East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta is critical of the failure of international forces to quickly capture the rebels who attacked him in Dili last month.

Dr Ramos-Horta is recovering in Darwin after being flown to Australia with gunshot wounds from an assassination attempt outside his home on February 11.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta has accused a Timor-born Australian woman of influencing rebel leader Alfredo Reinado in the lead-up to last month's assassination bid.

Jakarta – Constitutional Court chief Jimly Asshiddiqie said Thursday murdered human rights campaigner Munir deserves a national heroes title for his outstanding contribution to justice.

Jakarta – Public Order Agency officers Wednesday evicted dozens of street vendors from Senen bus terminal, Central Jakarta and planned similar evictions from Jl. Melawai, South Jakarta, the administration revealed Wednesday.

Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court found Thursday the Supersemar Foundation guilty of misusing scholarship funds, but ordered it to repay only one fourth of the losses it caused to the state.

The foundation, set up by late former president Soeharto, was said to have caused state losses of US$420.6 million and Rp 186.1 billion (US$20.2 million).

The NGO community thanks the Ministry of Finance for this opportunity to participate, and we appreciate the support and interest from Timor-Leste's Development Partners. Please excuse our omission of individual remarks of respect.

We would like to highlight two key priorities:

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Homosexuals and homosexuality are natural and created by God, thus permissible within Islam, a discussion concluded here Thursday.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The official website of the Communications and Information Ministry was hacked for several hours Thursday, apparently in reaction to the new online pornography law.

Early in the morning, the website was filled with a picture of a man whose bare chest read "March 26, 2008. Congratulations to the government... suit.. suit.

Patrick Walters, National security editor – Australia is set to strengthen defence ties with Indonesia, expanding combined exercises, training and educational links.

The upswing in defence relations comes in the wake of the recent ratification of the Lombok Treaty on defence co-operation, which provides a surer foundation for closer defence ties.

The British Foreign Office has urged the Indonesian government and all Papuan groups to engage in a peaceful dialogue.

In its Human Rights Report 2007 launched this week, the Foreign Office says while peace was being maintained in Aceh, Indonesia continues to experience low level conflict in Papua.

Jakarta – The international environmental activist group Greenpeace called for Jakarta to strongly support the maintenance of Papua's log export ban despite recent logging industry pressure to loosen the regulation.

Canberra – Australia on Friday strongly defended its military's response to an assassination attempt on East Timor's leadership after injured President Jose Ramos-Horta said they could have done more to capture his assailants.

Canberra – Australia and Indonesia will strengthen their defence relationship on issues such as terrorism, regional security and piracy, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said Thursday.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Lilian Budianto, Jayapura/Jakarta – Protesters from the Papua Students and Youths National Front (FNMPP) took to the streets again Tuesday demanding the Papua legislative council hold a referendum on the perceived government failure to implement special autonomy.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Families of victims of human rights violations on Wednesday received assurance from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono they would finally find justice.

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Thirteen marines went on trial at the Surabaya tribunal Wednesday on murder charges for their alleged involvement in the shooting to death of four villagers in Alas Tlogo, Pasuruan, East Java, last May.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Usman Hamid and family members of victims of violence and human rights violations at the presidential offices in Jakarta on Wednesday March 26.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's chief prosecutor has asserted that rebel soldier Alfredo Reinado planned to assassinate four, not two, leaders in the attack last month that wounded President Jose Ramos Horta and targeted Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The President should issue a new decree slashing corporate tax if the House of Representatives refuses to pass the income tax bill, the chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) said Wednesday.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – While the global economic slowdown is not expected to greatly affect Asian economies, Indonesia's biggest challenge lays in subduing its inflation rate to protect public purchasing power, a discussion concluded Wednesday.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned employers across the country Wednesday against resorting to layoffs whenever disagreement arose between them and their workers. The President urged businesspeople to instead open up dialogues to solve workplace disputes.

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors demanded on Wednesday a local court outlaw the Jemaah Islamiah Islamic militant group, which has been blamed for a string of deadly bombings in recent years.

Jakarta – Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, has been ranked at the top of a survey of Asian countries for believing shopping is an alternative recreational family activity.

Dear Prime Minister

Jakarta – The Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission on Truth and Friendship (CTF) has had its mandate further extended due to internal disputes over its final report.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Ulema have agreed to promote civil nationalism within and outside their Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) to help protect all citizens from different religions and ethnicities.

