Nations are born and grow with a kind of forgetting. Nations are born and endure with a store of memories.

Two months have passed since the onset of the haze over Sumatra and Kalimantan. Even intermittent rains have failed to get rid of the haze. In Riau and Jambi, it continues to cause the death of many who suffered from respiratory diseases.

When a woman came up to him after an event in Surabaya last April, Iwan Sunito, 49, never expected her to say that her son was one of his biggest fans. Iwan asked to meet her son, so along came this 12-year-old clad in black, his 8-year-old brother traipsing behind him. "Pak Sunito, when I grow up I want to be a property developer like you," the boy said.

The move is a turning point in a years-long quarrel over the government's failure to revoke a 2013 spatial plan submitted by the Aceh government, one that both activists and the home affairs ministry have declared illegal.

But admittedly, most of the cases are found in emerging democracies, such as in Indonesia and Mexico, where a global conference on 'Money in Politics' was recently held, to share information and experiences on money politics, and identify common problems and issues that can be used as reference for local applications.

SINCE proclaimed Queen of Denmark in 1972, Margrethe II has never been to Indonesia. Her first inkling of Indonesia came after her mother, Queen Ingrid, had visited Bali. "My mother came home with a selection of batik," said Queen Margrethe at Fredensborg Palace, north of Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday. This was why Queen Margrethe II was eager to visit Indonesia. The state visit will be her first in the 65 years of the two countries' bilateral relationship.

Occupying more than 225,000 square kilometers of West Papua Province, the BHS encompasses not only Raja Ampat's world-renowned reefs, but also the extraordinary undersea wilderness near Kaimana, called Triton Bay, as well as Indonesia's largest marine park, Cenderawasih Bay. Within the BHS, marine scientists have recorded a record-shattering 1756 distinct fish species, over 75 percent of the world's known hard corals and over 50 percent of the known soft corals. A network of twelve Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) keep reefs safe from commercial trawlers and destructive practices like dynamite fishing.

Who knows what was in the mind of Constitutional Court Chief Justice Arief Hidayat when he asked the police to investigate allegations of falsification of signatures by advocates working in the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI). After all, the hearing to review the Police Law and the Road Transport and Public Transport Law that began two weeks ago was already underway.

Since the beginning, the public felt something was off in the arrest of Bambang Widjojanto in Depok, West Java, on January 23.

Traces of the CIA

Water for Life

National Defense Program Negated

A meeting held on the 46th floor of the Bakrie Tower in Kuningan, South Jakarta, last Monday gave Golkar Party leaders a chance to make their pitch. Ade Komarudin, chair of the Golkar faction at the House of Representatives (DPR), was given the task of explaining the party's draft of a National Amnesty Bill to assembled party heads.

Without warning, five men barged into the offices of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) on Wednesday evening two weeks ago. "The men told staff members they were members of the police," YLBHI administrator Jeremiah Limbong said.

POLICY
Government Launches Fourth Economic Policy Package

October is the time when most Indonesian companies strategize their next year's business plan. Unfortunately, this month's planning exercise will be tougher to call, compared to past years. This year, the trend of economic indicators, notably growth, interest and the rupiah, which a company uses to project its revenue, has been especially hard to pin down. The rupiah has dropped nearly 10 percent to a low of Rp14,700 per US dollar, before strengthening to the Rp13,500 level, last week.

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.