As a developing country with a burgeoning middle class population, Indonesia has become one of the world’s largest markets for electronics. According to the latest survey from the Indonesian Internet Providers Association (APJII), almost 133 million Indonesians had access to the internet last year through their smartphones and computers.

In 1986, then East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) governor Ben Mboi issued a bylaw on the trade in sandalwood that everybody in the impoverished province has been regretting ever since; five years later it was revoked and replaced with a more populist one.

Until seven years ago, event organizers would rely on music and dance to liven up parties. Things began to change with the rise of stand-up comedy, which quickly gained popularity thanks to its steady stream on TV.

Anti-vaccine movements gaining ground on the back of rising religious conservatism and the thriving internet are threatening to foil Indonesia’s painstaking effort to achieve its goal of 100 percent immunization. This worrying trend has seen the comeback of preventable diseases like diphtheria.

The “excessive” censorship of TV programs in the past couple of years and disharmony between the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) and the Film Censorship Board (LSF) is in the spotlight.

Being a former grassroots activist and an avowed communist, Mustafa Barghouthi did not mince his words when criticizing the Israeli government and a whole host of its policies.

The alarming examples of intolerance, which go along with growing religious conservatism and get a free ride in the burgeoning democracy by weak governments in the wake of the 1998 wave of political reform, have been sounding a death knell for the diversity of Indonesia.

Hope and despair fills the first half of 2017 in efforts to protect the rights of women and girls. In late April the first ever Indonesian Women Ulema Congress issued a fatwa on preventing child marriage and ending sexual violence.

A continuously increasing number of Indonesian Muslims performing umrah (minor haj) to the Islamic holy land of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, has led to an increase in travel agencies offering trip packages throughout predominantly Muslim Indonesia.

In search of more empathetic police

Barely heard of a decade ago, “media influencer” is becoming a household name and a promising profession among Indonesian millennials. Unlike conventional jobs, making it big in this one requires the new media proficiency of business-minded kids from the smartphone generation.

Within the last five years, startups have become a part of our daily lifestyle, alongside the increase in internet access penetration among Indonesians.

"I’m wearing batik because I’m comfortable in it. Batik can be worn for casual or formal events, so I’m wearing it because of that," Mela Siagian said.

Collateral damage in war against poachers

From the screens to the stomach: social media in the culinary world

The ever increasing number of drug addicts has prompted the government to take stringent measures, such as lifting the capital punishment moratorium. However, the government’s plan to treat 200,000 addicts this year might have been too ambitious given poor interdepartmental coordination and poorly equipped and understaffed rehabilitation centers.

Indonesian shipbuilder sets sails on journey to revitalize national maritime industry

Yogyakarta has been famous as the Javanese cultural capital and a center of excellence. It has been a peaceful melting pot where people from around the world enjoy living thanks to its friendliness and affordable costs, but an increasing number of violent incidents has threatened its status as a "city of tolerance".

In a busy assembly hangar of PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) stands a new light transport airplane. Dozens of men in blue overalls walk back and forth under the arched roof, carrying out different tasks to restore Indonesia’s aerospace industry to its former glory.

Overlooked Indonesian weaponry manufacturer slowly appears on world radar.

New team: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, accompanied by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, unveils his new aides following a Cabinet reshuffle at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Many Indonesians' perception of rape is limited to the traditional definition of a stranger grabbing the victim, physically restraining her, raping her and running away. Given this narrow definition, there is no justice for those women who fall victim to other types of sexual violence, and the perpetrators enjoy impunity.

Tracing down the health and fitness pattern of Jakartans

A gay man from the conservative town of Jombang in East Java is happily married amid the public upheaval surrounding sexual orientation. The 44-year-old devoted Muslim stands on his decision to open up about his relationship with the love of his life, whom he has spent a committed relationship with for over a decade.

Santoso, aka Abu Wardah, and his men are hiding out on the mountains of Central Sulawesi, where thousands of police and military personnel have been deployed to hunt them down. But why has this IS-linked terrorist group not fallen yet?

The US$1.7 billion rail-based mass rapid transit (MRT) megaproject is expected to solve the traffic gridlock in the capital Jakarta. Is it safe from potential floods and earthquakes?

How are the growing number of coffee guerrillas in West Java fighting their battle?