Jakarta – A joint Indonesia-East Timor commission plans to question former Indonesian military chief Wiranto and other officers over the violence surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono insisted Wednesday that members of the military should not face trial in civilian courts, even though President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has agreed to the move.

Andi Haswidi, Jakarta – Dubbed one of the most influential business gurus, Michael E. Porter, also a distinguished author and a professor at Harvard Business School, said Wednesday in Jakarta that the Indonesian government was placing too much emphasis on the privatization program compared to removing business hurdles.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Students and teachers can still remember the moment they had to immediately remove their chairs and desks from their school, the No. 99 Neusu Elementary School in Banda Aceh, which was to be demolished by heavy machinery for reconstruction the next day.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has agreed to allow soldiers accused of criminal acts to stand trial in civilian courts, a minister said here Tuesday.

The government had previously rejected the House's proposal for civilian trials, bringing the deliberation of the military tribunal bill to a halt.

Jakarta – Local elections in Indonesia's Aceh province pose a challenge for former separatist rebels in their transformation from an armed insurgency into a political movement, the International Crisis Group said Wednesday.

Banda Aceh – A second electoral worker has been abducted since the start last weekend of campaigning for milestone elections in Indonesia's Aceh province, police said Wednesday.

Markus Makur, Timika – Hundreds of Amungme and Kamoro tribespeople in Mimika, Papua, held a protest Tuesday to demand giant gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia give them its old machinery, vehicles and scrap materials.

The protesters marched to Freeport's office in Kuala Kencana to speak with company management about the request.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – An alliance of civil groups and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) joined the chorus of criticism here Tuesday against the civil registration bill, which they said could undermine freedom of religion.

Tony Hotland and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – While victims of the devastating mudflow in East Java continued a public protest, Vice President Jusuf Kalla issued reassurances Tuesday that they would be compensated for their losses. Kalla said PT Lapindo Brantas Inc. and other companies believed to be responsible for the disaster would live up to their obligations.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Infighting ahead of the coming landmark Dec. 11 elections in Aceh has hurt the rebel group that stopped its fight to split the province from Indonesia to instead pursue peace, a top think-tank said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – People living with HIV/AIDS still encounter stigma in various ways including discrimination, rejection and avoidance, even from medical workers, who often lack knowledge of the deadly virus, say activists.

Dili – East Timor's former interior minister will go on trial Thursday on allegations of arming a political hit squad with state weapons as the tiny nation descended into violence earlier this year, court officials and lawyers said.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has found four cases of irregularities in the management of public funds during the first semester of this year, leading to potential taxpayer losses of some Rp 123 billion (US$13.6 million).

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Dili – East Timor President Xanana Gusmao on Tuesday said the worst was now over and his country was recovering from the outbreak of violence earlier this year which prompted the deployment of international peacekeepers.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – After taking on cases of violence against women for the past five years in her hometown in West Nusa Tenggara province, activist-cum-lawyer Beauty Erawati said she was ready to call it quits and switch to a more secure job.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Despite public criticism of their overseas trips, dozens of lawmakers will again go abroad – this time to South Korea and Hong Kong – for what they called "comparative studies".

Surabaya – Thousands of victims of the mudflow disaster in Porong district in Sidoarjo, East Java, rallied Monday to demand gas drilling company PT Lapindo Brantas increase its compensation for their losses.

Protests were held at three separate locations – the Sidoarjo regency administration office, the nearby Siring overpass and along the main road in Porong.

Jakarta – International media watchdog Reporters Without Borders Tuesday lambasted the decision of Indonesian authorities to ban four films on East Timor and Aceh from the Jakarta International Film Festival.

"The government continues to choose the outdated method of censorship, which is regrettable," the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – Freedom of speech in Indonesia has suffered a significant reverse after censors banned four "disturbing" documentaries on East Timor and Aceh from the Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest).

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A caucus of lawmakers has criticized the controversial civil registration bill, saying it harmed the rights of marginalized groups and their political interests.

Caucus leader Nursyahbani Katjasungkana told a press conference here Monday that the bill was discriminatory and did not protect the rights of minority groups.

Andi Haswidi, Jakarta – Despite efforts to improve legal certainty under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration, investor trust in the Indonesian legal system remains low.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has taken a neutral stance toward all candidates in the first gubernatorial election in Aceh, following a controversy over whether it was supporting certain candidates.

Jakarta/Surabaya – Two new political parties, linked to the country's two biggest Muslim organizations – Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, are expected to contest the 2009 presidential and legislative elections.

Lloyd Jones, Port Moresby – A flag banned from being raised in Indonesia flew in Port Moresby today as activists called on Australia and other nations to support the province of Papua's independence from Jakarta.

