M Julnis Firmansyah, Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan appealed to people who tested positive for Covid-19 to carry out self-isolation in government facilities, such as Wisma Atlet or the athlete's dorm and hotels.

Rini Kustiani, Jakarta – Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim launched the Kampus Mengajar or Teaching Campus program as part of the Merdeka Belajar (Freedom Campus) policy along with the Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) on Tuesday, February 9.

Fajar Pebrianto, Jakarta – Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko acknowledged that the growth of palm oil plantations presented a dilemma. Indonesia was caught between its impact on the welfare of farmers and the environment.

Bisnis.Com, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo stated that the enforcement of a large-scale lockdown would be highly detrimental to the economy of the affected regions whereas a local one would be proper.

Lenny Tristia Tambun, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi," Widodo said on Thursday that the government would start administering Covid-19 vaccination next week to public servants and workers in service industries, two weeks ahead of schedule, ramping up its effort to protect Indonesia's population from the pandemic.

Katharina R. Lestari, Jakarta – Three Christians were flogged in public in Indonesia's Aceh province on Feb. 8 after being caught drinking alcohol at a small shop in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, according to a local government official.

Gemma Holliani Cahya in Jakarta, and Associated Press – A malfunctioning automatic throttle may have caused the pilots of a Sriwijaya Air jet to lose control, leading to the Boeing 737-500's plunge into the Java Sea last month, Indonesian investigators have said.

Linda Yulisman, Jakarta – Indonesian police are investigating a wedding organiser that has promoted controversial child marriage as well as unregistered marriages.

Aisha Weddings encourages girls to marry early, at the age from 12, as their duty is "to serve their husbands".

Jeffrey Hutton, Jakarta – In Indonesia, it can cost twice as much to transport a refrigerated container of oranges from Jakarta to Jayapura, in Papua, a distance of more than 4,300km, than it does to import it from Shanghai, which is similar in distance.

Shipping can be tricky in the world's largest archipelago.

Harry Jacques, Solok, Indonesia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Clipped onto a rope, climbing high up in a tree swaying in gusts of wind, Topher White finally reaches the roof of the rainforest and opens a laptop to run checks on a machine he built to transmit 24-hour live sound from the surrounding forest.

Antara, Jakarta – The Indonesian government is committed to extending US$2.3 million in aid to support Palestine's struggle for independence, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.

M Rosseno Aji, Jakarta – Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin on Thursday, Feb. 11, claimed that over one million Indonesian healthcare workers had received the Covid-19 vaccine injections.

Benny Mawel, Jayapura – Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) announced they rejected the central government and the House of Representatives plan to revise special autonomy (otsus) law without consulting MRP. The decision was made after MRP held a plenary meeting on Feb. 9 in Jayapura.

Benny Mawel, Jayapura – Papua Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua) Director Emanuel Gobay, said that Merauke Police had denied 13 activists from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) their right to health after the institute received a report that one of the detainees was critically ill.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Palm oil-driven deforestation is slowing down in Southeast Asia in 2020 but a handful of low-profile companies continue to drive the majority of the destruction, according to a new analysis.

Abigail Rose McCall, Brisbane, Australia – The struggles of Indonesia's Papuan communities have surfaced in various shows of solidarity, with indigenous Australians during the divisive Australia Day celebrations that took place across the "land down under" last month.

Gisela Swaragita, Jakarta – Over the past few weeks, Indonesia's language agency Badan Bahasa has managed to irk gender and women activists alike by refusing to remove derogatory definitions for "perempuan" (woman) in the Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language (KBBI), the primary reference book on the national language.

Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Indonesia's export levy prevents palm oil from reaping enormous profits from the rising price of crude palm oil, or CPO, plantation giant Astra Agro Lestari, a subsidiary of Indonesian automotive conglomerate Astra Indonesia warned.

Jessica Washington and Syarina Hasibuan, Jakarta, Indonesia – One month ago, Rahmania Ekanda and her two young daughters boarded a flight at Indonesia's Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

The family lived in Jakarta, while the girls' father worked in West Kalimantan.

Adam Prireza, Jakarta – Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria said the elimination of the river normalization project noted in the draft of the 2017-2022 Jakarta mid-term development plan (RPJMD) was determined for the interests of the community.

Dewi Nurita, Jakarta – Spokesperson for the Covid-19 Handling Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, reported the good trend in the weekly pandemic mitigation. According to him, there was a decrease in the number of national weekly cases by 10.8 percent.

Dewi Nurita, Jakarta – Renowned political observer Rocky Gerung assessed President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's public call for more criticism as a paradox, saying that what the government had recently been engaged in depicted the otherwise.

Jakarta – The government will start using rapid antigen test for tracing the Covid-19 suspects and plan to spend $100 on every person infected by the Sars-CoV2 virus, who had to self-quarantine in their homes, in its latest attempt to control the pandemic, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Indonesia is trying again to "divide and rule my people" by further carving Papua into three new provinces, warns interim president Benny Wenda of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP).

And he says that Jakarta is bringing in another 450 troops in to "violently enforce" its policies.

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – The daily number of coronavirus cases have left the five-digit territory in the last three days in an apparent sign that post-holiday surge in newly cases is over.

