Jakarta – General Endriartono Sutarto, Commander of the Indonesian Military (TNI), has stated that reforms carried out by the TNI were not to please the United States, nor the US government or Congress.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – It has been more than a year since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took office. Active though he has been as a president, he remains suspiciously lethargic in appointing a four-star general to take over the reins of the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Have you ever complained about the police? You are certainly not the only one, as public complaints against the police hit a record high at the National Ombudsman Commission in 2005, a record previously held by district courts.

Rendi Akhmad Witular and Mustaqim, Jakarta – The government will push through a number of crucial policies this year to promote robust economic activity for the private sector and help spur growth, with most efforts centered on providing certainty and stability for the business community.

Gary Brown – One can only boggle at the folly of the Federal Government's decision to resume co-operation with the Indonesian Special Forces unit, Kopassus.

Sometimes, it's the little things that count. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should receive recognition for his decision to refuse a pay increase, despite the House of Representatives earlier agreeing to give him a hike of some 10 percent.

Sean Barry – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold has hit back at reports that were critical of its financial support for Indonesian military personnel guarding the company's giant Grasberg copper and gold mine.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Four years after special autonomy legislation came into effect in Papua, it has been called a failure for not living up to the expectations of the people.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) has denied reports that the world's biggest gold and copper mining company was polluting rivers near its mining site in Papua.

Jakarta – The spokesman of ther Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Aceh Irwandi Yusuf confirmed that GAM high-ranking officials, Hasan Tiro and Malik Mahmud, would not visit Aceh in the near future.

Jakarta – Five years after entering into a legal process against her employer, Marni Abyim, 25, was finally awarded a payout.

Working as a maid in Malaysia, Marni filed a lawsuit on January 2001 against Shalini Shanmugam for torturing her with a number of appliances, including scissors, a hammer and a screwdriver.

Jakarta – After the chaos that met the first disbursement of the government's cash assistance program in October, the first day of the second disbursement went off without a hitch on Monday.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Sawmill owners operating in West Lampung can easily get permits saying wood taken from the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is legal, an activist says.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Consistent law enforcement remained elusive in 2005, which a legal aid foundation said was the fault of the Supreme Court.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Debate over the need to request a delay on the payment of government debts, both interest and principal, from overseas creditors is unlikely to ease anytime soon, with some senior lawmakers pledging to push ahead for the facility at all costs.

Tom Benedetti, Vancouver – The attention that the tsunami brought to the previously overlooked conflict in the Indonesian province of Aceh is contributing to an end to three decades of insecurity and terror there.

Stevie Emilia, Jakarta – When the world's biggest timber smuggling operation from Papua to China was exposed last year, it marked a turning point in the fight against illegal logging in the country.

The first phase of the Aceh peace agreement ended pretty much on schedule before the turn of the year. The Indonesian Military (TNI) withdrew the last of its non-local troops. The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) handed over all its remaining fire arms and formally disbanded its military wing.

Abdi Mari, Palu – Authorities searched Sunday for the suspected Islamic militants who set off a bomb at a Christian market in central Indonesia, killing seven people and underscoring the ongoing battle against terror in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Canberra – It may have become a big deal later, but East Timor did not figure prominently in the deliberations of the Whitlam government in its final year.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – A dark cloud appears to be dogging PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) following news reports exposing its payments to soldiers guarding the world's largest gold and copper mining firm in Papua, and its alleged poor pollution record.

Abdi Mari, Palu – A bomb tore through a meat market crowded with people shopping for New Year's celebrations Saturday in an Indonesian province plagued by sectarian violence, officials said. At least eight people were killed and 45 wounded – many of them Christians.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – With ailing Garuda Indonesia unlikely to get back in the black anytime soon, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, in response to the airline's privatization plan, sees little pride in the state owning a national flag carrier that keeps suffering losses.

Jakarta – NGO activists consider think that the security of foreign companies such as Freeport McMoran must be provided as a compensation for tax payments to the state.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) announced on Friday its latest reshuffle affecting three-star generals, including former Aceh commander Lt. Gen. Endang Suwarya as TNI's chief of general affairs.

This time last year, we ended 2004 on an extremely subdued note. The powerful earthquake and massive tsunami that killed over 160,000 people and rendered another half a million homeless in Aceh and Nias island towards the end of last year stunned the whole nation, and the whole world for that matter.

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu/Jakarta – Conservative Muslim groups have openly campaigned against transvestism and the use of condoms.

