Rahel Narda Chaterine, Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia says it is disappointed over the Indonesian government's position of opposing discussions on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) resolution during a vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday May 18.

Bandung – Activists from the Papua People's Solidarity (Sorak) held a protest action in front of the Merdeka building in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung on the afternoon of Friday May 21.

Antara, Medan – The North Sumatra Regional Police arrested employees of the North Sumatra Health Agency and a penitentiary for allegedly selling the COVID-19 vaccine illegally.

Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia says that the protection of civil freedoms in Indonesia has gone backwards even though reformasi has been proceeding for 23 years.

Makassar – Students from the Total Reformasi Struggle Front (FPRT) held a protest action on Jalan AP Pettarani in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar on Friday May 21. They were commemorating reformasi or the May 21, 1998 anniversary of former president Suharto announcing that he would step down from the presidency.

Kereng Bangkirai, Indonesia – By canoe, it's a 20-minute ride from the nearest village to the last piece of paradise in the heart of Borneo.

Tommy Kurnia, New York City – Indonesia has joined the List of Shame at the United Nations after rejecting a UN resolution on "The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity" (R2P).

Indonesia voted "No" during voting which took place on Tuesday May 18.

Prianka Srinivasan and Hellena Souisa – Two Indonesian military officers have been killed by independence fighters in Papua as violence continues to flare in Indonesia's easternmost provinces.

Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – An Indonesian court has postponed the issuance of a verdict regarding a lawsuit against the government over the alarming levels of air pollution that regularly blanket Jakarta.

The verdict was supposed to be handed down on Thursday (May 20) but the hearing was postponed to Jun 10.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – A Catholic priest and academic has joined more than 70 other leading professors in Indonesia in calling on the country's anti-graft body not to sack dozens of its employees, including senior investigators, after they failed to pass a controversial civil service exam.

Jakarta – Indonesia's exports racked up their strongest rise in 11 years in April, boosted by a surge in prices of key commodities such as palm oil and copper, though the unexpectedly robust figure is not expected to change the central bank's policy settings.

The West Papua Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for the deaths of two Indonesian soldiers in Yahukimo regency on Tuesday.

It's the latest in a string of deaths as the Army's guerilla fighters trade attacks with Indonesia's military forces who recently mounted a crackdown on the rebels.

Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has notified the House of Representatives about his intent to introduce another tax amnesty program, the second in five years, as part of the government attempt to boost tax revenues amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a senior economic minister said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Health Ministry's vaccination spokeswoman Siti Nadia Tarmizi said on Wednesday that only one out of the forty Astrazeneca batches, namely the CTMAV547, has its distribution paused, stressing that the remaining batches are safe for use.

The CTMAV547 batch comprised 448,480 doses and was part of the 3.8 million doses of Covax-procured shots received in late April.

Jakarta – The success of habilitation programs in a number of jails proves that drug users need rehabilitation, not criminalization.

Andita Rahma, Antara, Jakarta – The National Police recorded that there are around 150 members of the Papuan armed criminal groups. The number was obtained after the police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) mapped all rebel groups in the province.

Friski Riana, Jakarta – The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) Commissioner Retno Listyarti lamented the sanction imposed on MS, a senior high school student in Bengkulu, who was expelled for posting insulting remarks against Palestine on her TikTok.

Hengky Yeimo, Nabire, Jubi – Dozens of people from the Kabuki Village of Mabugi District arrived in Ilaga, the capital district of Puncak Regency, on Wednesday after two weeks of walking through the forest and passing two mountains.

Antonio Sampaio, Dili – Timor-Leste today registered 172 more cases of covid-19 infection with the majority in Dili – passing the barrier of 5000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

Usman Hamid and Ari Pramuditya – If insanity, as the saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then the Indonesian government's approach to Papua is a textbook example.

Jakarta – Indonesia has reached a commitment for the supply of 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group or Sinopharm, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization issued Interim recommendations for the global use of Sinopharm vaccine.

Ardila Syakriah, Jakarta – Media personality, prominent critic of the New Order regime and former presidential spokesperson Wimar Witoelar passed away in Jakarta on Wednesday morning at the age of 75.

Reuters – Born and raised in the bustling megacity of Jakarta, Indonesia's densely populated, traffic-choked capital, environmentalist Khalisah Khalid has long anguished over the city's toxic air.

Her young daughter has been plagued by ill health from birth, issues Khalisah believes are exacerbated by the city's worsening air pollution.

Maria Baru, Sorong City – At least 31 human rights and pro-democracy organisations have urged the Indonesian government and the police to immediately release West Papua National Committee (KNPB) international spokesperson Victor Yeimo (VY) from all charges.

There seems to be an ongoing trend on Indonesian TikTok involving young people bashing Palestine and its people, one of which resulted in the expulsion of a grade 11 high school student in Bengkulu recently.

Andita Rahma, Jakarta – The Indonesian police asserted that not all members of the armed criminal group or KKB in Papua who surrender to the police would face sanctions.

The Police Chief's Assistant Operations, Inspector General Imam Sugianto, explained that the Nemangkawi Task Force would first explore the track records of those who surrendered.

Fajar Pebrianto, Jakarta – Issues on boycotting Israel products have once again emerged among the public in Indonesia following the increasing conflict between Israel and Palestine. But how far is Indonesia's trade relationship with the Middle Eastern state?

