Jakarta – Contradicting earlier comments by a Cabinet minister, the Vice President promised on Monday that firm action would be taken against Muslim hard-liners who forcibly closed down Christian places of worship as they were damaging religious harmony and taking the law into their own hands.

Harry Bhaskara, Jakarta – One of life's ironies is the incongruity between what a man works for and what he gets. Munir fought for justice throughout his life, yet, almost a year after his death, his killers have not been found.

Fitraya Ramadhanny, Jakarta – After recent calls that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reshuffle his economic ministers, these calls are now being directed towards the chief of the TNI (armed forces).

Jakarta – The rupiah's recent slide was attributed in part to declining market confidence in the prospects for the economy, with persistent conflicting signals from the government exacerbating uncertainty, a minister said on Monday.

The attacks and forced closures of churches throughout the country in the last four years have reached an alarming level for Indonesian Christians, both Protestant and Catholic.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) and the United States Pacific Command are holding a joint military training operation in the waters off Tanjung Priok.

The training will last for 16 days, from August 29 until September 12, and is the sixth such joint training operation between the TNI and the US Pacific Command.

Muhammad Nur Hayid, Jakarta – Ex-Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members who are granted amnesties but persist in seeking independence must be destroyed by the government immediately. The articles in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) have been sign and the agreement represents the final deal to resolve the Aceh conflict with dignity.

Chris Brummitt, Jantho – Imprisoned Aceh rebel Idris walks free on Wednesday as part of a peace deal with the government, but the scars he claims he sustained at the hands of his captors will remain for life.

Tiarma Siboro and Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has called on the Aceh foreign peace monitoring team to take anticipatory measures to prevent the current peace process between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) from faltering, including banning former rebels from bearing weapons in public.

In the last of his series on East Timor, Simon Montlake looks at the Thorny topic of oil and gas

His morning catch sold, fisherman Antonio Ximenes folds his homemade nets into the boat resting on the windswept beach.

Simon Montlake, Jakarta – Nearly six years after its troops and civilian militia laid waste to tiny East Timor, triggering worldwide outrage, Indonesia has begun to repair its military ties with the US.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The first confirmed cross-fire involving Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) guerrillas broke out on Sunday, putting a peace deal in the province to a serious test.

After years of slumping, foreign direct investment in Indonesia has started to gain ground amid an improved confidence in doing business in the country.

Business activities have begun to increase, as seen in the sharp increase in the amount of money spent to set up new businesses during the first seven months of the year.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Shopping malls are booming. Developers vie to build new malls on optimism that consumption, which has become the main driver of the economy over the past several years, will remain strong. But, how many malls do Jakartans really need? This week's cover story highlights the issue.

Jakarta – A leading human rights group on Sunday condemned as "insane" an Islamic court's caning of two unmarried couples in Aceh province for drinking alcohol and being alone together after dark.

They were the latest Aceh residents to fall foul of new regulations that give the staunchly Muslim province the right to impose a version of Islamic Shariah law.

Jakarta – Indonesian Vice President Yusuf Kalla has dismissed calls by parliamentarians for Aceh rebels to swear an oath of allegiance to the government as a precondition for an amnesty, state media said.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's military will be looking to reap even more riches from rebellious Papua province now that it has been forced to withdraw thousands of troops from Aceh, observers say.

Kalinga Seneviratne, Jakarta – Ever since Indonesia's highest Islamic authority, the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI), issued 11 fatwas or edicts against liberal Islam, a fierce debate has begun raging in the world's most populous Muslim nation on what constitutes an Islamic society.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – A week after investors were promised a better deal, including lower taxes, surging world oil prices are dealing Indonesia's economy a double whammy, battering the currency and blowing out the domestic budget.

Syaiful Amin, Jakarta – Former army chief General Ryamizard Ryacudu says the potential for Aceh and Papua to succeed from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) is significant. At the moment he says, the two regions already have a number of prerequisites for them to become independent states.

Fabio Scarpello, Jakarta – As the historic Aceh peace deal, signed two weeks ago in Helsinki, enters the delicate, implementation phase analysts worry that the wording is vague and that mounting political opposition could yet derail the accord.

M. Aziz Tunny and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Ambon/Jakarta – Nine people were injured on Thursday when a home-made bomb exploded at a market in Ambon, Maluku, the scene of widespread Christian-Muslim violence between 1999 and 2002.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Despite laws banning people from taking the law into their own hands and recognizing freedom of religion, police in West Java have admitted to helping Muslim hard-liners close dozens of churches in Bandung.

