Estevao Cabral and Julie Wark – At a panel on the state of the world's media hosted by Columbia University in New York last April, the veteran journalist Robert Fisk expressed outrage at the semantic distortion that bedevils understanding of events that affect us all and, worse, affect a great many people in ways that are unimaginable, (thanks to media versions) in homes where the m

Tom Hyland – Listen carefully: that scratching you hear is the scribbling of commentators, furiously re-writing history. And if you look closely, you might glimpse a hint of schadenfreude among those who argued all along that East Timor could never be free and are now saying: we told you so.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – The government and legislators have agreed to revise the 1985 law on the freedom to organize to allow the disbanding of hard-line organizations deemed to have disrupted security and public order, the home minister said Friday.

Sudimoro – Cramped in a single tent sheltering 41 people, survivors of last month's Indonesian earthquake at this hamlet complain they receive only one meal a day with assistance still slow to fully flow here two weeks after the disaster.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Most governors, mayors and regents who have come to power in direct regional elections across the country received less than 50 percent of the popular vote, a recent study says.

Jakarta – Citing the 1979 Iranian Revolution as a model for change, a group of opposition politicians has launched a national movement to counter what it believes is increasing foreign influence in national politics.

Annemarie Evans – Australian armoured vehicles patrol the streets of East Timor's capital, Dili, amid the burned-out shells of houses and food warehouses looted by marauding gangs, who for weeks have laid waste to neighbourhoods and forced tens of thousands of terrified civilians into refugee camps.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – House of Representatives lawmakers are unhappy with the performance of the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR).

It is no secret that public trust toward police has been falling, and the recent threats and the version of terrorism carried out by groups claiming to represent certain ethnicities and religions have apparently made things worse.

A hero's welcome awaits Australia's nemesis, Abu Bakar Bashir, the cleric convicted for blessing the Bali bombing, when he is freed on Wednesday after 251/2 months in an Indonesian jail.

Veronica Kusuma, Jakarta – The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva is scheduled to begin its session on June 19. This session will mark an important step in the human rights struggle around the world.

Nani Afrida, Takengon (Central Aceh) – "These are the best times I've experienced in my whole life," said Aman Masnah, 70, a resident of Keunawat village, Lut Tawar district in Central Aceh regency.

When the former prime minister Paul Keating produced a bilateral security treaty with Indonesia in 1995, his conservative opponents thought he had gone troppo.

Brendan Nicholson – A new security treaty with Jakarta will include an assurance that Australia respects Indonesia's integrity – including its ownership of West Papua – says Prime Minister John Howard.

RR Ariyani, Jakarta – It is estimated that the growth of the real sector will remain stagnant this year. In addition to the continuing high interest rate, there is not yet internal restructuring from the real sector itself.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Environmentalists say the removal of six billboards, which welcomed visitors to the "city of pollution", comes as a major setback for the Jakarta administration's clean air campaign.

Councillor Mukhayar, who is also deputy chairman of Commission D for environmental affairs, said he felt let down by the city administration.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government has issued a warning to members of hard-line groups in the country: You will face the full weight of the law if you promote unruly radicalism or are involved in acts of terror.

Jakarta – The second edition of Indonesian Playboy, which hit the streets Wednesday, is not opposed by the nation's Press Council but hard-line Islamic groups are threatening street demonstrations until the magazine is shut down for good.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Human rights activists called on the government Wednesday to publicly account for its six-month security operation in conflict-scarred Central Sulawesi, which will end this month.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Papuan tribal leaders oppose a plan by local councillors to meet PT Freeport Indonesia bosses in the United States city of New Orleans to renegotiate the company's much-criticized working contract.

Sri Wahyuni, Yogyakarta – Life was already difficult for residents of the two remote hamlets in the parched hills of Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta, but it took a turn for the worse on May 27.

Jakarta – Six billboards that welcomed visitors to the "city of pollution" were removed by officials Wednesday, just days after they were put up for World Environment Day on Monday.

Benget Simbolon Tnb., Jakarta – Businesspeople normally state that the quality of local governance and institutions is the principal factor that helps determine whether they will invest in a particular region.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Most Indonesians know little about the State Ministry for the Environment and about a fifth are unaware such an office even exists, a recent survey shows.

Bandung – Thousands of people from 40 Muslim organizations grouped in the Alliance of Muslim Followers rallied in the West Java provincial capital Bandung on Tuesday in support of the controversial pornography bill.

Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – A second edition of Playboy hit the streets of Indonesia on Wednesday as the local publisher moved its offices to Bali island, two months after Islamic hard-liners threw rocks at its Jakarta offices following the magazine's debut.