Ken Yunita, Jakarta – Traffic conditions in Jakarta appear set to worsen today, Tuesday March 26, with five protest actions enlivening different parts of the capital.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The World Bank has criticized the government's continuing refusal to cut the onerous fuel subsidy despite evidence the allocation has only benefited wealthy people.

Markus Makur, Timika – As much as 80 percent of Papua's population of about 2 million lives in destitution, despite the natural wealth of the province, according to an official in the Papua provincial administration.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – Failure to provide clear definitions in a new law banning online pornography will hamper its enforcement, the government is being warned.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Alfredo Reinado, the rebel leader who led last month's attacks in Dili, turned up at a television studio in Jakarta while Australian soldiers were hunting him in East Timor's mountains.

One teenage student is in hospital in a serious condition after being shot in the stomach when Indonesian security forces went on a shooting rampage against local people in the Paniai Lakes region of West Papua two weeks ago. The human rights violation coincides with the visit of Indonesian Defence Minister Sudarsono who is in Australia to attend the East Asia Dialogue Forum.

Jonathan Pearlman – Soaring food prices are threatening to destabilise countries in the region and have prompted the Federal Government to consider changes to its aid priorities.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has insisted on summoning retired Army generals for questioning in connection with the 1989 killings in the Lampung village of Talangsari, despite the government's opposition.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
US State Department
2201 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Rice,

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is set to pass a bill today (Tuesday) that would jail users and providers of pornographic websites, despite fears the legislation could victimize receivers of unsolicited email containing adult content.

Thaha al Hamid, secretary-general of the PDP (Papuan Presidium Council) has called on the MPR, the DPRP and the provincial administration of West Papua to stop talking all the time about PP77, the presidential decree about regional symbols.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The situation in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara, was returning to normal Monday in the wake of a clash between Timor Leste refugees and locals Sunday that left one dead and dozens injured.

Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono in Australia AWPA Calls on the Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon to raise the human rights situation and the behavior of the Indonesian military in West Papua with the Indonesia's Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono

ID Nugroho and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Surabaya/Malang – Protesters from nine villages affected by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, blocked the Porong highway and railway tracks for over eight hours Monday to demand inclusion in the central government's compensation program. They plan to meet the governor today to put forward their demands.

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Political parties in East Java have recruited members from a dominant local Muslim organization in an apparent strategy to win the province's first-ever gubernatorial election in July.

Rohman Taufiq, Sidoarjo – Thousands of Lapindo victims again blocked the road access to Jalan Raya Porong at five points this morning (24/3). The blocked areas were the former bridge of Porong Toll Road, Tugu Kuning Siring, the access in front of Porong PLN, at the Porong market, and Porong bridge.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – Ratna, a resident of a slum in Cilincing, North Jakarta, has struggled for years to cope with chronic water shortages.

The mother of three young children says her only water source is a well located at the back of her depleted hut, which runs out of water during the dry season.

Sydney – Hardline Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has likened tourists to "worms, snakes, maggots" and called for signs to be placed in Muslim areas warning them to dress modestly, a report said Monday.

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Environmental and law enforcement activists called on the government Tuesday to put an end to industrial pollution in rivers running through Surabaya, the capital of East Java, saying rising toxin levels were endangering residents in the area.

Andrea Tejokusumo, Jakarta – There is no better moment to address the importance of sanitation than this year's World Water Day, which takes on the issue in conjunction with the UN's 2008 International Year of Sanitation.

Nurvita Indarini, Jakarta – Seventy percent of the earth's surface is covered with water. Not all of it however is fit for consumption, because only around 2.5 percent is fresh water. Unfortunately the rest is salt water.

Jakarta – The national reform movement and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) may appear to be two sides of the same coin.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Political bargaining was involved in the selection of five Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) members by the House of Representatives, observers said Friday.

They told The Jakarta Post such a political compromise could affect the neutrality of the new board in carrying out its work.

The coordinator of the Luta Hamutuk non-governmental organization in East Timor, Mericio Akara, said on Thursday that Cuba is an example for the Third World in the field of cooperation.

"The Cuban people have showed that another society, based on social justice and in which the rights to education and health are respected, is possible," Akara told ACN.