Andita Rahma, Jakarta – The National Police urged the public who were joining yet another demonstration against the Job Creation Omnibus Law on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, to be aware of provocateurs.

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Indonesia has rejected a proposal by the United States to allow its P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance planes to land and refuel there, according to four senior Indonesian officials familiar with the matter.

Ahmad Syarif Syechbubakr – The Indonesian national legislature passed the controversial omnibus Law on Job Creation on 5 October, immediately triggering widespread protests in Jakarta and many other cities across the country.

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Once was the worst-affected province in the Indonesian coronavirus outbreak, East Java now sees a greatly reduced intensity of caseloads thanks to soaring number of recoveries and slower growth in newly cases.

On 5 October 2020, the Indonesian Parliament passed an 'Omnibus' law. At the time of writing, the legislation has not yet been signed into law by President Widodo and reportedly has gone through further revisions since being passed by Parliament. The draft law remains the subject of extensive street protests across Indonesia.

Indonesia's Islamic authority is set to have a pivotal role in the country's vaccination drive, which the government is hoping would begin as early as the end of this year.

Novan Iman Santosa, Jakarta – The United States and Indonesia have agreed to tighten defense and maritime security cooperation between the two countries after a meeting between US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto in Washington, DC, on Friday.

Adrian Wail Akhlas, Jakarta – The government will not slash the vehicle tax (PKB) on new cars for individuals and businesses to zero percent this year, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Monday, despite calls from the Industry Ministry and the automotive industry to do so.

Jakarta – Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) Chairperson Asfinawati has cited a number of symptoms showing a rise in authoritarianism over the first year of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin's second term in office.

Jakarta – The global COVID-19 pandemic has put animal conservation centers in jeopardy.

The Indonesian Zoo Association (PKBSI) said in a statement on Saturday that conservation centers across the archipelago, especially in Bali, were struggling to cover the costs for food and medicine stocks for the animals as well as other expenses.

Rizki Fachriansyah, Jakarta – Home Minister Tito Karnavian has encouraged the public to spend the next long weekend at home amid concerns over a potential spike in COVID-19 cases during the holidays.

Jakarta – Asmat regency in Papua has decided to limit access to and from the area for 28 days, starting on Sunday, after eight people in the regency's capital Agats tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.

The government of the Netherlands has said it will offer compensation to the children of Indonesians who were executed by Dutch soldiers during the Indonesian War of Independence between 1945 and 1950.

Jakarta – Having seen the many people who have lost income and even their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of people in Bekasi, West Java, has decided to open a market that sells goods at affordable prices for those affected.

Rizki Fachriansyah, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has urged all relevant stakeholders to take anticipatory measures amid concerns over a possible spike in COVID-19 cases across the country throughout the long stretch of national holidays later this month.

Jakarta – The Education and Culture Ministry has announced that 123 college students across the country were tested positive for COVID-19 after taking part in protests against the Job Creation Law.

Marchio Irfan Gorbiano, Jakarta – Democratic and Islamic values are intrinsically aligned in Muslim-majority Indonesia, experts and activists have said, amid growing concerns about a rise in religious conservatism that seeks to undermine the country's democratic institutions.

Mardika Parama, Jakarta – Domestic car wholesales are continuing their upward trend after crashing to the lowest point in May as the government has sped up stimulus disbursement to boost purchasing power while the Jakarta administration has loosened the reins on measures to contain the coronavirus.

Made Anthony Iswara, Jakarta – The government was proud to announce that the Job Creation Law would encourage more applied research, and later innovation, but scientists said it would not work well if Indonesia did not pay more attention to basic research.

Rizki Fachriansyah, Jakarta – The government has consulted the country's most prominent Muslim figures regarding the imminent enactment of the Job Creation Law despite a strong wave of opposition against the controversial law in recent weeks.

A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil, Jakarta – Most residents want the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB), imposed to curb COVID-19 transmission, to end so the economy can be resumed, a survey by pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia shows.

Tri Indah Oktavianti and A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil, Jakarta – Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, the convicted murderer of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, died on Saturday after testing positive for COVID-19.

Dian Erika Nugraheny, Jakarta – Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Commissioner Fatia Maulidiyanti says that that they recorded 158 cases of violations against civil freedoms over the first year of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's second term in office. These violations took the form of restrictions and attacks on civil freedoms.

M Rosseno Aji, Jakarta – Head of the 'Solidarity Action Committee for Munir,' Usman Hamid, on Sunday pressed the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to name the murder case against activist Munir Said Thalib as a severe human rights violation.

Egi Adyatama, Jakarta – Koalisi Bersihkan Indonesia [the coalition to clean Indonesia] and Fraksi Rakyat Indonesia [Indonesian people's faction] released a report entitled the "oligarchic law book" claiming to tell the story about the role of the mining industry and conflicts of interests from 'dirty energy' behind the omnibus law on job creation.

Maikel Jefriando, Stanley Widianto, Jakarta – The president of the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, Joko Widodo, called on Monday for Indonesia not to rush the rollout of vaccines, citing concerns over public awareness about whether they were halal.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – An evolutionary crucible in Indonesia that's given rise to a unique array of primates found nowhere else on Earth is at risk of disappearing due to rapid deforestation, a new study warns.

