Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – With HIV spreading rapidly in Indonesia, the country cannot expect much from the government but instead many non-governmental organizations and foreign groups are tackling the problems.

The government is moving slowly with its eight-year-old National AIDS Commission (KPA) to prevent the possible emergence of an out-of-control HIV epidemic.

Nani Farida and Muhammad Nafik, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – As most Acehnese have rejected the government's proposal that a state of civil emergency be imposed on the restive province, there is no option left for the government except to forge ahead with dialog, activists and legislators said on Sunday.

President Xanana Gusmao will address the East Timorese Tuesday in a nationally broadcast speech that an aide described Monday as centered on his two-week delay in signing the government's budget.

Leo Wahyudi S, Jakarta – With the new school year beginning, parents are facing increased financial demands. Those parents unable to come up with their children's school fees are forced to turn to pawnshops to raise the necessary cash.

A radical Indonesian Muslim cleric that Singapore accuses of leading a terrorist network, has accused Washington of being behind a recent Philippine court's jailing of an Indonesian over weapons possession.

Lesley McCulloch – The pursuit of a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Aceh has been viewed with skepticism by many for some time. But now confirmation of the Indonesian government's lack of commitment to the peace process seems imminent.

Grace Nirang, Jakarta – Indonesia's plans to impose higher tariffs on a string of agricultural commodities might not help farmers as intended but instead raise consumer prices and encourage smuggling, analysts say.

They also say the benefits are likely be swallowed up by traders and intermediaries ahead of farmers in Indonesia's long and convoluted trading chain.

Jane Perlez, Lhokseumawe – The silvery pipes that extract hundreds of millions of dollars in natural gas a year for Exxon Mobil glint in the tropical sun here, a glittering contrast to the ramshackle huts and rice fields of the villagers nearby.

A teenager was killed and four other people were wounded when a bomb exploded outside their bus in the troubled Poso district of Central Sulawesi, according to police.

It is the latest challenge to a peace deal signed between Muslims and Christians in the area last December.

Nigel Wilson – East Timor's decision to pursue maritime boundaries that might include substantial Australian oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea will not derail talks aimed at defining the legal and commercial position of the Sunrise gas reservoirs.

Thalif Deen, United Nations – East Timor, the world's newest nation, will ask the United Nations to designate it a "least developed country" (LDC).

Jill Jolliffe – An argument over who is to be East Timor's first ambassador to Australia could lead to a showdown between President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

[The following letter to the the Sydney Morning Herald editor was issued by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dr Jose Ramos-Horta.]

The Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney July 11, 2002

Dear Sir,

Two former top Indonesian ministers told a human rights trial yesterday that a savage outbreak of militia violence in East Timor in September 1999 caught the Jakarta government unawares.

Prosecutors yesterday demanded that East Timor's former Indonesian-appointed governor be sent to prison for 10 and a half years – just six months more than the minimum sentence for crimes against humanity.

Yogita Tahilramani and Edith Hartanto, East Java – This year's drought has dealt a severe blow to East Java province causing the country's major rice producing area to suffer losses to the tune of Rp 8.4 billion.

The loss has been caused mainly by a water shortage, ravaging hundreds of thousands of hectares of paddy fields and crops in 12 regencies.

[East Timor's fledgling parliament has made a key decision about the nation's borders which could be the first big test of its relations with Australia. Its declared a maritime boundary with Australia that would give East Timor full ownership of lucrative oil and gas deposits that now fall inside Australian waters ..

Debbie A. Lubis and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Most people still think that the spread of HIV/AIDS here is mainly caused by the sharing of syringes – usually between drug users – and unsafe sex. However, one may also be infected by HIV/AIDS via a blood transfusion.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's offer to act as the honest broker between the two Koreas, made during North Korean number two leader Kim Yong Nam's first visit here, has been greeted with scepticism.

Observers point out that President Megawati Sukarnoputri has only the slimmest of chances to ease tensions and revive dialogue between the two feuding neighbours.

Atika Shubertm Jakarta – In another sign of Indonesia's crackdown in the restive province of Aceh, Chief Security Minister Bambang Yudhoyono will investigate suggestions the region's peace talks negotiator is not impartial.

Jakarta – The Democratic People's Party (PRD) launched on Thursday the Democracy Front to unite like-minded reformers within a forum in a bid to revive the country's original reform movement.

PRD secretary-general Natalia Scholastika said the Democracy Front could prove to become a viable opposition force to the government and the legislature.

Jakarta – Garbage problems continue to haunt the Jakarta city administration.

The Bekasi legislative council complained on Thursday about what they saw as poor management of the garbage dumped at the Bantar Gebang site by the Jakarta Sanitation Agency.

Jakarta/Medan – West Kalimantan Governor Aspar Aswin declared his province on top alert on Thursday, urging local governments to tackle forest fire outbreaks which have been blanketing the province in a haze for the past week.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, has put pragmatism ahead of human rights in his first foreign policy statement, describing China as the new nation's "closest possible ally".

Rod McGuirk, Darwin – East Timor President and former freedom fighter Xanana Gusmao today said he did not want to see the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya win independence.

His comments followed his Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta's advice to activists in the two trouble spots to settle for autonomy from Indonesia.

