Indonesia is under pressure for posting a colonel indicted for crimes against humanity in East Timor, to the province of Papua. It comes as the Indonesian military is believed to be stepping up its activities in Papua and there are reports of Indonesian backed militias increasing their presence there too. Human rights groups are calling for international intervention.

Jakarta – A commission set up to examine violence surrounding East Timor's 1999 independence vote brushed off Monday a UN boycott threat.

The United Nations warned last week that it would not send any officials to testify to the Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF), which has no prosecution powers, unless it rules out recommending amnesties.

Annabel Stafford, Canberra – Films or books praising East Timorese people who used violence in their fight for independence could be banned under proposed censorship laws before Federal Parliament, despite changes to the proposal intended to protect free speech.

Jakarta – Indonesia urged the international community to respect a joint truth commission tasked at gathering the facts surrounding Indonesia's military rampage ahead of East Timor's 1999 vote for independence, local media reported on Saturday.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Standing as an independent candidate in a local election is the fastest path to power for those wishing to reform the country's bureaucracy, analysts told activist groups Friday.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – An independent NGO, the Papua Working Group in Jakarta, said a revision of the Papua Special Autonomy Law was insignificant and that the Papuan administration needed a solid and transparent plan to prioritize development and channel progression funds properly.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The recent verdict of the Constitutional Court allowing independent candidates to contend local elections will pose no threat to political parties, politicians said Friday.

Jakarta – The Supreme Court refused the appeal of a man convicted in a December 2006 shooting near the operational area of Freeport McMoran in Timika, Papua, that left three employees dead.

Justice German Hoediarto on Thursday upheld the life sentence handed down to Antonius Wawang by the Jakarta High Court. Wawang was sentenced by the high court in January.

Jakarta – The death toll from devastating floods and landslides on Indonesia's eastern Sulawesi island has risen to 107, as aid distribution to survivors gained pace Friday, an official said.

Forty-four bodies have been recovered but 63 people remain missing, presumed buried under landslides, said Rustam Pakaya, who heads the health ministry's crisis centre in Jakarta.

Jakarta – City spatial planners must listen to the voices of the urban poor in order to tackle poverty in the city, a study revealed Tuesday.

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) today praised the UN for publicly announcing its refusal to cooperate with the joint Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF).

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Activists from the Jakarta Environmental Caucus have questioned the gubernatorial candidates' commitment to the environment after neither turned up Wednesday evening to sign a contract on environmental policies.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Housewife Siti Hawah, a resident of Cipinang Melayu, East Jakarta, concedes the environment is important. But a governor hopeful with a convincing program for economic recovery will still get her vote, she says.

Jakarta – An organization of journalists urged the local media Tuesday to be impartial in its coverage of the Jakarta gubernatorial election.

"We found that newspapers often cover stories that give more benefit to the candidates than the people," a member of the advocacy team of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Umar Idris, told a press conference.

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – The youth wing of Muhammadiyah, one of the country's largest Muslim organizations, said Thursday it was not taking part in the campaign of either of the governor candidates.

Denpasar – Australia and Indonesia have agreed to launch a feasibility study on a free trade pact, their leaders said Friday after meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Although the chances of another crisis crippling Indonesia's economy may be slimmer now due to the improvements made to the banking sector and monetary policy, caution was still needed as regards vulnerabilities in the financial markets.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told UN officials not to testify before a panel investigating the 1999 killings in East Timor because it could recommend amnesty for serious crimes. Indonesia and East Timor agreed to work together to investigate the events of 1999, when Timorese voted for independence under UN supervision.

New York – United Nations officials will boycott a commission set up jointly by Indonesia and Timor-Leste to foster reconciliation after the latter's bloody struggle for independence, unless it is precluded from recommending amnesty for crimes against humanity and other gross violations of human rights.

East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta on Thursday asked visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard to keep Australian peacekeepers in the young nation until the end of 2008.

Protesters in East Timor have staged a demonstration against Prime Minister John Howard as he left Dili, accusing Australia of interfering in East Timor's political affairs.

Merauke – The number of women dying in childbirth has risen in the past two years. In 2005, the rate was 464 per 1000,000 births which rose to 499 in 2006. In the previous years, the numbers were declining. In 2001 the figure was 1,071 and 529 in 2003 and fell to 202 in 2004.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – The government has been urged to stop deforestation in order to protect the rapidly decreasing orangutan population on the island of Kalimantan.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives has come out in support of Monday's ruling by the Constitutional Court on independent candidates in regional elections.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Any Jakarta resident who has spent some time on the streets over the last three days knows that the gubernatorial candidates are the source – rather than the cure – of transportation problems. That is, for the next two weeks or so.

Hundreds of supporters of both candidates slowly march in street parades, clogging the way of other motorists.

Jakarta – An anti-debt group is demanding the government stop adding debt to fund the state budget because they said most of the agreed loan commitments have not yet been disbursed.

