International police and troops in East Timor were searching for rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado after a mass jailbreak raised serious concern about fragile security in the fledgling nation.

Quentin Dempster: Returning now to our earlier story, the shootings this afternoon in an East Timor refugee camp, and the so-far fruitless search for 57 men who broke out of a Dili jail earlier this week. Well, Bob Lowry is a military and political consultant and has advised the East Timorese government on national security issues.

Palembang, South Sumatra – Data collected by an environmental group here shows that 98 of the 2,047 hot spots on the island of Sumatra were detected in concession areas of private plantation companies in Ogan Komering Ilir, Banyuasin, Musi Rawas and Musi Banyuasin regencies.

Andi Haswidi, Jakarta – The estimated drop in global economic growth within the next two years could pose serious setbacks to developing countries like Indonesia if governments failed to act properly, the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday.

Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Disruption in service continued on the Surabaya-Gempol turnpike Thursday from a fourth breached embankment from the mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – "Helping those who help themselves" could describe the government's latest approach to tackling the problems of poverty and unemployment, with community development programs at its core.

Jakarta – Indonesia faces major obstacles in its fight against bird flu, the UN Children's Fund said as officials reiterated calls for more international financial aid.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – A national gathering of women activists ended Thursday with a statement that included a demand for firm action against the victimization of women in the name of religion.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Regional autonomy, which was championed as a means to improve accountability and public services, is instead bolstering ethnocentrism and tribalism, a survey found.

Eko Prasodjo, one of the lead researchers, said Wednesday the adverse impact resulted from the regional autonomy law which gave too much authority to regencies.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
Istana Negara,
Jalan Merdeka 3,
Jakarta, Indonesia

31 August 2006

Dear President Yudhoyono,

I am writing to you with great concern for the safety of Nelson Ipan Kornelius Rumbiak, who is 20 years old.

Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – On a Friday morning, among several people patiently waiting for the bus at a stop on the business strip Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto, is a man with a wad of Rp 1,000 bills on his left hand and a long scribbled note in his right.

Mark Forbes, Indonesia – Papuan activists charged over the murder of four Indonesian police and one intelligence officer boycotted their trial yesterday after being assaulted by police as they were being returned to prison.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The remaining seven defendants being tried for their involvement in a deadly clash with police on March 16 in Abepura, Papua, refused to appear in court Wednesday after one of them was beaten up by a police officer Monday.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is expected to make simultaneous amendments to three laws on the judiciary to restore the authority of the now-powerless Judicial Commission.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Alfredo Reinado, the swaggering military police officer blamed for plunging East Timor into chaos, has escaped from Dili's main jail with 55 other prisoners, including police accused of serious crimes during the violence in May.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – The government plans to sue three companies and an individual for allegedly igniting fires in Sumatra's forests, and has seized 6,300 hectares of land the suspects are said to have cleared by burning.

Julia Suryakusuma and Tim Lindsey – Indonesia is in the middle of an explosive debate about whether conservative Islamic morality will become enforceable law in that nation of 230 million. It is a debate that threatens to unravel the secular foundation of the republic itself.

Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama leader Hasyim Muzadi and Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin have been elected co-chairs of the World Conference on Religion for Peace (WCRP) at its eighth meeting in Kyoto, Japan.

Din said he was elected honorary chairman of the international religious organization while Hasyim will be among its nine presidents.

The trial of seven Papuans charged with the killing of two American nationals and one Indonesian is likely to continue without the defendants and their lawyers, after the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday ruled against defendants' arguments that the case should be tried in Papua.

Two months back, when East Timor's then Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, was dramatically forced to resign after weeks of violence and chaos, from many quarters, there was an audible sigh of relief. Gone was the man variously described as undemocratic, alleged to have armed a hit squad to eliminate his political opponents and a crypto-bloody-Marxist to boot!

Canberra – Former East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said in an Australian television interview that unidentified foreigners had approached army commanders in a failed bid to organize a coup against him.

He also said in the interview, aired Wednesday by public broadcaster SBS, that Australian Prime Minister John Howard had pressured him to step down.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – For years the United Nations tried to cover up perverted and outrageous behaviour by uniformed and civilian personnel who have served in East Timor since 1999.

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – The mudflow saga has shown not the slightest sign of ending soon as another pond broke apart in the early hours of Tuesday, inundating the Surabaya-Gempol turnpike once more and causing it to be temporarily closed.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – The Australian Federal Police has defended an officer accused of ordering a senior East Timorese policeman to take off his uniform in public, saying two inquiries had found the officer had acted appropriately.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has accused 106 logging and plantation firms of causing the annual widespread forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia is arguably Asia's least well-educated country, and the government is largely to blame. With 30% of its 242 million population school-aged, the world's largest Muslim country ranks lowest among its Asian neighbors in terms of public education expenditure.

