A. Junaidi, Jakarta – Activists and experts supported on Wednesday an antipornography bill, but urged the government and the House of Representatives to drop several controversial articles in the bill, including those banning of erotic dances and kissing on the lips in public.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – The city administration was slammed on Wednesday for what critics said was its harsh treatment of sidewalk vendors, while at the same time turning a blind eye to businesses being run out of houses not designated for commercial or business purposes.

[The following is abridged from a statement issued on May 20 by the Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea (MKOTT).]

Dear Australian people,

Warm solidarity greetings from East Timor!

Jill Jolliffe, Darwin – Officially it was a day of celebration, but there was an undertone of pessimism at ceremonies in Dili last Thursday marking East Timor's second independence anniversary and the drastic cutback of the United Nations' peacekeeping mission.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Denpasar – Around 300 former refugees of Balinese descent stayed overnight in tents at Niti Mandala square in front of the Bali governor's office on Tuesday, demanding compensation for their property abandoned in 1999 when East Timor broke away from Indonesia.

Abdul Khalik and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The National Police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) separately announced on Tuesday they would investigate corruption cases in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) that allegedly involve Governor Abdullah Puteh.

Dennis Shanahan – Australia has pressured the leadership of the fledgling state of East Timor, warning it that more public attacks over oil rights could severely damage the relationship.

An advocacy group pleaded Wednesday for the release of dozens of women it said were arrested by government forces and falsely accused of treason in the war-torn province of Aceh.

Sister Susan Connelly This anniversary is tinged with a lot of embarrassment for us as Australians. Despite all East Timor has been through, more often than not with Australian connivance and reluctance to help or tell the whole truth, today the Australian government is once again in the role of spoiler regarding the just sharing of the resources of the Timor Sea.

Jakarta – Indonesia's former president Abdurrahman Wahid is suing the General Election Commission for US$110 million (S$189 million) after it disqualified him from the July presidential race on health grounds.

Jakarta – Indonesian presidential candidate Wiranto, who has been charged with condoning atrocities in East Timor in 1999, hopes to meet East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao this weekend to discuss the abuses, a Wiranto aide said Wednesday.

Andrew Burrell – Sprawling across the entire 21st floor of one of Jakarta's ritziest office towers, the campaign headquarters of presidential contender Wiranto is filled with solemn loyalists plotting the strongman's campaign.

Indonesia's presidential candidates are gearing up for the official start of campaigning next week. Five pairs of candidates will contest the July 5th election. The front runner at this stage is controversial former military chief, General Wiranto, representing Golkar.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam

East Timor's independence hero is furious with Australia, he tells Peter Hartcher in Dili.

Xanana Gusmao, the President of East Timor, has accused the Australian Government of pursuing a policy on the rich seabed oil reserves between the countries that "offends our intelligence".

Australia, already exploiting the wealth of the Timor Sea, has bright prospects of much more to come. East Timor, still waiting and dependent on aid from Australia and elsewhere, is impatient. Its determination to win a better deal on Timor Sea resources is straining relations with Australia in a way not seen since it won its independence, with Australia's help.

Australia says it's refusing to deal with some officers of Indonesia's notorious Kopassus special forces. The Australian military is applying the veto to officers accused of human rights violations while still trying to rebuild links with Kopassus. The Defence Minister says it's a difficult balancing act but in Australia's national interest.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao says he has told his country's top law officer it is not in East Timor's interests to try to prosecute Indonesia's former military commander Wiranto for crimes against humanity.

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Backs straight, arms swinging, faces set: the East Timorese troops and police officers marched slowly past the assembled dignitaries at this week's independence celebrations in Dili's football stadium.

New York – A wide range of US organizations today urged President Bush not to offer military assistance to Indonesia when he meets President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tomorrow.

Jakarta – The Supreme Court said on Monday it upheld a conviction of crimes against humanity by a special tribunal against three Indonesians officials for their roles in the church killings of 27 East Timor independence supporters in 1999.

In the Indonesian province of Maluku, road blocks and barricades have been erected in several parts of Ambon after two weekend bomb blasts. Local police say the attackers are trying to provoke violence between the muslim and christian communties. There are also claims that those responsible have a clear political agenda.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam

Rachel Harvey, Banda Aceh – After a year of military operations aimed at wiping out a rebel secessionist movement, the Indonesian province of Aceh is now back in the hands of civilians.

The status of the province has been downgraded from martial law to a state of civil emergency.

Gunawan Mashar, Makassar – The fall of President Suharto six years ago was also commemorated by hundreds of Makassar students in South Sulawesi who held simultaneous demonstrations at four different locations on Friday May 21.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Public polls are a much-sought device in Indonesian politics these days.

Several polling groups have emerged since last year and, for the first time, their surveys of public expectations are being taken seriously by contenders for the presidency.

Slamet Susanto and M. Taufiqurrahman, Yogyakarta/Jakarta – Presidential candidates are set to spend billions of rupiah in the one-month campaign period slated to begin on June 1, seeking financing from supporters and the business community, with some willing to empty their own pockets.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The renewed rivalry between the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and its old nemesis the Golkar Party has taken on a new twist with Golkar leaders accusing PDI-P of funding a negative campaign against its presidential candidate Gen. (ret) Wiranto.

