Many Catholics are eager to attend a Mass led by Pope Francis in Jakarta this week, as the pontiff brings a message of peace and interfaith harmony on his first visit to Indonesia.

Two potential candidate pairs registered their candidacy for the Jakarta gubernatorial election with the local branch of the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Wednesday, setting the stage for a three-horse race in November.

After having previously denied that any protestors were arrested, Jakarta Police chief spokesman Sr. Comr. Ade Ary Syam Indradi confirmed the arrest of protestors. 

While thousands of people staged demonstrations at several strategic points in Jakarta on Thursday, online ride-hailing (ojol) drivers and street vendors continued business by exercising some caution as to avoid potential violence.

Acting Jakarta governor Heru Budi Hartono claimed he had used his own operational funds to hold the first trial of the free nutritious meals program, which is slated to be implemented nationally under president-elect Prabowo Subianto’s incoming administration.

Around 100 refugees staying at an empty building formerly occupied by the West Jakarta Military Command (Kodim) face further uncertainty as the Jakarta administration has reportedly issued an eviction notice stating that the government is planning to renovate and utilize the facility.

Thousands of residents who fell victim to a huge fire in Manggarai, South Jakarta, on Aug. 13 are receiving adequate assistance from authorities, but their future remains uncertain.

Dasco said that Ridwan, now a senior politician with the Golkar Party, would be paired with senior Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician Suswono. 

The Jakarta administration plans to arrange for low-income students to attend up to 1,000 private schools for free in the next academic year to prevent them dropping out of education because of financial problems, as the city’s limited public schools often fail to accommodate them.

The Jakarta Education Agency (Disdik) is working to provide 2,650 non-permanent teachers with the opportunity to obtain Individual Work Contract (KKI) status.

Miktrotrans drivers get a salary “far below what is decent”, one protesting driver said. Each driver is required to meet a daily target of 100 kilometers of travel to receive the full daily wage of Rp 150,000 (US$9.28), which still puts them below Jakarta's minimum monthly wage.

Kaesang also said that he would be ready to join the race in Jakarta if the people in the capital wanted him to run.

The string of challenges faced by Jakartans today – from having limited space to live, worsening air pollution and the threat of land subsistence to traffic congestion – have further prompted young couples to think twice about having more than one child, or having any offspring at all.

Police have named the owner of a preschool in Depok as a suspect of child abuse after video clips of CCTV footage of the incidents under investigation went viral on social media.

Mikrotrans drivers protested on Tuesday over a distance-based wage scheme that they said was nearly unattainable due to the city’s notorious traffic and left them with incomes below Jakarta's minimum wage.

The Cilincing fishing community in North Jakarta is battling to save their livelihoods against an increasing tide of waste that is polluting the waters and killing fish in Jakarta Bay, and has seen very few signs that either the local or central governments are tackling the recurring problem.

As one of the 149 contract teachers affected by the policy, Imam was about to lose Rp 3 million (US$185) of his monthly salary for being a member of teaching staff at a state school in North Jakarta.

The Jakarta administration has promised to offer more long-term and fixed placements for nonpermanent teachers in the city, following recent backlash over the sudden dismissal of over 100 contract educators across different levels of education – from elementary to senior high schools – last week.

Amid the hustle and bustle of the Cililitan Wholesale Center (PGC) in East Jakarta lies an abandoned settlement known as Kampung Zombie.

While Jakarta continues to struggle in addressing perennial problems related to the limited green spaces in the city, its Thai counterpart has reached a milestone in adding more natural areas to Bangkok by bringing to life thousands of mini parks, a strategy that experts say can be adopted in the Indonesian capital.

Several neighborhoods in Jakarta were inundated over the weekend following heavy rain that hit the capital last week, with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) forecasting more heavy rain to come in the following days.

Mayors and governors from around the world declared on Thursday their shared commitment to boost efforts to achieve the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as progress on the program lags.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, new grassroots sports clubs have been helping motivate Jakartans to engage in regular physical exercise in a bid to promote healthy lifestyles and foster a sense of community.

A recent poll shows that the majority of Jakartans is opposed to implementing a decade-old age limit policy for private vehicles that authorities revived after the President signed the DKJ Law on the city's future fate.

The "grand old party" is set to announce its gubernatorial tickets for Jakarta and West Java on Aug. 27, the opening day of candidate registration for the 2024 regional head elections.

The PKS says Golkar politician Ridwan Kamil has expressed interest in allying with the party for the regional head elections in Jakarta as well as West Java, though it plans to make a decision only after the results of an electability poll.

Aside from expanding the number of air quality monitoring stations, the city's environment agency has urged Jakartans to do their bit by using public transportation, avoiding open waste burning and making other environmentally conscious efforts to reduce the air pollution that has been choking Jakarta for months.

The lives of evicted Kampung Bayam residents who now live at low-cost apartment complex (Rusun) Nagrak in Cilincing, North Jakarta, have become more complex as they have to wake up at dawn to reach their respective schools or workplaces located close to their former neighborhood in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

Sohibul Iman served as PKS chairman from 2015 to 2020 and was elected to the House of Representatives for the 2009-2014 and 2014-2019 periods. He has also likely been elected to the body for the 2024-2029 period.

Acting Jakarta governor Heru Budi Hartono dismissed concerns on the deteriorating air quality in Jakarta, saying that air pollution is a common occurrence in various major cities across the world and stressing the government's anti-pollution measures such as cloud seeding and mist spraying.