Duncan Graham – Kiwis have a marvellously grotesque way of describing the acceptance of unpalatable policy changes: Swallowing dead rats.

Kristio Wahyono, Yogyakarta – When it was a non-self governing territory under the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), Timor Leste was the first neighbor

Kornelius Purba, Jakarta – Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto has clearly given the military strong hope that it might regain the political power it lost following the fall of his

Michael Bachelard, Jakarta – The deportation of 20 teachers, including two Australians, from the Jakarta International School is the latest measure of the hyper-ventilation induced in I

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – It has long been the norm that politicians use Islam as electoral bait.

Loro Horta – The leader and founding father of Asia's youngest nation, Xanana Gusmao, announced in November that he was resigning as prime minister and leaving politics.

Jemma Purdey, Melbourne, Australia – Advisors to Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto will be closely watching developments in the India-US relationship in the lead-up to

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Jakarta – Prabowo Subianto's meteoric rise in popularity as presidential hopeful has been conspicuous.

Duncan Graham – Why did Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott cancel his visit to Indonesia? The budget has been suggested. Bunkum!

Andreas Harsono – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's legacy of worsening religious intolerance and related violence will be one of the biggest challenges his successor will

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta - May is a good month for Indonesia for it commemorates three major national events.

Usman Hamid – The Indonesian Electoral Commission will soon announce the results of April's legislative elections.

Brian McAfee – The story of "post-colonial" Indonesia begins on August 17, 1945, when Sukarno, its first president, declared Indonesia an independent and free nation.

Peter Hartcher – Tony Abbott was supposed to be in Bali on Tuesday.

Around 250,000 workers, members of various trade unions, mobilised in Jakarta for May Day, 2014. From all accounts, the mobilisations were similar to those of 2012 and 2013.

Agung Pamungkas, Nottingham, UK – A milestone is defined as an important event in the development or history of something or in someone's life.

Rohan Radheya – In 1969, Indonesia took over West Papua with the now infamous Act of Free Choice, a mock referendum where West Papuans were forced to relinquish their independence throu

Josua Gantan, Jakarta – "Do you want to be led by a puppet?

John Garnaut – John McCarthy was Australia's ambassador to Indonesia when militia lobbed Molotov cocktails into his embassy in Jakarta, physically assaulted him in Sulawesi and shot at

Fitri Bintang Timur and Puri Kencana Putri, Jakarta – Recently, Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen.

Patrick Tibke – In recent times Prabowo Subianto's presidential campaign has often manifested as a peculiar spectacle, characterised by colourful and highly unpredictable politicking.

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – A 25-year-old woman died after delivering her only child.

Emily Mitchell – Last year, during a visit to Kupang, in West Timor, I met a fisherman with a 12 year old daughter and a seven year old son.

Dana Hasibuan, Jakarta – For the last 10 years, poverty reduction has been considered one of the most pertinent issues in Indonesia's development policies.

Forum Tau Matan – The tiny half island nation of Timor Leste is a young country in more ways than one.

Sarita Ryan – According to Alexander Downer, former Australian Foreign Minister and subsequent board advisor to Woodside Petroleum, a country's reputation is on the line.

Nivell Rayda, Rangkasbitung – Banten was just waking up.

With politicians currently crisscrossing the country on the campaign trail speaking to all-singing, all-dancing crowds of thousands, one subject is rarely touched upon, yet it is a subj

Gerry van Klinken – As everybody knows, one of the strongest candidates for the presidency has an image problem, related to his army days.

Edward Aspinall – At a meeting between a sitting member of the provincial parliament of Yogyakarta, and about 30 youths and men in a village on the outskirts of the city, the parliament

Pandaya – Following in the footsteps of Islamic countries in the Middle East, the government banned Hollywood biblical epic Noah on the grounds that the film's content "contradicts the

Bobby Anderson – In Papua, where state sovereignty and legitimacy is deeply contested, representation matters. So in this national election, who purports to represent Papua?

Keith Loveard, Jakarta – According to mystical beliefs in Java, the Indonesian island's volcanoes erupt to mark the advent of significant change.

We have reason to question the logic behind the purchase of 103 Leopard tanks and 50 Marder tanks from Germany after former President B.J.

Sayomi Ariyawansa – On 3 December 2013, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) officers entered premises owned by Bernard Collaery, the Australian lawyer representing East

Amron Hamdi, Jakarta – One heart-wrenching scene in the Academy Award-winning film 12 Years a Slave is the stripping and whipping of Patsey, a slave girl on a Louisiana plantation.

Papua has become an example of what happens when a nation's ruling elites fail to give everybody a piece of the economic pie.

It's official – after months of speculation and, undoubtedly, infighting – Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has been named by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) as

On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court declared that female legislative candidates would be "prioritized" and not merely considered for legislative seats, in the event that both male an

Hikmahanto Juwana, Jakarta – There have been two incidents where orange lifeboats filled with asylum seekers bound for Australia were found in Indonesian territory.

Tom Clarke – Since the discovery of vast oil deposits under the Timor Sea in the early 1970s, oil has been the ever-present third player in Australia's relationship with East Timor.

Susan – In 1974, with the prospect of an Indonesian annexation of Timor on the horizon, Australia faced an important question: would Australia receive more favorable access to the gas a

Cillian Nolan, Jakarta – A draft law for reworking Papua's special autonomy contains potentially far-reaching proposals that need broader debate – within Papua, between Papua and Jakart

Hipolitus Yolisandry Ringgi Wangge, Evanston, Illinois – Why are populist figures in Indonesia being challenged to operate in a corrupt political system?

Phelim Kine – Indonesia has a problem with Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary "The Act of Killing." The groundbreaking film, nominated for best documentary at this year's Academy Awards,

Andreas Harsono, Jakarta, Indonesia – I grew up in the shadow of the Indonesian massacres exposed in Joshua Oppenheimer's extraordinary documentary, "The Act of Killing," which has been

Brad Simpson – In The Act of Killing, one of the nominees for an Academy Award for best documentary, a group of elderly Indonesian men re-enact their role in the killing of alleged Comm

Tomy Winata – In response to an article published on the Jakarta Globe's website on Feb.

Kennial Caroline Laia, Jakarta – When the documentary film The Act of Killing, which portrays the 1965 massacres of people accused of having ties to communism, was internationally relea

In its distinguished mandate, the Constitutional Court is granted a privilege that eludes the legislative and executive branches of power in the country's governance system.