The number of sole candidates running in Indonesia’s regional elections has steadily increased in the past five years, election data has shown, leading to growing concerns that the upcoming polls might ruin the electoral system.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) have warned about potential vote buying in the upcoming simultaneous regional elections, which the government insists on holding on December 9 despite the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic.

The threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic has distracted public attention. In the mist of the panic among the public, many strategic decisions on public policies have been taken without public involvement or participation.

Kalimantan Islamic University (Uniska) political observer Muhammad Uhaib As’ad says that the democratic process in Indonesia post reformasi – the political reform process that began in 1998 – is still being held hostage by the power of money.

A recent survey by the Kompas daily’s research and development department conducted by phone interviews on July 27-29 has found that many Indonesians are fed up with Indonesia’s thriving political dynasties.

While online learning has become the new norm during the pandemic, many students have not been able to participate because of the country’s digital divide or because they do not even have electricity.

According to two recent surveys, most Indonesians disagree with the government’s decision to hold the 2020 simultaneous regional elections (Pilkada) on December 9 as uncertainty remains over when the Covid-19 pandemic will end.

Prosecutors demanded Friday that two police officers – Chief Brigadier Ronny Bugis and Brigadier Rahmat Kadir – be given one-year prison terms for their involvement in a 2017 attack on senior Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator Novel Baswedan.

Prosecutors demanded Friday that two police officers – Chief Brigadier Ronny Bugis and Brigadier Rahmat Kadir – be given one-year prison terms for their involvement in a 2017 attack on senior Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator Novel Baswedan.

A recent case in Gowa, South Sulawesi, has highlighted numerous instances of illegal logging uncovered since COVID-19 began to spread across the country. The Environment and Forestry Ministry investigated at least five other similar cases in April alone and many more over the last three months.

Social media users have deploying the hashtag #IndonesiaTerserah (#WhateverIndonesia) to express their frustration over the public’s apparent disregard for physical distancing measures and the government’s inconsistent COVID-19 policies.

The Indonesian Ombudsman says complaints about the government’s social aid (bansos) programs dominated hundreds of inquiries to its new Covid-19 online complaint center.

“As of May 12, we’ve received 387 complaints, 72 percent of which, or 278, were complaints about the social aid”, Ombudsman Chairperson Amzulian Rifai said in an online press conference on Wednesday.

In the midst of the corona virus pandemic which is sweeping across Indonesia, the House of Representatives (DPR) has been slammed by civil rights activists and trade unions for restarting deliberations on controversial draft legislation including the widely unpopular Omnibus Law on Job Creation and the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP).

The government claims that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s so called Omnibus Law on Job Creation will simply some 1,244 articles covering 79 laws making it easier to attract foreign investment, and thereby create more job.

An Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) commissioner has apologized for claiming that women could get pregnant from swimming in the same pool as men.

Amid concerns over data privacy, the 2020 population census by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) has started with the online phase – which is hoped to ease access for public participation across the country – already being plagued by glitches.

A growing number of people are falling foul of Indonesia’s Information and Electronic Transaction Law (ITE), which is notorious for being used to criminalise political dissidents.

Human rights lawyer Veronica Koman and journalist Dandhy Dwi Laksono were charged in September for allegedly “inciting hatred” on social media related to recent unrest in Papua.

Civil society organisations, trade unions and student groups have unanimously rejected President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s so-call Omnibus Law on Job Creation – which the government claims will cut red tape and remove “restrictive” regulations hindering business making it easier to attract foreign investment, and thereby create more jobs.

Almost as predictable as Jakarta’s annual floods are the blame game that inevitably follows. Within days of massive flooding that inundated large parts of Jakarta in the week of 2020, the central government and the Jakarta administration were busy accusing each other of failing to prepare adequate flood control and prevention mechanisms.

Although Indonesia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2011 and in 2016 passed Law Number 8/2016 which acknowledges the rights of people with disabilities, disabled people continue to be discriminated against in the job market and few public facilities accommodate the needs of disabled people.