Jusuf Wanandi, Jakarta – The people have spoken. Although many mistakes were made by the General Elections Commission (KPU) and minor disturbances and irregularities took place, the April 9 legislative elections in general have been peaceful and fair.

Jakarta – Stronger growth in private consumption and recovering overseas demand will lead to higher economic growth for Indonesia next year, the central bank says.

Dicky Kristanto, Jakarta – Indonesian bank loans' growth is expected to halve to around 15-16 percent in 2009 from about 30 percent last year, a deputy central bank governor said, amid a slowdown in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Jakarta – With the results of vote counting trickling in from across the nation many former legislative candidates have begun showing symptoms of stress and depression upon learning of their poor performance in the recent legislative election; some have even resorted to suicide.

AWPA is calling on the Australian Foreign minister to raise the continuing deteriorating situation in West Papua with the Indonesian President and urge him in particular to control the security forces in West Papua as a way of avoiding further escalation of the situation and avoiding possible bloodshed.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Former Finance Minister Rizal Ramli has demanded that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono replace all seven members of the General Elections Commission for failing to act independently.

Agnes S Jayakarna, Surabaya – Workers in East Java acknowledge that, due to the global economic crisis, dismissals are unavoidable but have demanded companies pay fair and proper compensation.

About 400 employees of paint producer PT Avia Aviant went on strike on Monday, protesting the dismissal of 59 of their co-workers.

Papua New Guinea's Police Commissioner says the situation remains tense in an area on the common border of Indonesia and PNG where reports say eleven people have been killed in fighting between Indonesian military and Papuan separatists.

Gary Baki says he is unable to confirm the deaths because the fighting occurred on the Indonesian side of the border

ID Nugroho, Jakarta – Leaders of political parties, the national rights body and a number of civil society groups have taken legal action to challenge the April 9 elections' results.

All groups said the alleged fraud and the hubbub surrounding the voter lists had prevented many people from voting and raised questions about the elections' legitimacy.

Alfian, Jakarta – PT Freeport Indonesia, a local unit of US giant gold and copper producer Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, has filed lawsuits against five workers who refused to be laid off.

Freeport's lawyer Kemalsjah Siregar said on Tuesday the company needed a court verdict to settle the dispute, because earlier mediation efforts had failed to find a solution.

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – Voters have spoken and it's clear that they want nationalist-secular political parties to control the direction this country, leaving Islamic parties, a permanent fixture in Indonesian politics, to once again play second fiddle.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Good news could be on the horizon for those fed up with the lengthy political process, with the search for coalitions among the country's power brokers likely to lead to a one-round presidential election.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Results from Indonesia's legislative election last week have raised more questions than they answered. None of the 38 parties contesting the ballot appears to have gotten sufficient support to field a presidential candidate without reaching out to partners to form a coalition.

Jakarta – Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will launch a big rally during the upcoming 39th Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting in Bali from May 2 until May 5.

The protest will focus on the bank's failure to help get poor and developing Asian countries out of a vicious cycle of debt entrapment.

East Timor's notorious martial arts gangs are growing in size and strength and pose an increasing threat to Australia's security, a new report says.

Indra Harsaputra and Ahmad Faisal, Surabaya – The Surabaya Legal Aid Institute (LBH) on Tuesday accused the Indonesian Military of violating international law by conducting a military exercise in a civilian area in Putat Jaya, Surabaya.

Adianto P. Simamora and Erwida Maulida, Jakarta – Regardless of public gripes over flawed voter lists in the recent legislative elections the national polls body will maintain the existing registration method, which will require eligible voters to check if their names are registered for the July 8 presidential election.

Slamet Susanto, Agus Maryono and Suherdjoko, Yogyakarta/Purwokerto/Semarang – Newspaper vendor Samadiono, 44, was determined to run as a legislative candidate in the April 9 elections. He borrowed money from his relatives to support his campaign. However, his dream to become a legislator faded, after an interim vote count showed he did not get enough votes.

Jakarta – Some of Indonesia's prominent politicians are likely to lose their seats at the House of Representatives, following quick count results showing they did not win enough votes to win seats in their areas.

Unexpectedly, incumbent House Speaker Agung Laksono of the Golkar Party is one of the losers.

Erwida Maulia and Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Constrained by the global downturn, Indonesia only managed to collect Rp 162 trillion (US$14.57 billion) in state revenue during the first quarter this year, or less than 20 percent of the full-year target in the state budget.

Lora Lini – The decision of the Minister for Foreign Affairs to look over to South East Asia is not just to strengthen diplomatic relations with the region but a door for Vanuatu to understand better the issue of West Papua.

Minister Kaltongga revealed that West Papua is included in the Government's plan for the region.

Erwida Maulia and Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said here Monday the police had named another suspect who could have masterminded the recent attacks in the country's eastern most province.

Jakarta – Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has said his Democrat Party, which won a fifth of the vote in parliamentary elections last week, may form a coalition with the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang/Jakarta – Many legislative hopefuls are beginning to sniff the stench of failure after Thursday's elections. The losers are responding not only with a wrinkling of their noses but also with actions suggesting hostility and even mental disturbance.