Galih Gumelar, Jakarta – As if preparing to host elections across Indonesia's vast archipelago during the COVID-19 pandemic wasn't hard enough, the General Elections Commission (KPU) has gone the extra mile to ensure voters turn up and stay safe.

Jakarta – The Religious Affairs Ministry has started to deliver aid to eight pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in West Java and Central Java whose students have tested positive for COVID-19.

Jakarta – Eight Bekasi police who were deployed to handle rallies that broke out after the House of Representatives approved the Job Creation Law on Oct. 5 have tested positive for COVID-19.

Demonstrations against the Job Creation Law has been held several times by students and workers alike, over the past two weeks.

Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo sees the Job Creation Law as a necessary risk despite widespread public rejection of the law, Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko said on Saturday.

Moeldoko said the government had the people's best interests in mind by aiming to create more employment opportunities through the implementation of the newly passed jobs law.

Tri Indah Oktavianti, Jakarta – The convicted murderer of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, died on Saturday after testing positive for COVID-19.

"He died at 2:52 p.m. at Pertamina Hospital [in Jakarta]," Pollycarpus' former lawyer Wirawan Adnan said on Saturday as quoted by kompas.com.

Jakarta – A recently opened upscale KFC outlet in Senopati, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, has been sanctioned twice for violating COVID-19 health protocols amid the transitional period for large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) in the city, local authorities have said.

Yeremia Sukoyo & Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – A majority of Indonesian people still highly trust the government in its handling of the coronavirus outbreak although newly cases have been surging in the last few months, according to results from a poll released on Sunday.

Antara, Jakarta – Members of the public, including employers and labor unions, were involved in the process of deliberation on the Job Creation Law, stated Anwar Sanusi, secretary general of the Ministry of Manpower.

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – All 1,620 Indonesian volunteers have received trial vaccine against coronavirus provided by China's Sinovac Biotech during the phase 3 clinical trial in the West Java capital of Bandung, an executive said on Sunday.

Moch. Fiqih Prawira Adjie, Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia has condemned the Indonesian Military (TNI) for the recent imprisonment and dismissal of a soldier for having same-sex intercourse with another officer, calling the sentence unjust and dangerous to the community.

Jakarta – Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, who is also the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman, has said Muslims in the country can follow the council's fatwas that provide guidance in facing the pandemic.

The government has worked closely with the MUI in issuing policies in regard to tackling COVID-19, including about vaccines, Ma'ruf said in a statement on Friday.

Jakarta – A 5-day-old baby has died of COVID-19 in Jeneponto, South Sulawesi. The baby's mother initially had a reactive rapid test result, which led to both of them taking swab tests, which came back positive.

Alya Nurbaiti, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has stated that the fatal shooting of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani in Hitadipa district, Intan Jaya, Papua is not a standalone incident, but rather a part of a series of violence occurring across the regency throughout this year.

A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil, Jakarta – The recent death of Pollycarpus Priyanto, who was convicted of murdering human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, should not deter law enforcement from further investigating those behind Munir's murder, criminal law experts have said.

Marchio Irfan Gorbiano, Jakarta – As labor unions, activists and their lawyers prepare to petition the Constitutional Court for a judicial review of the recently passed Job Creation Law, critics have accused President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo of sidestepping public concerns over the rushed process to pass the legislation.

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Indonesia has registered 70,754 coronavirus cases since October 1, up from around 58,000 cases at this point last month, suggesting that the peak in new infections remains nowhere to be seen.

Ian Lloyd Neubauer – "Like Bali before the tourism boom." That is how I described East Timor – a young country brimming with hope – when I first arrived there to work as a correspondent in 2009. The factional violence of 2006-2008 had finally ended and the last of the 100,000 refugees internally displaced during the conflict had been repatriated to their homes.

Anisah Shukry – AirAsia X Bhd. is liquidating its Indonesian arm in a bid to survive the virus pandemic that has left the low-cost airline's planes grounded since late March.

The long-haul arm of AirAsia Group Bhd. has also written down its 49% stake in Thai AirAsia X, the airline's deputy chairman Lim Kian Onn said in an interview with the Star newspaper.

Dian Septiari, Jakarta – Despite concerns over his role in past alleged human rights violations, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto began his official visit to the United States this week to discuss various forms of cooperation.

Jakarta – Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and State-owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir visited the United Kingdom and Switzerland earlier this week to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation on COVID-19 handling and vaccine procurement.

Moch. Fiqih Prawira Adjie, Jakarta – Watchdogs and a former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) commissioner have criticized the antigraft body's recent move to procure cars for its high-ranking officials and supervisory board members, saying the plan is "against the commission's values".

Jakarta – Seven neighborhood units (RTs) in South Jakarta and West Jakarta were inundated after a heavy downpour in the capital on Friday afternoon.

Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency official Insaf said two RTs in Bangka subdistrict, South Jakarta, and five others in Srengseng, North Sukabumi, and Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, were flooded until 5 p.m.

Alya Nurbaiti, Jakarta – Thousands of students from the National Association of University Student Executive Bodies (BEM SI) staged another round of protests on Friday to demand that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo rescind the controversial Job Creation Law, as well as to convey their opposition to protest restrictions and alleged police brutality.