Mark Forbes Herald, Jakarta – Human rights abuses by the military and its continuing role in Indonesia are under renewed scrutiny after marines shot dead four villagers in East Java.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Rogue prosecutors in North Sumatra have ways to help certain people arrested on corruption and drugs charges escape prosecution.

The presence of such prosecutors in the province is public knowledge, which may be the reason Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said North Sumatra was close behind Jakarta in this area.

Jakarta – After three years of delays, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) announced Tuesday it will form two special teams to investigate corruption cases involving Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) funds debtors.

Evidence given by different witnesses to the Sydney coroner's court inquest into the death of Brian Peters and four other journalists in the East Timor town of Balibo on 16 October 1975 indicate that former Gen. Sutiyoso, now governor of Jakarta, may have been an army captain in "Team Susi," the Indonesian military unit responsible for taking Balibo that day.

Nograhany Widhi K., Jakarta – Around 300 people from the Urban Poor Union (SRMK) demonstrated in front of the Constitutional Court on June 6 demanding that the court review Law Number 32/2004 in relation to independent candidates in the election of regional heads.

Jakarta – Aware that the Indonesian language is spoken by most people in Timor Leste, the country's government has decided to make the Indonesian language, or Bahasa Indonesia, its working language.

Visiting Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta said that Bahasa Indonesia was even used in state offices for day-to-day communication.

Shirley Shackleton – The sudden departure on May 29 of visiting Jakarta governor, General Sutiyoso, after being asked to give evidence at the inquest into the death of Brian Peters in East Timor in 1975, further incriminates him in the plot to kill five Australian journalists in Balibo, East Timor, in 1975.

East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta has praised a much-criticised commission probing the violence that accompanied his nation's break from Indonesian rule in 1999, saying it could be a model for other nations.

Jakarta – Indonesia and its former colony East Timor agreed Tuesday to extend by six months the work of a joint truth commission tasked at gathering the facts surrounding Indonesia's military rampage ahead of East Timor's 1999 vote for independence. The commission's mandate now extends until February.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Two supporters of East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta have been shot dead by off-duty police as trouble mounts ahead of parliamentary elections.

A Darwin-based East Timor activist says there is more than enough evidence for the Northern Territory coroner to hold an inquest into the death of an Australian man 32 years ago.

Banda Aceh – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has begun to initiate steps to form a local political party. The idea was revealed during a meeting between GAM leaders, the entire staff of the Aceh Transitional Committee (KPA) and activists from the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA), which took place at the Asrama Haji in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh on Monday June 4.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government was grateful and delighted with the use of Bahasa Indonesia as one of the official languages in neighboring Timor-Leste, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Tuesday.

Raden Rachmadi, Kukuh S Wibowo, Jakarta – Imparsial, the human rights monitoring organization, viewed that the case of shooting at civilians in Alas Tlogo Village, Pasuruan, is a violation that should be put on record at the human rights court. "This is a crime against humanity," said Imparsial's Executive Director, Rachland Nasidiq, yesterday (4/6).

Apriadi Gunawan and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Medan/Bandung – In separate protests Monday, farmers in North Sumatra and West Java demanded the government intervene to resolve prolonged, sometimes violent land disputes.

In both provinces, protesters evoked the tragedy of last week's killing of four villagers in East Java during a protest against the Navy over a plot of land.

Andi Haswidi, Jakarta – The latest trade figures show that Indonesia's monthly exports declined 3.7 percent in April to US$8.85 billion from $9.19 billion a month earlier.

The monthly decrease was due mostly to a 3.45 percent decrease in oil and gas exports and a 3.75 percent decrease in non-oil and gas exports, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported Monday.

Jakarta – Rights activists have asked the President to issue a decree nationalizing all commercial military interests, claiming military involvement in business is the root of rights violations against civilians.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – A World Bank-sponsored report launched Monday said Indonesia was lagging behind other countries and not making the most of the several options that would help the country deal with the impacts of climate change.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Pasuruan – A meeting between disgruntled villagers and commander of the Navy's Eastern Fleet Rear Adm. Moekhlas Sidiq on Monday over a disputed plot of land in Pasuran, East Java, ended in a walkout.

Ahmad Fikri, Bandung – Activists, students and farmers have protested at the headquarters of the Bandung Navy Detachment in West Java to condemn the shooting by marines of farmers in the Pasuruan regency of East Java that resulted in the killing of four people.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I on foreign affairs has commended the measures being taken by the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) in conducting a counter campaign against foreign parties linked to the issue of West Papua. These measures are essential to straighten out overseas opinions about Papua.

Jakarta – Two years have passed since the Ministry of Home Affairs submitted a bill to revise the law on mass organizations, but the House of Representatives had still not deliberated on it, a ministry official said.

Indonesia is among the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters because of deforestation, peatland degradation and forest fires, a new World Bank and British government climate change report shows.

Jakarta – Muslim hardliners stormed a church in Indonesia during services, smashing images of Jesus Christ and demanding that it be closed down, the pastor said on Monday.

Dozens of churches have had to be closed in the Muslim-majority country in recent years, and Sunday's attack was the second on the small Protestant church in the West Java town of Soreang since 2005.

