Banda Aceh – Separatist guerrillas in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh will respect a peace pact to be signed with the government, one of their top spokesmen said.

Helsinki – The Indonesian government and Muslim Aceh rebels signed a historic peace accord aimed at ending decades of bloodshed in a region devastated by last year's tsunami.

All hostilities were to end with the signing of the agreement, under which the separatists dropped their long-held demands for independence and agreed to disarm and demobilise their soldiers.

AK-17, Banda Aceh - A day before the signing of the peace agreement, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has protested the continued presence of TNI (armed forces) controlled militia in Aceh. This was conveyed by GAM's spokesperson Bachtiar Abdullah in a press release received by Aceh Kita on Sunday August 14.

Allan Nairn – Today (August 15, 2005) the Aceh Freedom Movement (GAM, Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) will sign a deal with the government of Indonesia under which they agree to disarm and accept amnesty, money and farmland.

Jakarta – The Hizbut Tahir Indonesia (HTI) activists staged a peaceful rally with about 5,000 Indonesian Muslims against what they called "the conspiracy of colonizers in Aceh and Papua" here Sunday.

The rally was held at the Hotel Indonesia Circle, Central Jakarta, for four hours, starting from 8 a.m local time, the HTI Coordinator Irwan Saifullah said.

Banda Aceh – Hopes are high that a peace deal to be signed Monday will finally end decades of bloodshed between troops and separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province, but analysts warn the road to lasting peace will not be smooth.

Stockholm – Rebel leaders from Aceh accused the Indonesian government of failing to disarm militias in the province, a day before both sides are to sign a landmark peace deal in Helsinki.

Michael Casey, Jakarta – A militant cleric jailed for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings will be among 53,000 inmates receiving sentence reductions to mark Indonesia's independence day, authorities and media reports said Saturday.

Jakarta – Not everybody is impressed by the nationwide campaign for the use of condoms to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS. Among those who are apparently opposed to the campaign is State Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs Adhyaksa Dault.

Jakarta/Medan – The authorities say they are trying to identify companies responsible for the current forest fires in the Sumatra region which have caused choking haze in neighboring Malaysia.

How often we are reminded. How quickly we forget. Like a recurring bad dream that is cyclical in nature, nations in Southeast Asia are again clouded by thick haze from out-of-control wildfires in Indonesia.

Jakarta – Environmentalists have criticized a draft presidential regulation on forest use as not providing protection for forests because of its outright "pro-business agenda".

Friends of the Earth Indonesia executive director Chalid Muhammad said that the draft regulation did nothing to prevent further deforestation.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – At least 10,000 Papuans stormed into the office of the Papua provincial legislative council in Jayapura on Friday, demanding the government to review its Special Autonomy Law.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – With the Helsinki peace deal only a few days away, some Acehnese figures urged the government on Thursday to prepare the technicalities for a plan to grant amnesty to former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members and return them to the community.

Alan Sipress, Lhok Bubon – The massive tsunami that crashed into Sumatra island in December ripped Ibu Yusniar's home from its concrete foundation. But while the stout woman survived, wrapping her arms around a column in a nearby mosque to ride out the surging waters, nature was not through.

John McBeth, Jakarta – Indonesian officials can be excused for feeling just a little outraged over the US House of Representatives passing legislation that implicitly questions the status of the resource-rich province of Papua.

Jakarta – People in war-torn Aceh province are cautiously optimistic that three decades of fighting will come to an end when the Indonesian government signs a peace agreement with separatist rebels early next week.

Almost all have lost family members – either to the long-running conflict or to last year's tsunami – and want to see an end to their suffering.

The Free Aceh movement or GAM and the Indonesian government will sign an agreement in Helsinki next Monday designed to bring an end to hostilities in Aceh province.

Melbourne academic Dr Damien Kingsbury is political adviser to GAM. He spoke to Sen Lam at London's Heathrow airport, enroute to Helsinki.

Sweden – After a mere five meetings, The Free Acheh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government is scheduled to sign a historic agreement on August 15 in Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. Though the full details of the agreement have yet to be disclosed, the substantial points of the draft have been widely analysed and published in the media.

Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court ruled on Wednesday that last year's dismissal of chief welfare minister Alwi Shihab as the National Awakening Party (PKB) leader was legitimate.

"We refuse the plaintiff's request and declare that his dismissal as the PKB leader was legal," judge I Wayan Rena Wardhana told the court.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Multa Fidrus, Jakarta – Condemning Garuda Indonesia management's move to close the offices of the Association of Garuda Flight Attendants (Ikagi), labor unions threw their full support behind the employees' planned strike this weekend.

Jakarta – Controversy over the issue of special autonomy for Papua has shifted to allegations of the misuse of Rp 5.6 trillion (US$577.3 million) in the government's autonomy fund allocated for the region.

Washington – As a peace deal nears in a 29-year war in Aceh, US lawmakers are seeking support for an independence movement in another Indonesian province: West Papua, also the site of a long-simmering rebellion.

Aguswandi, Jakarta – A greater devolution of power to the regions in Indonesia than that accommodated by present autonomy law provisions should be an option in peace building.

