Jakarta – Young leaders from G20 countries will have a summit in Jakarta and Bandung next year, allowing them the opportunity to get involved in the policymaking process.

The Youth 20 Summit will discuss a wide range of issues from manpower to digital transformation and from environmental sustainability to diversity and inclusion.

Lenny Trstia Tambun, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo instructed a "total reform" in the Indonesian Anti-Doping Agency (LADI) whose failure to comply with international requirements has prevented the national flag from being raised when the national team won the Thomas Cup earlier this week.

Francisca Christy Rosana, Jakarta – Former investigators of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Novel Baswedan and Rizka Anungnata, reported Lili Pintauli Siregar to the KPK Supervisory Council for allegedly violating the code of ethics as she made communication with the regional head election contestant of North Labuhanbatu Regency, Darno.

Jakarta – The government is continuing its diplomatic efforts with Saudi Arabia, in hopes to enable Indonesian Muslims go on a minor pilgrimage or umrah to Mecca amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

"So please kindly wait," Eko Hartono, the Indonesian consul general in Jeddah, said.

M Yusuf Manurung, Jakarta – The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute or LBH Jakarta criticized the Attorney General's Office for not detaining the defendants in the unlawful killing case of six members of the now-defunct Islam Defenders Front (FPI). Defendants, who are policemen, were not detained as they received bail from the Jakarta Metro Police officials.

Jakarta – Indonesia is on course to cut diesel fuel imports worth $3.9 billion this year thanks to the country's growing biodiesel industry, validating President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's decision to rely on biodiesel for national energy security.

Resty Woro Yuniar – Survivors and descendants of those killed in Indonesia's anti-communist purge of 1965-1966 are urging Western countries to apologise for their roles in what the CIA has itself described as "one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century".

Antara, Jakarta – The Bandung city government in West Java has decided to temporarily stop classroom schooling (PTM) in a number of schools after health officials reported new Covid-19 cases in schools exercising physical attendance.

Jefferson Ng – Over the last two years, former Indonesian army general Prabowo Subianto has become the most influential man to occupy the position of defense minister in the post-Suharto era. A confluence of presidential delegation, formal and informal networks, and personal resources has underpinned his strong position as defense minister.

Konradus Epa, Jakarta – Indonesian students and rights groups have criticized President Joko Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin for the brutal police violence against students and human rights defenders, especially in Papua, and for ignoring past human rights violations.

Antara, Jakarta – The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Head Ganip Warsito said Indonesia with its various disaster potentials deserves to be called a laboratory of disaster, instead of a supermarket of disaster.

Abdi Purmono (Contributor), Jakarta – Heavy rains across Malang City of East Java led to flooding, submerging at least 230 houses and disrupting roads in Blimbing, Purwantoro, and Bunulrejo of Blimbing sub-district on Tuesday, October 19.

Yustinus Paat, Jakarta – A Jakarta Legislative Council member said on Wednesday she had filed a Rp 1 trillion ($70.8 million) lawsuit against the Indonesian Solidarity Party, or PSI after her membership was terminated for allegedly inflating official expenses.

Rebecca Ratcliffe – Almost one-fifth of the land used for Indonesian oil palm plantations is located in the country's forest estate, despite a law banning such activity, according to a study by Greenpeace.

Dewi Nurita, Jakarta – The Presidential Staff Office (KSP) released a report entitled 'Indonesia Strong, Indonesia Grows 2021' on Wednesday, 20 October. In the report, there is a chapter on efforts to resolve human rights violations. It said that the government continues to seek settlement of human rights violations.

Khanifah Juniasari, Ek, Graven Fikri (Intern), Jakarta – Indonesian university students joined in the student alliance of Islamic State University (UIN) Jakarta staged a protest in front of the Merdeka Palace today, October 21, 2021. The Indonesian alliance of the Student Executive Board (BEM SI) also took part in the demonstration.

Melissa Mackay – Battling heatwave conditions and pandemic precautions, about 300 Australian and Indonesian soldiers are conducting their largest ever annual joint combat training across defence bases in the Top End.

Exercise Wirra Jaya is an annual three-week training exercise between the two militaries, which takes place in either Australia or Indonesia.

Even if you're fully vaccinated, you now have to take the PCR test before boarding a plane, after the government enforced stricter screening measures for flights ahead of an anticipated boom for domestic air travel.

Jakarta – Students held demonstration in several cities around the country on Thursday to mark seven years of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration. Widodo meanwhile chose to leave Jakarta to officiate the opening of a palm oil processing factory owned by the PT Jhonlin Group in South Kalimantan.

Fairuz Amanda Putri, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Affairs, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is amazed at the economic recovery measures in Indonesia.

Rahmat Amin Siregar, Jakarta – Indonesian National Police (Polri) Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo announced that he will not hesitate to punish on-duty police personnel who commit legal violations.

He made it clear that his firm warning is meant to protect the institution that still houses good and law-abiding members.

Shotaro Tani, Jakarta – Indonesia will need $200 billion per annum in the next decade and over $1 trillion annually in the next four decades to achieve its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2060, a recent government study showed, highlighting the need for massive financing in a country heavily reliant on coal.

Tatang Guritno, Jakarta – In the two years since President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin were elected, the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) notes that not one case of gross human rights violations has been resolved.

Komnas HAM Commissioner Choirul Anam believes that this fact should be of concern to the government.

David Lipson – On Bali's idyllic Gili Islands, the music at the Jungle Bar nightclub has been silent ever since the pandemic struck.

Owner Brendan Muir has kept the nightclub and his hostel shut since March last year.

"Pretty much every tourist left straight away, it was really depressing to see how quiet it was," he says.