They rallied against on Friday a New Year's Eve contest for the most attractive transvestite in Pekanbaru, Riau and the installation of an automatic condom dispenser in Palu, Central Sulawesi.

Jakarta – Indonesia's defense minister called Friday for an investigation into allegations that a US gold-mining giant paid US$20 million to military commanders guarding its mine on Papua island.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – In a move that many saw as unnecessary, Jakarta Police declared on Thursday Lia Eden and 32 of her followers suspects for defamation of religion a day after members of the cult were forcibly evacuated from their headquarters on Jl. Mahoni in Senen, Central Jakarta.

Muridan S. Widjojo, Jakarta – The meeting between Vice President Jusuf Kalla, flanked by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo AS, Minister of Home Affairs Mohammad Ma'ruf and Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, and the official leaders of the province of Papua on Nov.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono has told local and international companies not to make direct payments to the military officers guarding their operations as the practice is illegal.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Jakartans' out of sight, out of mind attitude to domestic and industrial waste has caused the city's 13 rivers to become so polluted that if the city administration does not clean them up it will have to give up on its dream of riverine transportation.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – The Tangerang municipal administration destroyed on Thursday thousands of bottles of name-brand alcoholic drinks, pornographic pirated VCDs and six gambling machines confiscated in a string of raids this month.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – For over 30 years, Wati has never enjoyed "free" public services. Each time she renews her ID card, her driver's license, or applied for marriage and land certificates, as well as birth certificates for her three sons, she always is forced to pay hundreds of thousands of rupiah in bribes to obtain her documents.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) complained on Thursday over a lack of support from other state institutions in its ambitious anticorruption drive.

Mark Dodd – Notorious former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres is to return home with a personal guarantee for his safety by the country's President, despite a UN war crimes panel indicting him for murders committed in 1999.

Jakarta – Dozens of local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have sent a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, urging him to instruct the police to further investigate the murder of the country's top human rights activist Munir.

Jakarta – In spite of mounting criticism of his administration following the fuel price increases, the latest survey shows that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's popularity remains high, with over half of the population deeming that he is doing a good job.

However, they are unhappy with the government's economic performance.

Jakarta – An EU-led team monitoring a peace deal in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province will extend its mission by at least three more months to oversee crucial elections, Indonesia's vice president said Friday.

Before the tsunami, Banda Aceh was a ghost town at night except for patrols of feared paramilitary police. In the mornings, corpses scarred by torture would turn up in the paddy fields down the coast where the brutal guerilla war between GAM (Free Aceh Movement) insurgents and security forces was fought in the jungle.

Jakarta – Twenty-two women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from Indonesia and foreign countries have urged the Indonesian government to give security protection to Munir's family.

Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – Indonesia's military acknowledged for the first time Thursday that its commanders in Papua had received "support" from a US gold-mining giant – responding to allegations that Freeport-McMoRan Co. gave the army millions of dollars to protect its facilities in the remote province.

Tiarma Siboro and Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Former Trikora Military Commander in Papua Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon has confirmed direct payments from US gold miner Freeport-McMoRan to Indonesian military and police personnel guarding the firm's mine.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A group of human rights activists has asked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to order the police to continue the investigation into the murder of noted human rights defender Munir in a bid to reveal the masterminds.

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – Some 250 residents observed the 7th anniversary of the Poso conflict on Wednesday by staging a protest outside the Central Sulawesi Police Headquarters.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has requested that the government immediately halt illegal logging in Southeast Aceh and Aceh Singkil which has been disguised as wood requirements for rehabilitation and reconstruction following the tsunami disaster.

Rita A. Widiadana, Kuta – Only a few days before the deadly bombing of Oct. 1, 2005, the tourism industry in Bali and other places in Indonesia was starting to enjoy robust business after three years of being in the doldrums.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – Indonesia is today scheduled to complete the withdrawal of its 21,000 non-local soldiers from Aceh as part of a peace agreement to end a 29-year separatist insurgency in the tsunami-ravaged province.

Lisabona Rahman and Paul F. Agusta, Contributors, Jakarta – Indonesian cinema saw an eventful year in 2005, with more than 50 titles either released or produced, making it the most prolific year in Indonesia's film history in almost a decade.

Jakarta – An object of resentment as it often seen as a source of sound and air pollution in the capital, the three-wheeled diesel-fueled bajaj will soon be modernized.

An official of Jakarta's Association of Public Transportation Owners (Organda DKI), Jauhari Perangin-angin, said on Tuesday that 3,000 bajaj belonging to 100 individuals would be modified.