Tom Allard – Indonesia's intelligence services recruited a senior, long-serving Australian spy whose role as a double agent was eventually unearthed but did not lead to prosecution, a new book alleges.

Jakarta – The government must work hard to provide legal certainty – particularly in the area of tax regulations – if it wants investment in the country's oil and gas sector, which has lately been on a declining trend, to pick up, an industry player says.

Jakarta – Out of so many companies, foundations and cooperative enterprises managed by the Indonesian Military (TNI), only a few meet the requirements for being taken over by the government.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said that seen from current assumptions, no more than 10 companies within TNI businesses meet corporate standards.

[Dita Sari, president of the Indonesian People's Democratic Party (PRD), and a leader of the militant Indonesian National Front for Workers' Struggle (FNPBI) union federation, was a special guest speaker at the fourth Brisbane Social Forum on July 29-31. She spoke to Green Left Weekly's Mel Barnes and Jim McIlroy.]

What is the current state of Indonesian politics?

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono installed former justice minister Muladi as the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) Governor on Tuesday, replacing Ermaya Suradinata who had been critical of the government's decision to hold peace talks with Aceh rebels.

Hundreds of Acehnese rebels walked free from Indonesian jails today, under a sweeping amnesty that forms a vital plank of a landmark agreement signed in Helsinki.

Banda Aceh – Hundreds of Acehnese rebels walked free from Indonesian jails on Wednesday under a sweeping amnesty that forms a vital plank of a landmark peace agreement signed in Helsinki this month.

Some 2,000 members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) are expected to be released after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued the amnesty late on Tuesday.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono remains popular after 10 months in office despite some disappointment over the performance of his economic team, a poll showed.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Future terror attacks in Indonesia may be less professional and even less well-executed than in the past, with Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) facing dissension over how to achieve its objectives, says Sidney Jones, a leading authority on the terror group.

Speaking after the sixth anniversary of East Timor's referendum on independence, Timor Sea Justice Campaign co-ordinator Tom Clarke, labelled the Australian Government's current obsession with so called Australian values as "some type of twisted joke."

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Another big terrorist attack is imminent in Indonesia, its President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has warned. The bombing was likely to happen in Jakarta over the next two months, Dr Yudhoyono told a conference of newspaper editors yesterday.

Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta – Fighting corruption remains the government's top priority, although it is now realizing that it might not be able to completely eradicate it, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says.

Jakarta – Contradicting earlier comments by a Cabinet minister, the Vice President promised on Monday that firm action would be taken against Muslim hard-liners who forcibly closed down Christian places of worship as they were damaging religious harmony and taking the law into their own hands.

Harry Bhaskara, Jakarta – One of life's ironies is the incongruity between what a man works for and what he gets. Munir fought for justice throughout his life, yet, almost a year after his death, his killers have not been found.

Fitraya Ramadhanny, Jakarta – After recent calls that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reshuffle his economic ministers, these calls are now being directed towards the chief of the TNI (armed forces).

Jakarta – The rupiah's recent slide was attributed in part to declining market confidence in the prospects for the economy, with persistent conflicting signals from the government exacerbating uncertainty, a minister said on Monday.

The attacks and forced closures of churches throughout the country in the last four years have reached an alarming level for Indonesian Christians, both Protestant and Catholic.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) and the United States Pacific Command are holding a joint military training operation in the waters off Tanjung Priok.

The training will last for 16 days, from August 29 until September 12, and is the sixth such joint training operation between the TNI and the US Pacific Command.

Muhammad Nur Hayid, Jakarta – Ex-Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members who are granted amnesties but persist in seeking independence must be destroyed by the government immediately. The articles in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) have been sign and the agreement represents the final deal to resolve the Aceh conflict with dignity.

Chris Brummitt, Jantho – Imprisoned Aceh rebel Idris walks free on Wednesday as part of a peace deal with the government, but the scars he claims he sustained at the hands of his captors will remain for life.

Tiarma Siboro and Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has called on the Aceh foreign peace monitoring team to take anticipatory measures to prevent the current peace process between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) from faltering, including banning former rebels from bearing weapons in public.

In the last of his series on East Timor, Simon Montlake looks at the Thorny topic of oil and gas

His morning catch sold, fisherman Antonio Ximenes folds his homemade nets into the boat resting on the windswept beach.

Simon Montlake, Jakarta – Nearly six years after its troops and civilian militia laid waste to tiny East Timor, triggering worldwide outrage, Indonesia has begun to repair its military ties with the US.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The first confirmed cross-fire involving Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) guerrillas broke out on Sunday, putting a peace deal in the province to a serious test.

