Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Military Police chief Maj. Gen. Hendardji Soepandji said Friday he would not give lawmakers the names of people probed in connection with an illegal arms stash.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Anticorruption watchdogs are urging an exhaustive probe of possible irregularities in rebuilding projects at the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR).

The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Aceh Working Group (AWG) said Friday the agency's alleged graft was "systemic", so the investigation must be thorough.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Recent heated debates about misleading poverty statistics may finally be settled, with the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reporting that the country's poor population increased to 39.05 million as of March.

Multa Fidrus and Theresia Sufa, Tangerang/Bogor – The lymphatic disease elephantiasis is on the rise in Java, with Tangerang and Bogor both recording recent outbreaks.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Amid international criticism that it is not doing enough to contain bird flu, the government launched a public awareness campaign Friday about the deadly virus that has killed more people here than anywhere else in the world.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – The government plans to sue three oil palm plantation firms and one oil palm entrepreneur for allegedly starting fires in their concessions that grew into massive forest fires in Riau province.

Women gathered in a national meeting in East Jakarta this week, focusing on how they could better advocate for women's issues. Among them were lecturer of political studies at the University of Indonesia Ani W. Soetjipto, also of the Center for Electoral Reform and writer of Politik perempuan bukan gerhana (Women's politics is not an eclipse).

Gagah Wijoseno, Jakarta – A variety of political party flags adorn the site of the fire in the Penjaringan area of North Jakarta.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Despite its adverse impact in stoking tribalism, regional autonomy is an irreversible process and the central government must not attempt to abrogate it, analysts say.

West Papuan student detainees boycott court process as protestors brace for military action

West Papuan church and community leaders have joined with women's and grassroots organisations to hold an all night vigil and blockade of the Abepura prison where students accused of killing members of Indonesia's security forces are being held.

Fadli, Batam – Unhappy with the thought that hundreds of activists from 40 countries might flock Batam Island to attend an international forum has made Riau Islands Police think twice about issuing a permit for the event.

International police and troops in East Timor were searching for rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado after a mass jailbreak raised serious concern about fragile security in the fledgling nation.

Quentin Dempster: Returning now to our earlier story, the shootings this afternoon in an East Timor refugee camp, and the so-far fruitless search for 57 men who broke out of a Dili jail earlier this week. Well, Bob Lowry is a military and political consultant and has advised the East Timorese government on national security issues.

Palembang, South Sumatra – Data collected by an environmental group here shows that 98 of the 2,047 hot spots on the island of Sumatra were detected in concession areas of private plantation companies in Ogan Komering Ilir, Banyuasin, Musi Rawas and Musi Banyuasin regencies.

Andi Haswidi, Jakarta – The estimated drop in global economic growth within the next two years could pose serious setbacks to developing countries like Indonesia if governments failed to act properly, the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday.

Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Disruption in service continued on the Surabaya-Gempol turnpike Thursday from a fourth breached embankment from the mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – "Helping those who help themselves" could describe the government's latest approach to tackling the problems of poverty and unemployment, with community development programs at its core.

Jakarta – Indonesia faces major obstacles in its fight against bird flu, the UN Children's Fund said as officials reiterated calls for more international financial aid.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – A national gathering of women activists ended Thursday with a statement that included a demand for firm action against the victimization of women in the name of religion.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Regional autonomy, which was championed as a means to improve accountability and public services, is instead bolstering ethnocentrism and tribalism, a survey found.

Eko Prasodjo, one of the lead researchers, said Wednesday the adverse impact resulted from the regional autonomy law which gave too much authority to regencies.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
Istana Negara,
Jalan Merdeka 3,
Jakarta, Indonesia

31 August 2006

Dear President Yudhoyono,

I am writing to you with great concern for the safety of Nelson Ipan Kornelius Rumbiak, who is 20 years old.

Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – On a Friday morning, among several people patiently waiting for the bus at a stop on the business strip Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto, is a man with a wad of Rp 1,000 bills on his left hand and a long scribbled note in his right.

Mark Forbes, Indonesia – Papuan activists charged over the murder of four Indonesian police and one intelligence officer boycotted their trial yesterday after being assaulted by police as they were being returned to prison.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The remaining seven defendants being tried for their involvement in a deadly clash with police on March 16 in Abepura, Papua, refused to appear in court Wednesday after one of them was beaten up by a police officer Monday.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is expected to make simultaneous amendments to three laws on the judiciary to restore the authority of the now-powerless Judicial Commission.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Alfredo Reinado, the swaggering military police officer blamed for plunging East Timor into chaos, has escaped from Dili's main jail with 55 other prisoners, including police accused of serious crimes during the violence in May.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – The government plans to sue three companies and an individual for allegedly igniting fires in Sumatra's forests, and has seized 6,300 hectares of land the suspects are said to have cleared by burning.

