Jakarta – Muslims in Indonesia began marking Ramadan with communal prayers on Tuesday (Apr 13) in a socially distanced contrast to the empty mosques of a year ago when Islam's holiest month coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Andita Rahma, Jakarta – The Indonesian National Police through its virtual police unit had disbursed official warnings for 200 social media accounts that have allegedly spread offensive contents related to SARA or ethnicity, religion, and race.

Bisnis.Com, Francisca Christy Rosana, Jakarta – West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil called for people to avert from hastily lauding the Algorithm Hill project in the province's Sukabumi area as the Indonesian 'Silicon Valley' as he believes the actual area in San Francisco is able to flourish in development due to the presence of three main factors comprising researchers, the industry s

Fadli, Batam, Riau Islands – The Riau Islands administration, which governs a string of islands adjacent to the South China Sea, has started charging vessels parking fees in six anchorage areas across the province as part of a wider effort to generate revenue amid a pandemic-induced economic slump.

Mitora Pte Ltd filed a lawsuit at a South Jakarta court on March

Beijing – Indonesia said on Monday (Apr 12) that it is satisfied with the effectiveness of the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine it is using, after the acknowledgement by China's top disease control official that current vaccines offer low protection against the virus.

Arys Aditya – Indonesia will keep using the vaccines developed by China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and U.K.'s AstraZeneca Plc. to curb the spread of Covid-19 because they have met the standards set by the World Health Organization, according to the government.

Greenpeace has warned that left unchecked, forest clearance in West Papua could undo Indonesia's progress in tackling climate change.

The environmental NGO has released a report looking at systematic violations on plantation and forest release permits in Indonesia-administered Papua region.

Maria Fatima Bona, Jakarta – More than 10 million people in Indonesia have received at least one shot of Covid-19 vaccine with more than half already fully vaccinated, government figures show.

Singapore-based e-commerce platform Shopee is fighting back an accusation that it does not pay its Indonesian couriers a decent wage.

Chris Barrett, Singapore – Devastated by natural disaster and in the grip of a COVID-19 outbreak, there is a new controversy in East Timor.

Australia has responded to a request for help from the government of Timor-Leste with a $7 million relief package to support 100,000 people affected by flooding.

Konradus Epa, Jakarta – Indonesian President Joko Widodo has promised to relocate and build new homes for victims of floods and landslides that struck Catholic-majority East Nusa Tenggara province this month, killing more than 170.

Widodo made the pledge during a visit to Lembata and Adonara islands, two of the worst-hit areas.

A high-profile legal campaigner has said Indonesians would not be welcome in Thailand who left obscene and degrading comments on the page of a newlywed, same-sex Thai couple.

Some residents across Indonesia's East Java province spent a second evening yesterday in public halls, temporary shelters, verandas and tents following a deadly quake that rocked Java Island on Saturday.

Muhammad Hendartyo, Jakarta – Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah has officially issued a circular aimed at each and every Indonesian governor which basically asks for the fulfillment of workers' religious allowance known as THR (Eid allowance).

Jakarta – With COVID-19 infections showing no signs of abating more than a year since the global pandemic was declared, at least one community organization has joined the government in its nationwide bid to stop the spread of the virus.

Bisnis, Jakarta – The government predicts that Indonesia's latest trade balance will see the surplus trend to continue in the next months.

Economic Affairs Coordinating Ministry's Deputy of Macro Economics and Finance, Iskandar Simorangkir, said that the surplus is driven by the increase in exports as the global economy recovers from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Maharani, Jakarta – Indonesian police (Polri) chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo launched TV Polri and Radio Polri at the national police public relations division building in Jakarta on Monday April 12. Prabowo said that the launch of the TV and radio station was one of the efforts by the police bring itself closer to the public.

Tatang Guritno, Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid says that if the truth is not revealed, if there is no acknowledgement of a crime and the perpetrators are not held accountable, then there can be no reconciliation of gross human rights violations.

Bisnis.Com, Jakarta – The Indonesian Ministry of Trade issued a warning that sanctions will be set in place for retailers caught intentionally misleading consumers with major discount offerings or sales prior to permanent store closure.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Supreme Court has acquitted the founder of investment company MeMiles from financial fraud charges more than a year after the company came under scrutiny for collecting over Rp 750 billion ($51 million) in public fund and allegedly running a fraudulent investment scheme.

Nadia Woodhouse, Jakarta: "I had four children, but two of them died," Karimah said flatly.

At least eight people were killed after a 6.0 magnitude quake struck off the coast of Indonesia's main Java island on Saturday, as the country reels from a cyclone disaster.

Emma Connors, Singapore/Jakarta – A dwindling supply of COVID-19 vaccines has forced Indonesia to slow down its ambitious vaccination program and could affect plans to reopen schools that have been closed for more than a year.

