiana, Jakarta – The flip flops have to stop.

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The Presidential Advisory Board (Wantimpres) told President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Monday that the President needed to replace politically-wired ministers in the next cabine

Jakarta – Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo has disclosed there is disharmony among the ministers in President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's Working Cabinet.