Sunanda Creagh, Jakarta – An Indonesian Islamist party seen as a likely partner in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's coalition said it wanted energy and mining contracts to be renegotiated and the death penalty imposed in the worst cases of corruption.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – A plan may be in place to weaken the Corruption Court (KPK) by replacing its six career judges by judges from the Supreme Court, antigraft groups said Sunday.

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – Thousands of prospective Indonesian migrant workers are on hold as destination countries have to fix new labour quotas given global downturn Chairman of the National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesia Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI), Mohammad Jumhur Hidayat, told The Jakarta Post that the global economic crisis was affecting workers who were su

Putri Prameshwari & Antara – Several celebrities running in Thursday's legislative elections have garnered an impressive number of votes so far, with some leading seasoned politicians in the provisional tallies.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The slide in votes for the Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP) in Thursday's polls have exacerbated rifts within the parties.

Senior Golkar members have pointed the finger at party chairman Jusuf Kalla for failing to unite the party to win the elections.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – The brouhaha surrounding the voter lists and the numerous election violations have sparked protests from losing political parties and civil society groups that could undermine the legitimacy of the polls.

We believe Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati's preliminary estimate that Indonesia's economy could have expanded by 4.6 percent in the first quarter was by no means dressed up to make the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono government look good in the July presidential election.

Jakarta – National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said in Jakarta on Monday that police had arrested a man believed to be the mastermind of the attack on a police precinct in Abepura, Papua Province, last week.

Tom Allard, Jakarta – A strong showing in national elections presents the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, with an opportunity to cast off his ultra-cautious approach to politics and policy-making and mark out a reformist agenda.

Karima Anjani and Sunanda Creagh, Jakarta – Indonesia's president may tap an Islamist party with a tough stance on graft for his coalition, as well as other groups ahead of presidential elections in July, aiming for a stable and united alliance to improve governance.

Jayandra Menon, Dili – Timor Leste is dropping the tagline 'the world's newest nation' in favour of 'the world's newest destination'.

And Singaporean hotelier Edward Ong Han Nam is banking hundreds of millions on it living up to the new label.

Heru Andriyanto – Indonesia Corruption Watch on Sunday questioned the credibility of judges recently assigned to the Anti-Corruption Court, saying that most of them have already acquitted dozens of graft defendants.

Ahmad Pathoni, Banda Aceh – Stories about young unmarried couples in Aceh Province arrested by religious patrol officers make frequent headlines in local newspapers with tabloids exposing details of the offenders' sexual trysts.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – This year's legislative elections saw the biggest number of non-voters in a decade, with some pollsters predicting up to 40 percent failed to show up for the country's third general elections since the fall of former President Suharto.

Jakarta – Indonesia's general elections have been marred by hundreds of complaints about irregularities, officials said on Saturday, raising questions about the legitimacy of the vote in some areas.

Jakarta Post, Papua/Jakarta – Papua was on high alert Thursday as a range of incidents, including attacks on police stations, claimed 11 lives to mar voting day in the country's easternmost province, still plagued by separatist threats.

Alfian and Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The legislative polls were held peacefully in the restive Aceh province, despite a volley of accusations of intimidation by local parties' members and supporters.

Human rights organizations have urged the US government and Congress to investigate and act on the continued violations of human rights in West Papua.

The letter from the West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT), Land Is Life, and the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) highlighted the deteriorating security situation in West Papua.

Jakarta – The Aceh Party, the leading local party in Aceh whose members mostly include former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) combatants, claimed winning the popular vote in the province.

Amir Tejo, Surabaya – Residents, the Army and police plunged into a war of words on Friday after a training exercise transformed a sleepy Surabaya suburb into a virtual battlefield.

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – While the rise in exports to the US in February compared to January bucked the trend to a slump in overall exports and was encouraging, high-ranking officials insisted that it did not reflect the general trend that the country's economy will experience in the following months.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Having been falling since the last quarter of 2008, the country's industries – mainly those aimed at the domestic market – have begun to show signs of perking up, indicated by an increase in electrical power consumed in the first quarter this year, compared to a quarter earlier, a ministry official says.

Slamet Susanto, Yogyakarta – Hundreds of Papuan students in Yogyakarta ran amok at the provincial general elections commission (KPUD) office after they could not find their voting booths.

Christian Motte – Police in Papua Province on Friday blamed the separatist Free Papua Movement, or OPM, for a series of attacks over the past few days, after finding a flier from the group on the body of one of the victims.

Hamish McDonald – During the 34 or so years of Soeharto's reign in Indonesia, outside analysts watched with diminishing expectations for signs of his grip weakening and rival power centres emerging.

Nurfika Osman – It's been a long time since 1955. The failure by Islam-based political parties to make any significant headway in national legislative elections since the Masyumi and Nahdlatul Ulema parties finished second and third 54 years ago continued in Thursday's polls, with religious leaders saying their policies were unclear and they simply weren't trusted by voters.