Emma Connors, Singapore/Jakarta – The Indonesian government is getting plans ready to upgrade a charter flight business into a full-service airline as the country's debt-burdened flag carrier Garuda sweats on a court ruling this week.

Basten Gokkon, Jakarta – Conservation groups are calling on the Asian Development Bank to tighten its scrutiny of a road project it plans to fund in Indonesian Borneo that may pose risks to Indigenous communities and the environment.

Jakarta – Indonesia has cut its oil and gas production targets for this year, officials at industry regulator SKK Migas told reporters on Tuesday (Oct 19), as the coronavirus pandemic impacted new projects.

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – A top-level government team is visiting the United States for talks with pharmaceutical company Merck on the possibility of manufacturing Molnupiravir, an antiviral treatment for Covid-19, in Indonesia.

James Guild – At the end of September, the Indonesian legislature passed the 2022 state budget, which comes in at around $190 billion.

Amnesty International Indonesia is calling for the reopening of the investigation into the 1965 humanitarian tragedy following the revelation of new facts reported by the British media The reports cite the involvement of the British government in the mass murders which occurred in Indonesia between 1965 and 1966.

Amid a crackdown on unregistered online lenders in Indonesia, one illicit company in Jakarta made fake nudes of their clients to coerce them during collection, police said.

Rahel Narda Chaterine, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has highlighted the massive scale of the attacks and criminalisation of human rights defenders during the last two years of the President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin's administration.

Dewi Nurita, Jakarta – Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin hoped that 59 percent of the Indonesian people targeted for COVID-19 vaccination would be fully vaccinated by the end of this year.

"We estimate that 122 million people or 59 percent of the target will receive the second vaccination by year's end," Budi said at an online press conference on Monday, October 18.

Konradus Epa, Jakarta – Interreligious groups in Indonesia have held a series of demonstrations outside churches and mosques in Jakarta calling on the government to commit to addressing climate change at an upcoming international conference on global warming.

Jakarta – Indonesia's central bank kept its policy rates steady at record lows on Tuesday, saying the decision was in line with the need to support the economic recovery while keeping the rupiah stable.

Rahel Narda Chaterine, Jakarta – Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Coordinator Fatia Maulidiyanti says that democracy in Indonesia has slowly died over the last two years of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin's administration.

Francisca Christy Rosana, Jakarta – The government decided to relax the public mobility restrictions or PPKM policy in line with the improving conditions of COVID-19. The Java-Bali PPKM coordinator Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said several adjustments to activities in shopping centers or malls, as well as tourist sites, were made.

Rizky Argama – Over the past few months, senior lawmakers have been pushing to amend the 1945 Indonesian Constitution again. These irresponsible and unnecessary proposals could result in the first changes to the constitution since the four amendments, from 1999 to 2002, that delivered democratic transition after the fall of Soeharto.

Lani Diana Wijaya, Jakarta – The Jakarta Legal Aid (LBH Jakarta) on Monday issued a report on the performance of Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan throughout his 4-year tenure dubbed the "red report card [failing report card] for Anies Baswedan's leadership in the capital."

Christina Schonleber, Jakarta – Both at home and abroad, plastic waste is a mounting problem that is not going to disappear on its own.

A woman in Parigi Moutong regency, Central Sulawesi claims she was lured into having sex with the region's police chief under a false promise that he would free her jailed father.

Sebastian Strangio – Yesterday, The Guardian published a fascinating article shedding fresh light on the role played by the United Kingdom in the ghastly liquidation of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in the mid-1960s. Based on recently declassified documents from the U.K.

Greg Poulgrain – During my ten days in Jakarta in May 1998 when the Suharto era ended, I visited Cipinang penitentiary to speak with Colonel Abdul Latief. He'd been in prison since 1965 for the entire Suharto era, the 'New Order'. Latief had helped start the 'September 30 Movement' which went beyond his control and led to six generals being murdered instead of kidnapped.

Antara, Jakarta – Rainfall in the moderate to heavy intensity that had lashed many parts of Samarinda City, East Kalimantan since the early hours of today, October 18, resulted in floods at around 7 a.m. Central Indonesian Time (WITA).

For doctoral candidate Kezia Dewi, studying the history of Indonesia's Chinese settlements is more than just of personal interest, being one of the country's roughly three million ethnic Chinese.

Such academic research is also rare, because many see the topic of Chinese Indonesian land ownership as sensitive and divisive.

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja, Jakarta – Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to allow those conducting essential business to resume travelling between the two countries.

This was disclosed by the foreign ministers of the two countries at a joint press conference after a meeting on Monday (Oct 18) in Jakarta.

Jakarta – The police have again come under public scrutiny for committing repressive and violent acts after a police officer threw a student to the ground during a protest action in Tangerang, West Java, on Wednesday October 13.

Jakarta – All drugs and cosmetics imported, distributed, and sold in Indonesia must have halal certification from government-appointed agencies starting on Sunday as mandated by recent laws.

The government has established the Halal Product Guarantee Agency, or BPJPH, which coordinates with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) in implementing a new halal quality regime.

Jakarta – The Covid-19 situation in Indonesia has improved significantly with a steady decline in new cases and deaths over the last few weeks.

The country recorded 19 Covid deaths on Sunday – the lowest single-day death toll since May 25, 2020 – to take the overall fatality toll to 142,952, government figures show.

Paul Lashmar, Nicholas Gilby and James Oliver – A propaganda campaign orchestrated by Britain played a crucial part in one of the most brutal massacres of the postwar 20th century, shocking new evidence reveals.

British officials secretly deployed black propaganda in the 1960s to urge prominent Indonesians to "cut out" the "communist cancer".