Nivell Rayda – There is something about the mysterious death of 27-year-old Wayan Mirna Salihin that captures people's imagination so much that when the Jakarta Police announced that they finally h

One of the most startling cases of a government using the fig leaf of national security to protect its own interests is happening right before our eyes – and it should have Australians up in arms.

William Mackey – It had been years since Indonesia had experienced an attention-grabbing terrorist attack. That changed on January 14.

Kyle Knight – Last week in Jakarta, I met leaders of the Support Group and Resource Center on Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Indonesia, who were brimming with confidence about th

Andi Rahman Alamsyah, Jakarta (The Conversation/Pacific Media Watch – People were commenting on social media within moments of the terrorist bombings and shooting in Jakarta last Thursday by attack

Ken Westmoreland – Jordan Peterson's piece "Should Timor-Leste Turn to Portugal?" has had the unintended effect of asking a question to which virtually everyone in the country, irrespective of gene

Ken Setiawan – Hopes were high when Joko Widodo or Jokowi, was elected.

Vannessa Hearman – It has been a strange year for human rights under the Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, administration.

Gustidha Budiartie and Eve Warburton – Competing factions of politico-business elites are fighting a war over a lucrative mine contract and President Jokowi is caught in the middle.

Ririn Sefsani and Timo Duile, Jakarta/Bonn – A specter is haunting Indonesia, the specter of communism.

World Bank, Jakarta – A small number of Indonesians are benefitting from financial and physical assets – sometimes acquired through corrupt means – that, in turn, drive higher wealth co

Ivo Mateus Goncalves – Forty years has come and gone since East Timor was invaded by Indonesia's military.

The latest World Bank report on Indonesia warns of the rising risk of social tension and conflict as inequalities of income and asset ownership widen, recommending a more vigorous colle

Vincent Lingga, Jakarta – Should the sanctity of an investment contract always be honored and should business contracts be held sacred? Not always, assert Louis T.

Thanks to the House of Representatives ethics council members who voted for an open hearing of a misconduct case implicating House Speaker Setya Novanto, the people have seen for themse

Shane Rosenthal – The impending launch of the Asean Economic Community was marked last month at a summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Political tension over the 2021 Freeport Indonesia contract extension brokerage scandal involving House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto continues to build up with rival politic

To imagine Indonesia without the Association of Islamic Students (HMI) is next to impossible, given the numerous national figures the country's largest student group has helped groom, m

In desperate moments we discover our true friends in those who stand up for us, and House Speaker Setya Novanto may feel assured he does have a few of them around.

John Mohammad, Jakarta – The 1999 law on freedom of opinion must be revised.

The nation has been spectator to an extremely shrewd political game in the past week; the political showdown was preceded by a revelation of devious business deals in relation to a prop

The country's failure to secure its rice-import target of 1.5 million tons from its traditional suppliers – Thailand and Vietnam – to beef up its stocks shows just how high a politicall

Ati Nurbaiti – The country was on the global stage this week for far from enviable reasons in The Hague, where activists and scholars held the International People's Tribunal 1965 on atrocities fol

Ross Tapsell – When charting the difficult Australia-Indonesia relationship back in 1990, journalist Peter Hastings wrote:

Jemma Purdey and Kate McGregor – No doubt about it.

Todung Mulya Lubis, The Hague – Fifty years ago on Sept. 30, in the middle of night, atrocities began.

Each year on Nov. 10, the country commemorates National Heroes Day.

Brigid Delaney – On the night of 28 April, much of the world's media was trained on a prison island off central Java where eight prisoners, including two Australians, were executed at midnight.

John McCarthy and Zahari Zen – In late October, thousands of activists, students and lecturers in Sumatra staged rallies, urging the government to resolve the country's haze problem.

Faiza Mardzoeki, Jakarta – There is no doubt that Bali is a beautiful place.

Irhash Ahmady and Sam Cossar-Gilbert – We are witnessing the worst manmade environmental disaster since the BP gulf oil spill.

Michael Buehler – Why did a Singaporean consultant pay $80,000 to a Las Vegas PR company to lobby for the Indonesian government?

Jakarta – The draft presidential regulation that would extend the powers of the Indonesian Military (TNI) is a dangerous step backwards.

Julia Suryakusuma, Jakarta – Who doesn't know Barbra Streisand, the super talented singer, songwriter, actress, filmmaker and icon, one of the best-selling artists of all time, known for her songs

Environmental degradation, instead of being tackled, appears to be worsening, as evident in the scorching heat in many cities, prolonged droughts during dry seasons and widespread floods and landsl

George Monbiot – A great tract of Earth is on fire and threatened species are being driven out of their habitats. This is a crime against humanity and nature.

The renowned artist village of Ubud is in the global spotlight again this week.

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James Giggacher – There must be nothing more frightening than the prospect of a mild-mannered book fair made up of authors, readers, activists and academics politely discussing events from half a c

Hamish McDonald – In 1977, only 12 years after they started, the massacre of Indonesian communists haunted Java's exquisite landscape of tiled-roof villages, fast-flowing rivers and irrigation chan

Laksmi Pamuntjak – A week ago I received a message from Janet DeNeefe, director of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.

To prevent a rapid return to the fearful, censored and militaristic days of the New Order, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, after a year in office, can and must lay down the law.

Kyle Knight – Draconian new by-laws came into effect in Indonesia's Aceh province last week, mandating harsh punishments for gambling and adultery, and the option of 100 lashes for gay people "caug

John Sifton – There are lots of reasons why President Barack Obama is meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo today in Washington.

Janet DeNeefe – Twelve years ago, the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival was born of a terrorist attack in Bali; one that took many innocent lives in a tragedy that shocked us all.

Neles Tebay, Abepura – This year has seen a new development in the Papuan struggle.

It is the duty of every citizen to contribute to this nation, including in the defense of Ibu Pertiwi (the motherland). That contribution can take many shapes and forms.

Jakarta, the city with the "worst traffic in the world", as many say, plans to open at least 16 new transit routes and develop six-inner city toll roads.

Disappointed by the lack of an adequate deterrent effect built in to the country's legislation on anticorruption, many have suggested the death penalty for graft convicts.

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