Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Camelia Pasandaran – Following a series of bruising defeats in local elections, Golkar leaders have exhorted local party officials to work harder to win t

Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction at the House of Representatives said Sunday that the party would support the "aspiration fund" for legislators to develop t

Jakarta – The Golkar Party said on Sunday it would continue to fight for higher parliamentary threshold of 5 percent to reduce the number of political parties at the House of Representa

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The ruling coalition's controversial joint secretariat has backed a divisive proposal to grant each House of Representatives legislator a Rp 15 billion ($1.6

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The joint administration of the pro-government parties has agreed on the disbursement of the so-called "aspiration fund" worth Rp 15 billion (US$1.63 mi

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Despite objections from the new minister of finance to a proposal that would give each House of Representatives lawmaker a Rp 15 billion ($1.6 million) develo

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – Victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster have been claimed to be the targets of the political elite running in the local elections.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The National Democrats social organization founded by media magnate and former Golkar Party heavyweight Surya Paloh is looking at becoming a full-fledged poli

Armando Siahaan & Anita Rachman – Lawmakers on Monday were divided over whether the legislative threshold should be increased from the current 2.5 percent to 5 percent.

Kinanti Pinta Karana – Is the ice beginning to thaw between former President Megawati Sukarnoputri and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono?

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – Pundits say elections are a prerequisite for democracy, but for others elections are just a business – or a chance to steal power.

Armando Siahaan – Sri Mulyani Indrawati left Indonesia to take up her new post at the World Bank on Wednesday leaving behind words of caution for the country's ability to continue finan

Former Indonesian finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati believes democratic reforms in Indonesia are being "hijacked" by powerful reactionary forces, a report said on Wednesday.

Armando Siahaan – If you go by her most recent statements, Sri Mulyani Indrawati clearly fingered the Golkar Party and its chairman, businessman Aburizal Bakrie, as the primary drivers

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anita Rachman, Bandung – Two months of intense, often-bitter campaigning ended on Sunday as the ruling Democratic Party finally chose as its new leader a

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Bandung – The congress of the Democratic Party proposed Saturday the establishment of a body within the party that will allow its chief patron,

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Tension heightened Saturday in Bandung as the three candidates contesting the Democratic Party's top post launched an all-out campaign

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The Democratic Party congress began on Friday as tensions grew between rival can didates for the chairmanship, with both Anas Urbaningrum and Andi Mallarangen

Anita Rachman – Members of the Democrat-led ruling coalition are broaching the need for a stronger, more solid grouping that would last beyond 2014, based on the Malaysian National Fron

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Five candidates in Surabaya's upcoming mayoral election participated in the first of a planned series of debates on Tuesday, the first campaign day leading up the

Armando Siahaan, Irvan Tisnabudi & Anita Rachman – New Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo today begins the tall task of filling in the big shoes left by Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Ismira Lutfia – Crumbling support among coalition parties to invoke the legislative right to express an opinion on the PT Bank Century bailout has opposit

Faisal Maliki Baskoro, Irvan Tisnabudi & Armando Siahaan – Lawmakers on Wednesday turned up the pressure on the tax office, encouraging companies to take legal action it they felt t

Armando Siahaan – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's choices for finance minister and his deputy reflected a good combination of the best political options available, analysts said on

Armando Siahaan, Faisal Maliki Baskoro & Irvan Tisnabudi – In a move seen as trying to please political and economic circles, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday night n

Irvan Tisnabudi – With Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati's term close to an end, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday denied that her move to become managing director of t

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Indonesia's departing Finance Minister has taken a sharp swipe at the forces she believes made her position untenable, describing them as rapacious and "j

Armando Siahaan – Appointing Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie to manage the daily operation of the ruling coalition will do little to stop the party's legislators from continuing to atta

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – Pro-government parties have voiced concern over the appointment of Golkar Party chairman Aburizal "Ical" Bakrie as chairman of President Susilo Bambang

Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta – Fifty percent of prospective voters in the upcoming regional elections in North Sumatra will cast their votes based on which candidate has given them the most

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Just five days after Golkar Party chief Aburizal Bakrie was appointed managing chairman of the ruling coalition's new joint secretariat, a few member parties

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – A legislator from the Democratic Party says his party has had enough with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP) for

Armando Siahaan – Senior members of both the Democratic Party and Golkar Party have consistently denied that their relationship in the ruling coalition would affect the selection of a n

Armando Siahaan – The surprising new structure of the Democratic Party-led coalition, of which Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie is the managing chairman of the just-established joi

Amir Tejo – What happens when two wives of an incumbent district head vie to replace their outgoing husband? Hostility comes out into the open.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The Golkar Party has wasted no time in cozying up to the president in the wake of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati's exit from the nation's political st

Jakarta – The chiefs of the six highest state institutions disagree with Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi's proposal to reinstate a clause in the Regional Autonomy Law that would demand cand

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The race to chair President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party has become more heated as negative campaigning enters the picture and candidates hurl ac

The leaders of the National Mandate Party have rejected a bid by the party's East Java branch to nominate actress and singer Julia "Jupe" Perez as a candidate for district office, leadi

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – A survey institute has predicted only 60 percent of Medan's almost 2 million eligible voters will turn out for the mayoral elections on May 12.

Camelia Pasandaran – The government is bent on demanding a spotless moral track record for anyone aspiring to run for top regional posts, setting the bar even higher for candidates.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Arguing that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is in deep need of fresh blood, the party's advisory board chairman Taufik Kiemas on Monday s

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said Friday the government plans to exclude individuals with no experience in governance from running for regional elections in a mov

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – Newly re-elected Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) leader Megawati Soekarnoputri is said to be tireless in keeping the party from aligning

Camelia Pasandaran – In what is sure to be a highly controversial move, the Ministry of Home Affairs is moving to increase eligibility criteria for political candidates in a move clearl

Cameron Bates – Celebrity Julia Perez has lashed out what she considers a government attempt to prevent her from contesting the elections for the head of Pacitan, President Susilo Bamba

Armando Siahaan – Clear signs of an unhealthy democracy continue to crop up in regional elections, an analyst said on Thursday.

Indra Harsaputra and Agnes S.

Hans David Tampobolon, Denpasar – Megawati Soekarnoputri officially won the re-election as the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chief Thursday, but fell short of party pr

Armando Siahaan & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Megawati Sukarnoputri's defiant statement that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle will remain in the opposition rather than joi