Medan, Indonesia (AFP) – Four people have been arrested in Indonesia for allegedly stealing Covid-19 vaccines marked for prisoners and selling them to the public, the authorities said on Tuesday (May 25).

Astrid Faidlatul Habibah, Katr, Jakarta – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati expressed pride while highlighting that Indonesia's COVID-19 vaccination program was ranked 11th internationally, with 24.84 million doses of the vaccine administered to the public.

Leo Galuh – Bandung, Indonesia – Farah Prisiliana woke up at 7 a.m., as she normally does, to start her routine from a rented room in Bandung, the capital of West Java.

Prisiliana, 42, stood up slowly, looking for her right prosthetic leg. Watering vegetables and plants on the windowsill is her first task once she affixes her leg and leaves her room.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – A priest who heads a theology and philosophy school in Indonesia has sparked controversy by claiming the Catholic Church will probably accept same-sex marriages.

Divine Word Father Otto Gusti Madung's comments were made last month during a talk with members of a group called Journalists Union for Diversity, which posted them on Facebook on May 23.

Erwida Maulia and Ismi Damayanti, Jakarta – The Indonesian government is working on a plan to send thousands of Jakarta-based civil servants to work remotely from Bali, in a bid to help the economy of the tourism-reliant island rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman, Jakarta – Bank Indonesia (BI) decided on Tuesday to hold its benchmark seven-day reverse repo rate at 3.5 percent amid a continually weakening rupiah and unusually low inflation last month, despite the Ramadan and Idul Fitri holidays.

Jakarta – The government has proposed a plan to add a new income tax bracket imposing a 35 percent tax rate on any annual income above $348,000 as part of a sweeping move to revamp Indonesia's tax code and boost state revenue.

Jakarta – At least 17 soldiers have been slapped with dishonorable discharge after they were found guilty of attacking a police station in East Jakarta, the Indonesian Military said in a statement on Monday.

A'an Suryana – A series of changes in Indonesia's KPK will seriously dent the anti-graft body's ability to investigate cases of corruption.

Fajar Pebrianto, Jakarta – Until the end of April 2021, the Indonesian government had spent Rp10.7 trillion from the state budget to treat Covid-19 patients. The money was used to pay for hospital facilities, health workers, and medicines that were given free to 159,700 patients.

Leanne Jorari – As popular support for West Papua grows more vocal, PNG officials walk a diplomatic tightrope.

A video recently surfaced on social media in Papua New Guinea, featuring a group of about 20 men, gathered around their apparent leader, declaring war on Indonesia.

Aisyah Llewellyn and Arif Budi Setyawan, Medan, Indonesia – When Zakiah Aini, a 25-year-old university dropout, walked into the Indonesian National Police Headquarters in Jakarta brandishing an air gun on the last day of March, it was initially widely reported, and perhaps assumed, that the perpetrator had been a man.

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs Mahfud MD claims that only a handful of Papuans want independence. More than that, he said, 92 percent of Papuans support the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).

Thomas Bywater – An ambitious $4 billion tourism development dubbed 'the next Bali' has been condemned by the UN Human Rights Office after shocking land grabs and treatment of the islands' indigenous people have been brought to light.

Kate Lamb and Fanny Potkin – Indonesian anti-corruption activists have suffered a surge of digital attacks, from the hacking of messaging accounts to the sabotage of a Zoom conference with pornography, and they say they fear they are being targeted for speaking out.

Andita Rahma, Jakarta – Following news about an alleged massive data breach of 279 million Indonesians' confidential BPJS (social security) data on Friday, Commission I House of Representative (DPR) legislator Sukamta highlighted the fact that confidential data breach has happened too often which exposes Indonesia's cyber security weaknesses.

Alex Ray – Fifty kilometres east of Dili is the site of one of Timor-Leste's most renowned scuba diving locations. It is reached via the nearby Santo Antonio Grotto rest stop where timber-slat huts sell plastic bottled water and noodles in Styrofoam cups.

Shotaro Tani, Jakarta – Indonesia is considering introducing a carbon tax as it seeks to boost revenue to fund its spending to support an economy reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials in Bengkulu have reversed the expulsion of a high school student, whose viral TikTok video mocking Palestinians became the subject of nationwide outrage last week.

Facebook, TikTok, and Clubhouse may be banned in Indonesia within six months if the Information and Communications Ministry's order for them to be legally registered in the country proves to be more than a mere bluff.

Antara, Jakarta – The South Jakarta Metro Police is currently launching an investigation on the viral video in Instagram on an alleged burning of Muslim's Holy Quran. The police headquarters' Chief Grand Commissioner Azis Andriansyah said on Sunday confirms this "It's an ongoing investigation."

Chris Barrett – Farahnaz Salehi calls them the lost years. There have been seven of them for the 21-year-old Hazara refugee since she fled Afghanistan with her parents and her seven brothers and sisters in 2014, ending up in Indonesia.

"We are stuck here and we cannot do anything," she said from Cisarua, a mountainous district an hour's drive outside Jakarta.

The Indonesian government is speaking out about Myanmar and Palestine whilst voting to ignore genocide and ethnic cleansing at the UN. We are thankful that Indonesian leaders show solidarity with the suffering of the Palestinians and Myanmarese, but Indonesia is desperately trying to cover up its own crimes against humanity in West Papua.

Bayu Marhaenjati, Jakarta – The Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court on Monday found Maria Pauline Lumowa guilty of corruption and money laundering and sentenced her to 18 years behind bars for a major bank embezzlement case back in 2003.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – The Covid-19 pandemic has forced a district court in Timor-Leste to postpone the resumption of a trial of an ex-priest accused of sexually abusing children for the third time.

