Mark Dodd – The East Timorese Prime Minister's brother has been granted a lucrative monopoly to sell weapons to the country's Government, with a licence to broker sophisticated military equipment including tanks, patrol boats and attack helicopters.

Jakarta – The government has decided to continue the construction of a controversial highway project in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, but will create a new route to avoid passing through a conservation forest area known as the Leuser Ecosystem.

All of East Timor's fledgling dreams, and all of the threats to those dreams, are on display in The Australian today. First the good news. After a long negotiation, agreement is near on the mechanism for distributing tax and royalties on $30 billion worth of gas and oil under the Timor Sea.

Mark Dod – East Timor is Asia's poorest country. Its President, former guerilla fighter and national resistance hero Xanana Gusmao, says money is urgently needed to build hospitals, schools and stamp out endemic poverty.

Kupang/Yogya/Batam/Samarinda/Jambi/Manado – The price of premium gasoline soared by up to 500 percent in some provinces on Wednesday as the country's fuel shortage bit deeper, with the National Police stationing officers at gas stations around the country to prevent outbreaks of violence among frustrated customers.

Sydney – East Timor is in danger of becoming a failed state without outside aid, the fledgling nation's President Xanana Gusmao said on a visit to Australia Thursday.

Gusmao told a function in Sydney that East Timor was struggling three years after its independence from Indonesia and needed Australia to continue providing aid and administrative support.

New York – The idea of forming an international tribunal to try the 1999 post-ballot human rights violations in East Timor is not likely to gain the support of UN Security Council members, an Indonesian diplomat said here Wednesday.

Dennis Shanahan, Nigel Wilson – East Timor is expected to get more than $13 billion in gas royalties after a new deal with the Australian Government that is $8 billion more generous than first offered seven years ago.

The deal, which will take several weeks to put into a formal agreement, almost triples the revenue for East Timor over the next 15 to 30 years.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – The government may have to withdraw non-organic troops from Aceh as part of an agreement coming out of the negotiations between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki. If this happens, the government must reinforce organic troops in Aceh.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Four presidents and seven years since the fall of Suharto's authoritarian regime in Indonesia, his New Order acolytes are still cast as the dalang, the unseen master controlling the characters in Javanese shadow puppet shows.

An Indonesian appeal court has overturned the convictions of 12 soldiers for massacring Muslim protestors in 1984, a lawyer for the soldiers said, a move likely to anger rights activists.

Jakarta – Following a political move by lawmakers to push for the reopening of the investigations into shooting incidents in 1998 and 1999, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has urged a new probe into another gross human rights violation, that shootings in Tanjung Priok in 1984.

Wilhendra Akmam, Jakarta – Ten political parties have agreed to support the nomination of former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members in regional elections in Aceh in 2005-06. This is to be done taking note that GAM is prepared to conclude the negotiations with the Indonesian government in a peaceful manner.

In recent weeks, there has been much talk about efforts to eradicate poverty. The Jakarta Post's Hera Diani talked to H.S. Dillon, executive director of the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, about poverty eradication and the effectiveness of running programs.

Question: There have been so many poverty eradication programs, but few seem to work.

1. Who says what:

It should be clear that most info coming out at present is from Australian government leaks.

The juxtaposition of Howard speaking 'after meeting with East Timor President Xanana Gusmao' does NOT mean Xanana had briefed the Australian PM.

The House of Representatives' Commission III on law and human rights agreed recently to reopen the investigation into the shootings of students who staged antigovernment protests in Jakarta in 1998 and 1999.

James Balowski, Jakarta – "Based on everything we have obtained, the [National Intelligence] Agency [BIN] is believed to have played a major role in a well-planned conspiracy to murder Munir", Asmara Nababan, the deputy chairperson of the Fact Finding Team (TPF) investigating the renowned human-rights activist told Agence France Presse on June 23.

Jakarta – The last of a series of informal negotiations between the Indonesian government and members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will be held on July 11-18 with a focus on drafting an agreement toward resolving the Aceh conflict peacefully and permanently.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – The TNI (armed forces) fully supports the government's policy of seeking a resolution to the Aceh question which is peaceful, dignified and comprehensive. With regard to the withdrawal of troops, the TNI will leave it in the government's hands.

Negotiations to determine seabed boundaries and ownership of the oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea have been long-running between Australia and it's northern neighbours – previously Indonesia and now independent East Timor. But despite reports of agreement being near, it appears the issue of permanent maritime boundaries will again be deferred.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer didn't arrive in Melbourne in time on Tuesday to see himself and his Labor predecessor Gareth Evans share a toast with oil-filled champagne glasses.

Mr Downer missed a small Melbourne street protest over the Timor Gap oil and gas reserves, at which two demonstrators acted the parts of the ministerial pair.

James Balowski, Jakarta – After criticisms that intelligence agencies had failed to prevent a May 28 deadly bomb blast at a crowded market in central Sulawesi, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered regional governments to revive the Regional Intelligence Coordinating Body (Bakorinda) – a network of intelligence offices used to quell dissent to the Suharto dictatorship.

Eva C. Komandjaja and Blontank Poer, Jakarta, Surakarta – The National Police announced on Tuesday that 11 out of 17 alleged terrorists arrested last week had been officially charged as suspects in relation to a string of terror activities around the country, including the deadly bomb blast in front of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta last year.

