Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Outgoing Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, who once fiercely rejected the idea of soldiers voting in general elections, has changed his mind.

Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta – The murder of human rights activist Munir will never be solved. This is because the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and the national police are holding all of the respective facts and will never reveal them.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – If you are one of the millions awaiting a response after sending a letter or SMS of complaint to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, don't take it personally.

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Reni (not her real name), 25, was puzzled as she looked at a vending machine to be installed in a red-light district here in February – a device previously unfamiliar to her.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – House of Representatives legislators voiced their opposition Tuesday to a series of government regulations on broadcasting, which took effect on Feb. 5.

"We reject the regulations," said legislator Marzuki Darusman of the Golkar Party, representing the House Commission I on defense and information.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Ignoring public criticism, Bandarlampung and West Lampung councillors are moving ahead with proposals to give themselves each a Rp 60 million (US$6,451) housing allowance in their 2006 budgets.

Kupang – Hundreds of students and activists grouped in the Kupang Education and Health Awareness Forum staged protest Monday against the 2006 provincial draft budget, which is slated to be approved Feb. 17.

Jakarta – The Islam Defenders Front (FPI) has dropped its charges against an actor who appeared nude in photographs featured in an exhibition last year at the Bank Indonesia Museum, Central Jakarta.

"Anjasmara (the actor) has approached the FPI to apologize," FPI lawyer Sugito said after filing the request to drop the charges Monday.

Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – The government may take legal action against PT Freeport Indonesia, a local unit of US giant Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc., if the gold and copper miner is found to have polluted the environment near its mining concession in Papua.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – In a high-profile illegal logging trial, the Jayapura District Court on Monday returned the case against Papua Forestry Office head Marthen Kayoi to the prosecution, advising that the charges against the official are "premature".

Jakarta – The government will go ahead with its plans to repay Indonesia's debts to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ahead of schedule, the finance minister said, citing a preliminary study from the central bank that showed the country was financially capable of doing so and the benefits that would result.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – If you are a health consumer in Indonesia some of these situations may be familiar to you.

Padang, West Sumatra – More than 200 sidewalk vendors staged a protest at Padang City Hall on Monday, demanding that the city's public order personnel stop abusing them during raids.

Jakarta – The conflict between Supreme Court justices and Judicial Commission officials has taken a new twist with a report the judges are plotting to destroy the commission.

Tangerang – Hundreds of protesters blocked the rear entrance to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Monday, causing traffic congestion from Tangerang to the airport.

The protesters were upset over what they claimed was the assault of five residents of Selapajang subdistrict by airport security guards.

Dili – A crisis among East Timor's Armed Forces that erupted last week after hundreds of disgruntled troops left their barracks is still a long way from being resolved, military sources said Tuesday.

ST Pramono, Jakarta – An Acehnese member from the Joint Forum of the National and Regional House of Representatives, Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, says that the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) report on the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) must be accompanied by evidence."If it is not factual, it's difficult to believe", said Baldan at the national parliament in Jakarta on Tuesday February 14.

Salim Osman, Jakarta – Even before parliament starts its deliberation today, the Aceh Government Bill has already been slammed by critics for not sticking to the spirit of the Helsinki peace agreement.

Saiful Bahri, Banda Aceh – Wilayatul Hisbah officers (Syariah/Islamic law police) detained five women that were considered to have violated Islamic law on the afternoon of Monday February 12.

Lisbon – East Timor will not seek compensation from Indonesia after the publication of a report blaming Jakarta for over 100,000 deaths during its occupation, East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said in an interview Monday.

Jakarta – The government has promised to heed Acehnese leaders' demand for a greater say in a future law that will be used to guide how Aceh will be governed.

Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – The stark reality of the bandied-about terms "high-cost economy" or "increased operating costs" may come down to the resulting worker layoffs.

Sonny Inbaraj, Dili – Jose Ximenes, news editor of the popular 'Timor Post' daily, shook his head in disgust. "East Timor's independence and peace were achieved at great cost. We cannot remain silent while some of our leaders endanger our press freedom and undermine our hard-won democratic accomplishments," he told IPS emphatically.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Siti Bariah buys bananas and sells them in Dili's crowded markets, barely making enough money to feed eight of her children and her ailing husband.

[Meutia Sudah Henti Bertanya (Meutia Has Stopped Asking). Written by T.I. Thamrin Foreword by Otto Syamsuddin Ishak. 155 pp. Published by Imparsial & AWG (Aceh Working Group), 2005.]

