Suherdjoko, Semarang – Over 1,000 village leaders from across Central Java staged a protest outside the governor's office on Monday, the latest in a series of protests demanding legal certainty over their positions.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Public uproar over an alleged study tour by 15 lawmakers to Egypt heightened on Monday with a critical report of their activities from Cairo fueling admonishments from fellow legislators here.

Cimahi/Medan/Surabaya – Thousands of workers have jammed the streets of the main cities of Medan, Surabaya and Cimahi in massive protests over the newly set minimum wages, which they say are below the cost of living.

In the protests on Monday several workers were injured in Medan when security personnel tried to hold back the crowd.

Jakarta – The government will soon disburse Rp 75 billion (some US$7.5 million) in fresh funds to bail out ailing state-owned domestic airliner PT Merpati Nusantara to speed up its financial restructuring program, a top official says.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Nani Afrida, Jakarta – The government is expected to extend the presence of international peace monitors in Aceh, previously scheduled to finish their job in March, for another three months in a bid to help ensure a lasting peace in the province.

Nurvita Indarini, Jakarta – Although Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto has been sentenced to 14 years jail, Munir's wife, Suciwati, appears not to care. Suciwati is instead asking that the mastermind behind Munir's murder be brought before the courts. Who is that?

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – Pollycarpus has been sentenced to 14 months jail by the Central Jakarta State Court. The verdict however, has failed to touch on the brains behind the murder of human rights activist Munir. The prosecution also failed to uncover the brains of the murder.

Nurvita Indarini, Jakarta – The sentencing of Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was enlivened by a demonstration by hundreds of activists from the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir. But they were not demanding that Pollycarpus receive a heavier sentence – rather that the police investigate the other perpetrators of Munir's murder.

Australia is to resume training Indonesia's most feared Army unit, Kopassus, which has been linked to the murder of New Zealand soldier Private Leonard Manning in Timor, and to human rights abuses.

Fitraya Ramadhanny, Jakarta – Dissatisfied with the court's decision to sentence Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto to 14 years jail, around 200 activist from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) have urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) to try the mastermind behind the murder of human rights activist Munir.

Dean Yates and Ade Rina, Jakarta – An Indonesian court jailed an off-duty pilot for 14 years on Tuesday over the murder of the country's top human rights activist during a flight on the national carrier Garuda last year.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia withdrew 1,600 troops from Aceh province as part of a pact aimed at ending a separatist conflict in the province devastated by last year's tsunami. The troops were among the last due to leave Aceh during the final phase of military withdrawals called for under an August peace pact signed with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki.

Organisations campaigning for independence in the Indonesian province of Papua hope that a new umbrella body will help them gain support from governments in the Pacific.

Fabio Scarpello, Jakarta – A recently published Dutch-report has rekindled hopes of "correcting the course of history" in Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province and theatre of a struggle for independence ignored by most of the world.

Organisations campaigning for independence in the Indonesian province of Papua have formed a new umbrella organisation – the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation. Members of the armed wing of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka – the OPM independence movement – crossed into Papua New Guinea to participate in the founding meeting of the new coalition.

President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmco
President, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
Palacio Das Sinjas Rua Caicoli
Timor Leste

Dear President Gusmco,

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Hundreds of displaced persons from East Timor taking refuge in East Nusa Tenggara province demanded on Monday that the central government compensate them with Rp 263 billion (US$26.3 million) for the assets they left behind in East Timor following the 1999 autonomy plebiscite.

Jeff Kingston – The legacies of Indonesia's brutal occupation of East Timor from 1975 to 1999 – when there were at least 102,800 conflict-related deaths – remain divisive in this small, impoverished nation of 800,000 people.

The government will spend Rp 18 trillion (about US$1.82 billion) next year for a range of infrastructure projects including irrigation, roads, dams and bridges, to help drive higher economic growth and reduce employment.

Hong Kong – Four Indonesians who took part in an anti-WTO sit-in that occupied a major thoroughfare in Hong Kong over the weekend have been charged with unlawful assembly, an activist said Monday.

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon – A broadcasting regulator has condemned the closure of a radio station critical of the government and asked the station to continue broadcasting.

"The government has no right to close down the station because, according to the broadcasting law, that right is vested in us," said Izack Tulalessy, a member of the Maluku Broadcasting Commission.

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta – Corrupt officers have undermined the police's largest crackdown on illegal logging ever this year and could further endanger the prospects for future operations, a top detective says.

Mark Dodd – At his war crimes trial in Dili in 2001, East Timorese militia leader Joni Marques, facing 13 counts of murder, assault, kidnapping and torture including the cold-blooded killing of a nun, fingered Australian SAS and Indonesian Kopassus special forces as his former trainers.

Joyce Hor-Chung Lau, Hong Kong – Suciwati Munir looks every inch the modern, media-savvy campaigner, flying from country to country with her bags of matching red-and-black banners, buttons, T-shirts, pens and postcards.

But she is not running for office, nor is she selling anything – except for a message the Indonesian government may well prefer to keep quiet.

Muchus Budi R., Jakarta – Pollycarpus, the defendant in the murder case of human rights defender Munir will soon be sentenced. The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) however, is pessimistic that the courts will be able to take further action to find and try the brains behind the murder.

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – The increase in fuel prices and a shortage of raw materials have left 23 metal factories in Cirebon on the brink of bankruptcy and hundreds of workers' jobs at risk, an official says.

