Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Establishment of local political parties and the partition of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam into three provinces are expected to be main issues of contention when legislators begin deliberations on the bill on Aceh later this month.

Jakarta – With the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on freer trade of non-agricultural products to be finalized in April, local industries must immediately make preparations to compete with future increases in imported products, business players have said.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's dream to have a corruption-free and efficient immigration office, which does not embarrass him at international forums, will not come easy.

His intention to totally reform the office is being challenged by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, which does not want to lose its primary revenue stream.

[Gerakan-gerakan Rakyat Dunia Ketiga (Mass movements in the third world). Noer Fauzi, ed. Resist Book Yogyakarta, September 2005. xvi + 304 pp.]

The new treaty between the governments of Australia and Timor-Leste to share oil and gas resources from part of the Timor Sea temporarily resolves a long-standing and difficult dispute. However, the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) believes this agreement does not fully serve the rights and interests of the people of Timor-Leste.

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandung/Bandarlampung – Members of the West Java Legislative Council charged on Friday rice was being hoarded at production centers in West Java, including the provincial capital Bandung, amid public outcries over the scarcity of the staple food.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Like their counterparts on countless streets throughout the nation, the children on the corner in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta, regularly show up every day to beg for money from motorists. But they have been absent from school for years, if they ever attended.

Jakarta – A study into a graft case involving a prominent businessman and politician shows the strange and shoddy way the law is applied in the country, two judicial watchdogs say.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – An event in the remote Indonesian province of Papua, thousands of kilometers from Washington, seems certain to result in a much stronger position for Jakarta within the already fast-improving relationship between the two countries.

Adianto P Simamora, Jakarta – There are no floods in the city for months and then they happen all at once. In Jakarta, when it rains, it does indeed pour.

The rain over the past week alerted people living on the banks of Ciliwung River to the possibility of floods.

Blontank Poer, Surakarta – A thick cloud of suspicion hangs over the country's pesantren (Islamic boarding schools), with many convinced they are a breeding ground for terrorists.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – A number of international relief organizations have been forced to import timber to build houses for tsunami survivors whose homes were destroyed in the catastrophe.

The decision to import timber was taken due to the scarcity of logs from sustainable forests in the country.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara and Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Local governments are balking at the controversial plan to import 110,000 tons of rice from Vietnam, a move they say will devastate the livelihood of local farmers.

Ellen Nakashima, Jakarta – Eleven men and a teenager met with two FBI agents at a small hotel in the remote Indonesian province of Papua on Wednesday night, expecting, they said, to be flown to the United States.

Raymond Bonner, Jakarta – An Indonesian who was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington in connection with the killing of two American school teachers in Papua Province has admitted to the police that he fired shots during the ambush, but he also says he saw three men in Indonesian military uniforms firing at the teachers' convoy, his lawyer said Friday.

Suherdjoko and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung/Semarang – A number of cities across the country are experiencing rice shortages, pushing up prices by 25 percent and raising suspicions over hoarding by traders.

Jakarta – The promise of free education for many elementary and junior high school students in Jakarta and the Thousands Islands regency from late January onward has been welcomed by parents.

The administration has upped the 2006 provincial budget allocation for development in education to Rp 689 billion from Rp 500 billion.

Jakarta – An alliance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urged the government on Thursday to take serious measures to protect citizens from natural disasters. The NGOs, grouped in the People's Coalition for Disaster Prevention, said government agencies had designed several disaster prevention schemes, but the plans were rarely implemented.

Jakarta – A group of legislators urged the House of Representatives leadership on Thursday to revive a probe into the killings of student demonstrators in Jakarta between 1998 and 1999.

"House Commission II (on home affairs) recommended last year that the investigation be resumed. Why hasn't the House leadership followed this up?" legislator Nursyahbani Katjasungkana said.

[Joseph Nevins: A Not-So-Distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor. Cornell University Press. Reviewed by Maire Leadbeater.]

Will the world forget the paroxysm of murderous violence that erupted when the East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence on August 30, 1999?

His Excellency Kay Rala Xanana Gusmco
President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
C/o The Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
3415 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20007

Via facsimile: 202 965-1517

Your Excellency:

As reported in this paper, hundreds of containers containing goods meant for Aceh tsunami survivors have been languishing in Indonesian ports for at least nine months.

Jakarta – When it comes to the forestry industry, development and conservation always seem to be at loggerheads. While the government is happy to see that investment in the timber-consuming pulp and paper industry is on the rise, environmentalists warn that it should be more prudent in giving new concession rights to industry players.

Dwi Atmanta, Jakarta – Lawmakers from the House of Representatives resumed their sitting on Thursday, with their wish for a prosperous New Year fulfilled.

Dan Box, John Kerin – East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has declared that the fledgling nation does not need Australia's help to deal with border skirmishes.

Dr Alkatiri, who is in Australia to sign a resources deal, was responding yesterday to an incident in which East Timorese police shot and killed three Indonesians and former militia members.

Nigel Wilson – Maritime boundary negotiations between Australia and East Timor have been put on hold for 50 years under a deal to share the Timor Sea's petroleum riches that will deliver up to $25 billion cash to the fledgling democracy.

The Australian Government has been accused of bullying and short-changing East Timor.