Julia Suryakusuma and Tim Lindsey – Indonesia is in the middle of an explosive debate about whether conservative Islamic morality will become enforceable law in that nation of 230 million. It is a debate that threatens to unravel the secular foundation of the republic itself.

Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama leader Hasyim Muzadi and Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin have been elected co-chairs of the World Conference on Religion for Peace (WCRP) at its eighth meeting in Kyoto, Japan.

Din said he was elected honorary chairman of the international religious organization while Hasyim will be among its nine presidents.

The trial of seven Papuans charged with the killing of two American nationals and one Indonesian is likely to continue without the defendants and their lawyers, after the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday ruled against defendants' arguments that the case should be tried in Papua.

Two months back, when East Timor's then Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, was dramatically forced to resign after weeks of violence and chaos, from many quarters, there was an audible sigh of relief. Gone was the man variously described as undemocratic, alleged to have armed a hit squad to eliminate his political opponents and a crypto-bloody-Marxist to boot!

Canberra – Former East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said in an Australian television interview that unidentified foreigners had approached army commanders in a failed bid to organize a coup against him.

He also said in the interview, aired Wednesday by public broadcaster SBS, that Australian Prime Minister John Howard had pressured him to step down.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – For years the United Nations tried to cover up perverted and outrageous behaviour by uniformed and civilian personnel who have served in East Timor since 1999.

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – The mudflow saga has shown not the slightest sign of ending soon as another pond broke apart in the early hours of Tuesday, inundating the Surabaya-Gempol turnpike once more and causing it to be temporarily closed.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – The Australian Federal Police has defended an officer accused of ordering a senior East Timorese policeman to take off his uniform in public, saying two inquiries had found the officer had acted appropriately.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has accused 106 logging and plantation firms of causing the annual widespread forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia is arguably Asia's least well-educated country, and the government is largely to blame. With 30% of its 242 million population school-aged, the world's largest Muslim country ranks lowest among its Asian neighbors in terms of public education expenditure.

Gagah Wijoseno, Jakarta – Eight years after stepping down, former President Suharto still has many fans. A book containing the achievements of the New Order regime has been launched. Interested?

The Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has claimed that the CIA was involved in the 2002 Bali bombings.

Bashir, who was convicted and jailed for having prior knowledge of the attacks which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, was released from prison in June after serving nearly two years.

Benget Simbolon Tnb., Jakarta – State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina has begun to feel the pinch of increasingly steeper competition in the oil and gas sector following the issuance of a 2001 government regulation that stripped the company of its monopoly,

Indonesia's covert action against West Papuan rebels could easily trigger a firefight between Indonesian and PNG forces. And Australia will be dragged into the confrontation. Paul Daley reports.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – An Australian federal policeman allegedly demanded that a senior East Timorese police officer take off his uniform in public in an incident that has angered Timorese MPs and may lead to a diplomatic protest.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) acknowledged Monday bypassing official procedures in carrying out several projects, but said its actions were justified under existing regulations governing emergency work in Aceh.

Kris Fathoni W, Jakarta – After holding a long-march from the State Palace, West Papuan protesters demonstrated at the Central Jakarta State Court demanding that the defendants in the 2002 Timika shooting case be released.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – As Islamic fundamentalism spreads in Indonesia, the tendency to control women has become so pronounced that even those who have embraced a conservative creed must break the silence and demand gender equality, activists say.

Soon after the reform movement swept across the nation in 1998, people began realizing the judiciary would be among the toughest institutions to change. It still is today. That was the message sent last week when the Constitutional Court scrapped the Judicial Commission's oversight of judges.

A good intention will not yield results without good implementation, wise men say.

Three months ago President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told his ministers, governors and regents to do their utmost to halt haze-producing forest fires, to spare him the humiliation of once again explaining to ASEAN leaders why the country has failed to handle the situation.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – Disappointment. This was how human rights organisations greeted an extension to the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKP) by the governments of Indonesia and East Timor. They also called for the KKP to be disbanded because they say its mandate is unclear.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The House of Representatives' commission on law says it will make revising the 2004 law on the Judicial Commission a top priority, after a court ruling stripped the Judicial Commission of its oversight powers.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – The number of illiterate people in Tangerang regency has jumped dramatically within the past two years, an education official claims.

Education agency head Muhyi Syarifudin said the agency had measured a rapid increase in illiterate people from 2,673 in 2004 to 190,123 this year.