Indonesia Society News: Social Issues & Education

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Jakarta Post
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Sumatran elephants run out of room as fires spread

A new report by environmental group Geopix found that about 560,758 hectares of elephant habitat have been affected by fires between August and early September, equivalent to roughly one-tenth of the species’ total habitat on Sumatra.

1 hour ago
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No signs of journalists, boat crew missing near Anak Krakatau after a week

Journalists and boat crew members who went missing in waters near Mount Anak Krakatau have yet to be found a week later, while police work to identify a body found on the shore of Enggano Island in Bengkulu suspected to be one of the missing. ...

1 hour ago
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PISA gains belie Indonesia’s persistent education crisis

Indonesia continues to struggle with the uneven distribution of teachers, both in numbers and qualifications, particularly those capable of teaching the higher-order thinking skills assessed by PISA. ...

1 day ago

The Latest

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Ferry disaster renews scrutiny of vessel safety checks

As the search continues, lawmakers and transportation experts call for a thorough investigation into the incident, highlighting longstanding concerns over the adequacy of Indonesia’s sea vessel inspections.

1 day ago
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Haze drives surge in respiratory illnesses in Indonesia

Children accounted for around 20 percent of all wildfire-related respiratory illnesses as 12.5 million people in seven provinces were affected by the widespread forest and land fire, according to the Health Ministry.

4 days ago
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Wildfires cause respiratory infections to double in Indonesia

Fires have been blazing across vast stretches of forest and peatland throughout the country, causing hazardous emissions to surge, particularly in the hardest-hit provinces on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

4 days ago
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Indonesia presses Meta on child safety compliance after US ruling

The Communications and Digital Ministry is pushing Meta to fully comply with the country’s Child Protection in Digital Space Regulation, known as PP TUNAS, following a landmark ruling in the United States that found the company’s child safety measures lacking.

5 days ago
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Free meals face seven-day ultimatum, possible lawsuit

The coalition, which includes the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) and Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), urged the government to halt the program’s expansion and immediately undertake comprehensive reforms.

5 days ago
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Suicides rise as Indonesia struggles to meet demand for help

The Health Ministry’s Healing119 consultation service has received as many as 600 contacts a day since February, up from an average of 350 to 400 daily last year.

5 days ago
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Ethics met with weak institutional systems in Indonesia, academics say

When institutions do not have strong systems to uphold integrity, the gap can undermine a culture of speaking up against wrongdoing and erode trust in integrity mechanisms, according to a survey.

6 days ago
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Local, foreign firms own largest burned concessions in Kalimantan

Studies have found fires burning inside company concessions since 2006, highlighting persistent negligence and raising concerns over potential wrongdoing by local and foreign investors in Indonesian plantations.  

6 days ago
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Search intensifies for journalists, crew as Anak Krakatau ashfall eases

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) brought its Lampung office into the operation after search mapping indicated that the vessel could have drifted into waters under its jurisdiction.

6 days ago
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Mitigation budget under scrutiny as Indonesia grapples with disasters

Simultaneous volcano eruptions and a string of other disasters have put the government’s mitigation efforts under renewed scrutiny, as questions mount over whether Indonesia has invested enough in prevention despite its long history of natural disasters.

1 week ago
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Airspace reopens as Krakatau’s activity subsides

While the easing in activity allowed the eight airports near Anak Krakatau to reopen, Wunopito Airport in Lewoleba, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), remained closed, with its suspension extended until Wednesday morning as ashfall from Mount Ile Lewotolok continued.

1 week ago
Society

Jakarta airport and others reopen after volcanic ash crisis

Airlines now face the daunting task of getting all the stranded passengers onto planes and to their intended destinations after days of chaos at the airports.

1 week ago
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Travelers scramble as Anak Krakatau ash exposes gaps in contingency plans

Transportation Ministry data showed that more than 2,300 flights had been disrupted since Sunday, affecting 270,337 passengers. That was a sharp increase from a day earlier, when more than 450 flights affecting 170,000 passengers were disrupted.

1 week ago
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Anak Krakatau eruption grounds flights, blankets vast region

Ashfall from Mount Anak Krakatau’s eruption has disrupted hundreds of flights over the weekend, sending volcanic ash across parts of Java and Sumatra and adding pressure on a country already grappling with a series of disasters.

1 week ago
Society

Soekarno-Hatta airport suspends operations after volcanic eruption

Mount Anak Krakatau erupted on Saturday, producing a fountain of lava and booming sounds that could be heard up to 700 kilometres (435 miles) away, the geology agency said in a statement.

1 week ago
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One orangutan dies, more rescued as wildfire rages

Sempurna, an adult male Bornean orangutan previously found weak in a community oil palm plantation in West Kalimantan’s Ketapang, died after suffering from low blood oxygen level from inhaling too much wildfire smoke, as confirmed by authorities.

1 week ago
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Civil groups seek better recognition for indigenous peoples in new bill

Civil society groups have presented their own draft bill on indigenous peoples to the House of Representatives, seeking legislation that would provide legal standing for the underserved and dispossessed.

1 week ago
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Unchecked businesses blamed for raging wildfires

Lands within business concessions of a size roughly equivalent to the total area of Jakarta have been burned since January, with most fire coming from areas earmarked for oil palm plantations, according to a recent analysis from an environmental group.

1 week ago
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House moves on agrarian reform legislation

Baleg chair Bob Hasan asserted the bill should be aimed at promoting public welfare by ensuring legal protection for communities who possess land but lack legal certainty to back their claims, leaving them vulnerable to land grabbing.

1 week ago
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As forests fragment, arboreal bridges offer orangutans a lifeline

Habitat fragmentation limits orangutan movement between populations, potentially reducing genetic exchange and raising the risk of inbreeding, with implications for the species’ long-term survival.

2 weeks ago
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UIII marks first commencement ceremony for doctoral graduates

The graduating class came from UIII’s four schools of Islamic studies, social sciences, economics and education sciences, including 99 international graduates from 22 countries.

2 weeks ago
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Forestry reform critical as wildfires threatens health, ecosystems

The plan to revise the 1999 Forestry Law may fail to address decades-long poor governance in the sector that has resulted in wildfires in large parts of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua throughout this year’s dry season, civil groups say.

2 weeks ago
Society

Ex-foreign minister Retno becomes one of first SUAR award recipients

Former foreign minister Retno LP Marsudi, who currently is the UN secretary-general’s special envoy on water, has received an award from SUAR, a business news site established a year ago, in the first edition of SUAR Prize.

2 weeks ago
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Pressure piles on Indonesia to contain wildfire haze

In a statement issued late on Tuesday, the Transportation Ministry’s civil aviation director general, Lukman Laisa, said his office had not received a flight clearance request for Malaysian aircraft to carry out a waterbombing mission in areas hit by wildfires.

2 weeks ago
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Teacher hiring plan draws regional autonomy concerns

Top government officials in Jakarta have called the plan to transfer nonpermanent teachers' contracts under regional administrations to the central government a solution to regional fiscal pressure and underpaid contract teachers.

3 weeks ago
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Power must match responsibility, Yudhoyono tells conference

Yudhoyono told the conference that no nation should be too powerful to respect the rules and no nation should be too small to shape the future.

3 weeks ago
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Behind the white coat: The human cost of being an intern doctor in Indonesia

Six deaths in six months have put the country’s medical internship program under scrutiny, exposing concerns over workloads, supervision and protection for those who speak up.

3 weeks ago

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