Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – Indonesia overturned a terror conviction Thursday against the militant Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who served 2 1/2 years for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people.

Jakarta – Some 4,000 people who escaped a deadly quake on the Indonesian island of Sumatra earlier this week are refusing to return home despite assurances from seismologists, according to police reports.

Mojokerto – Scores of protesters from the Preparatory Committee for the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) in the East Java city of Mojokerto took to the streets on December 20. In addition to campaigning for their right to exist and the right to hold protest actions, the activists from Papernas gave non-stop speeches.

Malang - Dozens of protesters from the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) held a demonstration yesterday criticising government policy in the East Java city of Malang. It was not just the policies of the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that were criticised, but also the polices of Mayor Peni Suparto.

Janet Fyfe-Yeomans – Crack SAS troops were poised to launch a secret mission into East Timor to rescue the five Australians three days before their deaths, but were ordered to stand down.

Special forces soldiers were disgusted when the operation was called off and they learned that the five – all journalists – had been killed, according to sources.

Dili – An army rebel who played a key role in the revolt that sent East Timor into chaos earlier this year held reconciliation talks with the defence chief on Thursday on the crisis that has beset the country and its security forces.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court turned down Wednesday a petition for it to scrap an article in the Criminal Code allowing law enforcers to detain suspects over fears they could flee justice or destroy evidence.

Tony Hotland and Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The government will prepare new legislation mandating the Corruption Court after it was declared unconstitutional on Tuesday by the Constitutional Court, a presidential aide said Wednesday.

John McBeth, Jakarta – The United States may have finally lifted the arms embargo imposed on Indonesia in the wake of the 1991 East Timor massacre, but it could be decades before Jakarta puts its trust in one supplier for its defence equipment.

Asia has hardly been the poster-child for Human Rights; in fact, its track-record of human rights violations has grown progressively worse over recent years. Indonesia is no exception. Government conspiracies and corruption, police brutality, judicial apathy, civil unrest and state-sanctioned torture have become a routine reality in Indonesia.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – A lack of bureaucratic reform was to blame for the poor quality of public services in Indonesia, development experts said here Tuesday.

World Bank senior advisor for governance Joel Hellman said that the government had had problems implementing its numerous reform plans because of the weaknesses of the public service.

Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh – As the ballot counting continues from last week's elections in Aceh, it is clear voters favored independent candidates with ties to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), giving them a mandate to introduce needed changes to the province.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – While the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) on Friday concluded its 15-month mandate to supervise the implementation of the peace agreement in the province, non-governmental organization InterPeace will soon begin work to monitor the peace process.

Jakarta – US gold mining giant Newmont Mining Corp. has objected to a documentary nominated for Indonesia's top film award which it says interferes with a controversial pollution trial, according to a report.

Dr. Vedi Hadiz, Associate Professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore, is writing his fifth book Local Power in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The Jakarta Post's Harry Bhaskara met him to discuss political developments in Indonesia.

The State Grahadi Building on Jl. Gubernur Suryo in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya is a popular target of protest actions. Today, Wednesday December 20, the Preparatory Committee of the National Liberation Party of Unity (KP-Papernas) used the location to commemorate Mother's Day (Hari Ibu).

Adi Sucipto, Gresik – As many as 15 people from the Gresik chapter of the Preparatory Committee for the National Liberation of Unity or KP-Papernas demonstrated at the Gresik Regional House of Representatives in East Java on Wednesday December 20. They were demanding that the government undertake a program to improve the people's welfare, in particular for women and children.

Jakarta – In another move to tighten the screws on those involved in white-collar corruption, the country's capital market watchdog, Bapepam-LK, threatened Tuesday to freeze all the dirty money invested in the country's capital markets.

More than 2,000 former employees of state aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara (PT DI) began a march (see photo) Tuesday from Bandung to the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, to demand the government pay them a promised Rp 40 billion (US$4.5 million) in compensation.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday the Corruption Court must disband in three years, unless the House of Representatives enacts a new law to mandate the tribunal's existence.

Multa Fidrus, Banten – Residents of a Bintaro housing complex have threatened to ram road blockades developer PT Jaya Real Property plans to use to close access from Pondok Aren to Ciputat.

H. Mait, speaking on behalf of the residents, said that if the developer went ahead with the plan it would violate an agreement it made with locals on Nov. 17.

Jakarta – Victims of human rights abuses should move on because the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) is currently dead in the water, State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra said Monday.

Ahmad Fikri, Bandung – The Legal Aid Insitute (LBH) urged the annulment of Decree No. 27/1999 on Criminal Code Revision. "Especially the Article that regulates crime against the state," said Arif Yogiawan, representing the institute in Bandung yesterday (18/12).

Rafiqa Qurrata Ayun, Jakarta – Political parties are already starting to make preparations in the lead up to the 2009 general elections. New parties are also emerging. Like the case of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) that is targeting peasants, workers and the urban poor as its constituency.

With two former members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) apparently set to claim victory in last week's landmark gubernatorial election in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, some parties have voiced concern over the future of the province.

