Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) urged the government on Wednesday to immediately cancel forest concession rights that have been given to logging companies operating in Southeast Aceh and Aceh Singkli, saying that it would only worsen the deforestation problem in the tsunami-devastated province.

John McBeth – It was five years ago. Sitting at the kitchen table in a small, nondescript house on Dili's sun-baked foreshore, the soon-to-be president of Timor Leste was talking about the future.

A'an Suryana, Banda Aceh – "I'm tired. I have been writing a lot about reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in Aceh but the progress here has been slow. Many people are still living in tents and barracks, despite the sheer amount of funds injected by the world," an Acehnese journalist has complained.

Banda Aceh – Former Aceh rebels watched on Wednesday as international peace monitors fed a final batch of their weapons into a circular saw, a symbolic end to the nearly three-decade of civil war in the province.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Dozens of people barged into Graha Pena, the office of Indo Pos daily, in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta on Tuesday evening, occupying the building for several hours and injuring two reporters.

Ainslie Chandler – Despite its war-ravaged past, East Timor has all the hallmarks of a tropical paradise. Swaying palm trees, pristine beaches, coral reefs, misty mountains, hot springs and stunning architecture are dotted around the chaotic landscape that is the world's newest nation.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – While the President has set out to clean up politics, it seems the air in the nation's capital is only getting dirtier.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Most Islamic boarding schools or pesantren are more than just educational institutions – they are also community drop-in centers and citizen's advice bureaus, which can offer a range of services from marriage counseling to drug rehabilitation.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Thousands of people affected by the closure of churches will be able to attend Christmas services at schools and other buildings owned by Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Muslim organization.

Jakarta – The decommissioning and dispersal of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) military wing is inadequate for the Indonesian Military (TNI). TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto has requested GAM to make an official statement regarding its dissolution.

In one tsunami-devastated area of Aceh, a visitor asked a medical team, "Where are the midwives?" There were none, while only a few weeks after last December's tragedy, an official with the United Nations Population Fund revealed that at least 800 births were at risk.

Marcus Tanner, Banda Aceh – There can't be many guerrilla leaders with escape stories like Yusuf Irwandi's. One of several hundred separatist fighters in the province of Aceh jailed by the Indonesian military, his nine-year sentence came to an abrupt end at 8am on 26 December last year, when the tsunami washed away his prison.

Suherdjoko, Semarang – Around 10,000 employees in Central Java could lose their jobs by the end of the year, most of them working for textile factories, an official said on Tuesday.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Labor activists have accused employers and the government of treating workers inhumanely by underpaying a great number of them. Jacob Nuwa Wea, chairman of the Confederation of All-Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI), said the recent massive labor demonstrations were an expression of frustration over poor work conditions and unfair treatment.

Dili – Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri acknowledged Wednesday that his FRETILIN party forces committed "errors" and "excesses" during East Timor's brief civil war in 1975, but he vehemently denied an official report's findings that 3,000 people died in that conflict.

An Indonesian court has sentenced Garuda Airlines pilot Polycarpus Priyanto to 14 years jail for the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Thalib. Munir was poisoned during a flight to Amsterdam in September, 2004.

Presenter/Interviewer: Peter Cave

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is under pressure to widen investigations into the murder of human rights activist Munir Thalib. The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced airline pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto to 14 years in jail for poisoning Munir on a Garuda flight to Amsterdam in September 2004.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam

The widow of a murdered Indonesian rights activist called Wednesday for a stepped-up probe into allegations that the man convicted in his poisoning death had links to the state intelligence agency.

Jakarta – The US government urged Indonesia to release the results of an independent probe into the murder of a prominent rights activist, and to prosecute all those involved in the crime, a statement said Wednesday.

Sydney – The sister of one of the Balibo Five journalists shot dead in East Timor 30 years ago wants their remains exhumed for examination.

Maureen Tolfree, sister of Brian Peters, whose death is the subject of a NSW coronial inquest, believes the remains may hold clues about the manner and cause of the men's deaths.

Kathy Marks – An off-duty pilot with the state-owned carrier Garuda Indonesia has been jailed for 14 years for his part in the murder of the country's foremost human rights activist, who died after eating an in-flight meal of fried noodles laced with arsenic.

The murderer of Munir has been found guilty. Pending his appeal, Pollycarpus B. Priyanto is facing a 14-year incarceration for lacing the activist's food with arsenic during a flight to Amsterdam in September.

Two Garuda cabin crew members also face separate trials for their alleged roles in the murder.

Denpasar – The increase in the number of applications for domestic and foreign investment shows Indonesia is recovering from a slump in investment, said the Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Muhammad Lutfi.

Thousands of Indonesian troops have begun withdrawing from Aceh province in the last phase of a peace plan agreed with the rebels. The pullout was finalised after the Free Aceh Movement surrendered their final batch of weapons, fulfilling the terms of the pact reached in August.

Presenter/Interviewer: Marion Macgregor

Fitraya Ramadhanny, Jakarta – Around 200 demonstrators from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) held an action in front of the State Palace demanding that the government uncover the mastermind behind Munir's murder. The action – that ended at 3.45pm – was closed by a speech by Munir's wife, Suciwati.

