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Karuni Rompies

Karuni Rompies

Karuni Rompies is assistant Indonesia correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

The illicit flight touched down in Merauke, South Papua.

Australian fugitives smuggled to South Papua were in the tobacco game, prosecutors say

Two men wanted by NSW police, and an Australian pilot, have been detained in Indonesia for six months.

  • Zach Hope and Karuni Rompies

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Mount Dukono, located in North Maluku province of Indonesia, erupted at 7.41am local time on Friday.

Three hikers feared dead in volcanic eruption

Indonesia’s geological agency has been warning climbers to stay away from Mount Dukono’s crater since 2024. Video footage shows volcanic ash being catapulted up to 10 kilometres into the air.

  • Zach Hope and Karuni Rompies
Indonesian activist attacked.

The shocking moment an Indonesian activist was allegedly attacked with chemicals in Jakarta

Indonesian authorities have arrested six people, four of them from the military’s intelligence unit, in connection to the incident that has sent a chill through Indonesian human rights activists.

  • Zach Hope and Karuni Rompies
Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles with Indonesia’s Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin after their meeting in Jakarta.

Australia to turn WWII site on ‘valuable’ Indonesian island into training base

The move to redevelop the site into a joint training facility highlights the Indonesian president’s eagerness to cement regional relationships amid the rise of China and an unpredictable US under Trump.

  • Zach Hope and Karuni Rompies
Grant Schultz has been charged with two counts of people smuggling.

‘Black flight’: Charter flight boss charged over alleged plot to smuggle Australians into Indonesia

Two men – without visas or passports – were allegedly discovered by Indonesian immigration authorities on board a small plane in the province of South Papua.

  • Zach Hope, Jack Gramenz and Karuni Rompies
A giant banner of Khamenei stretched over one of the Islamic Cultural Centre’s windows.

‘World’s thugs’: In Indonesia, resentment about the Iran war is everywhere

Politicians and pundits in Australia tell Muslims it is inappropriate to publicly mourn Iran’s dead supreme leader. There are no such qualms in Jakarta.

  • Zach Hope and Karuni Rompies
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Men stand on logs swept away by flash flood in Batang Toru, North Sumatra, Indonesia.

Logs became floating battering rams for homes as Indonesia reels from catastrophic floods

Authorities on the island of Sumatra say they are incapable of responding to the unfolding disaster there – killing at least 770 people – because the destruction is too vast.

  • Zach Hope and Karuni Rompies
The plane had first departed from Cairns in North Queensland and – after a stop in the North Queensland town of Coen - flew to Merauke, Indonesian authorities said.

‘No passports, no visas’: Australians detained after mysterious South Papua flight

Indonesian officials said one of the Australians was supposedly linked to a drug case, while another was on parole. Searching the plane, authorities say they found a small amount of meth.

  • Zach Hope and Karuni Rompies
Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat has won Olympic gold on the floor exercise in Tokyo and is the defending world champion.

Ban on Israeli gymnasts earns rebuke from Olympics body

Indonesia appears to have wrecked its chances of hosting the 2036 Games after denying visas to Israeli athletes who wanted to compete at a world championships in Jakarta this week.

  • Zach Hope and Karuni Rompies
Trump in Egypt on October 13 with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto at his right shoulder.

Beside Trump, Prabowo was in his happy place – at home it’s a different story

The Indonesian president returns from the backslapping at Egypt to plummeting approval ratings and his signature policy embroiled in a crisis of his own making.

  • Zach Hope and Karuni Rompies