Masduki Attamami, Antara, Yogyakarta – Direct regional elections have taken place around the country, and despite some protests they have in general been orderly and peaceful.

Stockholm – Sweden will pay 10,000 kronor (1,050 euros, 1,250 dollars) in compensation to one of the exiled leaders of Indonesia's separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for remanding him in custody last year, his lawyer said Monday.

Dan Eaton – An Indonesian murder mystery set in the skies and involving spies, arsenic poisoning and the national airline is becoming a dramatic test of democracy in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – At least 50 members of religious hard-line group Islam Defenders Front (FPI) sought an explanation from Governor Sutiyoso about the latter's stance on gambling and transsexuals.

Muhammad Nafik, Malang – Despite its pledge to stay away from politics, Muhammadiyah says its decision to give its support to last year's failed presidential bid by Amien Rais was not a violation of its nonpartisanship.

Veronica Brooks, Canberra – East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Tuesday a revenue-sharing pact with Australia covering the US$5 billion Sunrise natural gas project in the Timor Sea was fair and he expects it to be signed in a few weeks.

Jakarta – Indonesia today formally rejected a recommendation by a UN panel of experts that an international tribunal be set up to judge military officers and others accused of atrocities in East Timor in 1999.

Jakarta – The Commission of Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KONTRAS) has urged the government to follow up the United Nations' recommendations to reinvestigate the 1999 bloodshed in East Timor and to bring the case to the international rights tribunal.

ID Nugroho, Malang – The gender issue could become a serious problem for Muhammadiyah, which claims to be a modern Islamic organization, with all of the 39 nominees selected as eligible candidates to vie for its top posts in the organization being men.

Three arrested Papuans told "If you take action against Indonesia, Indonesia will kill you."

Introduction

AK-38, Jakarta – On Monday July 4, hundreds of Acehnese from Greater Jakarta held a demonstration at the United Nations offices, the US Embassy, the offices of the Minister for Politics, Security and Legal Affairs and the State Palace.

AK-38, Jakarta – Hundreds of Acehnese residing in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, who support of the Helsinki peace negotiations between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement, demonstrated at the United Nations in Central Jakarta demanding that the UN support a peaceful resolution to the Aceh conflict.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – They come, stay a while, murmur a few words, laugh, leave and get paid.

A few of the House of Representatives lawmakers do raise their voices and deliver critical points, but most of the time they are overshadowed by a host of others who are busy with their cellular phones and cigarettes, or just taking a comfortable nap.

Harry Bhaskara, Surabaya – The loudspeaker in the office, half the size of a village classroom, was blaring; while graphics, projected on the wall, showed the preliminary results of ballot counting.

Jakarta – Indonesia's production of dry un-hulled rice is forecast to slide 2 per cent to 53.10 million tons this year from last year because of a decline in harvest area.

Floods and drought would contribute to the decline in addition to a change in the planting season, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said.

Victor Tjahjadi, Jakarta – A delicate balancing act of resisting international concern over past atrocities while appealing for foreign military help has begun to pay off for Indonesia with Washington on course to revive ties frozen due to human rights violations.

[Indonesia in the Soeharto Years. John H. McGlynn, Jeffrey Hadler, Bambang Bujono, Margaret Glade Agusta, Gedsiri Suhartono, et al. The Lontar Foundation. 507 pp.]

Marwaan Macan-Markar, Bangkok – Indonesia's hope of emerging as a force for democracy in Southeast Asia faces a reality check in regard to its stance on justice – especially justice for victims of human-rights violations in East Timor.

Reporter: Tim Palmer

Hamish Robertson: When Tommy Suharto, the mega rich son of Indonesia's former dictator, was sent to jail for organising the assassination of the judge who'd been investigating him, many saw it as a hopeful sign. At last, it seemed, a new Indonesia was emerging where no one was above the law.

Tony Hotland and Rendi Witular, Jakarta – Despite criticizing the government for irregularities in its new budget proposal for military operations in Aceh, the House of Representatives approved new funds to support some 35,000 soldiers on duty in the province.

Jakarta – Students at religious and private schools fared worse in the national examinations than their state-school counterparts, while the low quality of teachers nationwide is cause for concern, an official says.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Defending its stance over the privatization program, the government has asked for public understanding for its plans to sell state firms that make little contribution to the state, arguing it would eventually benefit the economy in general.

The central government has ordered local administrations to protect the interests of foreign investors by extending a helping hand to settle disputes, including those related to property ownership, said Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Jakarta – A surge in demand for industrial products and high global metal prices caused exports in the first five months of the year to jump 30.79 percent from the same period last year, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

Jongker Rumteh, Buyat – Some 66 families living in Buyat Bay decided to take their fate in their own hands, relocating from their homes in Ratatotok district, South Minahasa regency to a new location in Duminanga subdistrict in Bolaang Mangondow regency, some 130 kilometers away.

Alisa P, Jakarta – The operation to restore security in Aceh is continuing. In order to support the operation the Defense Department has submitted a budget request for 530.27 billion rupiah. In the letter, the Minister of Defense hopes that it will be release by the end of June at the latest.

Large scale corruption has marred tsunami reconstruction in Aceh province, with more than US$100 million earmaarked for disaster relief unaccounted for, a legislator and an aid worker were quoted as saying Friday.