Australia and East Timor have formally signed a treaty to share the revenue from the main oil and gas field in the Timor Sea, ending a two-year dispute.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – By now most Jakartans have either seen or heard about the special report on TransTV on meatballs made from rats. The report aired on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, and many people have stopped eating meatball soup, or bakso, as a result.

Foster Klug, Washington – The US government is welcoming Indonesia's arrest of a dozen suspects in the 2002 ambush killings of two American teachers. Rights activists demanded more information.

"The Australia East Timor Friendship Association (SA) [AETFA SA) Inc joins the Timor Sea Justice Campaign and other NGOs in expressing concern that the Australian Government is again shortchanging Timor Leste (TL), the poorest nation in the SE Asian region.

The current furor over rice imports flared up when late last year the trade minister gave clearance to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to import over 70,000 tons of rice to supplement its buffer stock.

Tedi Hikmah, Jakarta – The non-government organisation Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) has again raised questions about the investigation of gross human rights violations that have taken place in Aceh.

Hera Diani and Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – With containers of tsunami aid gathering dust at ports in Jakarta and Belawan, North Sumatra, the government is relying on oft-heard excuses to explain the delay in clearance.

Jakarta – A lawyer apologized to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday for publicly accusing his son and aides of receiving Jaguar cars as gifts from a business tycoon.

"(The story) was merely a rumor and untrue. It has been made into a political commodity by certain parties. I extend my apology to the President," Eggy Sudjana said in a statement.

Tiarma Siboro and Tony Hotland, Jakarta – A government's plan to go ahead with an earlier administration's plan to split the province into five has met with strong opposition from Papuan leaders.

The leaders were responding to the government's determination to go ahead with the plan, despite an Supreme Court ruling that the split was unconstitutional.

Nana Rukmana, Indramayu – Thousands of houses in 12 villages in the West Java regency of Indramayu have been inundated by floodwaters, and residents fear the flooding will lead to crop failures in the rice-producing region.

No casualties have been reported in the flooding, which began on Sunday, but material losses are estimated at billions of rupiah.

With the Governments of Australia and East Timor today signing another interim resources sharing agreement for contested petroleum resources in the Timor Sea, an Australian lobby group has vehemently attacked the Australian Government's failure to address the larger and more important issue of permanent maritime boundaries.

Jakarta – A "procedural error" meant the government lost up to Rp 1.7 trillion (about US$180 million) in unpaid rent from the Hilton Hotel, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) was told on Wednesday.

Tedi Hikmah, Jakarta – A non-government organisation concerned with upholding human rights, Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial), believes the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has taken a selective approach and has not supported efforts to uphold human rights. Moreover, excessive violence that violates the basic rights of citizens continues to take place.

Jakarta – A draft bill on languages being considered by the education ministry will not forbid the use of foreign languages in public, minister Bambang Sudibyo says.

Previous reports said the bill would limit the use of foreign languages in advertising and the media, penalizing organizations that disobeyed the regulation.

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – There is cause for concern. The level of work-related incidents in Indonesia appears to still be high. Data from the state insurance company PT Jamsostek notes that between 2004-2005 there were 95,418 work-related accidents. Of this total, 1,336 were fatal.

Triono Wahyu Sudibyo, Semarang – Fuel price increases at the end of last year are still resulting in "casualties". Based on 2006 data from the Surabaya Social Revelation Foundation (Yawas), at least 2,786 workers in Central Java are threaded with dismissal.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandar Lampung – Ten-year-old Sururi helped his father unload empty containers and dozens of kilograms of fresh fish caught during two nights at sea. The empty containers had held formaldehyde.

A recent public scare over the use of formaldehyde in food has not deterred fishermen from using the dangerous chemical to keep their catches looking fresh longer.

Jakarta – Chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Megawati Soekarnoputri has vowed to be the voice of opposition in keeping the government in check.

Woodside Petroleum on Thursday welcomed the Timor Sea gas agreement between Australia and East Timor but said the Greater Sunrise gas project would remain on hold for now.

Canberra – Australia and East Timor today signed off on a deal to share revenue from the Timor Sea's lucrative energy reserves, resulting in a potential $US10 billion windfall for the tiny nation.

Semarang – A group of Timorese-Indonesians living in Central Java demanded on Wednesday a thorough investigation into an incident on Friday in which three former militia members were killed by Timor Leste border police.

"We strongly condemn the shooting," said Batista Sufa Kefi of the National Committee for East Timorese Political Victims.

Jakarta – Jakarta's factory workers and laborers will be getting a pay raise this month, but it falls short of accommodating higher-priced commodities amid soaring inflation.

The provincial monthly minimum wage is to increase at rates ranging from 5 percent to 8 percent in designated industrial sectors, effective as of Jan. 1.

Tom Allard – Australia and Indonesia are poised to sign a security treaty that will pave the way for a new era of close relations between the two nations.

Indonesian government sources say the pact is wide-ranging, encompassing not only counter-terrorism, intelligence and military co-operation but social, humanitarian and joint political concerns.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Banjarnegara, Central Java – Policeman Supriyanto has a tale to tell about what the simple villagers' feel about the sufferings that last week's deadly landslide has brought them.