Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman, Jakarta – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has called on commercial banks to ramp up loan disbursement and thereby support government efforts to revive Indonesia's economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has been reported that the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders are meeting virtually on the 6 August.

AWPA urges Prime Minister Scott Morrison (as leader of a PIF country) to urge Jakarta to allow a PIF fact-finding mission to West Papua to investigate the human rights situation in the territory.

Andreas Harsono (Project Multatuli) – In August 2005, I visited Carmel Budiardjo, then an 80-year-old human rights campaigner, in her London townhouse. We talked on the second floor, which was also the office for Tapol, the human rights organization that she helped set up in 1973 (in Indonesian, the word "tapol" stands for tahanan politik – political prisoner).

Dewi Nurita, Jakarta – The Indonesian Covid-19 task force in a statement on Wednesday announced the dropping bed occupancy ratio (BOR) across isolation facilities in the past two weeks, which they claim coincides with the reducing number of positive cases.

Antara, Jakarta – The Home Affairs Ministry director general of politics and general government, Bahtiar, in a seminar on foreign monitoring Tuesday said the activities of foreign nationals and organizations in Indonesia are being monitored to ensure they are acting for the benefit of the country.

Antara, Jakarta – Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria on Wednesday said the number of deaths related to Covid-19 within the past two weeks is starting to fall. According to him, the latest logged over 100 deaths.

"But this is actually a reduction as the week before logged over 200 daily deaths," said the deputy at City Hall on August 4, Antaranews reported.

Doyinsola Oladipo and David Brunnstrom, Washington – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) he was launching a "strategic dialogue" between the United States and Indonesia at talks in Washington with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

A video showing church leaders in Mimika, Papua burning masks and declaring they do not believe in COVID-19 and its vaccines are making national headlines in Indonesia, but a local official said today that the controversial scene has been taken out of context.

Edna Tarigan, Jakarta – Indonesia surpassed 100,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, a grim milestone in a country struggling with its worst pandemic wave fueled by the delta variant, amid concerns the actual figure could be much higher.

Jakarta (Bloomberg) – Indonesia has reached a grim milestone as more than 100,000 people died from the coronavirus, becoming the second country in Asia to breach that threshold.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – An Indonesian bishop has hailed cooperation between a moderate Muslim organization and priests and nuns in his diocese which has allowed the smooth implementation of a mass vaccination program amid heightened Covid-19 fears.

Renne Kawilarang – For Desy Siswanto and her husband Tonny, their three dogs were very much a part of their family.

But when the pandemic ravaging Indonesia killed Tonny, Desy, who was also debilitated by Covid, found it too hard to care for their fur babies.

She got help from Animal Defenders Indonesia who took in her pets.

Elviza Diana, Sapariah Saturi, Yitno Suprapto, Jakarta and jambi, Indonesia – As Indonesia reels from a devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a requirement that vaccine recipients have a national identity number is hampering access to the shots for the nation's Indigenous population, according to the leading advocacy group for Indigenous peoples.

Jakarta (Reuters) – Indonesia's spending on fighting its ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, one of the world's worst, could exceed 300 trillion rupiah (S$28.3 billion) this year, the South-east Asian country's finance minister said on Wednesday (Aug 4).

Arys Aditya – Indonesia is shifting away from its goal of reaching herd immunity for Covid-19 as the rise of the more infectious delta variant pushes the threshold beyond reach.

Rifki Nurfajri, Jakarta – Alumni Kanisius Menteng 64 (AM64) commenced the second phase of its free COVID-19 vaccine drive at the Jakarta Convention Center on Monday, following the initial phase that ran from July 5 to 18.

Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Shenzhen-based tech firm Huawei recently unveiled its plans to bolster the Indonesian startup ecosystem, making the country an important part of its $100-million Spark accelerator program for the Asia-Pacific region.

Wahyuni Sahara, Jakarta – Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman from Griffith University in Australia says that the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia is not yet properly under control.

Anyone would agree that a new paint job for the presidential plane should not be priority spending during the pandemic, yet the State Palace says it has good reason for transforming the aircraft to more closely resemble the Indonesian flag.

Police in Jember, East Java are warning parents to ensure that their children don't take chocolate from strangers as they are hunting a man who is believed to have slipped in razor blades and staples in the snack.

Expectant mothers in Indonesia can now get the COVID-19 vaccine after the Health Ministry updated its eligibility list to include the high-risk group.

Chris Barrett and Karuni Rompies, Singapore – Henny Sengkey Kawilarang knew her husband was badly ill with COVID-19 but when he lay on the couch at their house in Cisauk, about two hours' drive south west of Jakarta, she had no idea he was about to die.

"It happened so fast, just like a dream," she told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Konradus Epa, Jakarta – The United Nations' Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has called on the Indonesian government to stop all tourism infrastructure construction projects in Komodo National Park in Catholic-majority East Nusa Tenggara province.

Saket Sundria and Eko Listiyorini – Indonesia's Covid-19 crisis is hammering gasoline demand in Southeast Asia's leading economy, echoing a slump in India earlier this year.

