Wahyu Susilo – In May 2015, the Indonesian government announced a permanent ban on sending domestic workers to 21 mainly Middle East countries.

Dan McGarry, Port Vila – Last month, New Zealand-based analyst Jose Sousa-Santos commented on Twitter that "Indonesia's attempt at buying support from the Pacific region seems to have little to no

Tim Lindsey – It began with a statement by the spokesman for the commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI), General Gatot Nurmantyo, that defence cooperation with Australia had been suspended

East Timor and Australia have agreed to a new maritime border which would give East Timor control of a $40 billion oil field. But not everyone is happy.

Recent reports of a suspension of military cooperation between Indonesia and Australia were wildly exaggerated, but they emphasise the importance of proper intercountry linguistic, cultural and pol

Willem van der Muur – Three years have already passed since the Indonesian Constitutional Court ruled that indigenous adat forests are not part of state-owned forest.

Hendri Yulius – In the last year there have been consistent legal efforts to outlaw same-sex practices and LGBT identity in Indonesia.

Hands up anyone who believes that the Sunrise gas project in the waters that separate Australia from East Timor will be developed in their lifetime, a challenge that Slugcatcher extends to any chil

David Hutt – With much of the population living in poverty and oil wealth running dry, Timor-Leste's upcoming elections could be the public's most important decision since independence

Steve Bracks – The revelation this week that Australia will negotiate a maritime boundary with Timor-Leste represents a significant and welcome policy shift within the Australian Government.

Bec Strating – On Monday, a joint statement from the governments of Timor-Leste and Australia announced that Timor-Leste planned to officially notify Australia that it wished to terminate the 2006

Tom Clarke – Australia's dodgy oil and gas treaty with East Timor is dead. Now it's time to negotiate fair and permanent maritime boundaries with our tiny neighbour.

John Martinkus – East Timor's cancellation of the 2006 Treaty between Australia and the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS), which centres o

Hopes of a clean slate in developing the gas riches of the Timor Sea have now shifted to the international courts in The Hague.

Rebecca Strating – The government of Timor-Leste has officially notified Australia of its wish to terminate the 2006 Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS).

Damien Kingsbury – East Timor has won a significant moral victory in the Timor Sea dispute, with Australia agreeing to scrap the controversial 2006 Timor Sea treaty.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Hardly any other element exerts the same level of attraction for mankind than gold.

Yohanes Sulaiman – The Indonesian government has confirmed that it will not suspend military cooperation with Australia after a top general said earlier in the week that ties between the two nation

Bilateral relationships as important as that between Jakarta and Canberra deserve better than the brouhaha surrounding the unilateral action by Indonesia's army chief, General Gatot Nurmantyo, in s

Theo Kalangi, Jakarta – In March 2016, a study conducted by Central Connecticut State University (CCTU) entitled "Most Literate Nation of the World" placed Indonesia as the 60th most literate natio

Heather Barr – Lawmakers in Indonesia have decided they need to make their presence felt – in the nation's bedrooms.

Many of us might have had a feeling of deja vu when the police arrested 11 people, mostly on accusations of attempted treason, hours before thousands turned up for a rally last Friday demanding the

Budi Hernawan – Despite frequent international and national exposure, torture in Papua has been continuous and systematic for half a century.

Kyle Knight – An Indonesian militant Islamist group with a well-earned reputation for harassment and violence against minorities led police to raid a gathering of men for a so-called "sex party."

Ella Fabry – Tomorrow, November 28, one of the world's newest nations, Timor Leste, will celebrate the anniversary of its declaration of independence from foreign rule.

Tim Lindsey – The controversial decision to continue criminal proceedings for blasphemy against Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama reveals deep fault lines in Indonesian society.

Esther Anderson – On 28 November, East Timorese celebrate the anniversary of the day in 1975 when their country was declared an independent nation and they raised their flag for the first time.

Asvi Warman Adam, Frankfurt – Erving Goffman (1968) suggested that stigma was any form of physical and social attributes or signs that diminish the social identity of an individual, disqualifying t

Tim Mann – Indonesian police last week declared Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, or Ahok, a suspect for blasphemy, over a speech he gave in which he quoted a verse from the Qur'an.

Marco Kusumawajiya – Unlike other megalopolises across the world, and in sharp contrast to the trend of global urbanisation, more people are actually leaving Jakarta than arriving.

Timor-Leste looks forward to successful elections next year and stand ready to strengthen its relationships as a member of ASEAN.

Terry Russell – Fear. It's one of the most powerful tools in politics, and the fear of foreigners is one of the most powerful fears.

The police's decision to name incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama a suspect in a blasphemy case on Wednesday came as no surprise given the uphill challenge facing law enforcers

Russell Dunne – The lack of love between Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, or 'Ahok', and fundamentalist Islam is not news.

Tim Mann – Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the United States of America. This is not the outcome Indonesians wanted.

Lies Marcoes – On 4 November, Jakarta saw one of the largest protests in Indonesian history, as an estimated 100,000 Muslims took to the streets to demand that Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purna

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Gubernatorial candidates Anies Baswedan and Agus Yudhoyono now bear the responsibility of keeping the already tense Jakarta gubernatorial race from descending further into s

Sonny Inbaraj Krishnan – This Saturday marks the 25th anniversary of the Dili massacre, when 270 East Timorese – including Malaysian-New Zealander Kamal Bamadhaj – were killed when Indonesian troop

Patrick M.

Esther Anderson – When Indonesian President Joko Widodo visits Australia this coming week, he may be surprised to find that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags are designated official f

Ian Wilson – In a city where demonstrations are a daily almost banal occurrence, one scheduled for 4 November has left Jakarta on an uncharacteristic edge.

It might be the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese cosmology but where Indonesians are concerned this might as well be the Year of the Horse.

Dr Budi Hernawan – Since the United Liberation Movement for West Papua was established in December 2014 in Vanuatu, Papua's international diplomacy has gained a new momentum.

Sidney Jones – If anyone wonders why Indonesia has been ineffective in curbing extremism, the anti-Ahok campaign provides an object lesson.

Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – The nation has refreshed calls for a resolution to the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight in September 2004, sad

Andhyta Firselly Utami – 'Being a young, female Indonesian myself, I expected myself to celebrate Nara Masista Rakhmatia's UN General Assembly speech. Instead, I was gravely disappointed.

Ken Setiawan – Last week, the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) confirmed strong suspicions long held by the Indonesian human rights community.

Steven Schubert – Donald Trump would provoke instability and world disorder if he becomes the US president, according to Nobel Peace Prize winner and former president of Timor-Leste, Jose Ramos-Hor

Esther Anderson – It is now more than 50 years since Indonesia took over what had been briefly declared as independent West Papua in 1961.

The latest visit by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo raises both hope and worry. Can he win over the hearts and minds of people in Papua and West Papua?