Robin Perry and Eleanor Taylor-Nicholson – On August 11, the governments of Indonesia and East Timor formally launched the joint Truth and Friendship Commission at its headquarters on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Veena Siddharth, New York – When the Indonesian government and the armed separatists of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed their peace agreement this week, they demonstrated that even the darkest cloud may have a silver lining after all.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – While at first it was attributed mainly to a run-of-the-mill supply and demand imbalance, the rupiah's continued slump has now been blamed on another factor that is much tougher to handle – eroding market confidence.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Independent legislative watchdog Teliti said the House of Representatives continued to disappoint despite being filled with younger and better educated members.

Jakarta – The Indonesian army will send an additional three battalions of troops to Papua. "The reason being, to provide security on the border," army spokesman Brig-Gen Hotma Ngaraja Panjaitan, told Tempo yesterday.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – The outbreak of polio in Indonesia could spread to other countries in the region, but a plan to vaccinate 24 million children next week should halt its progress, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A working group of military, legal and political analysts has completed the draft of a new bill on intelligence aimed at restoring the badly tarnished image of state intelligence agencies.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – A member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) has raised her concern over the alleged arrival of troops in the troubled province of Papua, saying that local people are feeling ill at ease.

Six years ago this month the Indonesian military unleashed its militia killers on East Timor, creating carnage that shocked the world and saw Australia intervene to drive them out.

Remember early January 1998 when the rupiah crashed through the 10,000-to-the-dollar barrier two days after then president Soeharto unveiled his draft 1998-1999 budget? The four-fold fall of the rupiah was then precipitated by what the market perceived to be unrealistic budget proposals, which defied the urgent imperatives for drastic reform and belt-tightening measures.

Jakarta – The military may be held accountable for alleged atrocities committed during a three-decade separatist war in Aceh province, Indonesia's justice minister said Wednesday, denying that troops would escape rights tribunals.

Desra Percaya, New York – Following seven months of talks mediated by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in Helsinki on Aug. 15 between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Criticism is gathering against the powerful Aceh Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) two months after it began the massive project of rebuilding the tsunami-affected province.

Jakarta – Indonesia has made scant progress in changing the outlook of government officials who remain indifferent to providing public service and continue to engage in corruption, the president says.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – With the primary aim of boosting investment in the private sector, the government has drafted a fairly sound and competitive value-added tax (VAT) and income tax system in its recently completed draft revision of the tax laws, according to an official.

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – A young East Timorese once inquired, "Do you people also experience atrocities?" I said, "What? Of course not." Where did she get such an idea? Youngsters in Indonesia's big cities were not only free of "atrocities", they were out blissfully shopping and loitering in malls, and moaning about the traffic.

Banda Aceh – At least 60 separatist guerrillas have left their rebel stronghold in Indonesia's Aceh province after a peace pact was signed last week.

The move comes a day after 1,300 Indonesian soldiers withdrew from Aceh province, the first major step by Indonesia to begin implementing the historic peace.

His Excellency Kofi Annan
Secretary-General
The United Nations
1 United Nations Plaza
New York, New York 10017-3515

August 22, 2005

Dear Mr. Secretary-General:

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – After the Helsinki peace deal that brought peace to Aceh, the central government has been urged to focus more on resolving the problems in Papua.

Carmel Budiardjo, London – The historic agreement concluded this week between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been widely welcomed, both in Indonesia and abroad. It was also highlighted by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), in his Aug. 16 address to the nation to mark the 60th anniversary of Indonesian Independence Day on Aug. 17.

Miswar, Banda Aceh – Indonesian negotiator Sofyan Djalil who is also the minister of information and communication, has started to manipulate the text of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Ambon – More troops were withdrawn from Maluku in response to the prevailing peace in the formerly riot-torn province.

Banda Aceh – Civilians who lost family and friends during a three-decade separatist war in Indonesia's Aceh province deserve justice, rebels said Sunday, days after an agreement was signed to end the fighting that claimed nearly 15,000 lives.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – The government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have agreed to only bring human rights violations cases in Aceh to court that occur after the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Monday.

Jakarta – The granting of sentence remissions to some 103,000 prisoners in observance of Independence Day has come under fire, with observers noting the recipients included high-profile inmates convicted of terrorism, murder and corruption.

Protests colored the closing day of the West Java Infrastructure Summit on Friday when about 500 people from Jatigede, Sumedang regency, staged a rally outside the venue at the Savoy Homann hotel in Bandung.

The protesters were objecting to the ongoing dam project in their area, claiming that they had been cheated in the land acquisition compensation payment.

Jakarta – The government should immediately issue a regulation requiring occupational safety and health (OSH) programs in small enterprises and home industries to avoid unnecessary accidents at work and a reduction in employee productivity, according to an expert with the International Labor Organization.