Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Attorney General Abdul Rachman Saleh says Indonesia will continue to impose the death penalty for certain crimes, as the country lacks competent law enforcement institutions. "I think the death penalty remains relevant," he said on the sidelines of a seminar on the death penalty sponsored by the European Union here on Tuesday.

James Rose – Indonesian and international groups have called for a halt to BP's Tangguh liquefied natural gas project in Indonesia in a letter to BP chief executive Lord Browne, citing sustainability concerns.

The letter highlights concerns over progress on key human rights commitments, transparency, and issues surrounding the West Papua secessionist rebellion movement.

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – Billions of rupiah in change from traffic fines remain idle at a state bank, as most people have been reluctant to go to court over traffic tickets and preferred to pay out-of-court settlements.

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – Enraged by the latest attacks on churches in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Christian leaders demanded here on Tuesday that the government investigate the bloody incidents thoroughly.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The government has finalized a draft presidential regulation to transfer control of the directorate general of post and telecommunications from the Ministry of Transportation to the Office of the State Minister of Information and Communication.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – At least 2,500 families will lose their homes next year when the city administration launches a massive eviction operation to remove squatters who are living along riverbanks, under overpasses and on idle plots of land.

The administration, however, promised that the people would relocated to nearby low-cost apartments provided by the city.

Jakarta - Suciwati, the wife of the late Munir, is to seek international support. She will be forced to do this if an Indonesian independent investigation team is not able to work effectively.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Police personnel will not hesitate to arrest any parties who attempt to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the proclamation of the West Melanesian State, a top police officer in Papua warned on Monday. The anniversary celebration falls on December 14.

Dili – Dili understands the worries of investors over corruption in East Timor and the government is determined to crackdown on the emerging phenomenon in tandem with aid donors, Foreign Minister Josi Ramos Horta said Tuesday.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia is planning mandatory military service for its citizens in a bid to beef up the country's defence forces.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Ministry of Defense is looking into the procurement of 100 Scorpion light tanks from a leading British arms company in the mid-1990s, in hopes of helping the anticorruption unit in a potential bribery investigation.

Kanis Dursin, Jakarta – The 150 or so people in the room suddenly burst into laughter when one of the speakers conveyed what he said was an appeal from Papuan girls.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – "Are you Acehnese? Then you must be GAM." This sort of intimidating remark is frequently uttered by soldiers when conducting checking motorists and passers-by for identity cards and weapons. Local resident Muhammad, 32, has had enough of it.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The oldest daughter of former Indonesian president Soeharto is being investigated for corruption after revelations that she received a 16.5 million pounds ($A42.2 million) payment from a British arms company.

Shawn Donnan – Indonesian human rights activist Munir had plenty of powerful enemies. As an outspoken critic of the former Suharto regime and institutions such as the military, he had become so accustomed to death threats, friends say, that he long ago stopped counting them.

Most residents say the Jakarta Police are unable to deal with crime and traffic in the capital. In conjunction with the Jakarta Police's 55th anniversary on December 6, The Jakarta Post asked residents for their opinion on this much-maligned force.

Scholars have warned the public that they should not anchor much hope on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration, as from the outset it has shown signs of incompetence.

Urip Hudiono and Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta – Apparently irritated by recent reports highlighting the grotesque corruption within the directorates under his control, the finance minister has ordered the directors general dealing with taxation and customs and excise to sign an antigraft pledge.

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta – Police managed to recover only Rp 139.7 billion out of Rp 8 trillion (US$889 million) lost to corruption over the past three years, said a police officer on Friday.

The House of Representatives and political parties have been labelled the most corrupt institutions in Indonesia by an international corruption watchdog. Transparency International Indonesia (TI Indonesia) ranked them first in its corruption barometer report for 2004 released earlier this week.

Slamet Susanto and Tarko Sudiarno, Yogyakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on the nation to avoid drugs, free sex and smoking as part of a healthy lifestyle campaign he launched on Friday.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Relatives and close friends of the late rights campaigner Munir have established a new award called the Munir Courage Award, and will present it beginning next year to exemplary human rights activists.

Jakarta – Police broke up a fine arts fair in Surakarta, Central Java, on Friday, as students and activists staged protests around the country to mark International Human Rights Day.

Attendees of the arts fair were forcibly dispersed by police intelligence officers, who said they were preventing a possible social disturbance.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Marking International Human Rights Day, the National Commission on Human Rights recommended on Friday that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reopen probes into past shooting incidents that killed students who were demanding reform.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The Golkar Party held a one-day meeting here on Friday, with several of its local leaders proposing that the party's regency branches be granted the right to vote at its upcoming election for a new chairman. Golkar is holding its national congress to elect a new leader from December 15 through December 20 in Nusa Dua, Bali.

Sri Wahyuni, Yogyakarta – A theater performance in the city during the weekend pulls in a packed house, but this is no usual theater audience. Instead of middle class actors playing to an upwardly mobile crowd, this was a play about and by "the help".

