Faisal Maliki Baskoro – Siswanto, a resident of Pulo Gadung in East Jakarta, has had to switch jobs to become a motorcycle taxi driver to make ends meet after being sacked from his normal full-time job without a single penny of severance pay.

A wave of layoffs in the manufacturing sector has struck the country hard. The Jakarta Post's Hans David and Faisal Maliki Baskoro visited industrial areas in Cilegon in Banten, Pulogadung district in East Jakarta, and Kerawang in West Java to get first hand reports over the level of hardship in these areas. Here are the stories:

Anita Rachman – A coalition of non-governmental organizations and human rights groups is preparing a draft bill calling for the protection of migrant workers' rights in a bid to push the government into ratifying the 1990 United Nations Migrant Workers Convention, a labor activist said on Wednesday.

Putri Prameshwari – Hundreds of Sidoarjo mudflow victims staged a rally along Jakarta's main roads on Thursday, demanding the government settle compensation owed to them by PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya.

"We are demanding our rights," said Abdul Fatah, a field coordinator for the protesters. "And the government must settle this problem."

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – Everybody is affected by the present global financial crisis. But not Indonesians Michael Hartono and brother R. Budi Hartono, owners of the country's second-largest cigarette company, who made it into the annual list of billionaires, as published by Forbes magazine.

Five Australians have spent a third day stranded at a West Papua airport as Indonesian prosecutors appeal against their release from jail.

William Scott-Bloxam, 62, his wife Vera, 54, and their three friends Karen Burke, 51, Hubert Hofer, 57, and Keith Mortimer, 60, have been stuck at Mopah airport since Wednesday.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The Defense Ministry and the military are committed to eliminating corruption and nepotism, and current management practices are 90 percent better than past methods, said Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono on Thursday.

The call made during a rally by the National Action Committee of the West Papuan People during a demo at the office of the DPRP earlier this week, which included a call to boycott the election has provoked responses from a number of political parties.

Febriamy Hutapea – The results of a recent survey jointly conducted by four polling institutions, unveiled on Wednesday, show a remarkable level of apathy among voters less than one month before the legislative elections, with almost 80 percent unconcerned as to whether they were on the final voter list.

Farouk Arnaz, Muninggar Saraswati & AFP – Indonesia is cracking down on books written by the three Bali bombers executed last year in an apparent bid to prevent the spread of their message of violence, a terrorism expert said on Wednesday.

Alfian, Jakarta – The wave of layoffs amidst the economic downturn has affected 237,500 workers nationwide between October and March, far exceeds government reports.

Fidelis E. Satriastanti – Despite widespread claims that environmental issues featured prominently in their respective campaigns, political parties contesting the upcoming elections were more hot air than substance, an interparty dialogue in Jakarta was told on Wednesday.

On a gloomy Thursday in February last year, thousands of passengers who landed at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport found themselves stranded at the arrival terminals.

Ismira Lutfia – A scholar on Tuesday called on Islamic leaders, Muslim organizations, students and scholars to take responsibility for their part in supporting a spate of patriarchal laws that erode gender equality in Indonesia, a scholar said on Tuesday.

Ambon – As many as 37 prisoners in a subversion case of the separatist South Maluku Republic (RMS) were moved from Ambon penitentiary to several jails in Java island Tuesday.

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Denpasar – So much to choose from, so little choice. When Indonesians flock to the polls in the April 9 legislative elections, their ballots will in effect start shaping the presidential election.

The Democratic Party (PD) wins the most votes in the April parliamentary election, and its candidate, the incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, running with Jusuf Kalla of the Golkar Party, once again goes on to win the presidential election in July – in just one round. Indonesia will be led once again by the same set of leaders.

Jakarta – More than 40,000 workers in Jakarta have lost their jobs so far this year, according to the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo).

Muhamad Al Azhari & Janeman Latul – In yet another warning that Indonesia is far from being immune to the global economic turmoil, the government has once again cut its target for domestic manufacturing growth, on the back of lower expectations of overall economic growth, a senior official at the Industry Ministry said on Wednesday.

Camelia Pasandaran – A nongovernmental organization on Wednesday called on the General Elections Commission, or KPU, and election watchers to investigate the campaign account details that political parties have submitted to the commission.

Sally Piri – Golkar Party leaders remain at odds with one another over whether or not the party should nominate its own presidential candidate, with senior party members exchanging barbs once again on Wednesday.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Armed Foces Chief Gen. Djoko Santoso on Wednesday acknowledged that growing disappointment in Papua Province toward the central government that could potentially fan separatist movements and violent demonstrations.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The arrest of House of Representatives lawmaker Abdul Hadi Djamal for accepting a "bribe" to finance his election campaign has highlighted the lack of supervision of fund-raising activities.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – The Indonesian police should be on alert for possible elections-related conflict in regions that have witnessed "particularly bitter" local election disputes or regions that have proposed new administration divisions, an analyst suggested on Wednesday.

