Jakarta – The draft Aceh qanun (bylaw) legalising polygamy has attracted support and opposition. Some believe that the qanun needs to be supported providing that it includes stipulations on the husband behaving fairly towards his wives.

Agus Setyadi, Banda Aceh – A Base Jam concert on the closing night of the 2019 Aceh Culinary Festival (ACF) has been closed down by a hardline Islamic group. The band, which gained fame through hit songs such as Not Pujangga, decided to leave the stage after the third song.

Denpasar – A commemoration of 21 years since the “Bloody Biak Tragedy” in West Papua by the Papua Student Alliance (AMP) in the Balinese provincial capital of Denpasar on Saturday July 6 has ended in chaos.

A demonstration by Papuan students in Bali commemorating 21 years since the “Bloody Biak Incident” was forcibly broken up by Tanjung Bungkak Village Balinese traditional security guards and police on Saturday July 6.

Jakarta – The Acehnese Regional House of Representatives (DPRA) is justifying a plan by the Aceh government to legalise polygamy on the grounds that it will save women and children who have fallen victim to nikah siri (common law marriage recognised by Islam).

Jakarta – Perempuan Mahardika (Free Women), a non-government organisation (NOG) working to protect women, is calling on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to give amnesty to Baiq Nuril after the Supreme Court rejected her appeal yesterday.

A number of Islamic and youth organisations in the Acehnese city of Lhokseumawe have objected to the national-level U-17 Women’s Soccer Tournament being held in Lhokseumawe because they believe the event is contrary to syariat Islam (Islamic law) in Aceh.

Jakarta – The Civil Society Coalition, which is made up of a number of non-government organisations (NGOs), is urging President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to give amnesty to Baiq Nuril after the Supreme Court rejected her appeal today.

Gita Irawan, Jakarta – Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) researcher for political affairs, Professor Syamsuddin Haris, is concerned that there is a plot to “tame” the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) through the selection of new batch of KPK leaders for 2019.

Masriadi, Lhokseumawe – The Ulama (Islamic clerics) Communication Forum and other youth organisations have objected to the national-level U-17 Women’s Soccer Tournament being held at the Perta Arun Gas Stadium in the Acehnese city of Lhokseumawe in July and September.

Adi Ahdiat, Jakarta – Indonesia has tens of thousands of hectares conservation areas, both maritime as well as land. But the government’s budget for conservation and bio-diversity is limited.

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Haris Prabowo – It will not only be senior students and teachers who will be guiding new students during school orientation programs. Even the TNI (Indonesian military) – whose principle duty is defense and war – will now be involved.

Jakarta – The Denny JA Indonesia Survey Circle (LSI) predicts that the presidential elections (pilpres) in 2024 will be enlivened by a contest between four different ideologies, namely reformasi, political Islam, the 1945 Constitution (UUD 1945) and human rights (HAM).

Glery Lazuardi, Jakarta – The Civil Society Coalition is calling on the government to postpone the ratification of the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) because it still contains articles on insulting religion and blasphemy which are open to multiple interpretations and are applied in a discriminative way.

Zunita Putri, Jakarta – The Denny JA Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) predicts that there will be 14 possible contenders for the 2024 presidential election.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) is urging the state to carry out a substantive internal reform of the National Police (Polri). This is because according to data gathered by the YLBHI and the Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) there were 115 cases of police negligence in handling problems with civilians.

Adi Ahdiat, Jakarta – The government has completed the next year’s draft budget for ministries and state institutions. The budget is set out in the government’s 2020 Macroeconomic Projection and Draft Fiscal Policy (KEM-PPKF) document which was released by the Ministry of Finance in May.

M Rosseno Aji, Jakarta – The Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy has released a survey on student religious patterns in 10 state tertiary institutions. Setara found that there were quite a large number of students who want a state based on religion.

As the 2014-2019 term was coming to an end, the House of Representatives (DPR) were persistently trying to pass through a variety of draft legal revisions.