For three years, dozens of women, activists and survivors of sexual violence have fought relentlessly to make Indonesia a safer place. They have campaigned and lobbied lawmakers to pass the bill on the elimination of sexual violence. In late September, they received devastating news: the lawmakers serving between 2014 and 2019 would not pass the bill. However, there is a glimmer of hope from the new members of the House of Representatives.

Experience has shown that without a transparent mechanism, carbon trading will only be a way for companies or countries to escape their carbon responsibility. This is a major task for delegates and nations should they want to put the international trading system in place. There should be a transparent and accountable mechanism that assures these transactions benefit the poor, especially communities living in and around forests.

We wonder why Jokowi has not focused on speeding up the drafting of the omnibus bill, which he himself has promised will simultaneously revise more than 72 laws and hundreds of central government regulations considered big obstacles to investment.

Learning from the Asian Games success, Indonesian sportsmen and women should maintain the same fighting spirit in the Philippines to prove that their extraordinary achievement in the Asian Games last year was no fluke.

A sense of justice was obviously absent when the President signed on Oct. 25 the letter of clemency for the senior Golkar politician. 

Eventually, anyone who is not a “Jokower”, a loyalist of President Jokowi, could be branded a radical, although the current rule is limited to civil servants.

Back home, if Jokowi wants to make the best of his relationship with South Korea, he should gently remind his aides to act quickly and not wait until Seoul loses interest.

What then may we expect from Ahok, who now asks to be called BTP, in coping with Pertamina’s problems?

The Basic Health Survey (Riskesdas) held in 2018 showed that the prevalence of pneumonia had increased to 2 percent last year from 1.85 percent in 2013.

Home Minister Tito Karnavian has publicly supported the reinstatement of a New Order-style mechanism to elect regional heads by legislative councils, despite a statement by his boss, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, insisting that the current direct regional elections remain intact.

The low level of public trust in the transparency and accountability of the government’s taxation system, as revealed by Tempo Media Group and CITA tax consulting company through a recent survey, only confirms the vital importance of good governance in enhancing voluntary tax compliance (VTC) or tax culture.

Breakthroughs are needed in education, health, infrastructure, the labor market, food security and social spending as part of a concerted effort at poverty alleviation.

In 1987, 32 years ago, the country’s Diagnostic Classification on Mental Disorder Guidelines III stated that homosexuality was not a mental illness. This was before the World Health Organization had homosexuality removed from this category.

There were simply too many bureaucratic layers within the ministry, especially after the establishment of several holding companies, while each state firm already has its own board of commissioners and directors to navigate ways for how SOEs do business.

Tangerang and other towns around Jakarta have benefited from the development spillover that took place during the labor-intensive manufacturing boom in the 1980s and 1990s. But Central Java, under the leadership of Governor Ganjar Pranowo, has been working hard to woo investors in a bid to develop itself into a new major production base for labor-intensive industries.

People love to share — or show off — happy moments on their social media accounts, including their children’s activities, even while they are underage. Their intention may only be to share the children they adore with the world. However, they may not realize the hidden threat of oversharing their children’s pictures.

The suicide bombing at the Medan Police headquarters in North Sumatra on Wednesday is the latest reminder of the nation’s vulnerability to violent extremism. Acts of terrorism pose a serious threat not only to national security but also to our hard-won democracy.

As a former Indonesian Military (TNI) general, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto should have known that today’s warfare is no longer fought on beaches, in trenches or in jungles.

Boosting investment as the main objective of the overall reform is quite strategic because it is private investment, and not the government that creates jobs, which in turn generates purchasing power and alleviates poverty.

As some researchers have warned, new provinces would not end conflict in Papua. Instead, they might aggravate the infighting as the new regions would fuel further societal segregation.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s decision to bestow Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan an even greater role is sending a strong message that the government wants to debottleneck investment hurdles and accelerate infrastructure development at a desperate time.

Once again we must remind the government, and also fellow Indonesians, that however much we seek state protection, interference into private choices such as clothing must never be allowed. Further, bans on certain clothing have been ineffective.

The arrest of several PSSI executives, including its former chairman, over their involvement in match-fixing practices indicate that the problem with Indonesian soccer stems from people abusing their mandate to develop the sport for their own benefit.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s acknowledgment on the weekend of Southeast Asia’s need for closer cooperation with China may very well be motivated by overarching domestic concerns, but the gesture might have far bigger consequences than we can readily discern.

The President’s turning a deaf ear to the rallying cry for strong and independent graft busters is dangerous. As the holder of executive power, his recent decisions related to the KPK will change the way the nation perceives corruption.

Martua P. Siregar and Maraden Sianipar, both of whom worked for local weekly Pindo Merdeka, were found dead on an oil palm plantation on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. 

Skeptics further question if Idham can really change the game in such a short term, unless President Jokowi decides to delay the police chief’s mandatory retirement, which would be unprecedented.

How could nickel ore exports have risen so steeply while the mining regulation allows exports only by mining firms that are building smelters and restricts export volumes with quotas set according to the building progress of their smelter projects?

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo must make it a top priority to appoint a new Indonesian ambassador to the United States or he risks seeing the momentum that the Foreign Ministry has built up dissipate.

Without truth and justice, especially for native Papuans, development of infrastructure such as roads, seaports, airports and bridges would only worsen inequality.