Jakarta. A slide in the Philippines’ economic growth to its weakest in three years wraps up a slew of dismal data from Southeast Asia and adds pressure on governments to unleash some of their fiscal spending firepower given the limitation of monetary policy now.

After years of low interest rates and cheap money, consumers and companies across much of the region are burdened by weighty debts, making monetary stimulus less effective. An expected uptick in inflation also suggests limited room for further rate cuts. read more

Nasib masyarakat Rohingya dapat memburuk, sesudah Presiden Myanmar Thein Sein menandatangani undang-undang (UU) keluarga berencana. Aktivis mencemaskan UU bakal menyasar minoritas yang rentan bertahan di Myanmar.

Pemerintah sejumlah negara dalam beberapa hari terakhir kian menekan pemerintah Myanmar. Mereka mendesak Myanmar menyetop eksodus warga Rohingya. Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa (PBB) menggambarkan kelompok Rohingya sebagai minoritas yang paling teraniaya sedunia.

PBB menduga kuat ribuan anggota kelompok Rohingya masih terjebak di Teluk Bengali. Mereka ditinggalkan penyelundup manusia yang takut dilumpuhkan patroli laut. Dalam beberapa pekan terakhir, lebih dari 3.000 warga Rohingya, juga imigran dari Bangladesh, berupaya mencapai daratan Malaysia dan Indonesia. read more

Efforts to prevent deforestation, protect indigenous communities and help smallholders overlook the rich vein of criminality in the plantation sector

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Throughout Indonesia, a vast archipelago draped across the equator, a human rights crisis simmers.

Over the past two decades, indigenous communities have seen the government hand their land over to private companies. These companies are largely producing one of two commodities: fast-growing timber species to supply the pulp and paper industry or palm oil, a remarkably versatile edible oil. read more

Rebecca Gibian and Diana Crandall

JAKARTA and YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — In a country where abortion is illegal and talking about reproductive health is taboo, women are terminating their pregnancies in unsafe ways, often getting hurt and sometimes dying as a result.

The Guttmacher Institute estimates that abortion is about 20 percent more prevalent in Indonesia than in Southeast Asia as a whole. Three out of every 1,000 Indonesian women between the ages of 15 and 44 are hospitalized each year due to complications from botched abortions. While a small group of activists has lobbied to reverse the Dutch colonial restrictions on abortion that are still on the books, popular opinion in this predominantly Muslim country has opposed reform. read more