Jakarta – Bank Indonesia or BI recorded the country's foreign debt position at US$400.4 billion, or around Rp5,964 trillion, at the end of July 2022. The volume is down from the previous month's US$403.6 billion or around Rp6.012 trillion.

On a year-on year basis, the foreign debt in July was down by 4.1 percent, a deeper contraction than June's 3.2 percent (yoy).

Antara, Jakarta – Hasto Wardoyo, Head of National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), said in a statement issued on Wednesday that a pre-conception examination before marriage is necessary to improve maternal health and realize a Golden Indonesia by 2045.

Jayapura, Jubi – Spokesperson for the Governor of Papua M Rifai Darus said that Governor Lukas Enembe is ready to undergo the legal process related to the allegation of him receiving a gratuity, the case of which is handled by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Riani Sanusi Putri, Jakarta – The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) on Wednesday announced the finding of large amounts of money flowing to students and police personnel that is believed to come from online gambling, which is said to reach Rp155 trillion.

Ryan Dagur – Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta has underlined the importance of the papal document on human fraternity in building a prosperous country amid serious challenges, including extreme poverty.

Erik Meijaard and Julie Sherman, Bandar Seri Begawan/Portland, United States – We welcome the commentary by Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya on the occasion of World Orangutan Day on Aug. 19.

Budi Baskoro, Lusia Arumingtyas, Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia – For 20 years, Redansyah has awakened every day at 5 a.m. to plant trees here in the Pesalat forest area of Central Kalimantan province. The Indigenous Dayak begins the day searching the forest for seedlings, then prepares the ground for planting before nurturing the recently seeded.

Owen Howell – Last week, mass protests erupted across Indonesia after the government of President Joko Widodo announced price hikes that will result in the cost of subsidised fuel surging by over 30 percent. That is the first government ordered petrol price increase in eight years. Rallies and demonstrations are continuing.

Ana Salva – Last July, the debate over the wearing of the hijab again caused a stir in Indonesia, when a 16-year-old Muslim student was allegedly forced to wear it by teachers at a public school in the city of Yogyakarta on Java Island.

A Catholic bishop has accused a top district official in Indonesia's Maluku province of not supporting religious groups' effort to promote tolerance in the region that has witnessed deadly sectarian conflicts.

It took a drawn out and embarrassing public spat with an anonymous hacker for the Indonesian government to finally realize the need to patch up the country's woeful cybersecurity shortcomings.

Enarotali, Jubi – Executive Director of the Papuan Justice and Human Integrity Foundation Theo Hesegem is outraged at the treatment of the Indonesian Military (TNI) deemed to have exchanged the dignity of indigenous Papuans (OAP) for money.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Police in Asahan regency, North Sumatra, have arrested four people for alleged stockpiling of the subsidized Solar brand of diesel fuel in Aek Ledong district and have confiscated around 3 tonnes of fuel and two tank trucks.

Jakarta – Senior lawmaker Effendi Simbolon issued an apology on Wednesday after calling the Indonesian Military (TNI) a "mob" during a hearing earlier this month of House of Representatives Commission I, which oversees foreign affairs and security, with TNI commander Gen. Andika Perkasa.

Jakarta – The Health Ministry said on Wednesday morning that the mobile COVID-19 tracking application PeduliLindungi was back online following technical difficulties that the ministry blamed on regular maintenance.

Jakarta – A senior politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said on Tuesday that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo after his term expired in 2024 could run again as vice president if political parties could agree on nominating him for the position.

Antara, Jakarta – The Coordinating Minister of Politics, Law, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD on Wednesday announced the formation of a data protection task force to take the role of protecting data, especially state data from data breaches and hacking attempts.

Vania Novie Andini (Intern), Jakarta – The market traders at East Jakarta's Rawamangun Market voiced concern over unpredictable commodity prices that they believe are the direct effect of the rising prices of fuel.

Zulfa Sakhiyya, Semarang – Indonesia has a celebrated literacy rate of 98.2 percent, claimed by many as a great success of literacy efforts. And yet in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment, 70 percent of Indonesian students are reported to have low literacy skills.

Jayapura – Three weeks after the incident, a report on the murder and mutilation of four civilians from Nduga in Timika, Mimika regency, Papua, was raised at a United Nations Human Rights Council session on Monday September 12 at the UN offices in Geneva.

Jakarta – A wave of demonstrations against the recent fuel (BBM) price hike have been held by students, trade unions and online motorcycle taxi drivers (ojek) in various parts of Indonesia over the last week since the policy was announced by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on September 3.

During the protest they held a theatrical action celebrating the birthday of senior Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician and House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Puan Mahar

Jakarta – Protesters from the Labour Alliance with the People (Gebrak) held a demonstration against the recent fuel (BBM) price hike near the State Palace, namely at the Arjuna Wiwaha or Horse Statue Monument on Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat in Central Jakarta on Tuesday September 13.

Jakarta – Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (KASUM) General Secretary Bivitri Susanti believes that the 'Bjorka' hacking case is a reminder to the government to fully resolve the assassination of renowned human rights activist Munir Said Thalib.

Irfan Kamil, Jakarta – The II-08 Jakarta Military Tribunal has handed down prison sentences and dismissed three more rogue TNI (Indonesian military) personnel who were proven to have indulged in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) practices.

The three are Second Sergeant (Serda) FA, First Sergeant (Sertu) R and First Seaman (KLS) IF.

Antara, Jakarta – The COVID-19 Handling Task Force recorded an additional 1,848 COVID-19 infections as of 12 p.m. local time on Monday, which brought the total tally to 6,394,340.

