Jakarta – The election monitoring group Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) is predicting that there will be 31 regions where there will be sole candidates in the 2020 elections of regional heads (pilkada).

Writing on picture reads “Regional head”

Man: Before it was the father, now the mother, what next, the kids?

Kid: When do I get a go Dad?

Jakarta – The Labour Movement with the People (Gebrak) Alliance, which is made up of labour, farmer, student and women’s organisations, will again take to the streets on August 14-16 demanding the cancellation of the Draft Omnibus Law on Job Creation.

Achmad Nasrudin Yahya, Jakarta – The Civil Society Coalition for Security Sector Reform is urging the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) to be transparent in its deliberations on the Draft Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on the Role of the Indonesian Military in Tackling Terrorism.

Jakarta – West Papua province has again been recorded as having the worst democracy index. This year (2019), West Papua’s Democracy Index (IDI) was 57.62, even dropping lower from 2018 when it was 58.29 points.

Jakarta – The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) suspects that an incident in which the director of the East Kalimantan chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) and two other activists were forcibly taken to a local hospital for isolation had no relationship with Covid-19.

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia – The Indonesian Public Health Experts Association (IAKMI) has criticised the government for failing to involve professional healthcare organisations in dealing with the corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Zakarias Demon Daton, Samarinda – Health officials in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, tried to force three activists to undergo isolation at a local hospital after claiming that they had tested positive for Covid-19.

Jakarta – Kalimantan Islamic University (Uniska) political observer Muhammad Uhaib As’ad says that the democratic process in Indonesia post reformasi – the political reform process that began in 1998 – is still being held hostage by the power of money.

Jakarta – National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) Commissioner Choirul Anam says that the government’s narrative on lifestyles under the “new normal” has in fact complicated the handling of the coronavirus (Covid-19) epidemic in Indonesia.