Suherdjoko, Semarang – Over 1,000 village leaders from across Central Java staged a protest outside the governor's office on Monday, the latest in a series of protests demanding legal certainty over their positions.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Public uproar over an alleged study tour by 15 lawmakers to Egypt heightened on Monday with a critical report of their activities from Cairo fueling admonishments from fellow legislators here.

Cimahi/Medan/Surabaya – Thousands of workers have jammed the streets of the main cities of Medan, Surabaya and Cimahi in massive protests over the newly set minimum wages, which they say are below the cost of living.

In the protests on Monday several workers were injured in Medan when security personnel tried to hold back the crowd.

Jakarta – The government will soon disburse Rp 75 billion (some US$7.5 million) in fresh funds to bail out ailing state-owned domestic airliner PT Merpati Nusantara to speed up its financial restructuring program, a top official says.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Nani Afrida, Jakarta – The government is expected to extend the presence of international peace monitors in Aceh, previously scheduled to finish their job in March, for another three months in a bid to help ensure a lasting peace in the province.

Nurvita Indarini, Jakarta – Although Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto has been sentenced to 14 years jail, Munir's wife, Suciwati, appears not to care. Suciwati is instead asking that the mastermind behind Munir's murder be brought before the courts. Who is that?

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – Pollycarpus has been sentenced to 14 months jail by the Central Jakarta State Court. The verdict however, has failed to touch on the brains behind the murder of human rights activist Munir. The prosecution also failed to uncover the brains of the murder.

Nurvita Indarini, Jakarta – The sentencing of Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was enlivened by a demonstration by hundreds of activists from the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir. But they were not demanding that Pollycarpus receive a heavier sentence – rather that the police investigate the other perpetrators of Munir's murder.

Australia is to resume training Indonesia's most feared Army unit, Kopassus, which has been linked to the murder of New Zealand soldier Private Leonard Manning in Timor, and to human rights abuses.

Fitraya Ramadhanny, Jakarta – Dissatisfied with the court's decision to sentence Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto to 14 years jail, around 200 activist from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) have urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) to try the mastermind behind the murder of human rights activist Munir.

Dean Yates and Ade Rina, Jakarta – An Indonesian court jailed an off-duty pilot for 14 years on Tuesday over the murder of the country's top human rights activist during a flight on the national carrier Garuda last year.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia withdrew 1,600 troops from Aceh province as part of a pact aimed at ending a separatist conflict in the province devastated by last year's tsunami. The troops were among the last due to leave Aceh during the final phase of military withdrawals called for under an August peace pact signed with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki.

Organisations campaigning for independence in the Indonesian province of Papua hope that a new umbrella body will help them gain support from governments in the Pacific.

Fabio Scarpello, Jakarta – A recently published Dutch-report has rekindled hopes of "correcting the course of history" in Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province and theatre of a struggle for independence ignored by most of the world.

Organisations campaigning for independence in the Indonesian province of Papua have formed a new umbrella organisation – the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation. Members of the armed wing of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka – the OPM independence movement – crossed into Papua New Guinea to participate in the founding meeting of the new coalition.

President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmco
President, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
Palacio Das Sinjas Rua Caicoli
Timor Leste

Dear President Gusmco,

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Hundreds of displaced persons from East Timor taking refuge in East Nusa Tenggara province demanded on Monday that the central government compensate them with Rp 263 billion (US$26.3 million) for the assets they left behind in East Timor following the 1999 autonomy plebiscite.

Jeff Kingston – The legacies of Indonesia's brutal occupation of East Timor from 1975 to 1999 – when there were at least 102,800 conflict-related deaths – remain divisive in this small, impoverished nation of 800,000 people.

The government will spend Rp 18 trillion (about US$1.82 billion) next year for a range of infrastructure projects including irrigation, roads, dams and bridges, to help drive higher economic growth and reduce employment.

Hong Kong – Four Indonesians who took part in an anti-WTO sit-in that occupied a major thoroughfare in Hong Kong over the weekend have been charged with unlawful assembly, an activist said Monday.

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon – A broadcasting regulator has condemned the closure of a radio station critical of the government and asked the station to continue broadcasting.

"The government has no right to close down the station because, according to the broadcasting law, that right is vested in us," said Izack Tulalessy, a member of the Maluku Broadcasting Commission.

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta – Corrupt officers have undermined the police's largest crackdown on illegal logging ever this year and could further endanger the prospects for future operations, a top detective says.

Mark Dodd – At his war crimes trial in Dili in 2001, East Timorese militia leader Joni Marques, facing 13 counts of murder, assault, kidnapping and torture including the cold-blooded killing of a nun, fingered Australian SAS and Indonesian Kopassus special forces as his former trainers.

Joyce Hor-Chung Lau, Hong Kong – Suciwati Munir looks every inch the modern, media-savvy campaigner, flying from country to country with her bags of matching red-and-black banners, buttons, T-shirts, pens and postcards.

But she is not running for office, nor is she selling anything – except for a message the Indonesian government may well prefer to keep quiet.

Muchus Budi R., Jakarta – Pollycarpus, the defendant in the murder case of human rights defender Munir will soon be sentenced. The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) however, is pessimistic that the courts will be able to take further action to find and try the brains behind the murder.