Indonesia | Pakistan

Officials in Indonesia and Sri Lanka battled on Wednesday to reach survivors of deadly flooding in remote, cut-off regions as the toll in the disaster that hit four countries topped 1,500. In Indonesia, survivors expressed growing frustration about the slow pace of rescue efforts and aid delivery, as humanitarian groups warned the scale of the challenge was almost unprecedented, even in a country that has faced no shortage of natural disasters. Monsoon rains paired with two tropical storm systems dumped record deluges across Sri Lanka, and parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week. In Indonesia, 770 were confirmed dead, the country’s disaster management agency said on Wednesday, revising the toll down from 812 it announced earlier in the day. Another 463 people are also missing. Information is only trickling in as many regions remain physically cut off by flood damage, isolated by electricity and communications failures, or both. “It’s very challenging logistically to res...

Australia and Indonesia agreed on Wednesday to sign a new security treaty, which includes closer military cooperation, the two countries’ leaders said following talks in Sydney. Canberra has drawn ever nearer to longtime ally Washington, bolstering its military in an attempt to deter the might of a rising China in the Asia-Pacific region. Jakarta has walked a more neutral path, wary of drawing too close to Washington and far less willing to needle Beijing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking alongside President Prabowo Subianto at a Royal Australian Navy Base in Sydney, said they had “just substantively concluded negotiations on a new bilateral treaty on our common security”. “This treaty is a recognition from both our nations that the best way to secure … peace and stability is by acting together,” Albanese told reporters. The Australian leader said he hoped to visit Indonesia next year to sign the new treaty. He said the agreement builds on a bilateral defence pact signed in 2024, which pledged closer...

The death toll from an Indonesian school collapse rose to 63 on Monday, officials said, as workers pulled more remains from the rubble of the building that collapsed last week. Part of the multi-storey Islamic boarding school on Indonesia’s Java island collapsed as more than 150 students gathered for afternoon prayers. Around half a dozen youngsters are still unaccounted for. “We hope we can conclude the recovery today (Monday), and we will return the bodies [to the families],” National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) operations director Yudhi Bramantyo told a press conference on Monday. The collapse was Indonesia’s deadliest disaster so far this year, Budi Irawan, the deputy head of the national disaster agency (BNPB), said. Investigators have been examining the cause of the collapse, but initial indications suggest that substandard construction may have contributed to the incident, according to experts. The families of the missing agreed last Thursday for heavy equipment to be used, after the 72-hour “g...

At least 10 people were killed during violent protests in Indonesia last week, a rights group said on Wednesday, one of several organisations to report fatalities due to the unrest. The disturbances that rocked Southeast Asia’s biggest economy last week were sparked by discontent over economic inequality and lavish perks for lawmakers. They later widened to include anger against police after footage circulated of the killing of a young driver by a paramilitary unit. The state-affiliated National Commission on Human Rights, or Komnas HAM, told AFP on Wednesday that it had received reports that 10 people had died. “There are indications that some of them were victims of authorities’ excessive force,” Anis Hidayah, the head of the group, said. The deaths were reported in the jurisdictions of Greater Jakarta, Makassar in South Sulawesi, Central Java, and Papua, she said. Komnas HAM also reported that more than 900 people were injured and thousands detained, although most of them have since been released. “Many ot...

Thousands rallied across Indonesia on Monday as the military was deployed in the capital after six people were killed in nationwide protests sparked by anger over lavish perks for lawmakers. At least 500 protesters gathered outside the nation’s parliament in Jakarta on Monday afternoon as dozens of police officers watched on. Soldiers were present earlier but left after several hours. Thousands more rallied in Palembang on Sumatra island and hundreds gathered separately in Banjarmasin on Borneo island, Yogyakarta on the main island of Java and Makassar on Sulawesi island, according to AFP journalists around the country. “Our main goal is to reform the parliament. We hope the parliament will come out and meet us. We want to talk to them directly, they are our representatives,” protester and university student Nafta Keisya Kemalia, 20, told AFP outside parliament. “Do they want to wait until we have a martial law?” The deadly protests, which began last week over MP housing allowances nearly 10 times the minimum...

