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.

Banda Aceh – The commander of the Iskandar Muda Territorial Command, Major General Supiadin AS, says that there are no grounds to extend the presence of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) in Aceh that is planned to end in March 2006.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Thursday that the current peace-building process in Aceh was on the right track, giving optimism for a lasting peace in the resource-rich province, which for three decades had been wracked by bloody armed conflict.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Despite a slow start, progress has been made in tsunami-ravaged Aceh, with the pace of reconstruction picking up. The 65,000 people still living in tents should be residing in decent housing by the end of 2006, officials said on Thursday.

Dili – The head of East Timor's Catholic Church has written to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to reaffirm the need for an international tribunal to bring justice for victims of violence during Indonesia's quarter-century occupation of the territory.

Benteng Reges, Jakarta – Following the revelations of Fabianus Tibo-one of three Catholics sentenced to death for the 2000 sectarian violence in Poso-demands are growing that the real culprits of the violence of that period be identified. Increasingly, religious hatred does not seem to be the sole motive.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Members of several Muslim organizations will help guard churches over the Christmas and New Year period, a city official says.

M. Aziz Tunny, Ambon – The Southeast Maluku regency administration has ordered the closure of a radio station that often aired stories criticizing the local authorities.

Jakarta – A high-ranking government official returning from Yahukimo regency in Papua denied on Thursday a famine was underway in the isolated region, describing people there as "fat".

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, who just returned from the regency, said "people in the area are fat, the pigs are big, and the corn and cabbage is growing well".

There are hopes that a coalition to be established in the Indonesian province of Papua will lead to a united self determination movement.

Spokesman Rex Rumakiek, says the West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation will be an umbrella organisation involving all stakeholders, including militant groups such as the OPM, political groups and NGOs.

An advocate for the self determination movement in the Indonesian province of Papua says the Vanuatu parliament's withdrawal of a motion in support of West Papua is shameful.

Dr John Ondawame had been active in rallying key support among Vanuatu's chiefs for the motion which called on Vanuatu's parliament to sponsor the push for self determination.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Jakarta Police are requiring all hotels across the capital to report the identities of their guests to police as soon as they check in.

Jakarta – Aiming to boost efficiency, the world's largest instant noodle maker, PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, has dismissed thousands of workers and plans to keep on doing so until at least 3,500 workers have been laid off by the end of the year.

Jakarta – The head of reconstruction in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province defended the pace of home rebuilding for survivors on Thursday, saying it was exceeding the country's national capacity.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Human rights campaigners on Wednesday blamed the slow investigation into last year's murder of pro-democracy activist Munir on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's reluctance to unravel the case and bring all of the perpetrators to justice.

Members of the House of Representatives Commission I on defense Permadi and Djoko Susilo examine various types of weaponry belonging to the Army Special Forces (Kopassus) at the unit's headquarters near the Central Java town of Surakarta.

Jakarta – It is expected that the provisions on resolving human rights violations in Aceh will again attract sharp debate in dissuasions on the Draft Law on the Organisation of a Government for Aceh.

Ben Terrall – As the US empire continues its so-called "war on terror" via blank checks for the military-industrial complex, the Bush Administration recently overrode a congressional ban on military aid to Indonesia and restored all such assistance by exploiting a "national security waiver."

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years in jail for corruption in a high profile case that could eventually implicate other prominent figures, including some close to the administration.

Dili – President Xanana Gusmco Thursday criticized the East Timorese government's decision to begin paying benefits to former guerrilla freedom fighters as premature and destined to provoke "more confusion".

Joyce Barnathan – It has been a tough road for Indonesia. Since the Asian financial crisis led to the toppling of its long-time corrupt strongman Suharto in 1998, the world's fourth-largest country has faced one major test after another. Its great challenge is to demonstrate that democracy can grow and thrive in a moderate Islamic state.

The reports coming out of Papua about a famine that has taken the lives of 55 people since November punctuate the suffering of a country still reeling from the recent fuel price increases.

This despite the newly gained sense of optimism following the shake-up of the economics team in the Cabinet.

Jakarta – The efforts to create lasting peace in tsunami-devastated Aceh have been more successful than expected thus far, but the process has now entered a critical stage, a report says.

Havana – President Fidel Castro has confirmed that Cuba is prepared to receive another 400 young people from Timor Leste for medical training, and to extend the new literacy method Yo sm puedo (Yes, I can do it) to that country.

Jakarta – In spite of the public uproar, the government has disbursed Rp 10 million (US$1,030) in monthly operational allowances for each of 550 House of Representatives lawmakers, Antara has reported.

Jakarta – No matter what verdict is delivered in the murder trial of prominent Indonesian rights activist Munir on Friday, activists and legal experts say the true mastermind may never face justice.