Indonesia is undoubtedly one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, let alone in the Southeast Asia region. Although there have been management efforts to conserve this natural richness, the country has long been recognised as a significant illegal wildlife trade hub.

Indonesia is set to lose its first and only female constitutional justice, whose term is up next year, potentially dealing a blow to women’s rights in a country where they’re being challenged in the face of growing religious conservatism.Maria Farida Indrati will end her second and final term in about eight months, leaving the nine-member board of justices entirely male on one of the two highest courts in the country – where cases on discrimination, domestic violence, early-age marriage and f

An Indonesian court has sentenced ten men to two years in prison for taking part in a gay sex party at a sauna, court documents show.The group were among at least 141 men detained during a raid on a building that houses a sauna and a gym in the capital Jakarta in May.While most were released, ten were charged and found guilty last Thursday of violating the country’s controversial 2008 anti-pornography law."(The defendants) have been proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt of displaying nud

In a country long renowned for its cocoa beans, it’s a little ironic that until recently, Indonesia’s inhabitants haven’t had much of a taste for chocolate.The average Indonesian eats just 300 grams of chocolate annually, a sliver of the nine pounds or so put away by the average American, according to Euromonitor. But as incomes rise, tastes are slowly changing and global industry giants are positioning themselves to take full advantage of the sugar rush to come.

Indonesia and Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

Go-Jek, Indonesia’s biggest ride-hailing service, agreed to acquire three local financial-technology companies, underscoring its ambition to become the dominant player in the country’s nascent digital-payments industry.The deals bring together Kartuku, Indonesia’s largest offline payments-processing company; Midtrans, the nation’s top online-payment gateway; and Mapan, a local community-based saving and lending network, Go-Jek said in a statement Friday.Collectively, Go-Jek and the three comp

As central banks around the globe get ready to pull the trigger on interest rates, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is in no rush to do the same.After reducing interest rates eight times since the beginning of last year, most recently in August and September, it’s unclear how Bank Indonesia will proceed next year: economists are split on whether policy makers will hike, keep rates unchanged or ease some more.“Strong growth and higher inflation, coupled with continued Fed rate hikes, should pu

A bid to make all sex outside marriage illegal was thrown out by an Indonesian court Thursday, as concerns grow over rising intolerance in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country.Five out of nine judges on the Constitutional Court in the capital Jakarta narrowly rejected the push to criminalise extramarital relations.The unsuccessful petition would have affected unmarried heterosexuals and gay people, who cannot marry in Indonesia – several months after the arrests of a group of men

According to a recent report, Vietnam seems to have a bright future for gender diversity in the Southeast Asia region as there is a higher illustration of women serving as board of directors and chief executive officers in comparison to Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reported that some 25 percent of CEOs on board of directors in Vietnam are women. Currently, women hold 14 percent of CEO or board level positions in Malaysia and 10 percent in Singapore.

A small economy that’s constantly battling risks beyond its control like typhoons and oil prices has been one of the most successful in managing inflation in Asia.The Philippine central bank, which has an annual inflation target that’s currently set at two percent to four percent, met its goal six times in the past eight years and the two times it failed were because prices were too low.