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.

Jakarta – Although most of the nation's political parties declare their opposition to the enforcement of sharia, inconsistencies in what is said and done seem to rule in regions where Islamic law has been adopted into bylaws.

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – Greenomics, a local non-governmental organization supporting good forestry governance, has warned the government that the devastating floods affecting many parts of Java are likely to continue in the future.

Dili – Most of the 400 East Timorese soldiers protesting against alleged discrimination bowed to President Xanana Gusmao's ultimatum to return to barracks and dispersed early Thursday from around the presidential palace.

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Bending to pressure, the governor of East Java recently revised the monthly minimum wage, but the move failed to please either workers or businesspeople in the province.

With both sides unhappy, it is almost inevitable that more protests will be held in a province that has seen a number of violent labor actions in recent months.

The uproar over the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad has yet to blow over. Violent protests continue, while even more editors decide to reprint the pictures, and as the list of casualties rises.

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has come to the defense of opposition legislators after the police monitored parties probing the government's policy on rice imports.

Cirebon – Environmentalists blame illegal sand mining for recent floods that damaged thousands of hectares of paddy fields and houses in the West Java towns of Cirebon and Indramayu.

"Rivers can no longer accommodate rainwater, inundating paddy field and residential areas," Yoyon Suharyono of the Foundation for Workers and the Environment said Tuesday.

Some 20 ships loaded with illegally cut logs and sawn timber are docked outside Tanjung Balai Karimun Customs Office in Riau Islands province.

The ships were detained by the customs office while attempting to smuggle their illegal cargo into Malaysia and Singapore, the head of the office, Bambang Prasodjo, told The Jakarta Post.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Playboy magazine, which was due to make its debut in Indonesia next month, is at the center of a growing anti-pornography debate in Indonesia.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Despite the police crackdown on what they term "porn", prospective buyers of erotica, be it cheesecake magazines and tabloids or hard-core VCDs, can still find what they are looking for if they know where to look.

Jon Lamb – Journalists and human-rights organisations within East Timor and internationally are increasingly concerned about the consequences of a new penal code on defamation, which includes the penalty of up to three years' imprisonment for defaming a public figure. Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri signed an executive decree approving the proposed law in December.

Peter Short, Perth – "The voice of West Papua must be heard, it has been silenced for 45 years", West Papua solidarity activist Ned Byrne told a crowd of 140 people who packed into Fremantle's Kulcha venue on January 31.