Dewi Nurita, Jakarta – The Covid-19 national task force's head of data and information technology, Dewi Nur Aisyah, on Sunday announced that four Indonesian provinces have seen a rise in hospital bed occupancy rate with many hospitals treating coronavirus cases already over 50 percent occupied.

Jakarta – The Jakarta's Regional Commission for Post-Immunization Events, or KIPI, ensures every Covid-19 vaccine rolled out to the public is safe, as they have undergone several trials.

"All vaccines have undergone three-phase trials for safety," the commission's chief Ellen Roostati Sianipar told an online #tanyaIDI conference themed "Is AstraZeneca Safe?" on Thursday.

Harry Suhartono and Tassia Sipahutar – PT Garuda Indonesia needs to completely restructure its business, potentially reducing the number of planes it operates to less than half its main fleet as it seeks to survive the crisis wrought by the pandemic, its president told staff this week.

Ah, Bali. Land of holy temples, age-old traditions, beaches and jungles – and hordes of influencers in flowing white clothing.

Jakarta – Indonesia's foreign debt until the first quarter (Q1) end of 2021 reached US$415.6 billion, or decreased 0.4 percent (qtq), from the external debt position recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020, at US$417.5 billion.

Indonesian authorities on Friday summoned state insurer BPJS Kesehatan, which provides universal health coverage, as part of an investigation into an alleged breach of personal data involving millions of people, the communications ministry said.

Antara, Jakarta – Indonesia added 5,296 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections on Saturday, taking the total tally since the start of the pandemic in March, 2020 to 1,769,940, according to data provided by the COVID-19 Handling Task Force.

Markus You, Nabire – With the exception of a mass protest against racism on the grounds of the Papua governor's office on August 19, 2019, Victor Yeimo was never involved in the subsequent protest action on August 29 in Jayapura city which ended in a riot.

Pacific churches have condemned the media blackout in West Papua, military crackdown in parts of the territory and the silencing of dissenting voices.

They have also criticised the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) for "allowing Indonesia into their fold".

Zevonia Vieira in Dili and Tjitske Lingsma – Lita grew up in a poor family in a hamlet surrounded by the spectacular mountains of Oecusse in Timor-Leste. When she was 11 years old she went to live in Topu Honis shelter home, in the mountainous, forest-encircled village of Kutet.

Shailaja Neelakantan (BenarNews) – Indonesia joined North Korea, China, Russia and other repressive regimes in voting "no" this week on a U.N. resolution mandating annual debate on preventing crimes against humanity – raising alarm among human rights advocates and observers of Southeast Asia's largest democracy.

Ian Lloyd Neubauer, Bali – "Here in Bali, we believe in the law of karmaphala – that our actions will determine what we receive in return, good or bad," says Gede Robi, frontman of rock band Navicula and the lead in "Palau Plastik," a new documentary about the sources and consequences of, and possible solutions to the scourge of plastic waste that pockmarks so many of Indonesia's 17

Something odd happened at the United Nations General Assembly this week. Indonesia joined 14 other countries in rejecting a resolution on "The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity".

Jakarta – Indonesia has drawn up proposals to bring in a carbon tax to curb greenhouse gas emissions, in addition to raising VAT rates and reforming income tax, as part of a major overhaul of the tax system, a finance ministry document showed.

Tom Allard and Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Jakarta (Reuters) – A new security crackdown on armed separatists in the central highlands of Papua will be maintained until the separatists are wiped out, the National Police's intelligence chief has said.

Jakarta – A suspected breach of Indonesia's social security data has put virtually all Indonesians exposed to digital attacks and frauds, authorities and digital security experts warned on Friday.

Aisyah Llewellyn and Reno Surya, Surabaya, Indonesia – As Indonesian authorities announced this week that a salvage operation involving Chinese underwater rescue vessels had managed to recover "debris" from the KRI Nanggala-402 submarine, which sank off the coast of Bali last month, questions have been raised about the state of the country's military and its operational readiness.

Residents of a village in Gading Serpong, Tangerang swarmed a nearby housing complex in retort over an alleged protest against a loud mosque.

Yogi Setya Permana – Hydrometeorological hazards have outnumbered hazardous geophysical events such as earthquakes in the last two decades. While geophysical disasters have resulted in more deaths in Indonesia, hydrometeorological disasters have affected more people through injury, displacement, and property damage.

Jakarta – Simultaneous protest actions held in three cities by the Papua People's Petition (PRP) have also taken up the situation in Palestine which has been heating up of late. They called for an immediate halt to the attacks on Palestine people in the Gaza Strip.

CNN Indonesia, Jakarta – Papuan people who are members of civil group Papuan People's Petition have staged protests in three cities on Friday, May 21, 2021 to voice opposition, among others, against the escalated armed conflict in Papua in the past month.

Jakarta – A brief protest action was held by Papuan activists from the Papua People's Petition (PRP) at the Horse Statue on Jalan Medan Barat Jakarta in Central Jakarta at 8 am.

Charles Maniani, Manokwari – The group Papua People's Solidarity (SRP) in Manokwari, West Papua province, have demonstrated to demand the immediate and unconditional release of West Papua National Committee (KNPB) international spokesperson Victor Yeimo.

Syafiq Hasyim – In 2020, Eid-al-Fitri was a national superspreader event. This year the government and Muslim organisations were better prepared.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government should suspend and substantially revise a regulation on online content to meet international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said in a May 17, 2021 letter to Indonesia's minister of communication and information technology.