Andreas Harsono – When the human rights lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy returned home from work on July 17, his 10-year-old son, Mario, begged for ice cream. Warinussy took off his tie, packed his three children and their cousin into the car, and they headed to downtown Manokwari in Indonesia's West Papua province.

Jakarta – DPR Speaker Puan Maharani participated in a parliamentary dialogue with countries with Melanesian clumps that are members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) organization. In this dialogue, Puan alluded to the development of Papua which is directly adjacent to Pacific countries.

Mrs Lamberti Faan, a Papuan human rights defender and internally displaced woman from the Maybrat Regency, Papua Barat Daya Province, and her relatives have been subjected to a series of intimidations following her testimony at the 56th Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Pes Yanengga, Jayapura – The All-Papua Student Executive Council (BEM Se-Tanah Papua) Alliance has urged the Papua Regional Police Chief (Kapolda) and the Manokwari Municipal Police (Polresta) to immediately reveal the perpetrator of the shooting of the senior advocate and human rights activist Yan Christian Warinussy.

Yerica Lai, Jakarta – State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir has tapped Democratic Party politician Andi Arief, a close aide of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, as a new commissioner of the state-owned electricity company PLN.

Jakarta – Indonesia will provide longer tax exemptions and other fiscal and non-fiscal benefits to investors in its special economic zones (SEZs), a senior government official has confirmed.

Iman Rahman Cahyadi, Jakarta – A series of earthquakes struck several areas in Indonesia on Wednesday, July 24. The first tremor, a magnitude 4.1 quake, hit Saparua in Maluku Province at 1:32 a.m. local time, with its epicenter located 35 kilometers northwest of Saparua at a depth of 10 kilometers.

Jakarta – Authorities have admitted that the government's cloud seeding operations have failed to reduce intense rains in the country's planned future capital of Nusantara over the past weeks and have hampered the construction of a VVIP airport in the East Kalimantan city to-be.

Jakarta – A joint search and rescue team is still scrambling to look for a cargo ship carrying equipment to build communication towers that has been missing since last week during its sail in Papua.

Tenggara Strategics, Jakarta – Ministers from President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration have brought the topic of the subsidized fuel, Pertalite, back into the spotlight.

Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration may have done its best, but it is clear that the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) is not going to replace Jakarta as the country's capital anytime soon.

Muhammad Fakhruddin, Jakarta – Hamzah Haz, Indonesia's ninth Vice President, has passed away at the age of 84.

"Innalillahi wainna ilaihi roji'un. Hamzah Haz has passed away at 9:30 a.m. Jakarta time," said PPP politician Idy Muzayyad on Wednesday.

Radhiyya Indra, Jakarta – Students have praised the government's decision to expand the removal of the science (IPA), social (IPS) and language (Bahasa) study pathways to approximately 95 percent of senior high schools this academic year, saying the move is "liberating" for them.

Arnoldus Kristianus, Jakarta – The Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) under the Finance Ministry is considering imposing excise duties on concert tickets, luxury homes, fast food, tissue paper, MSG (monosodium glutamate), coal, and detergents.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Civil society organizations in Indonesia are getting a boost to ensure their participation in the country's clean energy transition and land stewardship, amid an increasingly hostile climate for groups advocating for environmental and social rights.

Juan Ardya Guardiola, Jakarta – The National Awakening Party (PKB) chose to wait until President-Elect Prabowo Subianto takes his oath of office before declaring whether they would be in the opposition or not, according to its chairman Muhaimin Iskandar.

Muhammad Aulia Rahman, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has conducted raids at several locations in connection with the investigation into alleged corruption involving presidential social aid (bansos) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

KPK spokesperson Tessa Mahardhika stated that the raids were carried out in the Greater Jakarta area.

Antara, Jakarta – The 2024 National Kebaya Day celebration marks its inaugural event. As stipulated in Presidential Decree Number 19 of 2023, National Kebaya Day will be observed annually on July 24.

Muhammad Aulia Rahman, Jakarta – Anti-graft agency KPK is currently investigating an alleged corruption involving the state-run ferry operator ASDP.

Monique Handa Shafira, Jakarta – A financial technology (fintech) association is bracing itself for the upcoming policy aimed at raising the online loan cap while hoping they can access government data such as the borrower's utility bills to make sure they can pay their debt.

Jakarta – The National Military Police Headquarters (Puspom TNI) is investigating the alleged involvement of a member of the Army in an arson attack that killed a journalist and his family in Karo regency, North Sumatra, last month.

Usman Hamid and Ary Hermawan – The controversial policy of the outgoing Joko "Jokowi" Widodo government to grant coal mining concessions to Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) – Indonesia's largest Islamic organization – is posing a serious threat to the country's efforts in the fight against global warming.

Faisal Maliki Baskoro, Jakarta – Jakarta's air quality ranked second worst in the world on Wednesday, trailing only Kinshasa, Congo, according to air quality monitoring website IQAir.

Jayapura – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's visit to Jayapura, West Papua, on July 23 in the context of the commemoration of Indonesian National Children's Day at the Istora Papua Bangkit sports complex was a form of distain and insult when as many as 62,000 Papuans are still displaced.

Theressia Silalahi, Tangerang – Vice President-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka has announced plans to extend the free lunch trials to Indonesia's most remote regions. Initially tested in Sentul, West Java, the program will now include remote areas such as East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and Papua.

Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is telling all kids across the archipelago to study hard as Indonesia celebrates National Children's Day.

Alfida Rizky Febrianna, Jakarta – The Financial Services Authority or OJK's plans to raise the online loan limit to Rp 10 billion ($617,549) is expected to be helpful for new businesses, according to economist David E Sumual.

Hendro Dahlan Situmorang, Jakarta – The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology approved the use of official online loan services for paying tuition fees (UKT) for university students, provided they are interest-free.

Antara, Jakarta – Indonesia's carbon trading market is very small compared to the world's largest markets, but the government remains committed to reducing carbon emissions by 43.2 percent by 2030.

Deni Ghifari, Jakarta – The transition team of president-elect Prabowo Subianto has denied a plan to slash the price per serving for the flagship free meal program, stressing that no decision has been made yet.

Church leaders and advocacy groups have rejected a proposal by the Indonesian government to allow soldiers to do business by revising a military law.

The proposal "is not in accordance with the functions of the military," said Father Alexandro Rangga, director of the Franciscans Secretariat for Justice and Peace in strife-torn Papua province.

Dio Suhenda, Jakarta – The Jakarta administration has promised to offer more long-term and fixed placements for nonpermanent teachers in the city, following recent backlash over the sudden dismissal of over 100 contract educators across different levels of education – from elementary to senior high schools – last week.

Divya Karyza, Jakarta – The government has launched an online tracking system for nickel and tin shipments to increase state revenue and improve governance in the mining sector.

Dio Suhenda, Jakarta – The government has announced the completion of the new presidential palace in the future capital city of Nusantara, East Kalimantan, as authorities race to complete other key infrastructure projects in the future capital city to host the Independence Day celebrations next month.

Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo was in Jayapura, Papua, on Tuesday to celebrate National Children's Day. The city was chosen as the organizer for this year's event to symbolize that education should touch all children in Indonesia, including those in the remote and outermost regions.

Adi Renaldi, Jakarta – For nearly two decades, hundreds of Ahmadiyya Muslims have lived in a cramped government shelter on the Indonesian island of Lombok, after they were attacked by a mob that accused them of being deviant.

Arnoldus Kristianus, Jakarta – The government is set to inaugurate four new Special Economic Zones (SEZ) with a total investment of Rp 161 trillion ($10 billion) in Batam, Sulawesi, and Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) in South Tangerang.

Antara, Jakarta – General Maruli Simanjuntak, Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Army, suggested that soldiers be allowed to take on side jobs, noting that many members of the military currently need additional income and are turning to online ride-hailing services (online ojek).

Stefan Armbruster, Harlyne Joku and Tria Dianti, Brisbane/Port Moresby/Jakarta – No progress has been made in sending a U.N. human rights mission to Indonesia's Papuan provinces despite the appointment of Fiji and Papua New Guinea's prime ministers to negotiate the visit.

M. Faiz Zaki, Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia criticizes the draft law on the National Police of the Republic of Indonesia, or Polri Bill, which is being discussed at the House of Representatives Commission III.

Annisa Febiola, Jakarta – Representatives of the Awyu and Moi Sigin indigenous communities submitted a petition supporting the tribes' struggle against palm oil companies to the Supreme Court on Monday, July 22, 2024, from South Papua and Southwest Papua.

The orderly transition of power to a duly elected leader is a, if not the, hallmark of a well-functioning democracy. As if setting a template for Donald Trump to follow, Prabowo Subianto reacted to his loss in two straight presidential elections to Joko Widodo in 2014 and 2019 by declaring himself the victim of electoral fraud and refusing to accept the results.

Jakarta – Amid reports that government-owned construction firms had suffered losses due to their involvement in Southeast Asia's first high-speed rail project, Indonesia's State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said that the Whoosh train has been able to save the government trillions of rupiahs in fuel savings since it began operations last year.

Jakarta – The Gerindra Party has endorsed Dhani Wirianata, a former personal secretary of party chairman and president-elect Prabowo Subianto, as its candidate for Bandung mayor in the regional head elections in November.

Gerindra secretary-general Ahmad Muzani announced Dhani's nomination on Friday at an event in West Java's provincial capital.

Gusty da Costa Journalist – Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia Usman Hamid asks the Indonesian government and the Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to investigate the death of three civilians in Karutabe village, Mulia District, Puncak Jaya Regency, Central Papua, on July 16, 2024.

Nina A. Loasana, Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) is committed to regaining public trust and restoring its credibility, following the recent dishonorable dismissal of its former chairman Hasyim Asy'ari over a sexual harassment scandal.

Tenggara Strategics, Jakarta – The House of Representatives will soon begin deliberations on the creation of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA), replacing the Presidential Advisory Council known as Wantimpres.

Jakarta – Make no mistake, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's move to green-light a plan to revise the 2004 Indonesian Military (TNI) Law at the last opportunity before the transition of power is controversial in several ways.

Divya Karyza, Jakarta – The government has reaffirmed BYD's plan to build an electric vehicle (EV) factory in Indonesia after the Chinese automaker completed building its first Southeast Asian facility in Thailand.

Yustinus Patris Paat, Jakarta – National Democrat (Nasdem) Party Chairman Surya Paloh has announced his full support for Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) leader Kaesang Pangarep in the 2024 Central Java governor election. This endorsement follows a recent survey indicating that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's son is highly electable among the candidates.