Indonesia

November 13, 2024 11:24 AM

Flights cancelled to and from Indonesia’s Bali due to volcanic ash

Several international airlines cancelled flights to and from Indonesia's resort island of Bali on Wednesday, after further eruptions of a volcano that has spewed ash clouds as high as 10 km (32,808 ft) and forced thousands to evacuate. Jetstar and Qantas said they had stopped flights to Bali on Wednesday for safety reasons because of volcanic ash, while plane tracking website Flightradar24 showed flights to the island by AirAsia and Virgin were also cancelled. Bali is Indonesia's top tourist h...

October 15, 2024 7:10 PM

How Indonesia’s outgoing Jokowi steered son Gibran to vice presidency

When Indonesian President Joko Widodo was first inaugurated in 2014, his eldest son didn't want to be there. Gibran Rakabuming Raka, then 27, had spent much of his life outside the limelight and "didn't agree with his father's decision to enter politics," said Andi Widjajanto, a former top adviser to Widodo. Gibran only showed up after his paternal grandmother twisted his arm. On Oct. 20, the once-reluctant princeling will be at another inauguration ceremony - this time as the vice president o...

September 10, 2024 11:44 AM

From Jakarta to Cairo: The Rise of Purpose-Built Capital Cities in the Global South

Egypt has a brand new capital city. So does Indonesia. Liberia and Thailand want one, too. Pollution. Traffic chaos. Broken roads. Flooded streets. Population explosion. Crumbling infrastructure. It’s a jungle out there. And, only the fittest can survive. Here, I’m not talking about your health but the city you live in. What if the city you live in is decaying or dying? How fit is your city? More importantly, is your country’s capital city future-ready? Add sea-level rise and global war...

September 4, 2024 1:36 PM

Pope Francis, in Muslim-majority Indonesia, warns against religious extremism

Pope Francis on Wednesday urged political leaders in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, to guard against religious extremism, which he said distorted people's religious beliefs through "deception and violence". In his first speech during an ambitious 12-day journey across Southeast Asia, where Christians are a small minority of the regional population, the pontiff said the Catholic Church would increase its efforts toward inter-religious dialogue in hopes of helping t...

September 3, 2024 3:21 PM

Pope Francis arrives in Indonesia to begin ambitious Asia-Pacific tour

Dozens of excited Indonesians waved on Tuesday as a motorcade carried Pope Francis through the capital as he began the first leg of an ambitious Asia-Pacific tour expected to urge global action on climate change as part of his longest trip yet. The 87-year-old pontiff, who will also visit East Timor, Singapore and Papua New Guinea over the next 10 days, was seated in a wheelchair as a lift disembarked him from a chartered aircraft at Jakarta airport. Two children in traditional clothes present...

August 30, 2024 4:33 PM

Indonesia to reform tourism on tropical island Bali

Indonesia will conduct an audit to reform tourism on the tropical island of Bali to improve tourism quality and preserve local culture and jobs, a senior minister said on Friday. About 200,000 foreigners currently live in Bali and have created problems such as crime, over-development and competition for employment, Luhut Pandjaitan, senior minister overseeing tourism said on his Instagram page. "Foreign tourists who bring problem here, such as narcotics, gangs, and other issues, we can deport ...

August 22, 2024 6:39 PM

Protests across Indonesia as parliament delays change to election law

Indonesia's legislature will not ratify changes to election rules during the current government's term, its deputy speaker said on Thursday, as demonstrations flared outside parliament and security forces used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters. Sufmi Dasco Ahmad told Reuters deliberations will continue in the parliament's next sitting period, meaning it would not apply to this year's elections or under the administration of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who leaves office in Oct...

August 7, 2024 4:15 PM

Tiny arm bone unlocks mystery of Indonesia’s extinct ‘Hobbit’ people

When researchers excavated fossilized fragments of a rod-shaped bone 3-1/2 inches (88 mm) long at a site called Mata Menge on Indonesia's Flores island, the pieces initially were bagged and marked "crocodile bone fragment?" It was only later that they realized what they actually were. These fragments, dating to about 700,000 years ago, of the upper arm bone, called the humerus, comprise the smallest limb bone known for any member of the human evolutionary lineage - an adult individual of the di...

June 28, 2024 12:18 PM

Indonesia to deport 103 Taiwanese suspected of cyber crimes in Bali

Indonesian immigration authorities arrested 103 Taiwan passport holders, an official said on Friday, suspecting them of running a cyber crime operation out of the island of Bali. The raid on June 26 was the biggest arrest this year, the Immigration agency said. Bali immigration director Saffar Muhammad Godam told reporters authorities would soon deport the Taiwan passport holders after arresting them in a sting operation at a villa in Bali's Tabanan district. "The 103 foreign nationals stayed...

June 24, 2024 6:02 PM

Cyber attack compromised Indonesia data centre, ransom sought

A cyber attacker compromised Indonesia's national data centre, disrupting immigration checks at airports, and asked for an $8 million ransom, the country's communications minister told Reuters on Monday. The attack disrupted several government services, most notably at airports last week, with long lines forming at immigration desks. Automated passport machines were now functioning, the communications ministry said. Minister Budi Arie Setiadi said the attacker used a new variant of existing ma...