Jakarta – After two days of bad traffic jams in several areas and hundreds of stranded passengers, bus drivers succeeded Tuesday in winning eight months' worth of back salary from the government.

Jewel Topsfield and Michelle Grattan, Canberra – Papua independence activist David Wainggai could be at risk of "serious harm" from Indonesian military or security forces if sent home, the Refugee Review Tribunal has warned.

Jakarta – Marlise Hutagalung, an employee of state-owned transportation company PPD, cried as she asked to meet the transportation minister and the state minister for state enterprises.

Thirty former members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), who were recently released from prison, arrived back home Tuesday in Banda Aceh, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

Max Lane, Jakarta – On July 23, 1500 people attended a rally at the National Library of Indonesia to publicly launch a new political party – the Preparatory Committee of the National Liberation Party of Unity (KP-Papernas) – for the 2009 Indonesian elections. Most of those attending were from poor districts in and around Jakarta. The majority were women.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Nearly 10 percent of more than 500,000 children under five years old living in tsunami-devastated Aceh and Nias Island are acutely malnourished and not 60 percent as earlier claimed, Unicef says.

Jakarta – Women and the poor are experiencing unfair treatment due to overzealous enforcement of sharia bylaws in Nanggroe Aceh Darusssalam, an influential think tank said.

Officials and city councillors were angered by the sale of 49 percent of water company PT Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja)'s shares. Although the France-based company said the decision was made in an attempt to improve its management, many were skeptical. The Jakarta Post asked two activists their views on the matter.

Seattle – Daniel Lev, a leading Indonesia scholar and longtime University of Washington professor, died Saturday following a battle with lung cancer. He was 72.

Todd Crowell, Hua Hin, Thailand – The turmoil in East Timor and the subsequent deployment of Australian and other peacekeeping troops has prompted much soul-searching, especially among human-rights activists for whom the cause of an independent East Timor was an article of faith.

Indonesia may well be the world's largest Muslim country, but only Aceh has the legal right to apply Islamic law in full. Aceh was granted the right as part of the search for a political solution to the long-running separatist conflict in the fiercely independent and deeply religious region.

Jakarta – Economist Faisal Basri and former environment minister Sarwono Kusumaatmaja have both said they will firmly oppose any sharia-based ordinances in the capital city should they be elected governor in the 2007 election.

Jakarta – Hundreds of bus drivers from state-owned transportation company PPD went on strike Monday over nine months of unpaid salaries.

Denmark – On Monday July 31, members of the Acehnese community residing in Denmark sent a special letter to the High Representative of the European Union Javier Solana and the secretary general of the United Nations Kofi Annan.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – After one batch of lawmakers was spotted on a shopping spree in the Middle East, a second group of legislators is set to leave for Latin America later this week.

Campaigners from Free West Papua Campaign in Melbourne have welcomed the decision by the Refugee Review Tribunal in overturning the original Immigration Department rejection of David Wainggai's application for Refugee Status.

Jayapura – President Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono has agreed to evaluate Law No.21/2001 on Papua Special Autonomy in view of the latest developments in the easternmost Indonesian region.

Michael Gordon – A Federal Government decision to deny a Papuan asylum seeker refugee status in Australia has been overturned by the independent Refugee Review Tribunal.

Rieka Rahadiana, Jakarta – The US Senate Appropriation Committee Bill is discussing an increase of foreign military financing proposed by the US Administration.

Dimas Adityo, Jakarta – The Indonesian military (TNI) will continue to keep on guard against the Free Papua Movement (OPM) groups that are still exist in the Papuan interior, even though several members surrendered to the government late last week.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The government should end the bans on communism and Marxist-Leninism in the new Criminal Code because the restrictions are outdated and repressive, experts say.

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Jakarta – If one thought that regional elections would produce a more accurate map of the strengths and ideological leanings of political parties, think again!

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Muhidin, 34, a farmer from Dompu, West Nusa Tenggara, is in despair. The Dompu District Court recently sentenced him to seven months in prison for cultivating a piece of land in the So Ncadu Conservation Forest.

He was found to have violated the 1999 Law on Forestry by crossing into the conservation area to grow cashew trees.

Jakarta – If Indonesia's economy was a jumbo jet, it would be flying on the single engine of exports at the moment, with the other engines of private consumption, investment and government spending having stalled out.

Markus Makur, Timika – Two tribes involved in a series of deadly clashes over the past week in Mimika regency, Papua, have sat down for peace talks, but no deal has yet been reached.

Banda Aceh – Two people in Indonesia's Aceh have been caned for adultery, the latest case of public punishments since courts in the province were allowed to implement Islamic sharia law. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation but only Aceh has the right to adopt sharia law in the judicial system.