Gagah Wijoseno, Jakarta – Eight years after stepping down, former President Suharto still has many fans. A book containing the achievements of the New Order regime has been launched. Interested?

The Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has claimed that the CIA was involved in the 2002 Bali bombings.

Bashir, who was convicted and jailed for having prior knowledge of the attacks which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, was released from prison in June after serving nearly two years.

Benget Simbolon Tnb., Jakarta – State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina has begun to feel the pinch of increasingly steeper competition in the oil and gas sector following the issuance of a 2001 government regulation that stripped the company of its monopoly,

Indonesia's covert action against West Papuan rebels could easily trigger a firefight between Indonesian and PNG forces. And Australia will be dragged into the confrontation. Paul Daley reports.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – An Australian federal policeman allegedly demanded that a senior East Timorese police officer take off his uniform in public in an incident that has angered Timorese MPs and may lead to a diplomatic protest.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) acknowledged Monday bypassing official procedures in carrying out several projects, but said its actions were justified under existing regulations governing emergency work in Aceh.

Kris Fathoni W, Jakarta – After holding a long-march from the State Palace, West Papuan protesters demonstrated at the Central Jakarta State Court demanding that the defendants in the 2002 Timika shooting case be released.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – As Islamic fundamentalism spreads in Indonesia, the tendency to control women has become so pronounced that even those who have embraced a conservative creed must break the silence and demand gender equality, activists say.

Soon after the reform movement swept across the nation in 1998, people began realizing the judiciary would be among the toughest institutions to change. It still is today. That was the message sent last week when the Constitutional Court scrapped the Judicial Commission's oversight of judges.

A good intention will not yield results without good implementation, wise men say.

Three months ago President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told his ministers, governors and regents to do their utmost to halt haze-producing forest fires, to spare him the humiliation of once again explaining to ASEAN leaders why the country has failed to handle the situation.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – Disappointment. This was how human rights organisations greeted an extension to the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKP) by the governments of Indonesia and East Timor. They also called for the KKP to be disbanded because they say its mandate is unclear.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The House of Representatives' commission on law says it will make revising the 2004 law on the Judicial Commission a top priority, after a court ruling stripped the Judicial Commission of its oversight powers.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – The number of illiterate people in Tangerang regency has jumped dramatically within the past two years, an education official claims.

Education agency head Muhyi Syarifudin said the agency had measured a rapid increase in illiterate people from 2,673 in 2004 to 190,123 this year.

Arfi Bambani Amri, Jakarta – Around 50 people from the West Papua Peoples United Struggle Front (Pepera) demonstrated in front of the US Embassy on Monday August 28 calling for the defendants in the Timika shooting case to be unconditionally released.

Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office is looking into a report of alleged irregularities in Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) projects.

"We are reviewing the newly released report," the office's deputy for special crimes, Hendarman Supandji, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Banda Aceh – At least 75 percent of former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels are out of work after returning to their hometowns, the World Bank says.

Jakarta – The Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) called on the government Friday to delay the execution of three Catholics in Palu, Central Sulawesi, convicted of mass murder in a sectarian conflict.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – There are certain sights that are representative of Jakarta: bajaj (motorized pedicab), street vendors, Metro Mini (public minibuses), empty luxury apartment buildings and, it would seem, the septic tank.

Jakarta – The workers union of city-owned water operator PDAM Jaya has urged the Jakarta administration to review the sales of shares in its foreign partners, saying it was concerned the two companies had failed to meet contractual commitments.

Jakarta – Indonesian Forestry Minister Malem Sambet Kaban has urged local administrative heads to play a more active role in preventing land clearing by fire, blamed for the thick smoking haze that has blanketed the region.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – The government is wooing back Indonesian students who lost their citizenship while studying abroad more than 40 years ago, during the failed coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin said Thursday that the exiles would not be prosecuted, but would have to pay their own way home.

Kediri, East Java – Senior ulemas opposed to the leadership of former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid in the divided National Awakening Party (PKB) are vowing to start a new political group.

The plan was unveiled Friday by one of the ulemas, Idris Marzuki, after the Supreme Court recently ruled Gus Dur's PKB faction was the legitimate face of the party.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The majority of Indonesian Muslims still believe a secular state is more suitable for the country than an Islamic or Western-style liberal system, a survey found.

Jakarta – After 44 four years of operation, state-owned television company TVRI has become a public television network, funded by the government but intended to be editorially independent.