Under the new regulation, the Environment and Forestry Ministry can provide legal aid and protection for environmental defenders who are under threat of any retaliatory actions for their activism.

The state-owned Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) is planning to use a facial recognition technology to identify millions of its policyholders and to prevent fraud in the National Health Insurance (JKN) system.

Following Pope Francis's messages urging interfaith dialogue, upholding tolerance and protecting diversity during his Indonesia visit, rights advocates have called on the government to take up the mantle by revoking discriminatory policies, such as the controversial 2006 decree deemed to restrict the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of minority religions in the country.

The suspects were arrested in cities around the capital Jakarta, and the provinces of West Sumatra and Bangka Belitung Islands.

The Finance Minister has proposed a new state budget mechanism for meeting the mandatory 20 percent allocation for education, which has raised fears among experts that schools, teachers and students will all be left shortchanged.

Having vast areas of mangrove and peatland, Indonesia is being recognized a hotspot for global biodiversity and has significant potential to lead climate change action.

Pope Francis wraps up the first leg of his 12-day Asia-Pacific in Jakarta on Friday, departing for the next phase of his tour in Papua New Guinea, before proceeding to Timor-Leste and Singapore.

In a four-point joint statement named the Istiqlal Declaration, Pope Francis and leaders of Indonesian religious groups called for interfaith cooperation to solve the world's humanitarian and environmental crises.

The event was the high point of the 87-year-old pope's four days in Jakarta on the first stop of a 12-day tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania, with visits to Timor Leste, Singapore and Papua New Guinea.

Pope Francis praised Indonesia on Thursday for fostering a sense of friendship among different religious groups as he visited Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque, located just across the street from the Jakarta Cathedral, in one of the final set pieces of the pontiff’s three-day visit to the country.

Medical students of the Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java, have urged authorities to resolve bullying allegations against Aulia Risma Lestari, a medical resident at the university who committed suicide last month.

Faisal, who was well known for his vocal opposition of the government's recent economic policies from nickel downstreaming to deindustrialization, died at 3:50 a.m. on Thursday at Mayapada Hospital and was laid to rest at the Menteng Pulo Cemetery in South Jakarta.

Pope Francis continued his Indonesian itinerary by visiting the Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta on Thursday morning as an effort to foster interfaith harmony and push for joint efforts to tackle climate change.

Pope Francis praised Indonesians on Wednesday for their large families and suggested that people in other countries are choosing to have pets rather than bring up children.

The events are the final major set pieces of the pontiff's three-day visit to Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world, that is kicking off a gruelling tour around the Asia-Pacific.

Francis, who is widely viewed as a progressive pontiff, faced a backlash in 2022 for suggesting couples who have pets instead of children are selfish and a threat to humanity.

Pope Francis kicked off the second day of his papal visit to Indonesia on Wednesday by meeting President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta, where he addressed the importance of strengthening the nation’s unity and interfaith ties to combat religious extremism and intolerance.

From sending blessings through telegrams to heads of state whose countries he passes over to riding in a car commonly used by regular Indonesians, Pope Francis has shown a display of humility during his visit to Jakarta, which Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said should be an example for the people.

The surgeon, situated in Bali, successfully performed a surgery on a patient in Jakarta with the help of robotic arms connected in a high-speed network connection, making the first operation on humans conducted remotely in Southeast Asia.

The suggestion from the Religious Affairs Ministry was made following a request from the papal visit committee to replace the adzan (Islamic call to prayer) broadcasts, so it won't disrupt the live broadcasting of Pope Francis-led Mass in Jakarta on Thursday evening.

With its relatively low costs, Commuter Line has been favored by many; it helps transport nearly 800,000 passengers within Jakarta and across neighboring cities of Bekasi, Bogor, Depok and Tangerang in a day.

Pope Francis said Wednesday interreligious ties must be "strengthened" to fight extremism and intolerance, as he kicked off his Asia-Pacific tour with a stop in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

The pope is scheduled to meet President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the State Palace on Wednesday, in the first major set piece of his tour, followed by a speech to officials and diplomats, in which he is expected to touch on religious harmony in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.

Various religious organizations in Indonesia welcome Pope Francis to Jakarta with messages of hope that the papal visit, the first in over three decades, will provide an example for interreligious harmony in the country and also the world.

Authorities have been ramping up mitigation measures against the spread of mpox as three suspected cases are reportedly found in Jakarta, with one case being closely monitored at a health facility and the other two undergoing self-isolation at home.

State-owned postal service Pos Indonesia has unveiled a set of stamps to celebrate the much-awaited visit of Pope Francis to Jakarta.

The aging pope was not scheduled to attend any public events on Tuesday to allow time for him to rest after a 13-hour overnight flight from Rome.

Indonesia's main international airport is requiring all inbound travelers to sign up with the SatuSehat electronic health pass prior to departure as part of a broader government policy to prevent the spread of mpox, especially the latest, more virulent clade Ib variant.

As AMR emerges as a global health concern, the government has launched a new strategy to better regulate and monitor the appropriate use of antimicrobials, including through public education, in both medicine and animal husbandry.

When Pope Francis visits Indonesia next week, he will stop by a mosque in Jakarta that has an unusual feature – a tunnel connecting it to the city's Catholic cathedral, as part of a push for interfaith harmony on his 12-day Asia-Pacific tour.