In a bid to lure more ‘high-value’ foreigners to Indonesia, the government officially launched the second home visa on Wednesday.

All eyes will be on match organizers and security personnel who will be testing out new security measures on Friday as the Indonesian men’s soccer team will play the country’s first ever match involving pitch-side spectators, since the deadly Kanjuruhan stadium crush in East Java in October.

Preparations to welcome the first year-end holiday season without strict public health rules since the beginning of the pandemic are now in full swing, with the police planning to mobilize personnel to keep people safe during the festivities.

Indonesia has responded tepidly to a speech made by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologizing for 250 years of slavery in the country’s former colonies, saying the country needs to do more than simply offer a mea culpa for its role.

Local kingdoms had brokered slaves for the Dutch and had thus been complicit in the practice of slavery in the archipelago, historians say.  

Vulnerable families, including households with children, disabled members or those that are led by women, face tougher challenges in bouncing back nearly two years after the pandemic, a survey has found, as the country now seeks to recover from the health crisis.

Indonesia’s climate targets are “critically insufficient,” said a global climate research consortium, despite the country’s renewed emission target.

The environment ministry and USAID are committed to launching a new climate partnership in early 2023, with funding of up to US$50 million, to help Indonesia's forestry sector achieve its 2030 carbon sink target.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has signed a regulation that details new safety and security requirements for businesses seeking to mine nuclear materials in the country.

AJI and LBH Pers have condemned the police for appointing a former journalist as a sub-precinct police in Central Java.

A forum of female enthusiasts, as well as other groups, is trying to create space in Indonesian soccer so all supporters can safely enjoy watching the sport from the stands.

The government has claimed that it has committed to human rights-violation resolution by pushing a tribunal over the Bloody Paniai case despite lack of evidence. 

The government is going to wait on the results of next year’s serology survey to decide future pandemic policies, including when and whether or not the second booster dose would be expanded to a wider population.

A police investigation has concluded that illness was the cause of death for a family from Kalideres, West Jakarta, putting a mystery to rest that has stumped bystanders for weeks.

The House of Representatives has ratified a defense cooperation agreement (DCA) with Singapore, one of three agreements the two countries signed earlier this year, with an extradition treaty between the neighbors up for a vote next.

Operationalization remained ASEAN’s biggest challenge in actualizing its Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), experts from across the region have said, as hope prevails that the 10-nations group could actualize the much-needed document. 

One of the bombmakers in the Bali blasts that killed more than 200 people two decades ago was released on parole on Wednesday after serving half of his sentence, an official said, despite protests from Australia.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin launched a month-long immunization campaign on Monday that aims to eradicate polio in Aceh through the vaccination of more than 1 million children, amid slipping child inoculation rates nationwide.

A suspected Islamist militant killed one other person and wounded 11 in a suicide bomb attack, reportedly in protest at the new Criminal Code, at a police station in Bandung, West Java, on Wednesday.

To avoid a repeat of the elections in 2019, when nearly 900 volunteers died from overwork or health complications related to their duties, the KPU has put an age cap for election organizers and embarked on a campaign to recruit younger volunteers for 2024.

Home Minister Tito Karnavian has extended the lowest level of the country’s four-tiered COVID-19 public activity restrictions (PPKM) nationwide until Jan. 9.

Soccer league matches were resumed behind closed doors on Monday, two months after the country was rocked by one of the world's worst stadium disasters.

The health minister appears to have backtracked on last month's comment about a special policy for wealthy subscribers, clarifying that the national healthcare agency will continue to provide basic health services under a standardized “universal” scheme that will eliminate the current three-tier health insurance.

Indonesia has seen a spike in cases of acute kidney injury since August, with the deaths of at least 199 people, mostly children, prompting a probe and ban on some liquid medicine sales.

The National Police issued a regulation on policing sports events earlier this month to prevent any recurrence of the fatal Kanjuruhan Stadium stampede, but critics are wary of lessons not learned.

The soldiers, who joined the army last year and were based in Java, were also booted from the army, according to a military court ruling dated November 9.

A race for the kebaya is on the cards after Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Thailand announced plans to jointly nominate its inclusion in UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage (ICH).

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has inaugurated politician Muhamad Mardiono as his special envoy for poverty eradication and food security.

People in the above-60 age group are now eligible to get a second booster dose, but the government still has not budged in response to experts' calls to retighten social restrictions.

As hydrometeorological disasters are expected to pick up with the rainy season reaching its peak, Indonesia is encouraged to build facilities to better predict and cushion the impacts of climate change on disaster risks.