Jakarta – A senior Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) legislator has resigned in apparent disgust at the party's decision not to establish a team to investigate the Rp 40 billion (US$4.5 million) scandal at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights activists have accused the House of Representatives of making political deals during the selection of members of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

The selections have raised fresh fears that only the perpetrators of human rights violations will be protected.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) could split apart following parliament's decision not to investigate House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tanjung's role in a multimillion dollar scandal.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) denied on Wednesday that al Qaeda, the terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden, had a presence in war-torn Aceh.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's food-production targets could be hit this year because unscrupulous officials have allegedly been exporting fertiliser and reaping huge profits – at the expense of farmers here, who desperately need the commodity for their own crops.

Jakarta – Aceh councillors warned the central government on Wednesday against imposing either a civil emergency or martial law in the province, arguing that the move would only worsen the security situation there.

In a meeting with Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, they also urged Jakarta to fulfill its previous promises.

John Aglionby – The Indonesian government currently finds itself at a major crossroads over its policy towards Aceh, the province on the northern tip of Sumatra where separatists have been waging an armed struggle for independence since 1976, driven on by decades of broken promises of greater autonomy from successive regimes in Jakarta.

The Indonesian Government is at a crossroads in its long running war with separatist rebels in its rebellious province of Aceh ... a conflict which has been dogging Jakarta for almost 30 years. Jakarta is considering whether it should continue floundering peace talks abroad with GAM, Aceh's separatist rebel group or whether it should cancel the talks and impose martial law.

Sri Wahyuni and Kurniawan Hari, Yogyakarta/Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri locked horns on Wednesday with legislators over the need to establish an independent constitutional commission.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Four male gorillas which arrived here recently are proving to be some of Jakarta's most controversial guests.

Residents are outraged that the government plans to spend 3.2 billion rupiah on imported fruits for the primates – much more than the 625 million rupiah allocated for the city's poor people last year.

Jakarta – An Indonesian judge yesterday ordered prosecutors to check on Tommy Suharto in jail after the youngest son of former president Suharto sent a sick note to his murder and weapons trial.

Prosecutors were due yesterday to present final arguments and recommend a sentence should the five judges find him guilty. Both charges are punishable by death.

[Deliverance by Don Greenlees and Robert Garran, Allen & Unwin.]

Edith Hartanto and Yogita Tahilramani, Surabaya – Still shy but a bit surprised, university lecturer Abdul Mukti emerged as champion on Wednesday when he was elected leader of Muhammadiyah Youth, replacing outgoing leader Imam Addaruqutni.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expects to see half of the remaining 50,000 East Timorese refugees currently taking shelter in neighboring East Nusa Tenggara to enter the repatriation program.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Political observers with the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI) urged the House of Representatives (DPR) on Tuesday to give the public a chance to critique and give inputs to the bills on elections and political parties which they say have many flaws.

Thomas Freitas, Dili – Activists from the NGO La'o Hamutuk and others were disappointed by Manuel Carrascalao's statement in Tuesday's edition of STL that "Foreigners can not come here to provoke conflict amongst East Timorese."

This information was given by Thomas Freitas, a coordinator of the peaceful action in front of the United States Embassy last Saturday.

Jakarta – A baby was shot and killed and its mother left fighting for her life in violence which claimed at least 10 lives in the war-ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh on Sunday and Monday, sources said.

The dead also include a soldier, two alleged Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists and a 79-year-old man and his son.

Vice President Hamzah Haz has pointed a finger of blame at disgruntled generals who, he implied, have been destabilizing the restive province of Aceh by penetrating the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Amid the controversy concerning the government's plan to impose martial law in response to the continuing violence in Aceh, Haz has questioned who is the mastermind behind GAM.

Jakarta – Indonesia's chief security minister, on a fact-finding mission to Aceh province, said the government wanted to end a separatist war there peacefully but at the same time he issued a tough warning to the rebels.

Jakarta – While Indonesia's economy has been making significant improvement in a number of key areas, progress remains relatively fragile, the chief representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) office in Jakarta says.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has denied a report that claims it was in cahoots with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

A spokesman for GAM's exiled leaders in Sweden, Zaini Abdullah, on Wednesday told Japan's Kyodo News the source of the report presumably came from the Indonesian government, which wants to discredit the separatist group.

Max Lane, Jakarta – On June 25, the Jakarta Media Centre was packed to overflowing. Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) and Dita Sari, the most prominent labour movement figure in Indonesia, were going to speak on the same platform.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Dozens of people claiming to represent thousands of East Timorese refugees sheltering in camps in West Timor rallied at the gubernatorial office in the regional capital of Kupang on Tuesday to demand a quick disbursement of US$5.38 in humanitarian aid from the Japanese government.

Lely T. Djuhari, Jakarta – Former dictator Suharto's son is accused of murdering a judge who ordered him jailed for graft, the head of the Central Bank has been convicted of misusing $80 million in bank funds, and the speaker of Indonesia's Parliament is on trial for corruption.

Jim Lobe – If Indonesia declares martial law in oil-rich Aceh province, as suggested last weekend by top military officials, the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri may find it more difficult to resume military-to-military ties with the United States, according to analysts in Washington.