Fabio Scarpello in Banda Aceh – A draft sharia law in Aceh that calls for thieves to have their hands chopped off has angered many in the province. But the local religious authority says the law is not a big deal and reflects the will of the people.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The government has finalized a draft regulation to establish local political parties in Aceh, which will only allow candidates to run for national House of Representatives seats with backing from national parties.

Jakarta – The country has lost over Rp 219 billion (some US$24.3 million) in potential tax revenue annually because of counterfeiting, research by the Institute for Economics and Social Research at the University of Indonesia (LPEM-UI) has shown.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Planned revisions of political laws should include amendments to regulations on campaign funding to prevent corruption in future elections, a leading graft watchdog says.

Jakarta – A documentary on the life of East Timor President Xanana Gusmao has won the human rights award from Amnesty International at an Indonesian film festival.

Dili – More than 400 Christians have been sheltered in East Timor's capital, Dili's largest mosque since Friday, when fighting between rival gangs forced them to flee.

Tom Hyland – Two mysteries have shrouded the deaths of five Australia-based newsmen, killed while reporting the Indonesian attack on the East Timorese town of Balibo 31 years ago.

The first – the broad circumstances of the killings – has largely been resolved, most recently by witness testimony to East Timor's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation.

Karen Michelmore, Jakarta – The world had been too optimistic about the early achievement of East Timor, the new boss of the United Nations mission in the tiny nation says.

Hundreds of gang members battled with guns and machetes in East Timor's capital Dili today, officials and witnesses said, killing one and injuring two. A young man was shot dead near the city's largest mosque, apparently by a rival gang member, before UN police intervened, said UN police spokeswoman Monica Rodrigues.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A sharia bill that would see convicted thieves have their hands amputated has sparked strong opposition among Acehenese, who believe the punishment should be imposed on those guilty of corruption.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should dissolve itself after establishing a local political party within six months, the EU-led international monitors for the former war-torn province said here Saturday.

Jonathan Dart – The task of rebuilding Aceh after the war and the tsunami has changed the role traditionally played by women.

Groups such as the International Organization for Migration and JARI Aceh have coopted women into learning new skills and starting their own enterprises.

Jonathan Dart, Banda Aceh – Every time Ibrahim bin Yatim gets a new DVD, people squeeze into his tiny warung in Montasik, near Banda Aceh.

It's a small, nondescript wooden shack, surrounded by rice paddies; it can seat only a dozen people, but nobody seems to care – they eat their noodles standing up, and Ibrahim can barely keep up with the demand.

Nani Afrida and Tony Hotland, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) on Friday officially ended its 15-month mandate to supervise the implementation of the peace agreement in the province.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Public doubt and skepticism of the government's anti-corruption moves were contributing to the downfall of programs meant to combat graft, a conference heard Thursday.

"Since the 1950s, Indonesia has established anti-corruption bodies but they have always been weak," historian Anhar Gongong told the "Corruption and Culture" seminar.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Banda Aceh – The imminent victory of the Irwandi-Nazar ticket in the Aceh gubernatorial election is a GAM (Free Aceh Movement) victory despite the fact that the former rebel movement is split as it transforms itself into a political party. It's a promise of a new Aceh, and should provide a lesson for all involved.

James Kallman, Jakarta – "For seven months Jakarta's motorists have waited patiently in traffic even heavier than normal as they watched the latest public transport dream take shape in Asia's most congested city.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – A youth organization, with backing from the police, raided a bookstore in Bandung on Thursday night that was hosting a discussion on Marxism.

Lisa Allan, Sydney – A NSW coroner says former intelligence workers may have important information about the deaths of the Balibo Five journalists in East Timor 30 years ago.

Janet Fife-Yeomans – Former prime minister Gough Whitlam should be forced to finally tell the truth about what his government knew of the fate of five young Australians killed in East Timor, an inquest heard yesterday.

Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh – Foreign monitors on Thursday reported to the local poll supervisory body (Panwaslih) a number of violations during Monday's landmark elections in Aceh.

Meanwhile, Irwandi Yusuf and running mate Muhammad Nazar continue to lead in the preliminary vote count for the gubernatorial election.

John McBeth, Jakarta – The new Democrat-dominated US Congress is not good news for Indonesia. But Washington watchers say the jury is still out on whether perennial critics of Indonesia, like Vermont senator Patrick Leahy and Samoan congressman Eni Faleomavaega, will home in again on Papua and human rights issues to pressure the Jakarta government.

Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh – While peace finally has descended upon Aceh, past wounds have yet to heal. A hundred people, claiming to be victims of past rights abuses in the province, demonstrated here Thursday urging the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) and the Aceh Reintegration Agency (BRA) to resolve their cases.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Former Free Aceh Movement leader Irwandi Yusuf, who leads Aceh's gubernatorial race, will face an uphill struggle to govern the province, analysts said Thursday.

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – The firm at the heart of the mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java might have agreed to buy all affected land, houses and rice fields but problems remain.