Tama Salim and Dylan Amirio, Jakarta – The alcohol prohibition bill is one step closer to being passed into law, with political factions at the House of Representatives agreeing in a plenary sessio

Dylan Amirio – Indonesia's alcohol prohibition bill is one step closer to becoming law with the House of Representatives agreeing on Friday to further discussion of the bill.

Usmin, Bengkulu – Concerned about the spread of HIV and AIDS, lawmakers in Bengkulu are working on a directive to limit the sale of condoms and other contraceptives, arguing that the availability o

Hans Nicholas Jong and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – With faith-based opposition to vaccination drives having contributed to outbreaks of diphtheria in some provinces, physicians are calling on parents to

Jakarta – Indonesia's most notorious hard-line Islamic group says its members will give a strong reprimand to streetside food vendors who remain open for business during daylight hours of the Musli

Bengkulu/Makassar – As many as 5,500 bottles of liquor seized in Bengkulu were destroyed on Tuesday under the watchful eye of local administrators and police and military commanders, as authorities

Dylan Amirio, Jakarta – House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto says the completion of deliberations of several draft bills will be prioritized during the House's fourth sitting period of 20

Muhammad Hamzah, North Aceh – Authorities in Indonesia's North Aceh district are set to impose a new bylaw segregating men and women in all public places, as part of the enforcement of shariah prac

Jakarta – "All roads lead to Rome.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Women activists in Aceh consider the latest sharia regulations banning unmarried men and women from riding together on motorcycles and separating female and male stu

Jakarta – The Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI) supports a bill being drafted at the House of Representatives that would ban – with some exceptions – the production, distribution, s

Reza Munawir, Banda Aceh – North Aceh district has passed legislation requiring schools to teach boys and girls separately and hopes to follow that up with a ban prohibiting the two sexes from ridi

Banda Aceh – A district in Indonesia's Aceh has passed legislation banning unmarried men and women from riding together on motorbikes, a lawmaker said Monday, the latest new Islamic regulation in t

Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – In 1918, the Dutch government established the Alcoholbes Trijdings Commissie to investigate the abuse of alcohol in the Dutch East Indies. Its findings were alarming.

Jakarta – An unmarried couple have been caned by order of the Bener Meriah regency administration in Aceh after they were found guilty of making love.

Jakarta – Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has expressed his disapproval over a controversial bikini party allegedly involving high school students.

Jakarta – The Media Hotel and Towers management just recently announced their decision to cancel the controversial students' bikini party that was initially slated to be held in the hotel on Saturd

Dewanti Wardhani, Jakarta – Responding to the Trade Ministry's prohibition on the sale of alcohol in minimarts, Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama is considering allowing minimarts and special

Ni Komang Erviani, Denpasar – The Trade Ministry's new regulation on alcoholic beverages, scheduled to take full effect on Thursday, will not be enforced on Bali as the ministry has decided that to

Indonesia has banned small retailers from selling beer, despite an outcry from the alcohol and tourism industries over the Muslim-majority country's latest offensive against drinking.

Lenny Tristia Tambun & Deti Mega Purnamasari, Jakarta – Indonesia on Thursday officially banned the sale of alcoholic beverages in convenience stores and other small shops, but senior officials

Rendi A.

Rendi A.

Two Islamic parties in Indonesia have proposed legislation that would ban all consumption of alcoholic drinks and bring jail terms of up to two years for offenders.

Katharina Lestari & Abby Seiff, Banda Aceh – On a recent Friday, three stragglers sat sipping the dregs of their coffee as the city of Banda Aceh closed up around them.

Banda Aceh – The sharia police in Aceh Besar regency, Aceh, conducted a public caning of six residents on Friday for cock-fight gambling.

Jakarta – Dozens of Indonesian couples suspected of doing "the nasty thing" have been detained in Valentine's Day raids in several major Indonesian cities.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI) chairman of education affairs, Anwar Abbas, on Saturday thanked a number of mayors across the archipelago for banning Valentine's Day celebrations.

Jakarta – Regional governments and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) have banned the celebration of Valentine's Day on Feb.

Jakarta – Indonesia's highest Islamic authority has launched its annual protest movement against Valentine's Day, telling young people that celebrating the event can lead to promiscuity and other t

Jambi – The Jambi City Education Office has urged students not to celebrate Valentine's Day, by issuing circulars to schools reminding students not to breach ethical and moral expectations on Feb.

Michael Bachelard, Banda Aceh – Last November, a young pregnant woman we'll call "Yasmeen"* was led onto a high platform in a city square in the Indonesian province of Aceh and prepared herself to

Further information on UA: 238/14 Index: ASA 21/029/2014

Indonesia's incoming president should treat Aceh's abusive new bylaws as an opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to human rights, and have them repealed.

Banda Aceh – Four men accused of gambling will be lined up in the courtyard of a Banda Aceh mosque and lashed with a cane after prayers on Friday, the Banda Aceh prosecutor's office has

Michael Bachelard, Jakarta – France bans it; Australia has occasional attacks of hysteria about it but in Muslim-majority Indonesia, the wearing of Islamic head covering has grown rapid

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The Aceh provincial administration's plan to impose Shariah on non-Muslims has met a chorus of disapproval from the province's minority religious groups.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Human rights activists' criticism of the plan to impose a Shariah-inspired criminal code on non-Muslims in Aceh is uncalled-for, a legislator said on Wednesda

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Citing the need to end discrimination, Aceh lawmakers plan to pass a bylaw this week that would impose a Shariah-based criminal code on Muslims and non-Muslim

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Eight people received five lashes each in Aceh on Friday after they were found guilty of gambling.

Index: ASA 21/026/2014

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – For the first time in eight years, five residents of Aceh's Pidie district on Friday were caned publicly for gambling, a violation of Shariah laws enforced in

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Three women in Aceh charged with consorting with non-related males could face three to nine lashes of the cane following their arrest by the province's sharia

Jakarta – The highest authority of Muslim clerics in Indonesia has issued a fatwa against what a leading Indonesian news website has dubbed "Jilboobs" – women who wear a jilbab, or Isla

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The Aceh Shariah Police have banned any sales of food at daytime during Ramadan, and that rule also applies to non-Muslims so as not to offend Muslims who are

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The morality police in Aceh are on the prowl once again as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan approaches, increasing the frequency of their raids against...

Josua Gantan, Jakarta – The order by authorities in Aceh to have a woman and her married lover caned for adultery, even after she had been gang-raped by vigilante enforcers of Shariah,

Nurdin Hasan & Kennial Caroline Laia, Banda Aceh – A woman in Aceh who was gang raped last week after being accused of having extramarital sex now faces the indignity of a public ca

Corry Elyda, Jakarta – Security guards at a public park in West Jakarta have been on an undercover mission in the past few months: in pairs, they pose as young couples dating in Cattley

Jakarta – The Parks and Cemeteries Agency intends to force lovebirds caught in compromising positions in public parks to get married.