Jakarta – Discontent with a regulation detrimental to the comeback bid of its presidential candidate Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, the National Awakening Party (PKB) disclosed a backroom deal made among parties that would allow him to run for the top job.

Gede Suardana, Denpasar – Although anti-military demonstrations in Jakarta have proceeded safely, it wasn't so in Denpasar Bali.

Danang Sangga Buwana, Jakarta – National Mandate Party presidential candidate Amien Rais has promised himself that he will not use negative campaign methods in the presidential elections because as well as not being educational it will create an acrimonious atmosphere.

Muchus Budi R., Solo – Commemorating six years since the fall of Suharto, students and non-government organisations (NGOs) held a demonstration in Solo, Central Java, on Friday May 21. During the action they declared their opposition to presidential candidates form the military, the neo-New Order [regime of former President Suharto] and the fake reformists.

Former president Soeharto quit on May 21, 1998, amid a chaotic security and economic crisis after he had ruled for three decades. His resignation led to the reform era, which, after six years, many say has yet to rehabilitate the country's economy and the nation's integrity. The Jakarta Post asked a few residents their opinion about the changes that have occurred since then.

Jakarta – Indonesia could face new bloodshed between Christians and Muslims in the Maluku islands ahead of July's national presidential election, an international think-tank warned yesterday.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – A police disciplinary committee in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, ordered 18 officers to be detained on Thursday for only six days for their role in a shooting incident last March on Flores island that killed six people.

However, the committee exonerated another low-ranking officer of all charges over the shooting in Manggarai regency, Flores.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The country will mark on Friday the sixth anniversary of president Soeharto's resignation – and the failure to bring him to court for his alleged involvement in a number of graft cases.

Legal observers say the whole nation is responsible for the inability of the country's legal system to touch Soeharto.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Vice presidential candidate Solahuddin Wahid defended his running mate Wiranto on Wednesday, saying the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) had no proof the retired Army general had committed any human rights violations.

Jakarta – Fishermen in Cilincing, North Jakarta, demanded the city administration close factories located on the northern coast, which they said were polluting the sea with unprocessed waste.

In a protest at City Hall on Wednesday, the fishermen said the factories should be prosecuted.

A. Junaidi, Jakarta – While public participation in the fight for good governance has increased in the current regional autonomy era, the role of women in public affairs remains marginalized, research by The Asia Foundation (TAF) says.

Tangerang – Hundreds of residents attacked on Thursday the houses of Lontar village officials, who they accused of taking bribes to allow offshore sand mining to resume in the area.

Leony Aurora, Jakarta – More than 40 percent of poor Jakartans, whose health care services are supposed to be covered by the government, claim they still have to pay part of their hospital medical bills.

John Aglionby – "Ferry Bebas" (Ferry is Free) was all Media Indonesia needed as its main headline on Monday to tell its readers the news.

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – More than 100 Acehnese claiming to be local people and members of various anti-separatist movements met with officials of the Ministry of Defense here on Wednesday as part of what seemed to be a government-sponsored week-long course on national defense.

A Central Sydney rally has called on the Australian Government to give East Timor its fair share of revenue from Timor Sea oil and gas reserves.

Australia and East Timor are negotiating a maritime border in the Timor Sea. An interim treaty was implemented 12 months ago until a more permanent arrangement is found.

Matthew Moore, Dili and Craig Skehan – Five years after more than 14,000 United Nations troops and police restored order to a devastated East Timor, and on the eve of the second anniversary of the country's independence, Dili has taken over responsibility for its defence and internal policing.

Dili – East Timor celebrated its second anniversary Thursday while its leaders called for patience in the face of a sputtering economy and a declining UN presence in Asia's poorest nation.

President Xanana Gusmao, a former freedom fighter jailed by Indonesia during its 24-year occupation, told thousands of revelers that the country's future was in their hands now.

Peter Kammerer – East Timor remains among the world's poorest and least developed nations on the second anniversary of independence, but observers are not as gloomy about its future as might be expected.

John McBeth, Dili – When the clock strikes midnight on May 19, genuine independence will remain elusive for East Timor.

Eleanor Hall: Today marks two years since the creation of the world's newest nation, East Timor. But it seems the euphoria that accompanied its political independence from Indonesia has given way to anxiety about its long-term future.

Dili – Both East Timor and Indonesia are "on alert" for any resurgence of anti-independence militia activity following Dili's assumption of full security control from the United Nations, says East Timor's foreign minister.

Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – Indonesia lifted martial law in the restive province of Aceh yesterday, a year after it launched its biggest military operation since the 1975 invasion of East Timor in an attempt to end a separatist rebellion.

Eleanor Hall: The Oxfam Community Aid Abroad report into East Timor is highly critical of the Australian Government, particularly its approach to the Timor Sea oil and gas fields. And the report says it's in Australia's national interest to be more generous and to help prevent East Timor from becoming a failed state.