Marni Cordell – Charles Sraun was chatting with five friends at a house in Merauke, the easternmost city of the disputed Indonesian territory of West Papua, when police stormed the building.

Natasia Christy Wahyuni, Jakarta – Indonesia is making preparations to double the daily number of Covid-19 vaccine jabs to 2 million per day, a target that should have been materialized since the start of the month per presidential instruction.

The Health Ministry said on Tuesday the target remains within reach with more vaccinators recruited and more vaccines acquired.

Andreas Harsono – Indonesian Army Chief Gen. Andika Perkasa told army commanders in July that the required medical check-up in the recruitment process for female officers should be similar to the male medical test, signaling the end of the so-called "virginity test."

Mark Bowling – The Prime Minister is being urged to support action on human rights violations in West Papua when he meets with Pacific Islands Forum leaders this week.

David Robie – It is open season again for Indonesian trolls targeting Asia Pacific Report and other media with fake news and disinformation dispatches in a crude attempt to gloss over human rights violations.

Jakarta – The director of the Bali Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), Ni Kadek Vany Primaliraning, has been reported to the Bali regional police for treason for allegedly facilitating a mass action by Papuan activists.

Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo announced on Monday the current social restrictions have been extended by another week, citing their early success in curbing the spread of Covid-19.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – A court in Indonesia has acquitted six villagers in a dispute against a tapioca factory, ruling that the criminal charges, allegedly brought at the behest of the company, were frivolous and could not be used to silence criticism of environmental violations.

A pair of Sumatran tigers are recovering from COVID-19 after testing positive for the disease at a Jakarta zoo in mid-July, Indonesian officials said on Sunday.

Budiarti Utami Putri, Jakarta – Kyoto University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies researcher and environmentalist Cypri Jehan Paju Dale on Sunday said that UNESCO's World Heritage Committee recommendation for the Komodo National Park is a massive achievement for conservation and tourism.

Antara, Jakarta – A specimen study has shown that the highly-contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus has spread almost evenly throughout Indonesia, according to Siti Nadia Tarmizi, a spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination of the Health Ministry.

Indonesia's devastating second coronavirus wave, which saw the South-East Asian country become the epicentre of Asia's COVID-19 outbreak, has peaked, its Health Minister says.

Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – The Moderna Covid-19 booster shots are exclusively for health workers, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said.

"We will give Moderna as the third booster shot for all our health workers. We have distributed the vaccines to all provinces and I call for [these boosters] to be given immediately," Budi told an online conference on Monday.

Bloomberg – Most Indonesians cited a lack of available doses as the reason why they're not vaccinated against Covid-19.

Antara, Jakarta – The number of active COVID-19 cases in Jakarta has dropped to 19,656 as of Saturday, July 31, 2021, according to data provided on the official government website, corona.jakarta.go.id.

Abbie O'Brien – The idle streets, vacant shops and deserted beaches across Bali are a sobering reminder of how the island has been devastated by the pandemic.

The throngs of tourists are long gone, and so too are the jobs that so many rely on.

Nivell Rayda, Bogor, Indonesia – The sun was blazing hot when four volunteers from the local COVID-19 task force, draped in full personal protective gear, descended on a densely populated neighbourhood in Bogor, one of Jakarta's satellite cities.

Herman, Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Japanese auto giant Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has recently announced that Indonesia became its largest market by country in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 thanks to government's fiscal incentives related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Antara, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD has called for religious leaders support to' expedite COVID-19 vaccination drive in the country.

Jakarta – Indonesia on Sunday received 3.5 million doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from the US government, bringing the total doses donated by the United States to 8 million.

The delivery was arranged by the Covax Advance Market Commitment, a UN-approved global initiative to support equitable access to Covid-19 vaccine.

Jakarta – After chairing a Cabinet ministers meeting on July 13, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said the 20th National Games (PON) in Papua would go ahead as scheduled from Oct. 2 to 15. The subsequent National Paralympic Games are then to be held from Nov. 2 to 15.

Linda Yulisman, Jakarta – Indonesian mother Ekarina resorted to private tutors to teach her only daughter, Athira, from February this year as kindergartens were shut due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Erwin Renaldi – Santi Nigro has been running to raise money for oxygen supplies in Indonesia.

Every now and then she has to stop running and catch her breath, and she spares a thought for those who are going through much worse in her country of birth.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has called on the international community to immediately suspend Indonesia from the UN Human Rights Council over a shocking assault on a young deaf indigenous Papuan that has been likened to the George Floyd tragedy in the United States.

Antara, Jakarta – The number of passengers at MRT Jakarta declined by 80 percent or 4,450 people on average per day in July 2021, during the emergency state of the public mobility restrictions (PPKM Emergency) that took effect since July 3, 2021.

Indonesians are not only uniting to cheer the country's representatives at the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics, but they've also come together to lambast a journalist for the needlessly sexualized angles to his stories about female athletes instead of focusing on their achievements.