Only days after country witnessed a massive wave of student-led protests against the weakening of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and a slew of anti-democratic legislation, the newly inaugurated members of the House of Representatives (DPR) now say they will prioritise the very laws that the students were protesting against.

Indonesia’s political parties have revived a proposal to reinstate the GBHN – the Broad Outlines of State Policy – which used to be issued by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) to guide and direct national development during the New Order dictatorship of former president Suharto.

Anti-corruption activists say that President Joko Widodo (pictured centre) has ignored public input by going ahead and submitting the 10 names proposed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leadership selection committee to the House of Representatives for the final selection process.

A massive power failure hit the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and surrounding cities on Sunday affecting millions of people.The state electricity company PLN said the outage occurred when one of the gas turbines at its Suralaya plant shut down causing seven other turbines to trip followed by a shutdown of its gas turbine plant at Cilegon.

Concern has been expressed in both the Indonesian and foreign mainstream media that President Joko Widodo’s ruling coalition – which now holds around 60 percent of the seats in parliament – has become too “fat”.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) says that eighty percent of the land destroyed by forest fires in Indonesia this year will be converted into plantations, pointing the blame for the fires at unsustainable practices in the country’s agriculture industry.

According to the aid group Humanity Volunteer Team of Nduga – which has been helping communities displaced by armed conflict in Papua’s Nduga regency with food, health and education needs in Wamena – 182 civilians have died fleeing violence in the highlands.

Jakarta’s notorious air pollution has again been thrust into the spotlight this week thanks to a trending social media hashtag in which people shared photos of the capital’s smog blanked skyline.

Anti-corruption activists and legal advocates are concerned that there is a plot to “tame” the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) through the selection of new batch of KPK leaders for 2019.

Following the June 27 the Constitutional Court ruling which rejected losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s electoral challenge, President and Vice President elect Joko Widodo (left) and Ma’ruf Amin (right) have now been confirmed as the winners of the April presidential elections.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) says there are 1,466 state civil servants (PNS) who have been found guilty of corruption but have yet to be dismissed and are still receiving wages.

According to the Ministry of Health, while Indonesia has seen a gradual decline in stunting from 37.2 percent in 2013 to 30.8 percent in 2018, other reports confirm a far higher prevalence of malnutrition among children in eastern Indonesia with some area reporting figures as high as 40 percent.

According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia, conflict between humans and elephants on the island of Sumatra has become inevitable with massive land conversions across the island since the 1980s turning forested areas into plantations and residential areas resulting in growing number of elephants entering these areas in search of food.

According to the latest survey by pollster Cyrus Indonesia, only 70 percent of Indonesians accept Pancasila as the country’s ideology and a unifying viewpoint for all citizens.

Amid rising concerns over personal data security and continuing delays in the ratification of the Draft Personal Data Protection Law, consumer confidence has been delivered yet another blow by a Kompas daily newspaper investigation which uncovered a network of credit card salespeople and bank employees...

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that the growing number of people being jailed for sending WhatsApp messages critical of the government and private companies is having a a disastrous and chilling effect on free speech and the government should repeal criminal provisions that restrict peaceful free expression online.

Despite new mechanisms introduced to allow businesses to process permits for export and import activities under one roof, dwell times at the country’s ports remains stubbornly high – weighed down by corruption, red tape and overlapping regulations.

Indonesia is the world’s second-largest sugar importer behind China and imports have doubled over the last 10 years. Last year, less than half the sugar consumed in Indonesia was grown domestically.

With only a month to go before Indonesia holds simultaneous presidential and legislative elections, tens of thousands of people may not be able to vote.

A shift in control over land, minerals and other resources to regional governments as part of the regional autonomy process, along with the cost of campaign spending for regional legislative bodies reaching into the millions of dollars, has turned campaign finances into a potentially lucrative investment for corporations and local business.