Tom Hyland and Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Thousands of East Timorese children were shipped to Indonesia during Jakarta's occupation and the fate of many is unknown, says a report that echoes Australia's experience with the indigenous "stolen generation".

Tom Hyland – The struggle for East Timor was played out in the battle for its children, a landmark report has found.

A. Junaidi – The 81st birthday of internationally acclaimed writer and multiple Nobel Prize nominee Pramoedya Ananta Toer was celebrated with zest and spirit on Feb. 6.

Ratna Nuraini, Jakarta – TNI (Indonesian military) chief General Endriartono Sutarto has revealed that there has been no increase in security disturbances in Papua. This is based on a study conducted by the TNI.

There is no doubt that almost nobody in Indonesia openly agrees with pornography. However, it is doubtful that the current antipornography drive, starting with busts of roadside magazine vendors and their seductive tabloids, will eliminate what the police define as pornography.

Jakarta – When it comes to the problems faced by Indonesian industry, the same words crop up again and again: smuggling and soaring imports.

Metal products manufacturers say the impact has been particularly severe in their industry, claiming that last year alone they lost 20 percent of their domestic market share.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Vice Marshall Herman Prayitno has been appointed as the new Air Force chief of staff, replacing his boss Marshal Djoko Suyanto, who will soon head the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Jakarta – About 500 Muslim protestors rallied in the Indonesian capital to denounce caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammed, calling the cartoons part of a "war on Islam".

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Illegal logging and land clearance around Bukit Barisan Selatan and Way Kambas national parks have destroyed the water catchment area for the Batutegi hydropower plant in Lampung, an official said Friday.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to probe and resolve past human rights abuses here is unnecessary, Vice President Jusuf Kalla says.

In a statement Friday, which is likely to provoke a strong reaction from rights activists, Kalla said he could not think of any human rights cases that needed to be resolved through reconciliation.

Jakarta, Antara – Former Army chief of staff, retired General Tyasno Sudarto, says that the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh or RUU-PA will endanger the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) because it has a number of clauses that lead in the direction of federalism.

Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – PT Freeport Indonesia should increase the revenue it shares with the government from its Papua mines amid lucrative prices of copper and gold, Vice President Jusuf Kalla says.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Indonesian media received a welcome gift for National Press Day on Thursday, when the Supreme Court cleared Tempo weekly chief editor Bambang Harymurti of defaming businessman Tomy Winata.

Several groups of demonstrators vied Thursday with people lining the streets in Bandung, West Java, to get the attention of visiting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Gede Suardana, Bali – The controversy over the draft law (RUU) on pornography is growing stronger. Bali has explicitly declared that it rejects the draft law because it will damage Bali's economy if tourists can no longer sunbathe on the beaches of Kuta.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has written to the President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao calling for a veto of the penal code proposed by the Government of Timor-Leste criminalising defamation which is due to be promulgated in two days time.

Dili – An inquiry commission began hearings Friday on the complaints of hundreds of East Timorese soldiers who went AWOL to protest alleged discrimination and ill-treatment by commanders.

Jakarta – The government and lawmakers have agreed on a plan to revise the 2003 Law on Terror before ratifying two international conventions aimed at strengthening national efforts to root out terrorism.

Thousands of officials and politicians across the country, including 200 executives of state companies, are currently embroiled in corruption investigations, as the government escalates its fight against graft to promote good governance.

Riyadi Suparno, Bandung – The planned launch of Playboy Indonesia and the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by European newspapers are two issues that could affect press freedoms in Indonesia, journalists say.

Ibrahim Zuhdhy Fahmy Badoh, Jakarta – Every year, from November to December, the budgeting process in local governments enters its final stages. Intensive negotiations take place in drafting the next year's budget between local executives and legislative councils. Both sides try to get the best possible outcome, supposedly in the interests of the people they represent.

Leony Aurora and Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – The question of agreements on power prices between the business sector and state electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) is irrelevant as the law provides that it is the government that determines tariffs.

Ann Harrison – The citizens of East Timor who perished during Indonesia's brutal 24-year occupation of their tiny island nation might have died unaccounted for – as many civilians do in military conflicts around the world. But a group of determined programmers and statisticians refused to let that happen.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Police and media in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, are too lax in their treatment of radical Islamic groups and their violence, a leading moderate Islamic cleric said on Thursday.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Pematang Siantar, Jakarta – When the recruiter passed through the small village in North Sumatra promising young women good-paying jobs in Malaysia, "Salma" seized what she thought was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve the future she always dreamed of, for herself and her family.