Dili – The political tension is rising in the East Timorese capital, Dili where President Xanana Gusmao has accepted the leadership of a new party that has been labelled as "a nest of liars," by former prime minister, Mari Alkatiri.

The only Indonesian jailed over the violence surrounding East Timor's historic 1999 independence vote has apologised to Indonesia for the unrest that tainted its international image.

Pro-autonomy militia commander Eurico Gutteres also called on the people of East Timor to unite and move past the violence of the past, in order to build a strong independent nation.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Fugitive rebel leader Alfredo Reinado has again humiliated Australian troops hunting him in East Timor's mountains, this time releasing a letter telling his supporters how they should vote in presidential elections.

Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – The Indonesian president who allowed the East Timor referendum on independence said on Tuesday the mayhem that followed the vote could have been avoided had the United Nations not declared the result earlier than agreed.

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – Around 1,000 civil servants in Poso, out of around 8,000 left homeless by violent conflict between 1998 and 2000, are still without permanent housing, an official said Monday.

Novan Iman Santosa, Jakarta – The government will continue its efforts to build a nuclear power plant, despite mounting opposition from environmental groups.

A new security treaty with Indonesia could hamper Australia's ability to speak out about human rights abuses, a Sydney University report warns. Australia and Indonesia last year signed an historic security pact, known as the Lombok Treaty, which is currently being examined by a parliamentary committee.

Seth Mydans, Bireuen – The little green car accelerated around a mountain curve and flashed through a village here in Aceh Province, scattering chickens, children, dust and pebbles. It swerved past potholes, skidding precisely to the edge of the road before speeding ahead.

Cath Hart – A foreign policy expert has warned the Government that relations with Indonesia would be damaged if Australia ratified the Lombok Treaty without clarifying Jakarta's expectations.

Jayapura – After announcing the creation of Partai Kebangkitan Rakyat Papua (Papuan People's Awakening Party) on 8 March 2007 as a local political party, steps are being taken to complete the draft of a constitution and articles of association, to be used until the party holds its first congress.

Ramdhan Muhaimin, Jakarta – The popularity of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla (SBY-JK) has declined sharply over the last three years with the public's level of dissatisfaction with their performance dropping below the psychological barrier of 50 percent.

Following the string of airline accidents over the past few months, the Directorate General for Air Transportation announced Thursday its ratings of 20 private and state-owned airlines operating in the country. The Jakarta Post's. M.

Legal experts have criticized Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh over his rigid stance regarding the implementation of capital punishment in Indonesia.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Indonesians would be better off if safety ratings were given to other modes of transportation, not just airlines, and were conducted by independent auditors, a consumer affairs expert said.

Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – The House of Representatives will pass the spatial plan bill this Tuesday, despite criticisms that the bill lacks ecological sustainability provisions.

"There are no more objections from factions. We will pass the law at the plenary session on March 27," House spatial planning law committee deputy chairman Syarfi Hutauruk said last week.

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon – Dozens of Christian priests were worried when their church assigned them to spend the night in pesantren Islamic boarding schools and homes of Muslim residents in Ambon, Maluku.

Jakarta – The government has reiterated its commitment to attracting more foreign investment, affirming its guarantees for major infrastructure projects and longer-term land and property use titles for foreign investors.

Blessed with abundant resources, Aceh is now struggle to put almost three decades of armed conflict and the devastating tsunami behind it. It is taking bold steps into the future under the watchful eyes of the international community, with the province's first democratically-elected governor, Irwandi Yusuf, leading the way.

Jakarta, Sandy Indra Pratama – Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf has said that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will set up a local party. However, according to Irwandi, GAM has not yet decided either the name or the form of the party.

Paul Toohey – A failed effort to heal an injured child has led to the machete killings of three East Timorese women branded as sorcerers.

Karen Michelmore, Jakarta – East Timor's United Nations-sponsored vote for independence was a fraud, Dili's former mayor and alleged militia organiser said today.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Top Indonesian economist and former architect of New Order economic development Widjojo Nitisastro wrote his prescient book Population Trends in Indonesia in the late 1960s, but he had to wait almost 30 years for it to be published and distributed on Indonesian soil.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Economists criticized Friday the target set by a strategic group for Indonesia's transformation into a developed nation in the next 20 years.

Economist Sri Adiningsih of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University and Aviliani of Jakarta's University of Indonesia said the target was "unreasonable".

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh has defended the government's decision to keep capital punishment in the country's legal system, saying it was a deterrent to crime.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Nanggroe Aceh Darussalem administration and the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) announced their partnership Friday in an all-out battle against corruption in the resource-rich province.

Jakarta – The newly-passed law on human trafficking has government officials and NGOs alike raring to wage an all-out war on the crime.

Indonesia is giving six airlines three months to improve safety or face suspension or closure.