A fire started by protesters at a council building in eastern Indonesia killed at least three people, a local official said on Saturday, after demonstrations across the country following the death of a man hit by a police vehicle. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy was rocked by protests in major cities including the capital Jakarta on Friday after footage spread of a motorcycle taxi driver being run over by a police tactical vehicle in earlier rallies against low wages and financial perks for lawmakers. Protests in Makassar, the biggest city on the eastern island of Sulawesi, descended into chaos outside the provincial and local city council buildings, which were both set on fire as demonstrators hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails. Three people were killed as a result of the fire at the Makassar city council, its secretary Rahmat Mappatoba told AFP. “They were trapped in the burning building,” he said, accusing protesters of igniting the blaze. “Usually during a demonstration, protesters only throw rocks or bu...

People in an Indonesian village watched as a tower of loudspeakers mounted on a truck rumbled through their usually serene home, blasting a thumping bass loud enough to crack windows. Loudspeaker towers are commonplace on Indonesia’s main island of Java, blaring a repetitive mix of electronic tunes and traditional folk music at street parties, but they have drawn the ire of local authorities and calm-seeking neighbours. The loudspeaker stacks have proven so disruptive that officials this month have restricted their use while religious bodies have declared excessive and damaging sound from them to be “haram”, or forbidden under Islamic law. “The sound is booming from 1pm to 3am. They play loud music and drink alcohol,” Ahmad Suliyat, a resident of Ngantru village in East Java province, told AFP. “It’s really disturbing.” Indonesians in East Java have shared videos on social media of cracked walls, falling roof tiles and damaged stores caused by the noise impact known as “sound horeg”, which loosely means to mo...

RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Indonesia have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation and explore new avenues in economic, strategic, and defence sectors.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the U.S. would impose a 19% tariff on goods from Indonesia under a new agreement with the Southeast Asian country and said more deals were in the works as he continued to press for what he views as better terms with trading partners and a path to reducing a […]

RAWALPINDI: Indonesia’s Minister of Defence Lieutenant General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin (Retd) called on Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Chief of Army Staff at General Headquarters, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. The defence minister, who is leading a delegation comprising representatives from various services and intelligence agencies, appreciated the role of Pakistan Army in fight against […]

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck on Monday off eastern Indonesia, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, but a monitor said there was no tsunami threat. The quake struck at 12:49pm Western Indonesia time (10:49pm PKT) and its epicentre was at a depth of 66 kilometres, around 177 kilometres west of the city of Tual in the eastern Maluku province, the USGS said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat, and Indonesia’s geophysics agency said in a social media post the quake “did not have the potential to cause a tsunami”. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The vast archipelago nation experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. A magnitude 6.2 quake that shook Sulawesi in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless. In 2018, a magnitude-7.5 quake and subseque...

At least four people were dead and dozens unaccounted for Thursday after a ferry sank in rough seas on its way to Indonesian resort island Bali, according to rescue authorities who said 31 survivors had been plucked from the water so far. Rescuers were racing to find 30 people still missing at sea after the vessel carrying 65 passengers and crew sank before midnight on Wednesday as it sailed to the popular holiday destination from Indonesia’s main island Java. “The ferry tilted and immediately sank,” survivor Eka Toniansyah told reporters at a Bali hospital. “Most of the passengers were from Indonesia. I was with my father. My father is dead.” Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency chief Mohammad Syafii told a news conference on Thursday that 31 survivors had been found. “Four people died, so 30 people are still being searched for,” he said, adding the national agency sent a helicopter to help the effort. President Prabowo Subianto, who was on a trip to Saudi Arabia, ordered an immediate emergency resp...

Pakistan on Wednesday beat hosts Indonesia 2-0 in their second group match in the qualifiers for the 2026 Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup, making a comeback from their defeat in the first group match last week. The national squad was drawn in Group ‘D’ of the qualifiers in Jakarta alongside Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan. Pakistan lost their first match of the campaign to Chinese Taipei 8-0 on June 29. Hailing today’s victory as a “milestone in women’s football”, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) wrote in an X post, “Pakistan defeats 95th-ranked Indonesia 2-0. Power, passion, and purpose on full display.” Nadia Khan opened up the scoring eight minutes into the match, before Suha Hirani doubled the lead in the 19th minute by scoring a penalty. View this post on Instagram “The onus was on Indonesia to find their way back, but despite introducing Isa, Helsya Maeisyaroh and Marsela Yuliana Awi into the mix, [Coach] Satoru Mochizuki’s charges were unable to overturn the defici...