Tangerang – Thousands of workers held a rally at the Banten gubernatorial office in Serang on Friday, arguing that the Rp 693,500 (about US$77) monthly minimum wage set for 2005 was below the minimum cost of living.

A thief who cries thief, or maling teriak maling, is a famous old Indonesian expression that has come back into vogue with the dawn of the government's latest corruption campaign.

John Vidal, Dili – The only way to reach the village of Fatuhei in East Timor is a four-hour hike over tropical mountains. You are then in one of south-east Asia's most isolated places – seven miles from the nearest school and health clinic, 10 from a rudimentary road, and 20 from any public transport.

John Aglionby in Jakarta, Rob Evans, David Pallister and David Leigh – Anti-corruption investigators in Indonesia launched an inquiry yesterday into the Guardian's disclosures that a British arms company paid 16.5 million pounds to ex-president Suharto's daughter over a deal to sell light tanks.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Leading Papuan figures said the establishment of West Irian Jaya province as a province from Papua was still the subject of heated controversy despite the Constitutional Court's ruling upholding the split.

Brendan Nicholson – Troops in East Timor were allegedly told to stop filing reports on Indonesia's role in the violence there.

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is upbeat on this country's economy, saying it could expand even more than predicted, due mostly to a favorable market response to the peaceful general elections and the new government's policy intentions.

We should count ourselves blessed that we live in an age where human rights are part of our daily vernacular. In both substance and speech Indonesians have succeeded in breaking the chains of authoritarianism and can now freely execute their political rights, by speaking out against repression, and addressing, if not correcting, injustices across the archipelago.

Devi Asmarani in Jakarta and Shefali Rekhi in Singapore – The former general is showing his colours.

Long used to a disciplined life, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono seems to be taking this approach as he strives for order and prosperity in his country.

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta – Never before in Indonesia's long history has a leader's mandate come at so pivotal a time.

Kurniawan Hari and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – House of Representatives legislators urged the government to take the suspicious death of human rights activist Munir seriously, if it did not want the country to come under mounting criticism from the international community.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Uncooperative lawmakers and law enforcers remain a persistent hurdle that the National Commission on Human Rights has to clear in upholding human rights in the country, the commission says.

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta – Commemorating International Human Rights Day, on Friday December 10 students and activists in Yogyakarta, Central Java, held a long march carrying four biers and photographs of recently murdered human rights defender Munir.

Budi Hartadi, Surabaya – Around 300 activists from a number of groups in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya held an action in front of the Grahadi Building and at the grounds of the provincial parliament on Friday December 10 to commemorate International Human Rights Day.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – The Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) is calling on the government to provide protection and legal certainty against threats which have been received by human rights defenders, and to punish the perpetrators.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday issued a decree stepping up the fight against corruption in Indonesia.

All government members have been ordered to help him embark on the ambitious task. In a ceremony marking National Anti-Corruption Day, the President also urged the nation to take part in a massive campaign against graft.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Few people could afford to buy the latest BMW 5 car at the age of 27, no matter how hard they work. But, Amien, not his real name, can buy one easily. He's a public official in one of the country's most corrupt institutions: the tax office.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Lampung's Golkar Party secretary Oktaviano was sentenced on Thursday to four years in prison and fined Rp 200 million (US$22,222) in a graft scam involving the provincial education office. The Tanjungkarang District Court found Oktaviano guilty of embezzling Rp 6 billion allocated for the procurement of textbooks in Lampung province.

Indramayu, West Java – A woman activist disclosed on Thursday that child traffickers are operating in at least 10 regions of Indonesia. Some areas are located near the Malaysian and Indonesian border, with Batam city tipped as the area with the highest incidence of child trafficking.

East Timor wants the United Nations to extend its mission here for at least another year after its current mandate expires next May in order to strengthen the nascent state's still-fragile security institutions, Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Friday.

CAAT warmly welcomes the decision by Mr Justice Park to allow the Guardian access to the court file of the case Chan U Seek vs Alvis Vehicles Limited.

David Leigh – Disclosures in the Guardian that a British arms company paid 16 million pounds to Indonesia's president's daughter to obtain a government-backed sale are being investigated, the leader of the Commons, Peter Hain, told MPs yesterday.

[Indonesia's Struggle: Jemaah Islamiyah and the Soul of Islam, by Greg Barton, University of New South Wales Press, August 2004, Sydney. ISBN: 0-86840-759-3. Price: A$16.95 (paperback), 118 pages.]

Theresia Sufa, Bogor – Six police officers, who were found guilty of using unnecessary violence during the November 22 protest at the Bojong waste treatment facility in Bogor, have only been punished with administrative sanctions.

The ruling was read out by the chairman of the police disciplinary committee, Comr. Rastra Gunawan, at Bogor Police Headquarters on Thursday.