Indonesia’s religiously conservative Aceh region has forbidden men and women not related or married to one another from being together in public places or vehicles, by issuing new tightened rules for keeping the opposite sexes apart.
In a victory for animal lovers worldwide, officials on Friday banned the trade in dog and cat meat at an infamous Indonesian market where butchers openly bludgeoned and burned the animals alive with a blow-torch.
Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo launched a program on Tuesday to provide remedies to victims of human rights violations during some of the darkest chapters in the nation’s history.
Indonesia’s president said Monday he had ordered an investigation into a large religious boarding school accused of deviating from Islam’s teachings, after protesters demanded the institution be shut.
Bali island in Indonesia has long attracted travelers from around the world, but mass tourism has brought challenges – overcrowding, pollution, land conversion and an erosion of traditional culture.
Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo ordered a crackdown on human trafficking syndicates Tuesday after officials revealed that nearly 2,000 of the country’s overseas migrant workers had died since 2020 because of abuse, accidents or illness.
Under Indonesia’s new criminal code passed last year, a woman who has an abortion faces up to four years in prison and anyone who assists in the process could be jailed for five years. Additionally, anyone who promotes birth control devices faces six months in jail.
Two major religious observances coincided in Indonesia on Wednesday as Nyepi, a Balinese Hindu festival, shut down most activity on Bali island for 24 hours, and Muslims prepared to begin the Ramadan month of fasting and prayer.
The supply of essential goods in Indonesia’s restive Papua region has been disrupted in recent weeks as a regional airline halted nearly 70% of its flights after one of its pilots was taken hostage by separatist rebels last month.
The kidnapping of a New Zealand pilot in Indonesia’s volatile Papua region is the latest in a series of attention-grabbing attacks by 24-year-old Egianus Kogoya and his faction of Papuan independence fighters.