Jakarta Informer

Jakarta’s controversial Buddha Bar must immediately close, the Central Jakarta District Court ruled on Wednesday. The court also ordered the owners, Nireta Vista Creative, as well as Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo and the Jakarta Tourism Agency to pay a fine totaling Rp 1 billion ($111,000) to the plaintiffs, the Anti-Buddha Bar Forum, for mental distress. [...]

At 8am on a sunny Wednesday, industrialist Muhsin headed out for a workout: a swim and a few laps around a running track. His chosen location? Indonesia’s most luxurious cemetery. The 1,240 acre San Diego Hills Memorial Park, which opened in 2007, was inspired by the Forest Lawn chain of US cemeteries, the final resting [...]

The South Jakarta District Court turned down a pretrial motion by graft suspect, high-ranking policeman Susno Duadji who challenged his arrest on the grounds that police had enough preliminary evidence to detain the suspect. “The South Jakarta District Court considers that (incoming) report to police and testimony by a witness can serve as preliminary evidence [...]

Bloody riots over the Muslim tomb in Jakarta killed 3 people yesterday before police was sent to stop the violence. Over 100 people got injured, many of them quite seriously. They clashed with security forces and protested against plans to flatten part of a cemetery which contains a memorial to a Muslim scholar. A misunderstanding [...]

Residents of Kampung Gujibaru in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, protested their eviction Thursday. The Squatters were stating they had a right to the land, despite not having any title deeds or other documents.  The 1.8 hectare area is home for 540 houses with roughly 2,000 people. And they say that they have lived on this [...]

Baekuni, also called Babe and now 48 years old was arrested last week in East Jakarta after the body of a nine year old boy was discovered in Cakung. Babe was a gang leader of street kids and was found suspicious of child molestation and murder. He admitted that he killed at least 7 kids [...]

Thousands of mourners thronged roads Thursday in Indonesia to say farewell to late President Abdurrahman Wahid, a beloved, one-eyed cleric who reached out to religious minorities in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. Wahid, who ruled Indonesia for nearly two years of tumult as it embarked on a path to democracy in 1999 after three [...]