Sandy Indra Pratama/Wahyu Dhyatmika, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is currently still searching for authentic documents in relation to Suharto's foundations, to be used as evidence in a civil claim against the former president.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – A recent survey found most Jakartans would like to see the emergence of an independent candidate in August's gubernatorial election.

Triono Wahyu Sudibyo, Salatiga – Around 250 students and farmers from the Central Java city of Salatiga were disappointed after being 'removed' before having a chance to express long list of grievances over the shooting incident in the Central Java regency Pasuruan on May 30. The demonstration was to have been held at a local sub-district military command (Korem).

East Timor's new president Jose Ramos Horta says the nation's police force continues to suffer from a lack of discipline, after officers allegedly shot dead two activists during rallies for a new party headed by former East Timor president Xanana Gusmao.

Saying the deaths had embarrassed the nation, Ramos Horta declared those responsible should receive "severe punishment".

Dili – A mob hurled rocks at the motorcade of East Timorese independence hero Xanana Gusmao and one of his supporters was shot dead Sunday amid growing violence ahead of parliamentary elections on June 30, police said.

Gunmen shot dead a political activist during a campaign rally for a new party headed by former East Timor President Xanana Gusmao, a witness and an official says.

The Sydney coronial inquest into the deaths of the five Australian based journalists at Balibo in East Timor on October 16, 1975 has just concluded with a hard-hitting summation from the Coroner's legal counsel.

Mita Valina Liem, Jakarta – It's one of the few countries that still has vast swathes of tropical rainforests left. But conservationists say maybe not for long.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Human rights groups have called for the trial over the recent deadly military shooting in Pasuruan, East Java, to be held in a civilian court.

The activists argue the trial of Marines over the shooting of Pasuruan residents should not be by a military court, in order to assure a fair trial and to maintain the spirit of political reform.

Singapore – US Defence Secretary Robert Gates met here Sunday with his Indonesian counterpart to discuss ways of deepening military relations between the two countries with an emphasis on reform.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Corruption remains widespread among lawyers, judges and police in Indonesia despite the government's attempts to crack down on the country's long-suffered graft issues, according to a report by Transparency International.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Pasuruan – Unfinished grated cassava sits outside a small mosque in a green aluminum bowl. A military police line blocks off entrance to the area.

Hamish McDonald – Families of the five newsmen killed at Balibo, East Timor, in 1975 have told a Sydney inquest they were tricked by Australian officials into agreeing to the burial of the purported remains in Jakarta.

Janet Fife-Yeomans, Sydney – The families of five young Australian journalists "executed" by Indonesian forces at Balibo in East Timor called yesterday for the killers to be prosecuted for war crimes.

Lindsay Murdoch – East Timor's ruling Fretilin party says it will support the prosecution of people responsible for atrocities committed in the country, including former Indonesian military officers.

The commander of an Indonesian special forces unit accused of murdering five Australia-based journalists in East Timor in 1975 has more lately styled himself as a champion of free speech.

Tom Allard – East Timor's former prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, and his officials were convinced the Australian Government was spying on them during the often heated negotiations for a treaty over oil and gas in the Timor Sea.

Reporter: Mark Colvin

Mark Colvin: "Shakedown" is a slang term for an act of extortion, and a shakedown is what the writer Paul Cleary calls the way Australia acted towards East Timor over the oil and gas in the sea between our two countries.

Ben Saul – As the coronial inquest into the killing of five journalists at Balibo draws to a close, the critical question is: what happens next? Despite four Australian inquiries and a United Nations investigation in 2001, no one has been brought to justice for the killings in East Timor in 1975.

As leaders of churches in West Papua who are concerned about all aspects of our people's life, we are deeply concerned that the Special Autonomy which should have brought solutions to the Papuan people's problems, has, in fact, failed.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Just when it seemed Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was making significant progress in tackling the country's endemic culture of corruption, he and Vice President Jusuf Kalla have been linked to allegations that they received illegal off-budget funds to finance their 2004 election campaign.

When the governor of Jakarta, Sutiyoso, rejected a request earlier this week to attend and testify at the inquest into the death of British journalist Brian Peters now underway in Sydney, New South Wales, he was showing contempt for a long-delayed effort to examine the circumstances that led to the deaths of five journalists from Britain, Australia and New Zealand in October 1975.

My husband was convinced he would die young – that's why I married him. Just before he went to Timor Leste, as it is now called, I asked him, "What became of the idea that you would die young?"

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that," he replied. "I think I was wrong about the time; right about the event."

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and ID Nugroho, Pasuruan, Surabaya – A protest over a disputed plot of land in Pasuruan regency, East Java, turned deadly Wednesday after marines shot and killed five people.

The Navy defended the shooting, saying soldiers followed standard procedures for dealing with a violent protest.

Anwar Khumaini, Jakarta – The raid by New South Wales police on Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's hotel room in Sydney, Australia, should be considered as a routine matter.

In upholding cases of gross human rights violations, it is not just state officials that could be arrested but even the president can be arrested if he is involved in gross human rights violations.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Last year Governor Sutiyoso received an award proclaiming him Asian Air Quality Champion. But since then, less than one percent of the 2.5 million private cars in the city have had mandatory emissions tests done.