M Julnis Firmansyah, Jakarta – The Communication and Informatics Minister Johnny Gerard Plate on Monday urged the public not to worry about the data breaches claimed to be committed by a hacker known as Bjorka as he believes the data is classified as public information.

Arrijal Rachman, Jakarta – Bank Mandiri team of economists estimates that the growth of bank lending in Indonesia in 2022 will not reach double digits, which is mainly due to the impact of inflation and the upward trend in Bank Indonesia (BI) benchmark interest rates.

M Julnis Firmansyah, Jakarta – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati stated that the government would grant incentives of Rp10 billion for regions that are able to contain the inflation rate following the surge in fuel prices.

Lani Diana Wijaya, Jakarta – A hacker known as Bjorka has breached yet another personal data of Indonesian figures. Recently, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan's sensitive data including mobile phone numbers, population identification numbers (NIK), family card numbers (KK), and vaccine numbers were posted online.

Parluhutan Situmorang, Jakarta – The government's development project for Nusantara, Indonesia's new capital, has started to grant contracts to listed state-owned builders to boost their financial performance recovery after two years of COVID-19 pandemics.

Jakarta – Papua Governor Lukas Enembe has been named a corruption suspect for allegedly taking bribes, an attorney for the governor said on Tuesday.

The Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, has had his bank accounts frozen by the anti-money laundering agency PPATK.

Mikael Niman, Jakarta – The Jakarta Legislative Council on Tuesday proposed three candidates to replace Governor Anies Baswedan whose term expires on October 16.

The candidates include presidential secretariat head Heru Budi Hartono, Jakarta provincial government secretary Marullah Matali, and Home Affairs Ministry's political affairs director general Bachtiar.

Jakarta – During a recent visit to Mimika, Papua, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, with much pride, launched the use of fifth generation (5G) technology for mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia. By introducing 5G in Freeport, Jokowi said the national mining sector would not be left behind other countries and would be able to compete in the increasingly digitalized global economy.

Norman Harsono and Faris Mokhtar – Data operators could face up to five years in jail and a maximum fine of 5 billion rupiah ($337,000) for leaking or misusing private information, according to Indonesia's new data privacy bill set to be passed by parliament this week.

Jakarta – Indonesia's exports were seen slowing in August as prices of some of its top commodities declined, but its trade surplus was expected to hold up at around $4 billion, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Puan Maharani has been reported to parliament's Ethics Council (MKD) over her failure to read the room.

Political activist Joko Priyoski filed his complaint against Puan with MKD yesterday, demanding that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician apologize for her lack of sensitivity towards the people.

Jayapura, Jubi – Coordinator of the Civil Society Coalition for Law Enforcement and Human Rights in Papua Gustaf R Kawer, who is the legal representative of the families of four Nduga victims of murder and mutilation in Mimika Regency, said the families were questioned by police in Mimika's capital of Timika on Monday, September 12, 2022.

Jayapura, Jubi – Coordinator of the Civil Society Coalition for the Enforcement of Law and Human Rights in Papua Emanuel Gobay said there were at least five different crimes committed by the perpetrators of the murder and mutilation of four Nduga residents in Mimika Regency.

Ardito Ramadhan, Jakarta – The results of a survey conducted by Kompas Research and Development (Litbang Kompas) on September 6-9 showed that the majority of the pubic (93 percent) believe that fuel (BBM) subsidies are still needed.

Antara, Jakarta – The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Commander General Andika Perkasa has called for a thorough evaluation of its entire aircraft fleet following the crash involving one of the Indonesian Navy's training aircraft, the Bonanza G-36 T-2503 over the Madura Strait.

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja and Linda Yulisman – Indonesia's decision to raise fuel prices is a prudent one that will ease its growing fiscal burden, but the daily street protests against the policy need to be dealt with properly, say analysts.

Chris Barrett and Karuni Rompies, Singapore/Jakarta – Australia's submarine plans may be subject to greater safeguards and transparency after Indonesia's bid for stricter regulations on nuclear naval power won wide support at a United Nations conference in New York.Jakarta expressed anxiety about Australia acquiring a fleet of nuclear-propelled submarines in the wake of the AUKUS de

The Indonesian Military (TNI) has dishonorably discharged and jailed two sergeants over gay sex, which, as we've well established by now, goes against the military's morality and criminal codes. At least one of the sergeants engaged in non-consensual homosexual acts, a military court heard.

Wamena, Jubi – The action of 11 students who took down the signboard "Governor Office of Mountainous Papua Province" in front of the Wamena Education Agency, Jayawijaya, on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, led to police arrests.

After being questioned by police, eight students were released, while three are now still in detention.

Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is considering joining India and China in buying Russian oil to offset increasing pressure of rising energy costs, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Daniel Ahmad, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's absence from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has been confirmed by Foreign Affairs Ministry's multilateral cooperation director general Tri Tharyat. Indonesia's presence at the assembly, which is scheduled for September 12 to 27, 2022, will be represented by Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi instead.

Mutya Yuantisya, Jakarta – The Central Jakarta Metro Police Chief Commissioner Komarudin on Monday announced that there will be 6,100 joint police and military personnel mobilized to guard the mass protest held by a group called the 'PA212' in protesting against the increased subsidized fuel prices.

Dicky Kurniawan, Jakarta – The Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investments Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in a social media post published on September 12 revealed his intentions to reduce the number of vehicles dependent on fossil fuel. One of the strategies, he added in his Instagram post, is by accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles in Indonesia.