Phelim Kine – Indonesia's Minister of Home Affairs Tjahjo Kumolo backtracked on a pronounced commitment to abolish abusive Sharia regulations in the country.

Okky Madasari, Jakarta – "Have you ever imagined, if only Indonesia didn't invade Timor Leste in 1975, would everything be very different now?

Benny Wenda – Last week, thousands of West Papuan people rallied in the streets to call for freedom and for our fundamental right to self-determination to be exercised.

Scott Edwards and Masyithoh Annisa Ramadhani – Indonesia's new Defense White Paper, released at the end of April 2016 (originally due in 2013-2014, but delayed due to a change of administration and

Jamil Anderlini – On September 21 1999 Sander Thoenes, a Financial Times correspondent, was shot and killed by soldiers from the Indonesian army on the outskirts of Dili, the capital of East Timor,

Gatra Priyandita, Indonesia – Military figures have publicly warned of discreet attempts by communists to launch a revolution and reminded citizens to steer clear of communism or risk imprisonment.

Jakarta – Indonesians on Monday celebrated 115 years since the birth of the country's first president, Sukarno, best remembered as a national hero who proclaimed independence more than 70 years ago

Winarno Zain, Jakarta – The controversy over the Jakarta Bay land reclamation project that has triggered months of national debate seems to center on several critical issues.

Bureaucratic reform has remained an unresolved debate for many years, despite the Civil Service Law, dubbed the panacea for the acute problems plaguing Indonesian bureaucracy, coming into force in

Grace Phan – The words spoken by President Barack Obama in Hanoi, Vietnam in May resonated loudly with the people of Timor-Leste.

Saskia Wieringa – The gang rape and gruesome murder of Yuyun, a 14-year-old schoolgirl in Bengkulu, Sumatera made international headlines.

The government's talk of declaring Pancasila Day on June 1 a national holiday seems to reveal a yawning gap between the past and today's regime in terms of methods of instilling moral guidance in c

Duncan Graham, Malang, East Java – Indonesia has been rightly promoting its many positives.

Dr Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka, Honolulu, Hawaii – Late last week, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement rejecting the Solomon Islands Prime Minister's comments on the issue

Geoffrey Swenson – In Timor-Leste, a peaceful transition of power is ironically threatening to undermine democracy.

Andreas Harsono, Jakarta – The detention of more than 1,500 Papuan independence supporters on May 2 for "lacking a permit to hold a rally" speaks volumes of the government's stubbornly problematic

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Newly elected Golkar Party chairman Setya Novanto has a string of alleged graft cases in tow, which comes as a surprise to no one.

Veronica Koman – When outsiders think of Papua, it may be to puzzle over why protests there seem never-ending.

Maire Leadbeater – It would be hard to overstate the importance of the role that Jose Ramos Horta played during the long dark years when Timor Leste was occupied by Indonesia.

John Martinas – The harassment, beating and jailing of independence protesters by Indonesian authorities in Papua continues, while Australia turns a blind eye.

Kathleen Noonan – In a waterfront restaurant on a still-warm autumn night near the Brisbane River, it seems almost ridiculous to be hearing about something as appalling as this.

Benny Wenda – A historic step on the road to freedom for West Papua took place in London last week.

Benny Wenda – Earlier this year, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held its extraordinary summit in Jakarta with the theme "Independence is the right of all nations".

Padre James Bhagwan – Last week I ended my column drawing a correlation between the writing of JW Burton, Totaram Sandhya and CF Andrews on the indenture system and the recent report of the Catholi

Ligia J. Giay – A recent article by Sade Bimantara on how Papua is "already free and its rights protected" reeks of what it means to be privileged in Indonesia.

Benny Giay – On Monday, Indonesian police arrested nearly 1,500 protestors in Jayapura, Papua.

Joshua Oppenheimer – There has been tremendous concern over the ways climate change will affect human rights, but little attention to how human rights abuse affects our global climate.

Galuh Wandita – Last week an extraordinary thing took place in Jakarta.

Jose Ramos Horta – The maritime border dispute between Timor-Leste (East Timor) and Australia dates back at least to the 1960s.

Irine Hiraswari Gayatri – Growing up as a teenager in the 1990s was easier than today. You got to listen to high-quality rock bands, pop and other MTV hits that were considered original.

Keoni Marzuki – Indonesia's Military Commander, General Gatot Nurmantyo, has frequently articulated his concern over proxy wars that have the potential of ripping the country apart.

In little more than a decade, starting in 1965, Asia suffered four man-made catastrophes apart from the Vietnam war; altogether they cost millions of lives. China endured the Cultural Revolution.

Faiza Mardzoeki – In the early 20th century, a woman not yet 20 years old, named Kartini, thought a lot about the people of her time, especially women.

Andreas Harsono – I've spent the last two days in a Jakarta hotel listening to more than 20 hours of recollections of Indonesia's most sensitive, taboo topic: the state-orchestrated 1965-66 massacr

Papang Hidayat – She was the only woman on the stage. On either side stood uniformed men, their stern gaze bearing down on her.

Endy M.

Hipolitus Yolisandry Ringgi Wangge, Jakarta – A recent three-day visit by Coordinating Security, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan to Papua, Indonesia's easternmost region, was n

John Martinkus – In 1995, as I squatted for days in a hole in the jungle of East Timor with 12 men hiding from Indonesian troops patrolling nearby, the whispered conversations between the Falintil

Ary Hermawan – The sinister circumstances surrounding the death of suspected terrorist Siyono and the blatant cover-up attempts by the police are no trifles.

Jakarta – Today we will be addressing what to do about the 1965 killings. Why do these still matter and how can we properly address them?

Hipolitus Yolisandry Ringgi Wangge – Recently, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security, Luhut Panjaitan, made a three-day visit to Papua.

Edio Jose Maria Guterres – Movimentu Kontra Okupasaun Tasi Timor (MKOTT or the movement against occupation in the Timor Sea) organised a two-day peaceful protest on 22 and 23 March in what turned o

David Webster – In the 1990s, the Liberal government maintained close ties with the Indonesian regime that occupied East Timor.

Ann Wigglesworth – An estimated ten thousand Timorese protesters besieged the Australian embassy in Dili on 22 March 2016 to protest Australia's refusal to negotiate with East Timor on a permanent

Tom Clarke – This week over 10,000 people descended on Australia's embassy in Dili, Timor-Leste, to demand that the Australian government enter negotiations to finally establish permanent and fair

Cayla Dengate – Every day, more people lend their faces to a viral campaign against Australia.

Frank Brennan – When Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister six months ago, our Timorese neighbours thought there might be an opportunity to draw a line on the past and to kick start the negotiatio

Andreas Harsono – Johan Teterisa went from school teacher to political prisoner on June 29, 2007.

In a series of recent posts on The Interpreter, Stephen Grenville has suggested that if Australia agreed to enter into maritime boundary negotiations with Timor-Leste and, if necessary, allow an in

There are a couple of issues from the The Interpreter discussion of the maritime border with Timor Leste that merit more exploration.