Leony Aurora, Bandung – Despite the soaring oil prices, exploration activities in Indonesia remain low at between 60 percent and 75 percent of the plans submitted to the government, which seems to indicate less enthusiasm from the players in the sector.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Indonesia's economy may have to brace for interest rates of 14 percent in the first half of 2006 as the central bank continues its monetary policies designed to tame inflation and support the rupiah, analysts say.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid led thousands of Muslims in a march through the capital on Sunday to promote "Islam for Peace" and counter militant ideas.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – A non-governmental organization (NGO) has reported that child trafficking and illegal adoptions were continuing in the tsunami-ravaged areas of Aceh and Nias.

John McBeth – The commission formed to investigate human rights abuses during Indonesia's bloody 25-year occupation of the former East Timor, now Timor Leste, has just issued its report. There are gory details aplenty, but it is interestingly circumspect about the role of theUS and Australia, as John McBeth discovers in an exclusive preview of the report in Jakarta

Banda Aceh – Former rebels in Indonesia's Aceh today surrendered enough weapons in a final disarmament process to meet the total required under a historic peace pact with the Government, a foreign monitor said.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – After a relatively ineffective run this year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration should make use of all political support it has enjoyed in the next two years to implement his suspended development policies, analysts said.

Muhammad Nur Hayid, Jakarta – Around 100 people from the Indonesian People's Anti-Imperialist Union (Perisai) demonstrated in front of the State Palace on Sunday December 18. They were demanding that the Indonesian government leave the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and sever its relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Ahmad Dani, Jakarta – Actions opposing the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will also been held in Indonesia. The Indonesian People's Anti-Imperialist Union (Perisai) will hold a demonstration demanding that Indonesia leave the WTO.

Machhendra Setyo Atmaja, Jakarta – Calls for Indonesia to walkout of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are growing stronger as it is believed that the Indonesian government gains no benefits from an organisation that is driven by the advanced countries.

Ahmad Dani, Jakarta – Coinciding with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Level Conference (KTM) in Hong Kong, 2,000 farmers gathered at Victoria Park on Saturday December 17. They were commemorating Farmers' Day by holding an action opposing the WTO. Fifty of the demonstrators were from Indonesia.

Anthony Hubbard – Greig Cunningham has learned the hard way about governments and foreign affairs. His brother Gary, a television cameraman, was killed during Indonesia's attack on Balibo in East Timor in 1975.

Machendra Setyo AtmajaIntania Nur Kusuma, Jakarta – Symbols of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have been burnt by demonstrators from the Indonesian People's Anti-Imperialist Union (Perisai) who were demanding that the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla have the courage to leave the organisation.

A. Junaidi – Acehnese writer Riati M.K. has launched on Wednesday her first novel, Seulanga Gelora Cinta di Tengah Perjuangan Aceh (Seulanga: Glory of love amid Aceh's struggle), which tells a tale of a woman named Seulanga as she searches for her parents' murderers during the armed conflict in Aceh.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The head of the Aceh and Nias Reconstruction Agency (BRR) praised on Friday the role of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the work being done to rebuild the tsunami-hit province.

Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said the GAM representative on the BRR, Tengku Kamaruzzaman, played a major role in helping the agency carry out its work.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Indonesia has been unable to effectively implement three United Nations (UN) conventions relating to environment protection due to the classic problems of lack of information dissemination and weak coordination.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesia-Timor Leste Truth and Friendship Commission (CTF) plans to summon former Indonesian Military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto and several other generals in relation with the violence that took place in the then East Timor in 1999 prior to and after an independence referendum.

The Indonesia Human Rights Committee has written to the Prime Minister to express its support for her statement made at the East Asia Summit that re-starting military ties with Indonesia is not on the agenda.

Helen Clark's concern about the lack of accountability for the perpetrators of human rights abuses in East Timor is also welcome.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have seized dozens of atlases showing the flag of separatist rebels in Papua province amongst the banners of nations.

Fifty-nine atlases containing the Morning Star separatist flag were seized from bookstores in the resort island of Bali during a recent raid, Bali police spokesman Antonius Reniban was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – The first thing on Sujono's mind when he decided to move from his hometown of Pacitan to Sidoarjo city six years ago, was to improve the financial state of his family. He and his family left Pacitan after a friend offered him a job in a leather tanning company in the industrial city, some 12 kilometers from East Java's capital of Surabaya.

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – The cemetery was quiet in the afternoon, with only the sounds of birds chirping in tamarind trees and the bleat of grazing goats being audible. A grave, covered with blue tiles and sheltered by a gray dome, appeared unkempt. Cracks have started to appear and one section of it is littered with dead leaves.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The true picture of the country's unemployment is much worse than is being acknowledged by the government, a prominent labor analyst said.

Bomer Pasaribu, director of the Center for Labor and Development Studies (CLDS), said on Friday that the number of workers who had lost their jobs this year was estimated at 1.2 million.

Urip Hudiono and Mustaqim, Jakarta – As high inflation and interest rates continue to climb, the economy is expected to remain sluggish until the end of 2006, Bank Indonesia said, wrapping up both this year and next with weaker than expected growth.

Jakarta – A joint truth commission on violence surrounding East Timor's independence vote from Indonesia will try to summon people who may have been involved in the bloodshed next month, the commission said on Friday.