Maire Leadbeater – Two Herald contributors, John Roughan and Michael Richardson have now gone into bat for the virtues of a unified Indonesia. I totally agree that New Zealand should foster positive links with Indonesia. If that means a boost in Government funds to the tertiary institutions so that they can get their Indonesian language courses going again I am all for it.

James Balowski, Jakarta – The official death toll from the massive earthquake that struck densely populated Yogyakarta and parts of Central Java on May 27 now stands at more than 6200, with more than 46,000 people injured – 33,000 seriously.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The government and the House of Representatives should not water down powers granted to future Aceh administrations because they would be in violation of last year's Helsinki peace accord, a coalition of non-governmental organizations says.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – After 26 episodes of mocking and lampooning the country's political leaders, the groundbreaking political satire Republik Benar-Benar Mabok (Truly Drunken Republic) has been taken off the air. Monday night was the show's last episode.

Jon Lamb – While the fighting between different factions of the East Timor Defence Force (FDTL) and the East Timor National Police (PNTL) has ceased with the arrival of the Australian-led international security force, sporadic street skirmishes and violence by unruly gangs continue.

Peter Boyle – Commenting on the Australian troop deployment to East Timor on May 31, the Australian's Paul Kelly said, "this intervention is both military and political. Its primary purpose was to respond to East Timor's security crisis... But this is not just a military intervention. It is a highly political intervention...

Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said Monday he was happy to meet with police to find a way to disband groups that justified acts of aggression with religion or ethnicity.

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) today urged Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to promote justice and reform, not the Indonesian military, when he visits Jakarta Tuesday.

The unfortunate thing about overseas is that it is full of foreigners, and they have different traditions from us. That seems to be the gist of some lamentations here about the state of East Timor.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A peace deal signed in August last year by the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) marked an end of three decades of conflict in Aceh, but it also marked the beginning of a crime wave in the province.

Maryann Keady, Dili – East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri says that he is a marked man and vows to not leave his government post without a fight. As violent civil unrest in East Timor continues and an Australian-led intervention force digs in, Asia's youngest country's political future is very much in doubt.

Diane Farsetta – Is the Southeast Asian island nation of East Timor a success story or a basket case?

Paul Eckert, Jakarta – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hailed restored US military ties with Indonesia, but was told that America was seen as "overbearing" when it appeared to be pushing its anti-terrorism policies on others.

Up to 2,000 protesters paraded through Dili in a convoy of trucks and motorcycles to call for the dismissal of East Timor's prime minister Mari Alkatiri and his government.

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Bandung/Jakarta – Government underfunding is to blame for the high number of fatal accidents on the state rail network, PT Kereta Api's (PT KA) management and workers say.

Yogyakarta – Dozens of aid trucks laden with rice remained blocked in government depots on Tuesday due to bureaucratic bottlenecks, angering Indonesian earthquake survivors struggling to rebuild their shattered lives.

Jakarta – Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid's faction of the conflict-ridden National Awakening Party (PKB) is the legitimate face of the political group, a court here ruled Monday.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Flash floods, landslides, poisonous air, polluted water and other catastrophes haunting millions of Indonesians are the logical consequences of the country's ineptitude in preserving its ecological balance, say environmental activists.

Jakarta – The ongoing campaign to revitalize the state ideology, Pancasila, has put some Muslim hard-liners, currently working to turn Indonesia into an Islamic state, on the defensive.

It turns out, however, that leaders of the groups say that they too accept Pancasila – but they have the right to interpret its meaning the Islamic way.

Michael Perry, Yogyakarta – Aid is now flowing to tens of thousands of survivors of Indonesia's earthquake but shelter remains a critical problem, the United Nations said on Monday, as Jakarta revised down the disaster death toll.

Bantul – Indonesian authorities have revised down the death toll from the Java earthquake to nearly 5,800, as new aid supplies helped survivors move forward on the long road to recovery.

Indonesia's consumer confidence improved a notch in the first quarter of this year, compared to the previous quarter, with more than 20 percent of respondents in a recent survey believing they are doing better.

The Roy Morgan Indonesian Consumer Confidence Rating was 107.8, up 2.6 points from 105.2 in the final quarter of last year.

Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – Investor confidence in the country's economy may further dwindle as the government and lawmakers are showing no sense of urgency about completing the deliberation of key bills related to economic reform, even as time is running out.

Jakarta – Three private groups of lawyers and activists have filed suit against the Indonesian attorney general's office for dropping a long-running corruption case against ailing former dictator Suharto.