Jonathan Lyons, Jakarta – A battle brewing over a draft anti-smut law has laid bare deep divisions within Indonesia and, say critics, threatens its traditionally tolerant approach to Islam.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – National Commission on Violence Against Women Chairwoman Tati Krisnawaty looked a tad irritated when most of the questions posed in a press conference Friday focused on the death of an Indonesian migrant worker in Lebanon.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The funds given to lawmakers to visit their constituents during their one-month recess are prone to abuse due to a lack of standard accountability procedures, say anti-graft activists and analysts.

A group of leaders of different faiths demanded Friday that the UN intervene to put an end to the Israeli military assault on Lebanon.

"We are here to urge the UN to immediately organize a special emergency assembly to discuss the issue," Muhammadiyah leader Din Syamsuddin (center in photo) said after a meeting with officials at the UN representative office here.

An Indonesian journalist faces trial over his decision to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Teguh Santosa, online editor of Rakyat Merdeka, is charged with inciting hatred towards a religious group.

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – The country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), strongly reiterated its opposition Friday to efforts to turn Indonesia into a theocratic state.

Jakarta – An explosion at an oil refinery in Indonesia early Saturday injured nearly 150 people and caused about 7,000 residents to flee their homes, police said.

The explosion took place at a joint Pertamina-Petrochina oil refinery in eastern Java province as workers tried to contain a gas leak by setting it on fire, local police chief Rumhadi said.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Two scholarly treatises on Indonesian communism remain banned more than 40 years after the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was obliterated in the wake of an abortive coup.

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) and the Customs and Excise Office prevented the entry of the two books imported by Jakarta-based publisher Equinox.

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – Almost two months since it began, hot mud continues to pour from the ground in the East Java regency of Sidoarjo.

Work has been done, including setting up a snubbing unit to try and detect the exact source of the mud, building a relief well to block the mudflow and signing at least 140 contracts with various companies to speed up the work.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Critics are accusing the government of compromising individual rights in the newly drafted Criminal Code that provides stiff punishment for cohabitation and other private behavior.

Bogor – About 100 tonnes of useless and out-of-date medicines donated by foreigners after a major earthquake last year have been incinerated this week, an official said.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Up to 1.3 percent of Indonesian Muslims nationwide admit using violence against people or objects they consider contradictory to their beliefs, a survey found, with more than 40 percent ready to wage war for their faith.

Suherdjoko and Ridwan M. Sijabat, Semarang/Jakarta – Hundreds of members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P) Central Java chapter occupied the Panti Marhaenis building in Semarang on Wednesday.

The building has been the office of a splinter group of the PDI-P, the Reformed Democrat Party (PDP), since early 2005.

Jakarta – The war against corruption has become tougher for the Attorney General's Office since the Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that investigators can name suspects only if they are believed to have violated formal regulations.

Medan – Some 800 employees of companies that are heavily reliant on gas staged a protest Wednesday at the North Sumatra provincial council and the governor's office demanding the government reduce the current gas-supply shortage.

Jakarta – Acrid smoke from raging ground and forest fires on Indonesia's Sumatra blanketed the city of Pekanbaru, stinging eyes and reducing visibility, a meteorology official said.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A special agency would protect Indonesian migrant workers and oversee the labor export program under a decree expected to be issued next month by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Abdul Khalik, Kuala Lumpur – In an attempt to reduce outside influence over its eastern territories, especially Papua province, and to limit the danger of separatism, Indonesia on Wednesday hosted a Southwest Pacific dialog on the sidelines of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Kuala Lumpur.

Adianto Simamora, Jakarta – Despite an ongoing land dispute and mounting protests from area residents, public order officers began demolishing the historic Menteng Stadium in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

The stadium is also the base of city soccer club Persija, and is commonly referred to as Persija Park.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Legal experts have faulted the bill on the Criminal Code, drafted by the government to replace its outdated antecedent, for glaring omissions on democratic and human rights principles.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – At least 35 shops and makeshift kiosks were demolished Tuesday by the Tangerang regency administration to make way for the construction of the Ciputat overpass.

Jane Perlez, Masjid – For a moment, the villagers in this seaside community glimpsed a vision of a splendid future: houses with shady verandas, a new elementary school and an end to the squalid barracks that had been their world since the Asian tsunami swept all before it 19 months ago.

Australian police could be deployed in East Timor for another five years and in greater numbers after the strife-torn country asked the United Nations to set up an 800-strong multinational force.

Makassar – Hundreds of young people from across the country attended Monday the first congress of the newly formed Association of Young Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI Muda).