Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Kartika Gunawan is not a typical Playboy playmate, but neither are her centrefold shots.

Jakarta – Members of the Unity in Diversity Alliance came away disappointed Friday after trying to persuade the Islamic Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction to stop the passage of the

Jane Perlez, Tangerang – To a passer-by, the dress and demeanor of Lilis Lindawati would have attracted little attention as she waited in the dark in this busy industrial city for a rid

Jakarta: A coalition of non-governmental organizations criticized Friday the secretive deliberations of the controversial pornography bill.

Duncan Graham, Gembol (East Java) – Westerners who have seen concerts or videos featuring Indonesia's top entertainer Inul Daratista wonder what the fuss is all about.

Jakarta – Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) chairman Fadloli El Muhir was charged Friday with defaming women protesters, with police declaring the move showed their intent to curb intimida

Jakarta – Legal experts rebuked the central government Thursday for being hesitant to immediately revoke sharia-derived bylaws, which they said clearly flouted higher laws and could cau

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Jakarta – The House of Representatives should drop its deliberations of the controversial pornography bill because it is dividing the country, says a coalition of activists against the

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – The government and legislators have agreed to revise the 1985 law on the freedom to organize to allow the disbanding of hard-line

Jakarta – The second edition of Indonesian Playboy, which hit the streets Wednesday, is not opposed by the nation's Press Council but hard-line Islamic groups are threatening street dem

Bandung – Thousands of people from 40 Muslim organizations grouped in the Alliance of Muslim Followers rallied in the West Java provincial capital Bandung on Tuesday in support of the c

Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – A second edition of Playboy hit the streets of Indonesia on Wednesday as the local publisher moved its offices to Bali island, two months after Islamic hard-liner

Ridarson Galingging, Chicago – The challenge ahead for the newly-reelected chief of the Indonesian Supreme Court Bagir Manan will not just be fighting corruption among judges, but also

Tangerang – The Tangerang Saviors Front (FPT), a paramilitary group, became involved in a brawl with locals late Saturday night after protesting the presence of nightclubs in the Pinang

Ponorogo – The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has issued an edict demanding the government and House of Representatives pass a controversial pornography bill into law.

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Jakarta – Reports that more regencies and cities around Indonesia are adopting shariah-style bylaws have caused grave concern among women activists, who worry that the trend will threat

Jakarta – Supporters of the much-debated porn bill came out en masse in a number of cities Sunday, urging lawmakers to immediately pass it into law to improve the country's morals.

Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – Tens of thousands of conservative Muslims rallied in the Indonesian capital Sunday in support of a proposed anti-pornography bill that critics say would chip a

Wearing colorful traditional costumes, around 500 activists demonstrated outside the House of Representatives on Thursday, demanding lawmakers abandon their deliberation of the pornogra

Indra Subagja, Jakarta – There are many ways to oppose the Draft Anti-Pornography and Porno-action Law (RUU APP).

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Lilies Lindawati is keeping to a pledge to settle the score with those who publicly humiliated her by branding her a prostitute.

Jakarta – Every humiliating moment of that day is etched in Lilies Lindawati's memory.

Tangerang is firmly in the spotlight after the issuance of a controversial bylaw to eradicate prostitution in the municipality. It also issued another bylaw that bans liquor.

Emmy Fitri, Jakarta – A week after a rally by cultural communities and artists to protest against the anti-pornography bill, activists and artists involved in the demonstration said the

The Islam Defenders Front (FPI), which recently attacked Playboy Indonesia's office to press the magazine to stop publishing, may fit the stereotype of Islam in the West: anarchistic, u

Jakarta – Painting an ominous picture of religious intolerance and national disintegration, a group of activists and intellectuals warned Saturday that Muslim hard-liners threatened to

Jakarta – Hundreds of activists, artists and cultural communities – decked out in colorful garb – bedazzled passersby and spectators along the city's main thoroughfares Jl.

Jakarta – Thousands of people from various cultural groups rallied Saturday against the implementation of Indonesia's much- debated obscenity law.

Gary LaMoshi – The debut of Playboy Indonesia this month unfolded predictably. The magazine flew off the shelves despite its premium price of Rp39,000 (US$4.35).

Jakarta – The crop of bylaws on sex and morality, which have been enforced by several regencies and municipalities, are unconstitutional, gender-biased and threaten to splinter the coun

Playboy Indonesia has had a rough beginning in the country.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Barflies and ladies' men of Tangerang regency had best live it up while they can.

Jakarta – About 300 hard-line Indonesian Muslims vandalized a building housing the office of Playboy magazine on Wednesday in a protest against its publication in the world's most popul

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Blontank Pour, Malang/Surakarta – Thousands of Muslims staged a rally in Malang, East Java, strongly opposing the publication of the Indonesian edition of Playb

Jerry Norton, Jakarta – Playboy magazine may no longer rate on the sexual cutting edge in some places, but the first edition in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, cause

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Jakarta – Defying the stance taken by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leaders, moderate young activists from the nation's biggest Muslim organization say they oppose the controversial pornography

Denpasar – Legendary dangdut singer Rhoma Irama and others intent on beefing up the moral fiber of Indonesian society would probably have been scandalized by Friday's spectacle in downt

Julia Suryakusuma and Tim Lindsey, Jakarta – Reformasi promised to unravel the New Order and its legacy of state control, social repression and intermittent violence.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which has been by far the most vocal party in its opposition to the pornography bill, is proposing revisions to the bill i

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – North Sulawesi has formally expressed its opposition to the pornography bill and at least three other provinces are expected to follow suit, lawmakers

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said a singer invited to the State Palace failed to perform because she was dismissed for showing her belly button. "I was disturbed.

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – Black T-shirts with feminist slogans were selling fast on Thursday to women wanting to express blunt objection to the pornography bill.

Emmy Fitri, Jakarta – The impending reward once the contentious bills on pornography and pornographic acts is endorsed, could be a division among the people – specifically the devout be

Bandung – State Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik has told legislators not to rush the deliberation of the pornography.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Balkan Kaplale, the head of the deliberation of the controversial pornography bill, has been accused of misleading the public.

Tantri Yuliandini, Jakarta – Activists and community groups plan to file a request for judicial review with the Supreme Court next week on a 2005 Tangerang mayoralty bylaw on prostituti