Bekasi – Dozens of members of the Bekasi Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) demonstrated at the mayor's offices and the Bekasi Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) on Monday April 30.

Jakarta – Tens of thousands of workers staged noisy rallies in major cities throughout Indonesia on Tuesday to mark International Labor Day and to voice a number of demands around welfare improvement and work safety.

Workers and trade unions in Indonesia have nothing to celebrate on Labor Day today. Job prospects have become gloomier and gloomier as more companies have turned to less labor-intensive operations and new investors prefer to wait on the sidelines because of what they regard as to rigid labor regulations.

Dara, Banda Aceh – International Labour Day, which is known as May Day, was also commemorated in Aceh on May 1. Hundreds of representatives of labour organisations in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh held a peaceful rally on the grounds of the Acehnese Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) and at the Simpang Lima roundabout.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The East Nusa Tenggara Prosecutor's Office on Monday confiscated hundreds of elementary and high school textbooks from bookstores in Kupang, as their contents were believed to have deviated from historical material on communist teachings.

There is concern that the books have been used as a guide for school history lessons.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Authorities are being urged to reopen investigations into a 1989 incident in a Lampung village that claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

Jakarta – Tens of thousands of workers in Indonesia marked May Day by taking to the streets Tuesday to demand better wages and job security, amid a heavy police presence.

Several rallies were held in the capital, Jakarta, with some protesters waving trade union banners and posters denouncing foreign investment as several thousand police watched them closely.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Labor activists on Monday accused the government of selling out Indonesian workers by signing free trade agreements with foreign countries.

[The following is a compilation of abridged translations taken from Detik.com on the May Day rallies held in Indonesia on May 1.]

State Palace 'attacked en masse' by thousand of workers

Pekanbaru – Around 1,000 people from the Central People's Movement (SEGERA) have cancelled a May 1 overnight occupation of the offices of the Riau governor because their demands for an investigation into the appropriation of local people's land by the company PT. Arara Abadi have been met.

Public auditors have asked the government to launch an investigation into the 2004 transfer of US$10 million belonging to Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, describing it as a "blatant abuse of government power".

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Widespread infection of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in prisons has resulted in the deaths of two young men incarcerated in Tangerang Youth Penitentiary.

Jill Jolliffe – The high level of instability afflicting East Timor since independence in May 2002 has its international partners wondering whether the new nation is suffering more than post-independence growing pains. Perhaps, they speculate, it is time to declare it a basket case.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Amsterdam – The horrendous crimes committed in East Timor in 1999 continue to haunt Indonesia.

Dili – East Timor interim premier Estanislau Da Silva has accused prime minister and presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta of having shown contempt for the country's institutions when he unilaterally called off the hunt for renegade general Alfredo Reinado.

Mark Dodd – A damaging rift has opened between East Timor's two rival presidential candidates over the treatment of a group of army mutineers whose demands for military reform a year ago brought the country to the brink of civil war.

Dili – Timor Leste's President Xanana Gusmao was elected the chairman of a controversial new political party on Monday.

Gusmao was the sole candidate for the chairmanship of the new organisation, the National Congress of Reconstruction of Timor (CNRT), which has already drawn criticism from a rival party.

Sukoharjo – The National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) continues to come under pressure. Again and again the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) has attempted to break up Papernas events. This time it was a meeting to establish a regional leadership board in Sukoharjo, Central Java, on Sunday April 29.

Sukoharjo – A tense situation developed at the declaration of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) in Sukoharjo, Central Java, that was to be held yesterday afternoon. Even before Papernas members had begun the meeting, dozens of members of the Sukoharjo Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) had occupied the Gajah Tanjung Anom Building where the event was to be held.

Imron Rosyid, Solo – Dozens of members of Surakarta Islamic Community Militia (LUIS) forcibly broke up a conference being held by the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) in the Central Java city of Sukoharjo on Sunday March 29. Islamic groups in Jakarta have taken similar actions against Papernas.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A grenade exploded at the residence of former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman Sofyan Dawood in Muara Dua district, Lhokseumawe, early Sunday morning.

Jakarta – Human rights groups backed Monday an Indonesian police probe into the 2004 murder of a rights activist, hopeful it will reveal that the nation's intelligence agency was behind the killing.

Local groups said they were "cautiously optimistic" after police made several arrests over the murder and revealed late last week they were interviewing fresh witnesses.

Golda Eksa, Bekasi – Around 30 members of the Bekasi Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) gave speeches and set fire to flags of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) in front of the Bekasi municipal government offices on Monday April 30. They also brought banners and posters with messages opposing Papernas.

Police suspect that efforts to poison Munir were not only made at Changi Airport in Singapore but also during the Singapore-Amsterdam flight. Indonesian Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh has confirmed that this operation was planned months in advance.

