Jakarta – The Indonesian government sought Monday for ex-dictator Suharto and a charity he chaired while in power to hand over 1.4 billion dollars in stolen assets and damages in a civil suit against them.

United Development Party (PPP) chairman Suryadharma Ali and several party elites visited the residence of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri in Central Jakarta on Monday. The visit was made a week after PPP held a national coordination meeting and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) nominated Megawati as its presidential candidate in the 2009 election.

Dwi Atmanta, Jakarta – Few, it seems, share the concern of New Order critic George Junus Aditjondro, who has been warning of the momentum former president Soeharto has gained to strike back following his court victory over Time magazine.

RR Ariyani, Jakarta – The Indonesian government will file a lawsuit against the United States at the World Trade Organization (WTO), following a similar measure by China last week.

Jayapura, Kompas – The residence of the chairperson of the Papuan Representative office of the National Human Rights Commission or Komnas HAM, Albert Rumbekwan, was broken into by unidentified individuals on Sunday September 23.

Jakarta – An ongoing dispute between the Supreme Court (MA) and the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) took a new turn Saturday, with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono summoning both parties to the Presidential Office to reach a settlement.

Taufik Wijaya, Palembang – The majority of poor people in the South Sumatra city of Palembang are not fasting. The reason being that they are not strong enough to fast because they have to work harder to find more income in the lead up to the Lebaran holidays at the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – An attempt to turn the city's main thoroughfares of Jl Jend. Sudirman and Jl MH Thamrin into a car-free zone degenerated into a farce Saturday, with poor coordination resulting in traffic jams and many cars entering the closed-off streets.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A corruption watchdog and House of Representatives legislators have questioned Indonesia's commitment to fighting rampant corruption, which they say has affected the majority of the population's economic livelihoods.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Indonesian Corruption Watch has urged the government to respond positively to the UN's Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative in an attempt to recover looted state assets.

"The government must respond to this scheme by examining the accuracy of the data," Emerson Yuntho from the ICW told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Jakarta – Sutiyoso's Jakarta administration should be held responsible for the massive floods that crippled the city in February this year, environmental researcher Erwin Iskandar said Thursday.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – The campaign season for the Jakarta governor elections may be long over, but political parties are still making efforts to communicate with their constituents on every possible occasion.

Jakarta – The debate over the provision of luxury sedans for councilors moved to another level Friday, with the city budget watchdog accusing them of breaking the law.

The coordinator of Jakarta's branch of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency, Izlan Sentrio, told The Jakarta Post on Friday that only legislative speakers had the right to official cars.

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Police provided tight security Friday for several mosques belonging to a hard-line Islamic group in Jember, East Java, after one of its mosque was attacked by local residents.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – An attempt by factions in the House of Representatives to pass a bill forcing all political parties to adopt Pancasila and adherence to the 1945 Constitution as their sole platform has been dismissed as a stunt by a political analyst.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) will recruit youths living along the Indonesia and Malaysia borders as non-commissioned officers to safeguard national interests, a military officer said Friday.

Jakarta – Around 50 members of the Poor People's Alliance (ARM) demonstrated in front of the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) building on Friday September 21 against the imposition of bylaw on public order. The protest that was joined by some 20 transsexuals represented ongoing opposition by poor people's groups against the controversial bylaw.

Alice Coster, Jakarta – France's junior minister for foreign affairs and human rights has expressed hope the Indonesian government can make progress in the investigation into the murder of prominent rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – With the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) due to hold its final hearing Monday, critics are asking if its findings will have any credibility with the victims or the international community.

Denpasar – East Timor's president on Friday brushed off a UN threat to boycott a commission charged with examining violence surrounding East Timor's 1999 independence vote, an official said.

Tito Belo, Dili – Chinese businessmen want to invest more than $100 million in East Timor over the next 10 years in a range of sectors from banking to agriculture, a Chinese business delegation said on Friday.

Vincent Lingga, Jakarta – The World Bank-United Nations joint initiative to help developing countries recover assets stolen by corrupt leaders could be a tremendous boost to the Indonesian government's efforts to hunt down the billions of dollars allegedly stolen by Soeharto between 1967 and 1998.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Major factions at the House of Representatives agreed Thursday to set a 30 percent quota for women as party executives in the bill on political parties.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The public and the media must work together to maintain the republic's press freedom and the current anti-corruption movement, a University of Indonesia communication expert said Thursday.

Nadhifa Putri, Jakarta – A transvestite made up in garish dress joined with buskers demonstrating at the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) against the draft bylaw on pubic order that has attracted so much controversy.

Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – Physical reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam alone cannot accelerate development programs in the province severely hit by the December 2004 tsunami and recovering from decades of armed conflict, an official says.