Campaigning has begun for next month's long-awaited elections in the Indonesian province of Aceh. For the first time, Acehnese will directly elect their own governor and independent candidates will get to take part.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam

Speakers: Damien Kingsbury, one-time advisor to the GAM negotiating team and Indonesia specialist at Deakin University

Ben Terrall and John M. Miller – On his return from last week's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam, President Bush briefly touched down in Indonesia on November 20.

Thousands of Indonesians blocked a key road on Java island with sand to press the operator of an exploratory oil well spewing torrents of mud to pay more compensation.

Harry Bhaskara, Jakarta – The government seems to be inconsistent when it comes to handling disasters. It reacted relatively quickly to the Aceh tsunami two years ago but it doesn't seem to want to know about the East Java mudflow.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence Against Women says it deplores the reconciliatory move between three men charged with beheading three Christian school girls Poso, Central Sulawesi and relatives of the victims.

Reporters Without Borders has lambasted the decision of the Indonesian authorities to ban screening of four films, three on East Timor and one about Aceh province, at the 8th international Jakarta film festival (JiFFest).

Djamester A. Simarmata, Jakarta – Most of Indonesia's fiscal problems are inherited from previous governments, especially from the Soeharto era. Off-budget hijinks were rampant during that period, as in the case of the foundations established by Soeharto, his family, his cronies and the military.

Morgan Mellish, Jakarta – Companies from 30 countries have been in Jakarta trying to sell their weaponry.

There were Iranians selling high explosives, Koreans selling tanks, Indians selling cruise missiles and Russians selling virtually everything. Everyone, it seemed, was in Jakarta last week trying to sell arms to the Indonesian military.

Indonesia will trim down the proportion of the US-made military weaponry and equipment in its military to lessen the dependency on the US military industry, the defense minister said in Jakarta on Monday.

Sebastien Blanc, Jakarta – Six months after a deadly earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Java, between 50,000 and 80,000 families still lack a proper roof over their heads as the rainy season approaches.

John Loizou, Dili - The contrast between the physical presence of Cuba and the rest of the world in East Timor is as stark as the difference in the philosophies that divide them.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The government will not allocate any funding in the 2007 national budget for the Sidoarjo mud-volcano catastrophe in East Java, despite it having being declared a national disaster, a senior official from the Finance Ministry said Friday in Jakarta.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – Female lawmakers repeated Friday their demand for a 30 percent quota for women representatives in legislative bodies nationwide.

Speaking at a national gathering of female lawmakers held in Jakarta, activists argued the quota would strengthen women's political bargaining positions in regional and national parliaments.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Political parties have failed in their function as training grounds for future leaders of the country and instead serve only as power brokers, an analyst says.

Avian E. Tumengkol, Jakarta – The implementation of sharia-style laws in several regions in the country could negatively affect foreign investment and hurt Indonesia's international relations, a European parliamentary delegation visiting the country says.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Two years after the December 2004 tsunami devastated Aceh, women are playing a significant role in helping the economy bounce back.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Campaigning for the landmark Dec. 11 elections in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam kicked off Friday after gubernatorial candidates pledged to campaign peacefully in the polls seen as key to cementing a peace deal in the tsunami-devastated province.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has banned four films on Aceh and East Timor from an international film festival on the grounds they could "disturb security," organisers said Friday.

The banned films are all internationally produced and were due to be screened at next month's Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest).

Morgan Mellish, Timika – In the estuary where the Ajkwa and Otomona rivers flow into the Arafura Sea off the coast of West Papua, a new island has formed in recent years. It is about 10 metres high, one kilometre wide and covered in mangroves.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – After being suspended for around a month for his alleged involvement in a corruption case, Akhyarmansyah Lubis has been appointed by the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) as the agency's asset management adviser.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – As long as Indonesia is unable to fix its corrupt bureaucratic and legal system, the country will find it difficult to attract foreign investment from the US or other countries, the US envoy here says.

Some 1,000 factory workers from industrial complexes in Cimahi staged a protest outside West Java Governor Danny Setiawan's office in Bandung on Wednesday, demanding a raise in the minimum wage (see photo).

Heri Retnowati, Sidoarjo – Indonesia blamed an uncontrolled mud flow on Thursday for a gas pipeline explosion that killed at least seven people and injured 12 on Java island.

The late Wednesday blast – which disrupted gas operations in the area – occurred near the city of Surabaya in a part of the state-owned Pertamina East Java Gas Pipeline.

Jakarta – National Military (TNI) commander Air Chief Marshall Djoko Suyanto said Wednesday that officers aspiring to be politicians should retire. Suyanto said officers who retire, run for elections and lose cannot re-enter the force.