An audit of 54 airlines revealed none of them made it into the first of three rating classes, indicating high safety, the director-general of civil aviation, Budhi Muliawan Suyitno, said.

"The United Nations condemns all violence and acts that support of violence in East Timor, calls for their immediate end, and demands that all those responsible for such violence be brought to justice" (Security Council Resolution, 1999)

Bekasi – Hundreds of Jati Mulya villagers in Tambun Selatan district, Bekasi, rallied Thursday at car assembly company PT IndoMobil Suzuki International to demand the right to collect and resell metal shreds from the factory.

Muhammad Nur Hayid, Jakarta – The ratification of the Draft Law on Capital Investment by the House of Representatives (DPR) is drawing opposition. The Poor People's Network (JRM) opposes what they call a new form of colonialism and are urging the DPR not to ratify the draft into law.

Andi Haswidi, Jakarta – A working committee of the House Representative has finally concluded the prolonged debate on the investment bill, which is now expected to be endorsed by a House plenary session scheduled for March 29.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) said it supports the planned questioning of its active and former officers by the Truth and Friendship Commission (KKP) over human rights violations following the 1999 referendum in Indonesia's former province of East Timor.

Jakarta – Young politicians are demanding a greater role for themselves in political parties to better represent their younger constituents.

The calls for affirmative action have not met with approval, however, with politicians and researchers saying such representation is unprecedented.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – None of the 20 airlines it has audited are completely complying with safety regulations, the Transportation Ministry announced Thursday.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Anti-corruption activists and experts have said a decision to acquit former councilors from graft charges in a case review will set a bad precedent in handling similar cases in the future.

We gladly applaud Indonesia government's planning to prevent the practice of disappearance by signing and ratifying international convention on the protection of all persons from enforced/involuntary disappearance.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the House of Representative of Indonesia (DPR) had informed that the cases of gross human rights violations including killings and disappearances of civilians in Trisakti and Semanggi during 1998 and 1999 will not be heard before the plenary session of the DPR to decide whether the cases should be tried by the ad

Fabio Scarpello – The Reverend Socrates Sofyan Yoman is a soft-spoken man. But his voice turns firm when asked what is the way forward for Papua, the region where he lives and where most locals have been demanding independence for nearly four decades.

The Cultural Institute of the Papua People's Council or MRP in Indonesia says it fully supports the formation of Papua's first local political party, the Papua People's Awakening Party.

The MRP's Vice Chairwoman, Hanna Wikoyabi, says the movement that led to the new party's establishment could lift the indigenous Papua people's esteem and dignity.

Agus Maryono and Andi Hajramurni, Purwokerto/Makassar – Twenty tons of rice has vanished from a warehouse of the state logistics agency Bulog, raising suspicion it was sold illegally.

The disappearance of the rice from the warehouse in Banyumas, Central Java, comes at the same time as several provinces report their rice supply has reached critically low levels.

Andi Haswidi, Jakarta – They say the Internet knows no boundaries. Unfortunately, neither do the hackers, as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono discovered after a presidential website recently fell victim to the unwanted attentions of a hacker.

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – The National Mudflow Mitigation Team is preparing to drop 500 additional chains of concrete balls into the mouth of the mud volcano in Sidoarjo, East Java, following its successful insertion of 374 chains earlier this month.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The government admitted Wednesday that the weak enforcement of industrial relations laws has left millions of workers unprotected in thousands of companies nationwide.

Susie Berindra and Sidik Ramono – The government wants to strengthen the presidential system by simplifying the multi-party system. The big political parties want to have businesses to increase party funds. The new political parties want to take part in the 2009 general elections. What should be done to bridge all of these wishes?

The administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took another bold step in its war on corruption with Tuesday's arrest of the chief of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), Widjanarko Puspoyo. Widjanarko joins a long list of sitting public officials who have discovered that incumbency is no longer a guarantee of protection in the war against graft.

Palu – An anti-terror squad in Indonesia has arrested a suspected Muslim militant accused of involvement in a deadly attack on Christians, police said Thursday.

Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta – Three Islamic militants were found guilty Wednesday of decapitating three Christian schoolgirls in Indonesia and dumping their bloodied heads in nearby villages, judges said. They were sentenced to between 14 and 20 years.

Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – Senior history teacher Retno Indarti has a solid reason for supporting the recent ban on history textbooks that fail to mention the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) when discussing the September 30 (G30S) movement that lead to the rise of Soeharto.

Jakarta – Most Indonesians are willing to die to prevent separatism but at the same time are exhibiting stronger tendencies toward regionalism, a recent poll has revealed.

Markus Makur, Timika – Hundreds of job-seekers from the Amungme and Kamoro tribes staged a rally in front of the Memangkawai Mining Institute office in Mimika regency, Papua, demanding that they be given priority for employment in local projects.