Jayapura – Although the matter has not been in the news recently, it now appears that the police are still carrying out investigations about the flying of the Kejora flag at the Sports Stadium in July.

Rofiuddin, Sohirin, Semarang – Victims of the September 30 Movement/Indonesian Communist Party (G30S/PKI) affair will issue a summons against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono because up until now the president has never provided rehabilitation to the victims of the 1965 affair.

Jakarta – The nation's public must pressure legislators to ensure the public information bill works for them, said an information-focused NGO alliance Thursday.

"I hope a lot of people will pay serious attention to the bill because this can shape the way information is treated in this country in the future," said the NGO's coordinator Agus Sudibyo.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – National Police chief Gen. Sutanto said Friday he would summon senior officials at the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) after he received case review results from the previously acquitted Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto.

Jakarta – A perception that local governments in Indonesia have been introducing sharia or Islamic laws at an escalating rate is misplaced, an expert on political Islam said here Thursday.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Media workers and lawyers have criticized the Supreme Court's decision to award former president Soeharto US$106 million in a lawsuit he brought against Time magazine, accusing the court of lacking in "rationality and the reform spirit".

Anton Aprianto, Jakarta – Former Foreign Affairs Minister of Free Papua Organization (OPM), Nicholas Messet, 61, has met Vice President Jusuf Kalla and asked to become an Indonesian citizen, Thursday (20/9).

Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid will fight for his old job in the 2009 elections if asked by Muslim clerics, he told the country's largest Islamic movement Wednesday.

The ex-president, who is clinically blind, was booted out of office in July 2001 following unproven allegations of corruption and incompetence.

Tony Hotland, New York – Indonesia may become part of an initiative launched Monday by the United Nations to help recover stolen funds embezzled to other countries, the Foreign Ministry said.

Dikhy Sasra, Jakarta – The new bylaw on public order continues to draw protests from various groups, including from student-intellectual circles.

"Vagrants and beggars are also human beings. Traders are also human beings", said one of the speakers in front of the City Hall on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta on Wednesday September 19.

A number of human rights activists and leading personalities in West Papua have taken the unusual step of making representations to the police in Jayapura, complaining that they have been subjected to intimidation and terror from unknown persons.

Kanis Dursin – Wearing a headscarf, T-shirt and jeans, Nurhayati, 21, appears very much like any other girl in Aceh.

Kanis Dursin, Cot Keueng, Aceh Besar – It was around 3:00 p.m. and the sky above Cot Keueng mosque in Lamroh village, Kuta Baro district, some 13 kilometers east of Banda Aceh, was peculiarly blue.

The Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP), a Marxist tendency in the Socialist Alliance, is now calling for the immediate withdrawal of the Australian troops from East Timor. A meeting of the DSP National Committee resolved to investigate the prospects for building a public campaign around this demand.

Jakarta – The Jakarta Police have acknowledged they asked state-owned phone operator PT Telkom to release the text messaging records of a Tempo magazine journalist in connection with a tax fraud case.

Journalist Metta Dharmasaputra was questioned Monday at Jakarta Police Headquarters over the case.

Erin Maulday – Australians should not be alarmed about the Indonesia-Russia military hardware deal worth $1.2billion, signed in Jakarta on September 6 between Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Alice Coster, Jakarta – Protesters wearing death masks and skeleton costumes stood outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta on Monday, calling for an end to Australia's live export of sheep and cattle to Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Julia Daia Bore – Over 500 settlers from Papua province of Indonesia (formerly West Papua) living at the 8-Mile Settlement outside the nation's capital are likely to be evicted today by the owner of the land. And the settlers want the PNG Government to intervene and prevent this happening.

Jakarta – A call by Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Governor Irwandi Yusuf for the Acehnese to surrender all of their illegal guns has so far gone unheeded, police say.

"The call was circulated across the province a week ago, but no one has come forward to surrender any weapons yet," Aceh Police chief Insp. Gen. Rismawan said as quoted by Antara in Banda Aceh on Saturday.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The Army's plan to establish a third infantry division in Papua is necessary and feasible, as long as the proposal is first approved by the Defense Ministry, a legislator and an analyst said Saturday.

The United Nations says authorities in East Timor have arrested five national police officers and two civilians over suspected involvement in arson attacks in the east during anti-government protests.

Musthofid, Jakarta – It is an all-women work: Women writing a compilation about women artists. The essays are also presented by women and so is the foreword.

Jakarta – Opponents of the controversial new bylaw banning beggars and street vendors have said the threat of increased poverty across the city should be strong enough to make Jakarta's administration sit up and listen – if not annul the bylaw completely.

Depok – The Jakarta suburb of Depok might have lost tens of billions of rupiah from building permits, as money that should have gone to the city administration was allegedly directed to officers' personal accounts instead, a watchdog said Friday.