Denpasar – The leaders of Indonesia and East Timor launched a truth commission into the violence that marred the push for independence in what is now the world's youngest nation.

No endeavor will succeed if it does not have the genuine support and blessings of the primary stakeholders in the process. No matter how ingenuous the initiative, the effort put into it will be indicative of the confidence in its benefit and eventual success.

Hon Alexander Downer MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

11 August 2005

Dear Mr. Downer,

I am writing to you concerning the increasing tension in West Papua.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The government will not ban the teachings of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI) nor dissolve the group, but will let the government-sanctioned Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) decide whether it will file such a request with the court, a senior minister says.

Jakarta – Thousands of workers at state oil and gas company Pertamina say they will hold a nationwide strike on Wednesday in protest against a plan for massive layoffs.

Pertamina president Widya Purnama recently signed a decision aimed at terminating some 4,015 contract workers in the company.

Jakarta – Efforts to end three decades of bloodshed in Aceh received a major boost on Tuesday as the government secured full support from the House of Representatives for its peace agreement with the rebels in the province.

The following is abridged from a July 27 article by Thamrin Ananda, the chairperson of the Acehnese Popular Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA).

The negotiations between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to resolve the Aceh question peacefully, which concluded on July 17 in Helsinki, are not the first to be mediated by a foreign institution.

The trial over the murder of Indonesia's top human rights campaigner has been criticised by activists who doubt that it will reveal the truth behind a case that has grabbed international attention.

Prosecutors on Tuesday indicted a Garuda pilot for murdering pro-democracy champion Munir Thalib, who died on a flight to Amsterdam last September.

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – The trial of a Garuda pilot accused of poisoning Indonesia's leading human rights campaigner is becoming a key test for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, as investigators and activists claim the case is covering up a conspiracy that goes right to the top.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto stood trial at the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday on charges of masterminding and executing the murder of top human rights campaigner Munir last year.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – United Nations and rudimentary SOS flags were unfurled during a ceremony commemorating International Indigenous Day on Tuesday morning in Jayapura.

The trial of Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto for the murder last September of Indonesia's foremost human rights activist Munir, which commenced in Jakarta today, is clearly designed to detract attention from the real reasons for the crime which brought to a tragic end the life of a man who had shown outstanding courage in exposing atrocities and human rights violations perpetrated by

A former Indonesian minister, who during his career in the government was deeply involved in handling rebellious provinces, has reportedly told President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that Papua will become the next major headache for Indonesia if the government fails to take a lesson from the decision of the majority of people in the predominantly Catholic territory of East Timor to sep

The Secretary of State
The Honorable Dr. Condoleezza Rice

Dear Madam Secretary:

The West Papua Advocacy Team at the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Human Rights Center wishes to call to your attention the accelerating deterioration of the human and civil rights environment in West Papua.

Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta – Industry players slammed the government for requiring local factories to comply with environmental regulations that exceed the current capabilities of the firms.

Sibylle Kaczorek, Sydney – On August 2, Sister Susan Connelly, assistant director of the Mary MacKillop Institute for East Timor Studies, said that "fairness" should be the overarching principle in the David versus Goliath stand-off that characterises the "negotiations" about the gas and oil deposits in the Timor Sea.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Less than two weeks after the US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a $20 million program of assistance to help improve Indonesia's legal system, a 55-year-old American stands in the dock of a district court in the remote North Sulawesi province, 1,300 miles northeast of Jakarta, and could be jailed.

Scott Baldauf, Banda Aceh – When the tsunami came to sweep away her seaside home, her three children, and her husband, Yuniarti thought that she had lost everything she could possibly lose.

Jakarta – The leaders of the House of Representatives are divided on whether or not the body's official seal of approval is needed for the peace agreement between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to become legally effective.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military says it is readying its troops in case a peace agreement with rebels in Aceh province collapses.

The accord, which will be formally signed Monday in Finland, is seen as the best chance yet to end three decades of fighting that has killed 15,000 people. But several earlier accords have collapsed amid bitter mistrust on both sides.

Jakarta – An Indonesian pilot hs gone on trial for the arsenic-poisoning murder of a leading rights activist in a case seen as a test of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's commitment to the rule of law.

Damar Harsanto and Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Workers in the entertainment industry are paying dearly for the current police campaign against drugs in cafes and amusement centers across the capital.

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta – Anticorruption bodies, criminal experts and the public have put high hopes on the new head of internal affairs at the National Police Headquarters that he will quickly resolve allegations of money laundering involving 15 police officers.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Continuing high global oil prices have put Indonesia's fiscal stability teetering on a tightrope as the oil-producing country fails to benefit from the situation. Instead, the country faces swelling oil import costs due to rising domestic fuel consumption.

AK-41, Bandung – The All-Java Aceh Social Forum in Bandung has succeeded in reaching an agreement to support the signing of the Helsinki peace agreement. The signing of the agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will take place in Helsinki on August 15.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – There is a saying in Aceh, meunyo ka dimeusurapai uroe lageum dipiyoh dimeusu budee, meaning that weapons should stop firing when the rapai drum is beaten.