A month after Indonesia ratified the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution – supposedly a turning point in ending the annual haze problems that create havoc in Indonesia and neighboring Singapore and Malaysia – massive forest fires are again generating thick haze in Riau and other parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Document: Revenge and Political Intrigue Law

Kid: Dad, I’m really confused... what’s important is we can still eat stir fried enceng gondok and tempe bongkrek (cheap sources of food for the poor)

Package, package, package... Bag reads paket sembako (basic goods package)

Kid: This is a republic of the people, by the people, for...

Regional elections 2005-2014, indirect regional elections

Kid: Where’s your ethics and self-respect?

Sign reads: Overcoming problems without problems – slogan of the state-owned pawnshop company Perum Pegadaian

A last minute change of heart by President Yudhoyono’s Democrat Party, which will give a 14 seat majority in parliament to the parties opposing a draft law (RUU Pilkada) on regional elections, may not be enough to stop the passage of the bill with speculation rife that the Democrats are split as its key lawmakers have been offered leadership pos

Man: Responsibility isn’t just about compensation Mr! (hand reads humanity)

Man: A new paint job or improved performance Mr?

As former New Order general Prabowo Subianto’s Red and White Coalition parliamentary majority prepares to pass a law that would put an end to the direct election of regional heads, a poll released Tuesday by the Indonesian Survey Circle found that 81.25% of respondents want local leaders to be elected directly by the people – not regional legisl

Man: Political acrobatics!

Man: The people’s rights are being hijacked Mr

Amid mounting calls by big business, the IMF and the World Bank to redirect costly fuel (BBM) subsidies to ‘productive investment’ (read tax breaks and businesses subsidies), President Yudhoyono (left) appears likely to leave such an unpopular decision to president elect Joko Widodo (right) rather than be remembered in his last month in office f

Man: Later this kind of thing won’t happen anymore like now, right Mr?

Kid: The next episode in the presidential election dispute soap opera right Dad?

Smart people (find it hard to) pay tax – a campaign slogan to encourage people to pay tax. Sign reads ‘Tax collection service’.

Kid: All the best for August 17 Mr!

Prizes read: Human rights, fuel [prices], poverty, culture of corruption, law [enforcement], sectarian conflicts.

Man: Freedom!

Independence Day celebrations on August 17 marking 69 years since Indonesia won independence from Dutch colonial rule will be muted this year with many parts of the country suffering from blackouts due to government restrictions on the sale of subsidised fuel.

Garuda Pancasila, I am your supporter, a patriot of the proclamation, ready to sacrifice for you... (from the nationalist song Garuda Pancasila).

Kid: There are false oaths, false promises, fake surveys, false teeth... what else Dad... oh yeah, fake websites!

Man: Usually... it’s because the owner’s aren’t real!