Dili – President Xanana Gusmao sent copies Wednesday of the East Timorese Truth Commission's report on a quarter century of human rights violations and crimes against humanity, mostly committed under Indonesian occupation, to foreign embassies, international institutions and human rights groups.

Sarah Stephen – Greens Senator Kerry Nettle received a warm welcome when she finally managed to get to Christmas Island on January 28-30 to visit the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers and a family of West Timorese being held there.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Activists grouped in the Aceh Network for Democracy have demanded an rewrite of the Aceh governance bill, which they say accommodates Jakarta's interests more than those of the Acehnese.

Paul Kingsnorth – "Tomorrow," said Galile, "I will take you to the Bird of Paradise. We know where they live. You will hear them, and maybe see them too. They are very beautiful."

Dili – Hundreds of East Timorese troops who gathered outside Dili's presidential palace Wednesday to demand the dismissal of a senior commander have left the complex and will meet President Xanana Gusmao later today to discuss their grievances, officials said.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The prospect of a strike by tourist industry workers could not come at a worse time for the country, an Indonesian Tourism Council official says.

"This is not the right time. Bali's occupancy rates are less than 30 percent," deputy chairwoman of the tourism council Meity Robot said Tuesday.

Abdul Khalik and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – A police decision to investigate members of two political parties opposed to the government's policy of importing rice from Vietnam was slammed by lawmakers Tuesday.

Jakarta – Foreign companies will soon receive guidelines on seeking military protection for their operations in Indonesia, the defense minister said Monday.

All payments to the military should be voluntary and made through a civilian agency, not directly to soldiers or police, Juwono Sudarsono said, citing regulations that could be complete "as early as next week."

Hugh White – In Jakarta, they fear that one of their worst nightmares may be coming to life. For years, Indonesians who know Australia have worried about what happens if the simmering independence movement in West Papua starts to catch the attention and sympathy of the wider Australian community. They fear a repetition of East Timor.

What the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten did in September was absurd. It failed to exercise self-restraint or consider what is fit to print. Publishing 12 cartoons degrading the Prophet Muhammad was certain to enrage Muslims, most of whom believe any visual depiction of the Prophet is forbidden.

Jakarta – Indonesia will miss a deadline to move tens of thousands of people made homeless by the 2004 tsunami into temporary houses because of problems obtaining timber, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Police officers involved in the crackdown on obscene materials in the capital are not second guessing themselves on whether covers of local adult magazines and tabloids qualify as smut or art. It only takes the showing of skin for a publication to fall foul of the law.

Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) entered into a collaborative arrangement Monday to eliminate corruption and unfair competition in government and state-enterprise procurements.

Jakarta – Indonesia's foreign debt has many people seriously worried. Most fear the country may never be able to escape the debt trap it has fallen into, which they say prevents it from using its resources for promoting development and better public welfare.

Jakarta – Despite record 2005 export earnings, a closer look at the trade statistics suggests the country's manufacturers are having a tough time competing overseas, particularly against more efficient manufacturers from other countries in the region.

Jakarta – Activists and economists are outraged at Indonesian plans to cut a swathe through one of the world's largest remaining areas of pristine rain forest to create a massive Chinese-funded palm oil plantation.

Robin McDowell, Jakarta – Soon after scientists landed by helicopter in the mist-shrouded mountains of one of Indonesia's most remote provinces, they stumbled on a primitive egg-laying mammal that simply allowed itself to be picked up and brought to their field camp.

M Isma & Saiful Bahri, Banda Aceh – Demonstrations "opposing" the Home Affairs Department's revisions to the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh (RUU-PA) are continuing and spreading.

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta – Both the Helsinki Accord and the BRR (Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency) are failing to include women, says Samsidar, Nobel Prize candidate, special rapporteur on Violence against Women, and chair of the Aceh Women Volunteers for Humanity (RPuK).

Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya – Despite calls for restraint, protests intensified in the country's main cities Monday over the publication in European media of caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Protesters in most of the cities decried what they considered the use of freedom of the press to justify insulting Islam.

Jakarta – Indonesian Muslims staged noisy but peaceful protests in four cities on Monday demanding Denmark apologize over controversial cartoons that Muslims say insult Islam and the Prophet Mohammad.

About 200 protesters from a leading Islamist party rallied near a building housing the Danish embassy in Jakarta.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – At least 200 officials at state-owned companies (BUMNs) are being investigated for their alleged involvement in graft and abuse of authority, State Minister for State Enterprises Sugiharto said Saturday.

Eko Nopiansyah, Jakarta – Edwin Partogi, the operational head of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), has said that retired Major General Muchdi Purwoprandjono's request to the Muslim Defender Team to assist him in the case of the murder of human rights activist Munir proves that the TNI (Indonesian military) does not support him.

