Anita Rachman, Arientha Primanita & Amir Tejo – About 8,000 workers demonstrated against mass layoffs and threatened to reject the outcome of the 2009 legislative elections during a rally to mark International Labor Day, or May Day, in Jakarta on Friday.

Surabaya, Cirebon, Yogya, Banyumas – Thousands of workers across the nation staged rallies Friday to commemorate International Labor Day, also known as May Day, rejecting outsourcing and contract-based working systems.

Tom Allard, Jakarta – The defence white paper crowns a transformation in Australia's strategic perception of Indonesia, as fears of invading hordes from the archipelago are replaced by a far more sanguine view of the country as a partner and friend.

Benget Besalicto Tnb., Jakarta – Inflation continued to ease in April, giving the central bank lee-way to further cut its key interest rate to spur economic growth, which slowed after a sharp drop in exports as a result of the global financial crisis.

Jakarta – Jakarta's Statistics Agency announced Friday Jakarta experienced a deflation of 0.15 percent in April.

The biggest contributor to the deflation was the decreasing price of clothing. The prices of male apparel decreased by 1.78 percent, the agency reported.

Muhammad Nur Abdurrahman, Makassar – International Labour Day was also commemorated by thousands of workers in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, who held a long-march to the governor's office.

Muchus Budi R., Solo – Labour Day, May 1, was commemorated in a number of cities and in various ways. In the Central Java city of Solo, scores of workers from the Solidarity Trade Union Federation (FSBSK) held a 'squatting' action to symbolise the oppression of workers, including domestic workers.

Jakarta – A coalition of civil society groups and human rights activists called on voters not to support candidates accused of committing human rights violations in the past.

Ari Saputra, Jakarta – A giant orange-coloured ball was rolled around the Hotel Indonesia roundabout on May 1 adding to the congestion caused by thousands of workers commemorating May Day in Jakarta.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Labor unions have demanded the government and private companies strictly enforce laws on outsourcing, which they say have been rampantly misused to reduce labor costs.

Weak monitoring by the government has further disadvantaged workers, as the practices itself creates job insecurity, the unions said Thursday.

Today Indonesian workers will celebrate May Day amid deep concern over the weak labor movement and the global financial crisis. Erwin Schweisshelm, director of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Indonesia, which facilitates labor meetings and education programs here and in Europe, addressed these issues in an interview with The Jakarta Post's Ridwan Max Sijabat here on Thursday.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Vote buying topped the list of election violations investigated by police during the nine months of election campaigning preceding the April 9 polls.

Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – A violent protest by soldiers of the Army's 751st Infantry Battalion in Sentani, Jayapura regency, Papua province, on Wednesday was unusual in a military, which rigidly imposes total obedience to the institution's structural chain of command.

Hery Winarno, Jakarta – A worker fell and was trampled during a protest action commemorating Labour Day on Friday May 1. The trigger for the incident was when demonstrators from the Workers Challenge Alliance (ABM) attempted to break through a police blockade in order to approach the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

Adi Warsidi, Banda Aceh – Journalists in the Aceh provincial capital of Banda Aceh also took to the streets to commemorate International Labour Day on Friday May 1.

Jakarta – After holding a demonstration to commemorate International Labour Day at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout and the State Palace in Central Jakarta, protesters from the Indonesian Metal Trade Workers Federation (FSPMI) and several other trade unions continued the action at the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Senayan.

Nurochman Arrazie, Bandar Lampung – Hundreds of workers and students from the Volunteers of the People's Struggle for the Liberation of the Motherland or Spartan commemorated Labour Day in a protest at the Lampung regional General Election Commission (KPU) offices.

Bibin Bintariadi, Malang – Commemorating International Labour Day on May 1, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) demanded that media employers provide journalists with a decent wage.

Soetana Monang Hasibuan, Medan – An estimated thousand or more protesters from the Alliance of Workers and Employees (ABP) held a May Day action in the North Sumatra city of Medan on Friday May 1.

Wisnu Aji Dewabrata, Palembang - A International Labour Day demonstration in Palembang, South Sumatra on Friday May 1 took place without the presence of workers.

Firman Hidayat, Samarinda – Hundreds of workers in the East Kalimantan city of Samarinda commemorated International Labour Day by holding speeches in front of the East Kalimantan governor's office on Friday May 1.

Muh Syaifullah, Yogyakarta – Workers and employees in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta used May Day to demand an eight-hour working day saying that workers in shopping centres are forced to work much longer than this.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang, East Java – Thousands of workers from companies around Malang staged a rally Thursday to commemorate International Workers' Day on May 1, also known as May Day.

Brandishing banners and posters, the workers marched from Gajayana Stadium to the Malang munici-pality office.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Dozens of journalists in Aceh commemorated international Labor Day, or May Day, on Friday by holding a peaceful rally in downtown Banda Aceh.

The journalists called on media owners in the province and across the country to improve the wage standard for their employers, including journalists.

Reno Nugraha, Cirebon – Scores of workers and students took to the streets in the West Java city of Cirebon on May 1 to commemorate International Labour Day, blockading the Jakarta-Cirebon northern coast road at Jl. Brigjen Darsono.

