Bill Birtles is the ABC's Indonesia correspondent, based in Jakarta.
Bill was previously the East Asia correspondent, working from Taiwan and China. Since his posting in Beijing in 2015, he has covered some of the biggest stories of recent years, including the rise of Xi Jinping, the US-China trade war, the Hong Kong protests and upheaval in the Australia-China relationship.
He has reported from South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and from southern China right up to the North Korean border. Prior to the posting in Beijing, he was a news and current affairs journalist in Sydney and also worked for the ABC's Asia Pacific News Centre in Melbourne with a focus on China.
He has previously studied Mandarin in Beijing and worked in Chinese television, and published his book, The Truth About China, in 2021. Follow Bill on Twitter: @billbirtles
Online influencer Sarnanitha, known as Nitha, has been detained since September after police raided the Flame Massage Spa in Seminyak, and arrested her for being the majority owner.
A 75 per cent approval rating is unimaginable to incumbent leaders in most other democracies around the world.
An Australian couple, including a woman who survived the Bali terrorist bombings in 2002, have been arrested on the tourist island after police conducted raids targeting illegal prostitution.
A glitch in Indonesia's e-visa system is inadvertently exposing sensitive traveller information to strangers with at least three Australians able to see passport details of other people.
Horseracing will end in Singapore when The Turf Club holds its last meet before handing its land back to the government to build apartments to help with housing affordability issues in the city-state, which has one of the most expensive property markets in the world.
Armed pro-independence rebels in Indonesia's Papua region have released New Zealand man Philip Mehrtens after holding him hostage for more than 19 months.
A new wave of construction is sweeping Bali, carving up rice fields and prime beachfront land for "Instagrammable" villas, resorts and massive tourism projects.
Hundreds of thousands flock to Timor-Leste's capital to welcome Pope Francis as he holds a mass in the world's most Catholic nation outside of the Vatican.
While Indonesia's Catholic community is only 3 per cent of the population, it still numbers in the millions and plenty of its members will be travelling to Jakarta for the pope's four-day visit.
A spokesperson for a separatist group holding a New Zealand pilot hostage in Indonesia's Papua region say they plan to release him in August or September.
Fresh claims of boat turnbacks emerge after a group of men seeking to come to Australia by boat is intercepted and sent to Indonesia.
A Timor Leste court sentences Australian man Robert Trott to 11 years in jail after he was convicted of abusing a girl under the age of 12.
An Australian man injured on the Singapore Airlines aircraft that suffered extreme turbulence this week says he hopes to bring his wife home in a medical flight.
Up to 12 Australians who were on the London-to-Singapore flight that suffered extreme turbulence this week remain in two hospitals in Bangkok.
Indonesia has one of the fastest-growing film markets in the world, and audiences can't get enough of one genre in particular.
Police in Kupang name seven suspected people smugglers after intercepting a boat carrying Chinese and Indonesian people they believe were headed to Australia.
Harvey Moeis's life was idyllic to the point where he was dubbed "the perfect husband" by online users in Indonesia. But that all came crashing down in early April when Indonesian police arrested him and placed him under arrest over a corruption scandal.
Australians in Bali for holidays have been left confused by a new $15 tourism tax and efforts by police to enforce payment.
A series of videos described as "barbaric" have circulated online, showing what appear to be soldiers punching, kicking and slicing a Papuan man in a barrel.
Indonesia's outgoing president is leaving his utopian vision for a jungle capital to his successors to build. Will they pull the plug?
Tens of thousands of Swifties are flying into Singapore over the next week because of a deal the city-state government struck to be the only South-East Asia country to host Taylor Swift.
A former military general once banned from Australia over his human rights record is leading Indonesia's election count, according to unofficial results. Here's what that could mean.
After vying for Indonesia's top office for more than a decade, Prabowo Subianto is finally eyeing victory at this week's presidential election.
Countries with a combined population of more than three and a half billion people will head to the polls in 2024 to participate in presidential, legislative and parliamentary elections. So could this be the greatest test of democracy?
Less than a fortnight out from Indonesia's election, President Joko Widodo's son is proving to be the decisive factor driving some of the country's almost 200 million voters towards his joint ticket. Could he secure the Widodo political dynasty?