It all began with imagination and the desire to rejoice.

How do you see the state of the nation?

Let me start with an overview of the macro political development. The process of electing a president, the smooth transition, given that we introduced democracy just 15 years ago, has been unbelievable. That such a country like Indonesia with over 250 million people, an archipelago not a land mass, with such a diverse background and ethnicity, can actually do it. This is the result of patience, and maybe compromises in order to achieve this peaceful process. That's how I see things in general with regards to the development of the country as a whole.

Has there been progress in bureaucratic reform?

We need to be concerned about the progress (or lack) of good governance. I worry about the level of corruption in the regions and what is happening in the DPR (House of Representatives), where there is no shame about not just committing but defending corruption. Having said that, we are still in a state of transition which tends to enable transactional politics. Is it the political system that leads to corruption or the other way around? But the effect is on bureaucratic reform.

I remember clambering alone over the empty ruins of Panataran, East Java's largest and most imposing complex of Hindu ruins, when it was completely surrounded by ricefields in the early 1980s, in the days before Indonesian's mass adoption of the motorcycle. I had to take a clippity-clop dokar horse-cart for the 10-minute ride out into the countryside, seeking shade from the heat in the quiet corridors of friezes.

Jennifer Lindsay*

My first grandchild was born a few weeks ago. I just wrote that opening sentence without showing gender. I used the word 'grandchild', but in English it is impossible to go very far without revealing gender. We have to say 'he or she'.

When it comes to illegal logging in Indonesia, plantation companies have flown under the radar for a long time. Perhaps no more. A new report sheds light on what has until now been a murky but vast stream of illicit timberproduced by unscrupulous oil palm firms.

The summons came as a surprise to Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, editor-in-chief of English-language daily The Jakarta Post. He had just presided over a meeting when he received the letter with the insignia of the Jakarta Police on Tuesday two weeks ago. The letter told him to meet up with a police investigator and stated that he was suspected of a crime. "How could this be?" Meidyatama remembers thinking at the time.

The two days of incessant rain in Banjarnegara, Central Java, finally stopped on Friday afternoon two weeks ago. Sinem, 55, seized the opportunity to pluck some taro leaves in the yard of her house in Jemblung hamlet, home to about 300 residents. She planned to cook a favorite dish of her husband, Suhaedi, 58.

The rain had prevented many people from leaving their homes. The freezing air at the foot of Mount Tlagalele pierced the bones. Before becoming a cassava and corn farm in between the albasia plants and the shrubs, the hill's slopes had been a community forest. Tlagalele is located on the right side of the residential areas through which the Karangkoba-Dieng highway cuts.

The world has seen yet another horrific terrorist attack. This one came in Peshawar, Pakistan, when seven members of the Pakistani Taliban broke into an army-run school on Tuesday morning and went on a killing spree.

Emanuel Bria
Senior Associate - Asia Pacific, Natural Resources Governance Institute (NRGI)

Like in most countries of Southeast Asia, state institutions in Indonesia are historically weak, argued Frank Timpton (2008). Growing nationalism through stronger state direction does not correspond well with the state capacity for strategy making, policy formulation and administrative capacity to execute. In the same line of argument, Michael Ross (2004) is also puzzled with these questions: why does the Indonesian government mismanage so badly their natural resources? Why have the governments of many developing states done the same? And why do states generally squander their natural resources? In fact, resource boom damage state institutions through a rent-seeking economy.

AS the year comes to an end, the rupiah has gone into free-fall. Last Tuesday, the rupiah reached Rp12,900 to US$1, the lowest level since 2008. Bank Indonesia seemed incapable of reining in the plunge, triggered by the fall in the world price of oil and expectations of the US Federal Reserve rise in interest rates next year.

After 14 years in which it was left in disrepair, the Uma Mbakulu customary house in Praingu Lewa Paku village was reconstructed. Umbu Mbora, the raja of Lewa Kambera and the leader of Praingu Lewa Paku, a village on the island of Sumba in East Nusa Tenggara, had at last got back his throne. "It is in this place that I should live," he told Tempo two weeks ago.

Clarification from the Defense Ministry

Currency
Rupiah Down just 4.4% Throughout 2014

This year, Indonesia and India mark 75 years of diplomatic relations. However, the ties between the two nations have existed much longer, predating the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of India. These connections span social, cultural, religious, economic, and trade aspects. But do those close ties of the past have any bearing on the present relationship? Why is there no direct flight between the capitals of the two countries?

Indian Ambassador to Indonesia and Timor-Leste, Sandeep Chakravorty, shares his views on this matter at TEMPO TALKS.