After decades of authoritarian rule, Indonesia closed its notorious Department of Information three years ago and declared censorship was dead.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has delayed plans to pass a controversial new media law that would bar local broadcast outlets from relaying foreign news programmes and allow the go

Jakarta – Communications and information minister Syamsul Muarif said here Monday that the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) had agreed to ban by law local broadcasting

[In Indonesia, freedom of the press is under the spotlight with controversial plans by the government to prevent the rebroadcast of certain foreign programs on local media.

Jakarta (agencies) – Indonesia's army chief yesterday called on the international media not to speculate on who was responsible for the fatal ambush of American schoolteachers near the

Abdullah Alamudi, Jakarta – Indonesia's newly won press freedom is now in limbo as the broadcast bill – nearly at its final reading at the House of Representatives – will prevent local

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A Bill that involves placing a government "spy" in broadcasting agencies here is likely to be passed next month by parliament to regulate the electronic media.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Frequent cases of violence and intimidation against journalists by police personnel across the country reflects their serious lack of understanding of the free

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – As part of the campaign to put an end to the long list of assaults against the Indonesian media, Kompas daily vowed on Thursday to proceed with the lega

Reacting Thursday to calls from East Timor's religious leader for the expulsion of a Portuguese correspondent from Dili, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said there will be freedom of the p

Ian Timberlake, Jakarta – Four years after restrictions on free speech ended with the fall of strongman Suharto, Indonesian reporters fear a recent government crackdown could signal a r

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Opposition continued to grow on Thursday against the new broadcasting bill, which many critics see as an attempt by the government to once again curb freedom o

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Buckling under increased international pressure, the Indonesian government said yesterday there was no grand design for a Suharto-like clampdown on the forei

Fears of a crackdown on Indonesia's domestic media were expressed at a seminar in Jakarta, with senior media figure Goenawan Mohamad saying that if this was so, many people were ready t

Jakarta – Two international press freedom groups have strongly criticised the Indonesian government's decision to ban an Australian correspondent from working in the country.

Chris Brummitt, Jakarta – The government on Monday stood by its decision to ban an Australian journalist whose reports on rights abuses included an article alleging that Indonesian sold

Jakarta – A leading Australian media group said Sunday its correspondent had been barred from working in Indonesia because of his reporting on human rights issues.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A highly-commended plan by the House of Representatives (DPR) to open public access to information more widely will face a tough challenge as the government pl

Jakarta – A distributor here has withheld the latest issue of the US magazine Newsweek because it carries a picture of the prophet Muhammad that could anger subscribers in Indonesia – t

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesia's president has always avoided reporters, but new curbs on journalists covering her activities have sparked fears the government may be trying to r

Louise Williams – East Timorese journalists are dismayed over an agreement which will probably leave their newly independent nation without an independent national broadcaster and hands

Jakarta – The secretary-general of the proindependence Papuan Presidium Council (PDP), Thaha Al Hamid, said in Jayapura on Thursday that Papuans (indigenous people of Irian Jaya) wanted

Jakarta – Indonesian journalists are mounting a campaign to dissuade new president Megawati Sukarnoputri from re-opening the Information Ministry, closed by her reformist predecessor Ab

Jakarta – PILAR biweekly magazine photographer Rudi P.

Jakarta – In the reform era where journalists have more freedom to write, they apparently face violence and intimidation, mostly from the public, government officials and the police.

Warren Caragata – Wimar Witoelar, the spokesman for Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, has said that decision-making within the Indonesian government is not quite like turning on a

Jakarta – More than 150 East Timorese journalists, gathering at their inaugural congress in the East Timor capital of Dili, have agreed to build an independent, free press in their new

Vaudine England, Jakarta – A busload of militant Muslims walked into the offices of the English-language Jakarta Post to "deliver a strong protest" over an editorial that described Indo

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid calls on both electronic and print media to promote truth in their coverage, saying there are media who get paid to spread lies and slanders.

Budi Sugiarto/BI & LM, Bojonegoro – For the past nine days journalists from several media organisations in Bojonegoro, East Java, have boycotted all reports and announcements from B

Yogyakarta – The Yogyakarta Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) condemned the violence committed against activists and the office of the university student magazine "Arena", Dema,

Jakarta – In the words of a close advisor, Indonesian President Abdurrahman's Wahid's honeymoon, especially with the country's press, is "sliding away fast" after only six months in off

Jakarta – Some 150 Indonesian reporters accredited to the presidential palace went on strike yesterday to protest against shrinking access to information there.

Jakarta – Three Indonesian journalists, including an AFP reporter, were beaten up by youths taking jihad (holy war) training at a camp 50 kilometers south of here Sunday.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid has ordered a shake-up of the country's official news agency, Antara, removing its editor-in-chief and demanding it be

Arnold Zeitlin, Dili – In impoverished, war-devastated East Timor, the most urgent needs are food, water, shelter, clothing – and a printing press.

Ati Nurbaiti, Lhokseumawe – National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi was in Lhokseumawe, the capital of North Aceh regency, last month.

Jakarta – Indonesian press and human rights groups Wednesday lashed out at Attorney General Andi Ghalib for banning three journalists from reporting on his activities.

Jakarta – Indonesians will be able to study and write about communism for the first time in more than three decades, but promoting Marxism-Leninism will still land them in jail, reports

Jakarta – Indonesian president B.J.

Jakarta – Staff at Tempo, Indonesia's leading weekly news magazine when it was banned by the government of former president Suharto in 1994, announced Sunday they would return the publi

Surabaya – In anticipation of the Session of the MPR in March next year, the Information Minister General (ret'd) Hartono said that he has issued strong warnings to fifteen newspapers a

Sydney – The president of the Timorese Democratic Party (UDT) said here Sunday he was asked by the Indonesian military to kill Australian journalist Hamish McDonald in 1975.

Jakarta – The wife of Dwi Sumaji, alias Iwik, the defendant on the murder of Bernas daily's reporter Udin, said that her husband was at home in the night it happened.

Introduction

Peter Morgan and Keith Loveard, Jakarta – Muhammad Syafruddin was beaten to death with an iron bar outside his house in Jogjakarta on August 13, 1996.

Three leading Jakarta dailies, Republika, Suara Pembaruan and Merdeka, have been warned by Information Minister, retired General Hartono.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have suggested that local journalists receive special training and shooting lessons to help them with the accuracy of their reporting, the official Antara ne

New York – On 25 July 1997, Naimullah, a reporter with the Jakarta-based morning daily newspaper "Sinar Pagi" was found murdered.

Jakarta – An Indonesian journalist has died in hospital, two days after being admitted following a severe beating which left him in a coma.