Jakarta – The Rp 100 billion (US$10.9 million) embezzled Bank Indonesia (BI) funds were used to promote certain people into certain positions for the central bank's benefit, the Corruption Court heard Monday.

Hamish McDonald – Younger Australians are less concerned about any security threat posed by Indonesia, according to a new poll, but it remains the country of most concern to all Australians.

Only 37 per cent of Australians under 35 regard Indonesia as a "country likely to create difficulty", compared with 61 per cent of older people.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The conviction of a state prosecutor for accepting bribes from a businesswoman close to tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim has paved the way for law enforcers to expand their investigation into the alleged misuse of Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds involving Sjamsul, a House of Representatives legislator says.

[The following are notes intended to be the first in a series of informal commentaries on the 2009 Indonesian election campaign. I will try to write these reasonably regularly – but no guarantees. I hope they are of interest.]

Jakarta – Candidates of House of Representatives member from Aceh are scheduled to follow Koran reading test next week, as part of candidacy criteria.

"Alhamdulillah, every political party has agreed with the requirement," said Yawin Adi Dharma, chairman of candidacy committee at Independent Election Commission in Aceh, as quoted by Antara on Sunday.

Jakarta – Former president Abdurahman "Gus Dur" Wahid says he will support former minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra in the presidential election next year.

Gus Dur, a patron of the National Awakening Party (PKB), told a press conference on Saturday he must support other candidates, if later he could not run for president himself.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Misrin, 32, has never received an Idul Fitri bonus (THR) since he started working as a daily-paid employee at Sina Kasih palm oil plantation in Serdang, Bedagai regency, North Sumatra, several years ago.

In addition, the father of three finds it disheartening that his wage is not enough to meet his family's daily needs.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – One-half of the Rp 224.4 trillion (US$24.45 billion) in the education budget proposed for next year has been allocated for ensuring all Indonesian children complete the full nine years of compulsory education.

Aditya Suharmoko and Ika Krismantari, Jakarta – The rupiah suffered its biggest daily drop in nearly 10 months on Friday, falling by 1.3 percent to close at 9,375 against the US dollar, a drop the central bank has attributed to recent gains by the greenback.

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – The central government is sticking by its decision to dump mud from the Lapindo disaster into the Porong river despite protests from the local community and environmental activists, claiming it is the best way to deal with the problem.

Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – For 50-year-old Subiyanto, this year's Muslim fasting month of Ramadan is cause for both despair and hope.

"What else do we have to stop eating? We've been fasting for the past two years. We eat so little, and only once a day," said victim of the Lapindo mudflow disaster.

Jakarta – The super hybrid rice known as Super toy HL-2 was planted and harvested by no less than the President himself with great fanfare last April.

However, experts say, the rice has not completed test procedures. "We have not officially sold this variety to the market as yet," said Agriculture Department's Food and Plants director-general, Sutarto Ali Muso, yesterday.

Michael Casey, Surabaya – With the dollar a day he earns scrounging for scrap metal and paper, Jumadi can't buy his family beef or even chicken. But until now, the rail-thin scavenger could at least afford soy.

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has decided not to reopen the Bank Indonesia liquidity assistance (BLBI) case implicating fugitive tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim, although a state prosecutor has been sentenced for accepting bribes to drop the case.

Jakarta – Golkar Party politicians Hamka Yandhu and Antony Zeidra Abidin demanded money from Bank Indonesia (BI) officials to speed up the approval of the revised BI law and resolve the alleged embezzlement of bank funds, the Corruption Court heard Friday.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Stigmatized as rebels, victims of the bloody Talangsari tragedy in East Lampung asked the government on Friday to rehabilitate their names and give them proper compensation.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is set to push through the pornography bill in October, despite ongoing controversy over the draft law's vague definition of pornography.

Some lawmakers and activists have criticized the controversial bill for criminalizing victims of pornography and threatening the country's pluralism.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Minister of Social Services Bachtiar Chamsyah called on parents Thursday to take care of their children instead of handing them over to orphanages.

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – State prosecutors on Thursday defended their charges of premeditated murder against former State Intelligent Agency (BIN) deputy chief Muchdi Purwopranjono, asking the court to push ahead with the trial.

Nongovernmental organizations on Thursday threw their support behind mudflow victims from Sidoarjo, East Java, by urging the government to compensate them before the post-Ramadan holiday of Idul Fitri at the latest.

In true keeping with the classic political adageare no permanent friends or enemies, but interests", some politicians have decided to put old rivalries on the back burner in the run-up to next year's legislative elections.

Dili – Rosalina Soares has no idea who cut off her fingers. She also has machete scars across her upper back and neck. The middle-aged mother of two lost everything. Her home was destroyed – smashed and looted – and her body mutilated, but she has no idea why.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – While police, prosecutors and judges are busily denying accusations of wrongful arrest and prosecution over the murder of Muhammad Asrori, the case has revealed law enforcers' use of torture and failure to double-check facts.

Desy Nurhayati and Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday ordered state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina to roll back its decision to raise liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices, calling it untimely and burdensome to the public – in a move analysts deemed "populist".