Yudha Baskoro, Jakarta – Activists from the non-governmental organization Greenpeace Indonesia staged a protest in front of the Environment and Forestry Ministry building in Central Jakarta last Friday, demanding the government to return the customary forests in Papua to the indigenous people.

Maria Fatima Bona, Jakarta – At least eight people have died and 39 others injured following a 6.7 magnitude earthquake that shocked East Java on Saturday, the National Disaster Management Agency, or BNPB, said in a statement on Sunday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission issued guideline for broadcasting during the fasting month of Ramadan. It turned into a moral police force.

Istiqomatul Hayati, Jakarta – The documentary 'Pulau Plastik' or Plastic Island will be played limitedly in theaters starting April 22, to coincide with the commemoration of World Earth Day.

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Singapore reacted strongly on Friday to allegations by an Indonesian anti-corruption official that the city-state has become a safe haven for graft fugitives fleeing its giant neighbor.

Febriana Firdaus, Bali – On Sunday at midnight, Linda Tagie, 29, rested her three-year-old baby on the bed. Linda, who lives together with her husband, 79-year-old mother-in-law and only child in Sikumana, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia, was shocked by a strong wind and heavy rain. The electricity suddenly went off.

Christine Rovoi – Already facing the threat of a new coronavirus outbreak, the tiny nation of Timor-Leste has been hit by devastating flooding and landslides.

According to authorities, the Easter weekend deluge claimed the lives of at least 40 people including a dozen children, destroyed house, roads, bridges and left the capital Dili under water.

Friski Riana, Jakarta – The Health Ministry and the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI) introduced Friday a program that designated mosques as COVID-19 vaccination hubs.

The initial program was held today at Jami Assa'adah Mosque in Sukmajaya, Depok, which was participated by 500 people, mostly senior citizens.

Tatang Guritno, Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) believes that the judicial and legal system in Indonesia has yet to create a deterrent for corruptors.

Indonesia will suspend domestic flights and other modes of transportation for the annual homecoming exodus tradition popularly known as mudik next month, as the government seeks to prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases during the holiday period.

Chris Barrett, Singapore – A state of calamity has been declared by East Timor, whose foreign minister has been asked to seek international assistance from Australia and others as it bids to recover from catastrophic floods and landslides and confronts an alarming new COVID-19 outbreak.

Stephen Dziedzic and Anastacio Medeira Araujo in Dili – When the floods came, Markus dos Santos lost almost everything. His wife and three children were all buried by a massive avalanche of mud and water which smashed into their house.

Markus remembers desperately scrabbling through the ruins, trying to pull his two young daughters to safety as they called for help.

David Fogarty, Singapore – Indonesia has made significant strides in controlling forest and land fires and aims to reduce their incidence even further by all means possible, Indonesia's Minister for the Environment and Forestry said on Friday (April 9).

Emanuel Dile Bataona, Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Lembata, Indonesia – Gregorius Hide, a 70-year-old farmer in the eastern Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, said the only warning he had of an approaching swirl of muddy water that engulfed his district this week was a smell of wet earth shortly before it hit.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Two attacks and the arrest of nearly 100 suspects in recent weeks show that Islamist terrorism remains a substantial threat in Indonesia – both from pro-Islamic State cells and a potential revival of an old regional network.

Lembata, East Nusa Tenggara – A new cyclone was barrelling toward Indonesia and threatened to spark more floods and landslides, authorities warned Friday, as the archipelago reeled from a storm that killed more than 200 people, including victims in neighboring Timor Leste.

Denpasar, Bali – A French man has been sentenced to eight years in jail for molesting a young boy in Bali, prosecutors on the Indonesian holiday island said Thursday.

Budiarti Utami Putri, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) has officially given a green light for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodoto establish a new ministry dubbed the Investment Ministry during the House plenary meeting on Friday, April 9.

Friski Riana, Jakarta – The data coordinator of the Bogor branch of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Hadi Saputra, on Friday urged regional administrations and the public in West Java to look out for the potential lack of clean water caused by drought.

Jakarta – The explosion at Balongan adds to the long list of incidents at Pertamina refineries and depots. Structural changes are necessary to stop this from happening again.

Tatang Guritno, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) says that since 2015 the government has formed numerous bodies and mooted various ideas to resolve cases of past gross human rights violations but in the end they have come to nothing.

Lani Diana Wijaya, Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan announced Friday that restaurants were permitted to open longer during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as this would allow them to better serve the needs of people who were fasting.

With Ramadan just a few days away, we have established by now that getting a COVID-19 shot does not break one's fast, but what about getting cotton swabs shoved up your nose and down your throat?

That's all halal and does not invalidate the fast, according to the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the highest clerical body in the nation.

Indonesia's Health Ministry said Jakarta has a fresh case involving a new strain of the coronavirus, which has a name that resembles an Indonesian word for poo.

Naaman Zhou – Monash University in Melbourne has signed a formal agreement with the Indonesian government to strengthen ties between the two countries as Australian universities try to diversify from their reliance on China.