Anne Barker – The sons of Timor Leste's former president Xanana Gusmao have expressed their disappointment to the victims of a former priest facing child sexual abuse allegations, after their father visited him for his birthday at his home in Dili.

Jakarta (Bloomberg) – Indonesia's capital is racing to open more cemeteries to cope with the coronavirus death toll that has doubled in less than three months despite vaccination efforts.

Are some Indonesian islands up for sale? It's all a hoax, the country's authorities have confirmed, after recent online listings suggesting exactly that made national headlines.

Have Jakarta's streets been relatively free of maddening macet (traffic jams) over the past year? Like in most major cities during the pandemic, of course they have, but Governor Anies Baswedan has invited criticism upon himself after he seemingly took pride in the non-achievement.

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has launched an independent COVID-19 vaccination scheme, which is estimated to reach at least 20 million workers in the private sector.

Kadin Chairman Rosan P. Roeslani said that companies can start registering for the program, which closes on Feb. 17.

Luke Lischin – On January 12, 2021 Indonesian President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, issued Government Regulation (Peraturan Pemerintah) Number 3 of 2021 implementing National Law 23 on the Management of National Resources for Defense of the Nation (Undang-Undang Nomor 23 Tahun 2019 – Pengelolaan Sumber Daya Nasional Untuk Pertahanan Negara).

Johan Purnomo and Tommy Ardiansyah, Jakarta – Floods, heavy rain and power outages led people to evacuate their homes in parts of Indonesia's capital on Monday, with the conditions – worsened by the La Nina weather pattern – expected to continue until March or April.

Yance Wenda, Jayapura – Hundreds of university students from Lapago Customary Territory gathered on Monday in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province, to reject the central government and local administration plan to establish new provinces in Papua Land or West Papua.

A social media star/singer in Jakarta has become the subject of controversy after she was vaccinated against COVID-19 when jabs are currently exclusive to health workers.

Indonesia did not take kindly to a prediction that it would need at least 10 years to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 through vaccination, with officials adamant that the feat is achievable by next year.

Krishna Hort, Tiara Marthias – Indonesia is facing an ongoing rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, often described as a "never-ending" first wave. This is probably the result of ongoing geographic spread, with cases now increasing in most provinces. Meanwhile, the increasing number of people developing serious conditions is putting strain on hospital capacity.

Christopher Knaus – The federal government's attempt to use "extraordinary" national security powers to obstruct Bernard Collaery engaging a highly respected barrister in the Timor-Leste spying case was "disturbing" and "unfair", a judge has ruled.

Banda Aceh – Two Christian men were publicly flogged Monday in Indonesia's ultra-conservative Aceh province for drinking alcohol and gambling, in a rare instance of non-Muslims facing a punishment frequently condemned by rights groups.

Farouk Arnaz & Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – A self-proclaimed Muslim preacher who was being detained for alleged defamation died for illness on Monday evening, a National Police spokesman said.

Hengky Yeimo, Nabire – People in West Papua called hip hop music "musik bicara-bicara", which can be loosely translated into conversational music or talks music, because it has spoken words.

Adam Prireza, Jakarta – Jakarta's Environment Agency picks up garbage in rivers that are carried away after the rain. As of 16:00 yesterday, the agency picked up 746 cubic meters or 746,000 liters of trash from three locations in rivers.

Antara, Jakarta – Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin on Tuesday, Feb. 9, revealed the reason why he thinks it is necessary to involve the military or armed forces (TNI) and police to suppress the spread of Covid-19 in Indonesia. He also likens the pandemic as a war.

Dewi Nurita, Jakarta – In the commemoration of the National Press Day on Tuesday, February 9, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said the press freedom must be maintained as stipulated in Law No. 40/1999.

The freedom of the press, Pramono underlined, is the main pillar to keep democracy going in this democratic country.

Francisca Christy Rosana, Jakarta – Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno along with Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly were discussing a policy to grant a long-term visa for foreign tourists that could last for five years.

Achmad Nasrudin Yahya, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's statement asking the public to be more active in conveying criticism and input on government performance is not in line with the actual situation.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) has responded to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's statement yesterday asking the public to be more active in conveying criticism by citing the many cases of alleged criminalisation and digital attacks which have occurred over the last three years.

Police in Garut, West Java have arrested a man suspected of brutally murdering his girlfriend due to jealousy.

The victim, identified as 21-year-old WT, was found dead by a river on Friday with a bamboo stick pierced through her anus. On Sunday, police identified her boyfriend, 21-year-old DH, as the sole suspect in the homicide case and made an arrest.

Indonesian motorcycle taxi drivers may be among the first groups from the general public to receive vaccine shots against COVID-19, the Health Ministry said today.

With an ever-evolving mass vaccination schedule, the ministry said today that members of the general public, for whom interaction with other people is a necessity, may start getting the vaccine in March.

The central government has imposed a new set of restrictions in parts of Java and Bali, which is designed for more localized enforcement but with some policies relaxed.

Dozens of South Jakarta residents have been evacuated after their homes were flooded amid heavy rainfall throughout the capital on Sunday afternoon that carried on into Monday morning.

According to the South Jakarta Fire Department, as of 9am today, 48 people have been evacuated from East Pejaten – one of the worst hit areas by flood in the capital today.