West Papua solidarity groups today welcomed law firm Mallesons Stephen Jacques's legal action against the Howard Government and claim the proceedings will highlight undue and unlawful interference with domestic immigration policy.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives should stop drafting the state secrecy bill because it will limit public access to important information and legitimize abuses of power, a coalition of human rights groups says.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Hard work still lies ahead for the government despite its expectations of higher growth this year on more investments, with official figures showing actual overseas investment slowing down and a decline in proposals during this year's first quarter.

Dili – Four years ago as East Timor became the world's youngest nation, hundreds of cars driven by UN personnel criss-crossed the streets of Dili as the nation's strife-torn people faced an uncertain future.

Dili – A protest rally by hundreds of former East Timorese soldiers sacked after deserting last month turned ugly Wednesday when at least five houses and a market in Dili were vandalised, witnesses said. About 2,000 protesters held a demonstration in support of nearly 600 soldiers who complained of poor working conditions and discrimination before they deserted.

Jakarta – State power utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has reported a 2005 loss that is more than double that of the previous year after higher fuel prices increased its electricity generating costs.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The government insisted Tuesday that Muslims and non-Muslims alike in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam should be tried by the planned Islamic Court in the predominantly Muslim province.

Jakarta – The Business Competition Supervisory Agency (KPPU), the nation's official antimonopoly watchdog, has urged the government to stop granting new monopolies so as to ensure equal opportunities for all business players.

Jon Afrizal, Ujungjabung – Coastal erosion is continuing at a steady rate along the east coast of Sumatra, especially in East Tanjungjabung regency in Jambi, due to the destruction of mangrove forests.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Environment Forum (Walhi) plans to build a green political front as an alternative political force. The environmental political block will be based on popular and organised political forces.

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Mentawai Islands – The indigenous people of Mentawai Islands in West Sumatra have demanded that the central and local governments recognize their rights as an ethnic group, rights accorded to other ethnic groups across the country.

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon – Despite tight security in Ambon city, supporters of the self-proclaimed South Maluku Republic (RMS) managed to hoist four of the separatist movement's flags in Maluku province.

The flags, three of which were found in capital city Ambon and another in West Seram regency, were hoisted without the police being alerted.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Since he was laid off several months ago, Maryadi, 48, has started to behave strangely, at least as far as his wife, children and neighbors are concerned.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Academics and unionists have criticized the President's instruction to five universities to study the government's new labor legislation, calling the idea a waste of time.

Kerryn Williams – The Indonesian government withdrew its draft labour law revisions on April 8, pressured by a wave of workers' protests.

Denpasar – After losing a grueling and sometimes violent Star Reform Party (PBR) leadership battle here over the weekend, a morose faction leader Zaenal Ma'arif now plans to resign from his post as deputy speaker at the House of Representatives.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – More Christian places of worship have been vandalized or forcibly closed by local Muslims because they have failed to meet the requirements of a controversial ministerial decree. Critics of the 2006 Decree on Places of Worship say the incidents only show the regulation is causing more violence than it is preventing.

East Tanjungjabung, Jambi – The high price of diesel fuel is making life hard for fishermen in Ujungjabung, Jambi.

Muchtar of Sungiitik village in East Tanjungjabung regency said the 30 kilograms of fish caught on his last trip did not cover his operational costs. "The fish can only be sold for Rp 6,500 (72 US cents) a kg," he said.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has named Maj. Gen. Erwin Sujono the new commander of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), replacing Lt. Gen. Hadi Waluyo who is entering the mandatory retirement age of 55.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The on-again, off-again legal saga of former president Soeharto may be back on track, although Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh kept mum Monday on "alternative" approaches to bringing the octogenarian to court.

The Islam Defenders Front (FPI), which recently attacked Playboy Indonesia's office to press the magazine to stop publishing, may fit the stereotype of Islam in the West: anarchistic, undemocratic and full of anger. Its presence here, a democratic, secular country led by moderate Muslims, has caused problems. The Jakarta Post asked some people to comment on the issue.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A march by dissident soldiers through the East Timorese capital yesterday turned ugly when demonstrators attacked market traders from the eastern Lospalos region.

The soldiers, from the western regions, were fired last month after a long dispute in which they claimed commanders discriminated against them in favour of easterners.

Nancy-Amelia Collins, Jakarta – Some East Timorese soldiers who were fired last month vow to continue their protests in the world's newest nation unless the government takes action over their complaints.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Up in arms over a government proposal to amend the national labor law, Indonesia's powerful unions have threatened to stage a nationwide general strike next Monday that could cast another dark cloud over the country's already dimming investment environment.

Bogor – Dozens of youths, grouped under the nationalist youth group Pemuda Panca Marga, distributed hundreds of pamphlets Saturday to passersby and placed banners around Sempur soccer field and near Kujang Monument after graffiti of the hammer and sickle – the symbols of communism – was seen on several trash cans.

Mark Dodd and Stephen Fitzpatrick – The warning signs were obvious to anyone paying attention. Cashed up Indonesian government officials were suddenly able to afford flashy new cars and motorbikes.