Changi Airport, Singapore September 7, 2004: 1am (12am Western Indonesia Time-WIB)

At least five people saw Munir at Changi Airport, Singapore, on September 7, 2004, a few hours before his death. A witness saw the human rights activist sitting at the Coffee Bean cafe with two other people. For reasons of safety, their names have been changed. The others, including Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, gave differing statements. Here is their testimony:

He was active in church and close to the military. But his present whereabouts are unknown.

Please, pray for me," was the SMS received from Ongen Latuihamallo's cellular telephone number, as received by one of his friends early last week. After that, his number became inactive.

It was late afternoon in Breda, The Netherlands, on Saturday two weeks ago. A man received a telephone call from Jakarta. He said the caller was a senior ranking military man. The officer whispered: it's about an old case being discussed widely by the public. He asked this man to look for a man named Ongen Latuihamallo.

The glass of warm tea could not settle his stomach. He felt pain whenever his stomach was touched. He made frequent trips to the bathroom, due to diarrhea and vomiting. He was spitting a milk-colored liquid. Munir took his last breath about nine hours after leaving Singapore for Amsterdam. He died an untimely death at the age of 39.

The nation's truck, bus and taxi drivers are demanding a law regulating wages, employment conditions and social insurance for the sector.

The workers will carry their demands to next week's May Day labor rally, which will be held on May 1, a traditional day of activism for the international labor movement.

Slamet Susanto and M. Taufiqurrahman, Yogyakarta/Jakarta – Angered by Jakarta's backing of a recent UN resolution sanctioning Iran over its nuclear program, a major Muslim organization has demanded the government do more to support the causes of fellow Islamic countries.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Following Vice President Jusuf Kalla's latest criticism of the reluctance of local banks to provide more lending to the real sector, the central bank has pitched into the act, urging foreign lenders operating in the country to increase their corporate lending.

Rita A.Widiadana and Wasti Atmodjo, Nusa Dua – The governors of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Papua and West Papua committed to significantly reducing deforestation in their areas at a climate change conference in Bali on Thursday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Forestry Minister said he could not accept the release of illegal logging suspects and called for an investigation of judges handling the cases, reports said Saturday.

District courts in North and West Sumatra provinces recently released suspects in illegal logging cases, deciding prosecution charges were groundless, The Jakarta Post daily reported.

ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Mudflow victims continued their protest over unpaid compensation on Friday, blocking roads in Sidoarjo, East Java, with trees and trucks.

Rita A. Widiadana and Ridwan M.Sijabat, Tampak Siring, Bali – After 35 years of negotiations, Indonesia and Singapore signed the landmark extradition and defense agreements here Friday.

Rita A. Widiadana and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Denpasar – The three bilateral agreements Indonesia and Singapore signed here on Friday received mixed reactions from politicians and military analysts.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Aceh has accused the central government of breaking the law and betraying its promise to the Acehnese people to share more of the province's oil and gas revenues, as required by the 2006 Aceh Governance Law.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – It appears to be payback time for Indonesia's banks, with the Vice President again urging them to do their part in helping finance the country's development needs in return for the state bailing them out during the financial crisis.

Dear friends,

There are about 13 million children under the age of 5 in the country suffering from chronic malnutrition. In the next 20 years or so, if something is not done immediately to rectify this problem, these children will be a major burden on the country, which is dashing its way to becoming the world's fifth largest economy.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – More than two years after Banda Aceh was devastated by the 2004 tsunami, the agency handling much of the rehabilitation in the province has completed 44 percent of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam's road repairs – but residents are still unhappy.

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon – Wednesday's bomb blast at Mardika bus terminal in the Maluku capital of Ambon, which injured six people, was designed to terrorize locals who lives have only recently returned to normal after years of conflict, a police officer said Thursday.

ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Hundreds of mudflow victims from Sidoarjo briefly clashed with police attempting to prevent them from breaking into the Juanda Airport complex in Surabaya, East Java, on Thursday.

At least two protesters, who were frustrated after failing to receive confirmation of compensation payments, were detained by the police.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – With encouraging increases in consumption, exports and investment during the first three months of this year, the Indonesian economy is well on track for higher growth, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani says.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Environmental issues have remained on the back burner despite changes of government and more frequent natural disasters that have inflicted trillions of rupiah in losses and led to thousands of deaths, critics commemorating Earth Day highlighted at a discussion Thursday.

Jakarta – More than 1,500 students on Friday gathered in front of the governors palace in Jayapura, the capital of the Indonesian province of Papua, demanding an end to the province's special autonomy status, which they say does not work.

Cirebon, West Java – Traditional market traders, backed by members of the Cirebon municipal council, have urged the municipality administration to stop issuing building licenses for minimarts and supermarkets due to their already extensive presence in the city.

Emmy Fitri, Jakarta – The Education For All (EFA) Global Action Week will be held internationally through the last week of April, the work of various groups wanting to drum up support for the right to education.

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – "Maryati" tried to hide her face behind a red headscarf. The 36-year-old from Surabaya, East Java, is a victim of domestic violence.

Jakarta – A total of 13 million children under the age of five in Indonesia suffer from chronic malnutrition, says the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).