After years of slumping, foreign direct investment in Indonesia has started to gain ground amid an improved confidence in doing business in the country.

Business activities have begun to increase, as seen in the sharp increase in the amount of money spent to set up new businesses during the first seven months of the year.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Shopping malls are booming. Developers vie to build new malls on optimism that consumption, which has become the main driver of the economy over the past several years, will remain strong. But, how many malls do Jakartans really need? This week's cover story highlights the issue.

Jakarta – A leading human rights group on Sunday condemned as "insane" an Islamic court's caning of two unmarried couples in Aceh province for drinking alcohol and being alone together after dark.

They were the latest Aceh residents to fall foul of new regulations that give the staunchly Muslim province the right to impose a version of Islamic Shariah law.

Jakarta – Indonesian Vice President Yusuf Kalla has dismissed calls by parliamentarians for Aceh rebels to swear an oath of allegiance to the government as a precondition for an amnesty, state media said.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's military will be looking to reap even more riches from rebellious Papua province now that it has been forced to withdraw thousands of troops from Aceh, observers say.

Kalinga Seneviratne, Jakarta – Ever since Indonesia's highest Islamic authority, the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI), issued 11 fatwas or edicts against liberal Islam, a fierce debate has begun raging in the world's most populous Muslim nation on what constitutes an Islamic society.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – A week after investors were promised a better deal, including lower taxes, surging world oil prices are dealing Indonesia's economy a double whammy, battering the currency and blowing out the domestic budget.

Syaiful Amin, Jakarta – Former army chief General Ryamizard Ryacudu says the potential for Aceh and Papua to succeed from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) is significant. At the moment he says, the two regions already have a number of prerequisites for them to become independent states.

Fabio Scarpello, Jakarta – As the historic Aceh peace deal, signed two weeks ago in Helsinki, enters the delicate, implementation phase analysts worry that the wording is vague and that mounting political opposition could yet derail the accord.

M. Aziz Tunny and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Ambon/Jakarta – Nine people were injured on Thursday when a home-made bomb exploded at a market in Ambon, Maluku, the scene of widespread Christian-Muslim violence between 1999 and 2002.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Despite laws banning people from taking the law into their own hands and recognizing freedom of religion, police in West Java have admitted to helping Muslim hard-liners close dozens of churches in Bandung.

Robin Perry and Eleanor Taylor-Nicholson – On August 11, the governments of Indonesia and East Timor formally launched the joint Truth and Friendship Commission at its headquarters on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Veena Siddharth, New York – When the Indonesian government and the armed separatists of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed their peace agreement this week, they demonstrated that even the darkest cloud may have a silver lining after all.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – While at first it was attributed mainly to a run-of-the-mill supply and demand imbalance, the rupiah's continued slump has now been blamed on another factor that is much tougher to handle – eroding market confidence.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Independent legislative watchdog Teliti said the House of Representatives continued to disappoint despite being filled with younger and better educated members.

Jakarta – The Indonesian army will send an additional three battalions of troops to Papua. "The reason being, to provide security on the border," army spokesman Brig-Gen Hotma Ngaraja Panjaitan, told Tempo yesterday.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – The outbreak of polio in Indonesia could spread to other countries in the region, but a plan to vaccinate 24 million children next week should halt its progress, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A working group of military, legal and political analysts has completed the draft of a new bill on intelligence aimed at restoring the badly tarnished image of state intelligence agencies.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – A member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) has raised her concern over the alleged arrival of troops in the troubled province of Papua, saying that local people are feeling ill at ease.

Six years ago this month the Indonesian military unleashed its militia killers on East Timor, creating carnage that shocked the world and saw Australia intervene to drive them out.

Remember early January 1998 when the rupiah crashed through the 10,000-to-the-dollar barrier two days after then president Soeharto unveiled his draft 1998-1999 budget? The four-fold fall of the rupiah was then precipitated by what the market perceived to be unrealistic budget proposals, which defied the urgent imperatives for drastic reform and belt-tightening measures.

Jakarta – The military may be held accountable for alleged atrocities committed during a three-decade separatist war in Aceh province, Indonesia's justice minister said Wednesday, denying that troops would escape rights tribunals.

Desra Percaya, New York – Following seven months of talks mediated by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in Helsinki on Aug. 15 between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Criticism is gathering against the powerful Aceh Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) two months after it began the massive project of rebuilding the tsunami-affected province.

Jakarta – Indonesia has made scant progress in changing the outlook of government officials who remain indifferent to providing public service and continue to engage in corruption, the president says.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – With the primary aim of boosting investment in the private sector, the government has drafted a fairly sound and competitive value-added tax (VAT) and income tax system in its recently completed draft revision of the tax laws, according to an official.