The chairman of the MRP, Drs Agus Alua believes that the flag-raising incident that resulted in the shooting dead of Opinus Tabuni, a Papuan in Wamena was handled in a way that was in violation of presidential decree 77 (PP 77) about the use of symbols. 'The intention of the President with PP77 was that it should be used persuasively,' he said.

The government must help 1.5 million Indonesians find work before the end of the year if it is to meet its target of filling 2.5 million jobs in 2008, Manpower and Transmigration Ministry Erman Suparno said.

Jakarta – A disgraced Indonesian prosecutor was sentenced to 20 years' jail Thursday for accepting a 660,000-dollar bribe from a businesswoman to drop a major embezzlement case.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Expert witnesses testified that the decision made by Bank Indonesia's board of directors in using Rp 100 billion (US$10.9 million) from the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI) was wrong from the outset.

The legislative election is half a year away, and yet the existing legislation regulating the electoral process, which is still party- rather than people-oriented, has lately become the sticking point threatening the smooth and timely organization of the political event which occurs every five years.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – East Timor's top prosecutor, Longuinhos Monteiro, is flying to Canberra to be briefed on the investigation into the February 11 dawn attacks in Dili.

Aubrey Belford, Jakarta – With his sculpted abdominals proudly displayed on his Facebook profile, male model Adrian Maulana cuts a very different figure to the ex-generals and dynastic heirs who dominate Indonesian politics.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Public hopes for a democratic election received a new boost on Wednesday, with the government throwing its weight behind a political move to introduce an open election system next year.

Simon Roughneen, Dili – East Timor's post-independence politics have confounded outside observers, and for the most part the Timorese themselves.

East Timor's prime minister has signalled a gradual reduction in the number of international troops needed in his country. Xanana Gusmao said depending on the circumstances, troops could begin a gradual withdraw from next year. But the leaders of the international military and UN police have warned that timetable is premature.

Presenter: Stephanie March

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – Former senior intelligence official Muchdi Purwopranjono pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the 2004 murder of a prominent human rights campaigner, claiming the charges against him were flawed.

Instead, the former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief blamed ex-BIN agent Budi Santoso for the assassination of Munir Said Thalib.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The predominately Muslim province of Aceh Nanggroe Darussalam is requiring thousands of its legislative candidates to take a Koran proficiency test before they contest the 2009 election.

Agus Maryono, Purwokerto – Sex workers are out in force in the tourist resort of Baturaden, despite an official ban by the local administration on the operation of the area's red-light district during Ramadan.

Laurencius Simanjuntak, Jakarta – In the lead up to the 2009 general elections many legislative candidates are using advertisements in the mass media to campaign for themselves. Some however are only being polished up by the media without informing the public about what they have done for the nation and state.

Jakarta – Islamic minority sect Jamaah Ahmadiyah plans to file a protest to the government against the gubernatorial ban in South Sumatra put in place earlier this week.

Yan Husein Lamardi, a member of Ahmadiyah's advocating team, said the regional administration, unlike the central government, had no authority to issue the ban.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Victims of the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster urged the government to speed up compensation payments to them, following a new agreement between them and government representatives last week.

Eko Ari Wibowo, Jakarta – The National Election Commission rejected on Tuesday the application of Pelopor Party for failing to meet the minimum percentage of female legislator candidate.

Jakarta – Three activists has filed for a judicial review with the Constitutional Court on Wednesday to demand it annul several articles in the 2003 law on presidential elections.

Another State Intelligence Agency (BIN) official had a stronger motive for murdering human rights activist Munir, Muchdi Purwopranjono's team of lawyers said Tuesday.

Luthfie Hakim, the spokesperson for the team of lawyers, said former BIN deputy V Budi Santoso had ordered that members of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) be monitored.

Jakarta – A former top Indonesian spy pleaded not guilty Tuesday to ordering the murder by poisoning of a celebrated human rights activist who had exposed military abuses.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Paskah Suzetta, the current national development planning minister, was involved in attempts to cover up the alleged misappropriation of Rp 100 billion in central bank funds, a court heard Monday.

Executives of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nadhlatul Ulama for East Java, reject Ramadan sweeps because of their violent nature, which is deemed contrary to the spirit of the holy month.

Khairul Saleh, Palembang – Bowing to pressure from radical organizations, South Sumatra administration on Monday officially banned Ahmadiyah, an Islamic sect considered heretical, in the province.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and the National Law Commission are planning to establish a body to review unconstitutional ordinances, including sharia-inspired bylaws, enacted by local administrations.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Scores of Golkar politicians have questioned the party's seriousness in adopting an open system to determine its legislative candidates for the 2009 election.

The practice of placing Golkar leaders' loyalists or cronies at the top of its list of legislative candidates has increased internal resentment in the country's largest party.

Sam King – This year's May Day demonstrations in Jakarta took on a special significance because they came 10 years after General Suharto was forced by mass street protests to resign as Indonesia's president. The May 1 marches were followed by another lively round of protests on May 21, the anniversary of the day Suharto fell.