Yudha Baskoro, Jakarta – Hundreds of Indonesian Workers Union Confederation, or KSPI, members have held a protest outside the United Nations (UN) building in Central Jakarta on Tuesday to show solidarity and support for Palestinians in their latest violent clash with Israel.

Stanley Widianto – Two men embracing on a magazine cover was more than risque for Indonesia, thought LGBT+ researcher Ais, when he first discovered a trove of retro LGBT+ zines in Bali last year.

Konradus Epa, Jakarta – Dozens of church and rights groups in Indonesia have called for the immediate release of Victor Yeimo, a pro-independence leader detained by police in Papua earlier this month.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Catholic-majority Timor-Leste has launched a special scholarship program for more than 900 students from disadvantaged families as part of government efforts to provide equal educational opportunities and promote higher education.

Katharina R. Lestari, Jakarta – Indonesian police have arrested 53 people in connection with a bomb attack on a Catholic cathedral in Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi province, nearly two months ago.

The Jakarta Provincial Government recently lit up a number of pedestrian bridges and main roads in the city with the colors of the Palestinian flag in a show of solidarity with the Middle Eastern state, as hundreds were killed in escalating attacks in the Gaza strip.

CNN Indonesia, Jakarta – The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) reports that the Indonesian Military (TNI) and police have air bombed villages in Ilaga District on May 15-16, 2021 using three helicopters. The TNI, however, denies such allegation.

Caesar Akbar, Jakarta – State-air carrier Garuda Indonesia and its subsidiary Citilink has officially become the first national carriers operated by pilots and crew members who have been inoculated with the Covid-19 vaccines.

Azhar Bagas, Jakarta – The Anti-Corruption Coalition has held a protest action in front of Corruption Eradication Corruption (KPK) building. They demanded that the government look into the suspension of senor KPK investigator Novel Baswedan and 74 other KPK employees who failed to pass the civics or nationalism test (TWK) as a requirement to become state civil servants.

Jakarta – The Papua Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) along with 30 other civil society organisations is urging the police to unconditionally release West Papua National Committee (KNPB) spokesperson Victor Yeimo following his arrest in Jayapura on Sunday May 9.

A Quran teacher in Bekasi regency was arrested for allegedly molesting his 15-year-old student, police said, with the crime taking place in the house of worship where he worked.

Indonesia is gearing up for a potential surge in COVID-19 cases, the Health Ministry said, following the five-day lebaran long weekend for Eid and the Ascension of Christ.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said religious activities and increased mobility during the period may contribute to a 30-80 percent cases spike in the coming weeks.

Chris Barrett and Karuni Rompies, Singapore – Two life rafts from a lost Indonesian submarine have been retrieved from the floor of the ocean near Bali but the China-led recovery operation has not been able to find the bodies of any of the 53 men who were aboard.

Johnny Blades – Several members of the West Papua Liberation Army have been killed by Indonesia's military in the past few days as more villages were hit by aerial fire.

Indonesian security forces have zeroed in on Ilaga district of Puncak Jaya regency in the latest stage of their Operation Nemangkawi crackdown against pro-independence Papuan guerilla fighters.

Niniek Karmini and Fadlan Syammay, Jakarta – Pro-Palestinian protesters marched to the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy in Indonesia's capital on Tuesday to demand an end to Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

Over the last month, Indonesia's president Joko Widodo initiated a military crackdown in West Papua targeting journalists and human rights activists.

Emma Connors, Jakarta/Singapore – Indonesian companies have begun paying to vaccinate employees as the country rushes to get ahead of an expected new wave of COVID-19 infections.

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja, Jakarta – Indonesia is stepping up its vaccination programme, with the start of company-funded inoculations for employees on Tuesday (May 18).

Workers in labour-intensive industries such as food and petrochemicals will be the first to receive their vaccinations under the roll-out, as the country casts its eye on maintaining its economic output.

Konradus Epa, Jakarta – Environmental destruction has put people living around Indonesia's largest lake at serious risk of natural disaster, Catholic and other Christian churches have warned.

Deforestation around Lake Toba in Sumatra has caused more frequent flooding, putting the lives of people at risk from mudslides and inundation, they said.

When Jozeph Paul Zhang, an Indonesian-Chinese Christian evangelist, uploaded a video on YouTube last month from a country in Europe, he deliberately used provocative language to attract attention.

The 40-year-old claimed he was the "26th Prophet" and had a mission to correct "heresies".

I Nyoman Sutarsa, Canberra – The Indonesian government set an ambitious goal to complete mass COVID-19 immunisation by the end of March 2022, covering the 181.5 million Indonesians eligible for vaccination.

Inge Klara Safitri, Jakarta – Jakarta saw rampant banners rejecting travelers who returned from Eid al-Fitr holidays in their hometowns without a Covid-19-free letter.

Two of them were installed in Kartini Subdistrict of Sawah Besar, Central Jakarta. The banners also read "Covid-19 swab test is mandatory for people returning from mudik or Eid homecoming".

The tragic and disturbing death of a 7-year-old girl in Temanggung regency, Central Java shocked Indonesians this week, after reports surfaced that her parents were heavily implicated in her murder, as they believed she was possessed by a supernatural being.