Denpasar, Bali – Five Australians freed from jail in West Papua have appealed to the Australian Government for help, after Indonesian prosecutors refused to grant authority for them to return home, their lawyer says.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – The growing rift in the Indonesian leadership is heading for chasm proportions, with an election strategy meeting today between Vice-President Jusuf Kalla and former president Megawati Sukarnoputri in a central Jakarta restaurant.

Jakarta – The Sidoarjo Mud Mitigation Agency warned Tuesday that levees built to contain the massive mudflow pond in Sidoarjo, East Java, may collapse at any time after part of the inner circle dam gave way last week.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – More than a third of the nation's 530,000 polling stations, including those in Aceh, are vulnerable to security threats or election fraud in the upcoming elections, police warn.

Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – As the economic crisis takes firm hold in the city, hundreds of workers staged rallies Tuesday demanding their right to severance pay after losing their jobs.

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Djoko Susilo says the main reason for many Papuans wishing to separate from the Indonesian republic stems from a massive disparity in economic development between the provinces.

Several hundred Papuans, rallying in the name of the National Action Committee of the West Papuan People took to the streets in Jayapura on Wednesday, calling for a referendum on Papua's right to independence.

Markus Makur, Timika – Hundreds of Kei tribal members staged a rally Tuesday at the Mimika Legislative Council to demand the police investigate a Jan. 25 shooting incident in which tribe member Simon Feder was killed.

Putri Prameshwari – Two men were shot and stabbed to death and another two badly injured after they were allegedly attacked by members of the separatist Free Papua Movement, or OPM, in Puncak Jaya subdistrict, Papua Provincial Police Chief Bagus Eko Danto said on Tuesday.

Jakarta – Farmers in Salatiga city, Central Java held a rally at Salatiga City Hall protesting the administration decision to allow an asbestos factory construction on a plot of land they used to rent for farming on Tuesday morning, kompas.com has reported.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Women across the world rallied for equal rights, protection against domestic violence and for greater awareness of growing poverty as they marked International Women's Day on Sunday.

Surakarta – Unregistered marriages must be stopped because they cause problems for both parties, radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir said recently to Antara.

"It's best if this practice is banned outright," Ba'asyir, of the Pondok Pesantren Al Mukmin (Islamic boarding school) in Central Java, said Monday.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – With the Golkar Party still deliberating who it will choose as its presidential candidates, chairman Jusuf Kalla continues to secure support from regional party branches.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) favors forming a coalition with nationalist parties rather than other Islamic-based parties for the upcoming presidential election, a top PKS member says.

Debnath Guharoy, Consultant – In a poll of 1,936 eligible voters conducted by Roy Morgan Research across four weeks and completed at the end of January, the incumbent president had garnered 46 percent of 'the votes' followed by Megawati Sukarnoputri with 25 percent.

In other words, that's a gap of over 20 percent between the top two contenders.

Merauke – Five Australians jailed for illegally entering Indonesia's sensitive Papua province by plane have been released after winning their appeal, their lawyer said Tuesday.

The Australia West Papua Association says dramatic statistics about infant and maternal mortality emerging from the Provincial Health Department in Indonesia's Papua are almost certainly wrong but highlight what is an alarming health issue.

Ismira Lutfia – Indonesian woman are coming forward with allegations of domestic and economic violence and sexual harassment in record numbers, the National Commission on Violence Against Women said during the weekend.

The commission, or Komnas Perempuan, recorded 54,425 cases of such incidents against women in 2008, a 113 percent increase on 2007's figure of 25,522 cases.

Nivell Rayda – Without any real supervision from the central government, regional autonomy had created several provinces with puppet governments, secretly controlled by political parties and big businesses, autonomy analysts warned on Monday.

Nana Rukmana and Suherdjoko, Cirebon, Semarang – Presidential candidate Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X (HB X) of Yogyakarta Palace visited influential palaces of Kasepuhan, Kacirebonan and Kanoman Sultanates in Cirebon, West Java on Thursday, in a bid to win political support from the prominent kingdoms in the upcoming election.

Arlina Arshad, Bandung – Gyrating her hips to traditional gamelan music on a makeshift village stage, Indonesian folk dancer Sri Wulandari ignores the leers and wolf whistles of the drunk men below as she plucks grimy rupiah notes from their outstretched hands.

The Golkar Party and United Development Party (PPP) have reached an agreement to coalesce in the presidential election in July this year, Golkar Party leader Jusuf Kalla said, Antara state news agency reported.

Tom Allard, Jakarta – The US will not release the Jemaah Islamiah operations chief Hambali into Indonesian custody despite finally permitting its counter-terrorism officials to interview the alleged mastermind behind the Bali bombings.

Ni Komang Erviani, Denpasar – The recent Constitutional Court ruling has brought together in a solidarity campaign female candidates concerned about missing out on seats.

The court decided to award legislative seats to candidates who win the most votes.

Agnes Winarti, Jakarta – Women vying for legislative seats in the general elections next month are being encouraged to get more active in promoting environmental issues.

Nivell Rayda & Febriamy Hutapea – The Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, found itself taking heat from critics for being too "cowardly" for failing to go after more House of Representatives legislators implicated in Bank Indonesia corruption scandals.