Tony Hotland and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government has been criticized for the slow process in the selection of members of the long-awaited Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) tasked with resolving past gross human rights violations.

The selection process has been stalled at the presidential office for almost six months.

Jakarta – Activists from several NGOs dealing with women's issues on Saturday came out against the much-debated pornography bill, which they claimed would repress women.

The bill, which was drafted in part to protect women from exploitation, would have the opposite effect of placing limits on women's expression and freedoms, the activists said.

Indonesia has ramped up pressure on the Howard government not to grant asylum to 43 Papuan boat people, with a senior minister denying that human rights abuses are systemic in the troubled province.

Greg Roberts – The number of people crossing illegally from the Indonesian province of West Papua into Australia may be much greater than was thought.

Jakarta – Indonesia will maintain a ban on foreign media reporting from its easternmost province of Papua to prevent an escalation of tension in the restive region, Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said Monday.

Banda Aceh – Vice President Jusuf Kalla says he opposes the inclusion of a clause in the bill on governance in Aceh that would allow independent candidates to run for public posts.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The House of Representatives has yet to start deliberating the bill on Aceh's future governance but opposition and criticism of its contents have already been voiced.

Nancy-Amelia Collins, Jakarta – The Indonesian defense minister has acknowledged that some military and police personnel have committed rights abuses in the eastern province of Papua. He says, however, any abuses are not part of a systematic policy.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Water is the great equalizer for Jakartans, whether they live in a swank neighborhood of the city or a crowded kampong only a stone's throw away. For everybody has to pay extra to get a drop that is fit to drink.

Jakarta – The government has been called upon to take action against those responsible for Saturday's attack on houses owned by members of the Jamaah Ahmadiyah congregation in West Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara.

Jakarta – Former Army chief of staff General Ryamizard Ryacudu says there is a global plot to weaken the TNI (Indonesian military). This has been proven by the growing estrangement between the TNI and the people.

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) has urged Xanana Gusmao, President of Timor-Leste, to veto the criminal defamation provisions contained in the country's new Penal Code.

Jakarta – Indonesia on Sunday challenged Australia to prove that 43 boat people from troubled Papua province seeking asylum from Canberra are really fleeing persecution.

"It lays on the Australian government to prove that they are really being persecuted," said Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda. "The ball is in the Australians' court."

Bhimanto Suwastoyo, Jakarta – Indonesia's parliament is set to scrutinize a draft law granting war-torn Aceh unprecedented autonomy, which may spur demands from other regions for similar deals but poses no serious threat, analysts say.

Pramono, Jakarta – General Ryamizard Ryacudu says that the TNI (Indonesian military) is being ruined and weakened. According to Ryacudu, the military has been estranged from the people while in fact the TNI is a people's military that must unite with the people to build the strength [of the nation].

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reassured the public Saturday that Chinese-Indonesians were legally recognized and their constitutional rights guaranteed by the state, therefore, any acts of discrimination against them must be stopped.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives must act to reveal the masterminds behind the murder of social justice campaigner Munir, rights groups say.

Tom Allard – Indonesia has stepped up its campaign for Australia to return 43 Papuan asylum seekers, with its new ambassador warning that relations will be strained if they are granted refugee status.

Yogyakarta- Dozens of students from West Papua demonstrated at the intersection in front of the Yogyakarta central post office on Friday February 3.

Margie Mason – More than a year after the tsunami swallowed thousands of lives and homes in Indonesia, many survivors still lack of basic health and sanitation needs despite billions of dollars in disaster aid, a new study found.

Tony Hotland and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The government and the House of Representatives may allow independent candidates to contest local elections in Aceh, although the issue is not in the draft bill on Aceh governance.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – A draft law aimed at cementing a peace deal between Indonesia and rebels in Aceh province will be debated for the first time in parliament this week, with legislators facing a tight deadline to pass it.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Hopes of a breathing space for the economy in the form of easing interest rates may prove to be unfounded, with the central bank saying inflationary pressures continue to remain a problem, despite the rupiah's recent gains.

Jane Perlez, Manado – A star government witness in a criminal trial against the American mining giant Newmont told a court on Friday that waste from the company's mine near here was deposited in the sea at too shallow a depth, causing the contamination of fish.

The 2,500 page document of the Commission for Reception Truth and Reconciliation has just been released at the United Nations and the full contents are now widely available on the internet. The report, which New Zealand helped to fund, documents 24 years of crimes against humanity in horrifying detail.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Leave the judgment on esthetic values of an artwork to the critics, some will say, and let the police gauge the morality of the works. And that is exactly what is happening in a high-profile case from last year.

Indonesia's new Ambassador to Canberra says relations between Australia and Indonesia will certainly be affected if Australia grants refugee status to more than 40 asylum seekers from the Indonesian province of Papua.