Aguswandi, Banda Aceh – Aceh is currently still in a transition to peace. The province does not yet have a sustainable peace, and the new legislation being prepared for Aceh's political future, which is still being debated by lawmakers, will determine whether this transition will ensure a genuinely sustainable peace or mark the beginning of another conflict.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Amsterdam – As the debate on the law on the Aceh administration enters a critical stage, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is preparing ground to establish a political party. Never in the history of Indonesia has an armed separatist movement taken such a turnabout, helping to preserve the existing nation-state – a unique chance all sides involved should not miss.

Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – The government has asked the international Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) to extend its presence in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam to help ensure upcoming local elections – to be participated in by former rebels – comply with the peace accord signed by Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Jakarta – Painting an ominous picture of religious intolerance and national disintegration, a group of activists and intellectuals warned Saturday that Muslim hard-liners threatened to hijack the country's hard-won unity.

Former dictator Suharto has made yet another public appearance in good health, prompting renewed calls that he be put on trial for corruption. But his doctors and lawyers still insist he remains irreversibly brain damaged and incapable of normal conversation.

Jakarta – The head of the Jakarta metropolitan police General Firman Gani and the Jakarta military commander Major General Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo have warned workers to be careful during the protests planned for May 1.

Banda Aceh – National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) member MM Billah believes that there is strong resistance from a certain circles against trying the perpetrators of human rights violations in Aceh during the period of armed conflict. In general this resistance is most likely from those groups of people who committed the violations.

Nearly 600 soldiers dismissed last month from East Timor's armed forces for striking over labour conditions have threatened to wage a guerrilla war if the government failed to resolve their dispute with the military leadership.

Dita Indah Sari – The uproar over the planned revisions to the labour law has yet to subside. The character and process of the next round of deliberations of the revisions, which were agreed to in a meeting at the State Palace on April 7, have also been criticise by labour organisations.

Dili – About 2,000 demonstrators, backing hundreds of soldiers dismissed from the East Timorese army, marched through Dili Monday, launching five-days of announced protests against alleged regional discrimination in the military.

After living abroad for decades, the self-exiled leaders of Aceh's rebel movement have returned to Indonesia to support the province's peace process, but a prominent American journalist remains banned from entering the country.

Jakarta – Indonesia's vice president set an August target date for elections in Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province. The elections are a key part of a peace agreement reached last year to end a 29-year civil war.

Lisabona Rahman, Jakarta – A group of elementary schoolchildren carefully take notes as a guide takes them around Lubang Buaya (Crocodile's lair), a monument for the seven army officers killed in a failed coup presumably carried out by the Communist Party (PKI) in 1965.

Jakarta – Dress smart if you want to convince the bank manager you deserve a loan. But for businesswomen, they should also bring their husbands along.

"Bank people tend to underestimate women. When I first tried to apply for a loan for my own business – not my husband's – the banker doubted my ability to do business.

Jakarta – Hundreds of activists, artists and cultural communities – decked out in colorful garb – bedazzled passersby and spectators along the city's main thoroughfares Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta and Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta in a peaceful protest against the endorsement of the pornography bill.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – The landmark year 1998, with the bloody May riots, the mass rape of Chinese-Indonesian women and the fall of the Soeharto regime after 32 years of authoritarian rule, was a tumultuous turning point for social movements in the country.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The controversy over the payment of "incentives" to legislators during the deliberation of the Aceh governance bill is causing tension in the House of Representatives.

Home Minister M. Ma'ruf has admitted to paying Rp 5 million (about US$550) to each House member deliberating the bill as a special "incentive" to speed up the process.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – "You should send the Australian military into Papua. Why not? The sooner the better. It would be a humanitarian operation."

Jakarta – Thousands of people from various cultural groups rallied Saturday against the implementation of Indonesia's much- debated obscenity law.

Marching peacefully under the theme of Alliance of Unity in Diversity, the protesters included the wife of Yogyakarta's sultan and the wife of former president Abdurrahman Wahid.

Mark Dodd – East Timor's Government is under pressure to eradicate torture and ill-treatment of detainees by its police force amid fears of a return to Indonesian-era human rights abuses.

Louise Dodson and Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Australia is ready to offer economic aid to help Indonesia smooth the introduction of Papuan autonomy, as the two countries try to restore relations under stress over the treatment of refugees.

Gary LaMoshi – The debut of Playboy Indonesia this month unfolded predictably. The magazine flew off the shelves despite its premium price of Rp39,000 (US$4.35). Religious leaders condemned the publication as immoral, despite its total lack of pictures of naked women.

If there was one thing John Howard wanted as Prime Minister it was to differentiate himself from his Labor predecessor, Paul Keating. Ten years later, Mr Howard finds himself accused of kowtowing to Indonesia over Papua.

Indraswari, Bandung – According to Indonesia's Demographic and Health Survey, in 2002 the maternal mortality rate (MMR) was 307/100,000, meaning that for every 100,000 births, 307 mothers died from maternity-related causes.