The Institute for Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights (IPAHR) is extremely concerned at the increasing activity of pro-Indonesian militias in West Papua.

Jakarta – An Indonesian court jailed 17 Christians for up to 14 years on Thursday under anti-terrorism laws for the murder of two Muslims.

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is so confident it has proof that former Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was involved in the murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib that it plans to demand a review of the Supreme Court ruling which exonerated him.

James Balowski, Jakarta – A furor has erupted over the recent formation of the GAM party in Indonesia's northernmost province of Aceh. Former members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) announced the formation of the party on July 7.

Jakarta – Three flood victims have accused the city administration in court of failing to anticipate and mitigate the February floods and neglecting to assisting victims in the aftermath of the disaster.

Jakarta – The Free Papua Movement (OPM) is no more than an ideology, with only about six percent of the population of Papua remaining active members of the separatist movement, a military commander said Tuesday.

Some strange things emerged from the two massive labor demonstrations against American sportswear giant Nike the last two Mondays. The demonstrators reviled Nike with hate posters and slogans like "Go to Hell Nike" and "I Hate Nike", but at the same time they also pleaded with Nike to stay with them and give them jobs.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Monday's ruling by the Constitutional Court to allow independent candidates to run in local elections came as a shock to the country's major political parties, who greeted the move with both praise and caution.

[Max Lane spoke to the Socialist Party of Timor's (PST) secretary-general, Avelino da Silva Coelho, in the wake of East Timor's June 30 parliamentary elections, in which the PST received 0.96% of the vote.]

No party or figure from the national liberation movement achieved more than 29% in the parliamentary elections. How do you explain that?

Mark Dodd – A District Court judge in Dili has overturned a presidential decree offering amnesty to East Timor army rebel Major Alfredo Reinado.

The decision is a big embarrassment to the UN mission in Dili whose mandate includes reforming the country's notoriously weak justice sector.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo and Ary Hermawan, Jakarta/Sanur – Several human rights NGOs have criticized the fourth session of the joint Indonesia and Timor Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) in Bali, saying it was summoning more "actors" in than victims of the aftermath of the 1999 referendum that led East Timor's secession from Indonesia.

Dili – Rival parties in East Timor have failed to agree on the formation of a new government, the president said Tuesday (July 24th), raising the prospect of political deadlock in the tiny nation.

HS Dillon, Jakarta – Despite evident shortcomings, one of the outstanding features of post-Soeharto reform has been the devolution of considerable authority to the regions. This includes Papua, where, dating back from the Dutch colonial days, the institutional setup and policy-making has not favored ethnic Papuans.

Filep Karma a West Papuan political prisoner has been on hunger strike in prison in Jayapura. He went on hunger strike after receiving a letter from the authorities saying that he and fellow prisoner Yusak Pakage, would be moved from prison in Jayapura to a prison in Jakarta.

Nana Rukmana, Jakarta/Cirebon – In a split decision the Anti-Corruption Court sentenced former maritime affairs and fisheries minister Rokhmin Dahuri to seven years prison for corruption Monday, one year more than the prosecutors had demanded.

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – Thousands of workers from two local shoe manufacturing companies staged a rally Monday to extend their demands for American sportswear giant Nike Inc. to restore contracts with their employers.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam governor Irwandi Jusuf agree the establishment of a local political party should have legal grounding.

"Aceh's governor has agreed the process of forming a new local party should be based on laws or other rulings," State Secretary Hatta Rajasa told Detik.com news portal.

Triono Wahyu Sudibyo, Semarang – Muria community representatives met with members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) on July 24 to ask them to oppose the planned construction of a nuclear power plant (PLTN) in Semenanjung Muria, Jepara regency, Central Java, in 2010.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – As part of its effort to alleviate poverty, the government has launched a new program that is expected to be more successful than previous poverty eradication programs and will not "miss the proper targets".

Kanis Dursin and Alia, Jakarta – With more than 20 plays under her belt, you would think senior director Ratna Sarumpaet would have no problem finding investors for her film, particularly if the proposed production was a big screen adaptation of her play that won rave reviews.

Rizal Sukma, Jakarta – The decision by the Constitutional Court last week to scrap two undemocratic clauses in Indonesia's Criminal Code should indeed be celebrated. Using the two clauses, articles 154 and 155, the state could send anyone to jail for what it considered defamation against the government.

Ben Terrall – In a June 8 "web memo," The Heritage Foundation called Indonesia "a large, vibrant democracy and a key piece of the geostrategic puzzle in Asia." The right wing Washington think tank went on to describe Jakarta as "among the United States' most important partners in the War on Terror."

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Government officials will just have to put up with their cramped offices and bring their own pens into work next year as the government plans to divert money away from the bureaucracy so as to increase spending on new roads and public welfare.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Following pressure from pro-democracy groups, failed independent candidates and student groups, the Constitutional Court has decided to allow independent candidates to contest local elections, annulling some points in the Regional Autonomy Law.