25 (Reuters) – It
was 3 a.m. when Abid Warasi and his friend clambered into an
Indonesian fishing boat, joining 300 other migrants packed into
the hold. Only a few days away by sea, Australia seemed
tantalizingly close.

Six hours into the voyage, the craft overturned. The two
teenagers clung to the upturned hull. One by one, survivors lost
purchase and drifted away, their dreams swallowed by the warm
waters of the Java Sea.

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s government has taken steps to over-ride patents for HIV drugs, following the lead of other Asian states that have allowed the production of cheap generic drugs that cut into the sales of global pharmaceutical companies.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono quietly issued a decree last month authorizing the use of patents for seven HIV/AIDS and hepatitis medicines held by the likes of Merck & Co, GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbott and Gilead.

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia said on Thursday it would improve worker pay and restrict the use of temporary contracts in the face of a vow by union leaders, who staged a national strike this week, to press ahead with industrial action.

Chief Economics Minister Hatta Rajasa said the government would draft a regulation to increase worker pay and would quickly implement rules to improve conditions for workers not on fixed contracts. He gave no details of the pay increase.

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s capital voted for a new governor on Thursday, with exit polls showing the challenger was likely to take control of one of the world’s largest, and most congested, cities which could give him a chance at the presidency in two years’ time.

The campaign has been tainted by hints of religious bigotry and racism, both deeply sensitive issue in the ethnically diverse Southeast Asian country which is also home to the world’s largest Muslim community.

KARAWANG GIRANG, Indonesia (Reuters) – Anti-tobacco advocates in Indonesia plan to file a class action lawsuit this month using cases of child addicts in the hope of forcing tougher regulations on a society where one in three people smokes.

It is a rare attempt of its kind to constrain a tobacco industry which looks to the world’s fourth most populous country and its growing appetite for cigarettes to replace dwindling sales elsewhere.

TANGERANG, Indonesia (Reuters) – There are many ways to describe Indonesia’s Aburizal Bakrie: multi-millionaire businessman, global mining tycoon, heavyweight contender for the presidency in 2014. One description that does not spring to mind is man of the common people.

So when Bakrie strode into a railway station in south Jakarta last week and slapped the equivalent of one U.S. dollar down on the counter for a ticket, it was a moment of political theatre.

TANGERANG, Indonesia, May 21 (Reuters) – There are many ways
to describe Indonesia’s Aburizal Bakrie: multi-millionaire
businessman, global mining tycoon, heavyweight contender for the
presidency in 2014. One description that does not spring to mind
is man of the common people.

So when Bakrie strode into a railway station in south
Jakarta last week and slapped the equivalent of one U.S. dollar
down on the counter for a ticket, it was a moment of political
theatre.

JAKARTA, April 23 (Reuters) – Ratings agency Standard and
Poor’s sent Indonesia a warning on Monday over recent policy
“slippage” under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, holding its
sovereign credit rating below investment grade rather than
raising it as many expected.

Although S&P retained a positive outlook on its Indonesia
rating and lauded record first-quarter foreign direct investment
figures released earlier in the day, it singled out policies in
the key mining sector and failure to approve an immediate fuel
price hike as worrisome developments.

JAKARTA, April 12 (Reuters) – Indonesia should quickly
impose a tax on mining exports, the industry minister said on
Thursday in comments likely to worry miners in the world’s top
exporter of thermal coal and tin.

Government officials have previously said a 25 percent tax
on mining exports is being considered for this year and a 50
percent tax for next year, though miners and industry analysts
have speculated that such plans are likely to be toned down.

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s Golkar Party has emerged from a policy fight over whether to raise subsidized fuel prices less tainted than its main coalition partner, the Democrat Party, and voters are likely to take note ahead of elections in 2014.

A parliamentary vote on Friday to delay raising fuel prices by 33 percent and instead grant the government authority under certain conditions to raise prices later saddles President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democrat Party with an unpopular decision down the line.