Gede Suardana, Denpasar – Denpasar municipal police in Bali have taken two Papua youths into custody who they suspect were planning to join May Day rallies in order to call for a referendum in Papua.

Andi Saputra, Jakarta – Hundreds of workers from the Federated Alliance of Independent Trade Unions (FGSBM) held an action in which they marched backwards towards the Department of Labour and Transmigration on Jl. Gatot Soebroto in South Jakarta.

Max Lane – The Indonesian General Elections Commission has not yet completed counting all the votes in the April 9 elections to the national parliament and scores of local assemblies. However, some things have become clear. There was a very high level of voter abstention, a phenomenon already evident in many elections for provincial governors during 2007-08.

Farouk Arnaz – Sounding like revolutionaries from another era, the People's Movement Against Neocolonialism and Imperialism, or Gerak Lawan, claimed on Thursday that it would mobilize as many as 10,000 workers today, May 1, which is celebrated in most countries as Labor Day.

Jakarta – With more than 50 percent of lakes in Greater Jakarta in subpar condition, the government and administration have been told to enforce regulations more strictly and restore lakes to prevent another Situ Gintung like disaster (in which nearly 100 people died) from happening, a discussion concluded on Tuesday.

Dicky Christanto and Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Political parties trying to put together a jumbo coalition to challenge President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will need to stop shadow boxing and make hard decisions to win the real fight in July.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – US President Barack Obama's 100-day-old administration has "re-energized US foreign policy with a fresh diplomatic approach" in a movement that "re-established the leadership" of the super power amid global tensions, a spokesman for the Indonesian president said.

Benget Besalicto Tnb., Jakarta – The government is pushing liberalization of the railway sector by drafting a regulation on the separation of track management and train service businesses, opening up to private sector participation.

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu, Central Sulawesi – Police shot two residents Tuesday evening while dispersing hundreds of people protesting a rock quarry in Damsol district, Donggala regency, Central Sulawesi.

Jakarta – A Papuan separatist group held a local police officer hostage for seven hours after confiscating his revolver, local police said Sunday.

Papua police chief Bagus Ekodanto said to kompas.com news portal that the incident occurred Saturday and the officer had since been released. He is currently at the Supiori police station.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Five Australians who illegally entered Indonesian territory through an airport in Merauke, Papua, in September last year have been banned from leaving the province until a Supreme Court verdict has been handed down.

Head of Merauke Prosecutors' Office, Sudiro Husodo, said the ban was issued by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) on April 2.

Jakarta – Indonesian Military commander Gen. Djoko Santoso apologized to the public over the incident in Sentani, Papua, where soldiers staged violent protests against their commander.

Christian Motte & Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jayapura – Hundreds of soldiers went after senior officers on Wednesday and damaged their battalion headquarters in Papua after the family of a deceased soldier was told to pay half the cost of flying his body home.

Jakarta – Tension gripped the Papua regency of Jayapura on Wednesday when dozens of soldiers staged a rare protest, which soon turned violent.

Suherdjoko, Surakarta – Up to 80 million Indonesian people are believed to lack private toilets, which means they tend to defecate anywhere, an official said Tuesday.

Lisa Siregar – A feature-length documentary that was shown at the Boston International Film Festival over the weekend is an intergenerational depiction of the 1965-66 anti-Communist purge, in which an estimated 500,000 Indonesians were killed at the hands of the military.

Mark Dodd – East Timor's security forces and civil service are politicised, a situation that has not been reconciled and could trigger a return to instability on the restive half-island nation, a World Bank report says.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Indonesia's efforts toward sustainable development, poverty eradication and a stronger economy are under serious threat from climate change, according to an ADB report released Tuesday.

The study said climate change would increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods and tropical cyclones.

Khairul Ikhwan, Medan – Thousands of farmers in North Sumatra (Sumut) have threatened to boycott the July 8 presidential elections if the various problems facing farmers are not resolved. This threat was conveyed during a protest action at the offices of the North Sumatra National Land Agency (BPN) on Jl. Brigjen Katamso in Medan on Wednesday April 29.

Armando Siahaan – On March 28, 2007, hundreds of protesters under the umbrella of Gerakan Anti-Komunis, or the Anti-Communist Movement, arrived at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in South Jakarta aboard Metromini buses.

Jakarta – With his almost unlimited financial capacity and increasing popularity, Prabowo Subianto is shaping up to be President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's (SBY) strongest opponent in the upcoming presidential election, a seminar concluded in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Febriamy Hutapea – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, and the Golkar Party – now clearly relegated to second and third place after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party in the recent legislative polls – are planning to build a coalition with four other parties to face the July presidential election, their executives

Jakarta – The House of Representatives finally ratifies the regulation in-lieu-of law on voters list via voting mechanism at the House's plennary session hall in Senayan, South Jakarta, on Wednesday.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is extremely worried for the safety of a team of journalists in Indonesia, who tonight are reported to be in hiding in Jayapura, Papua Province, as hundreds of soldiers of the Indonesian army riot in the town.

Dian Ariffahmi – Political campaigning is being credited with a surge in advertising spending, with figures released on Tuesday showing that total advertising spending in the first quarter of 2009 jumped by 19 percent to Rp 10.36 trillion ($950.4 million) compared with the same period in 2008.