The continuing terror threat from Islamic radicals will overshadow Ramadan this year in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation.
Top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned that the extremists who staged bombing attacks on the resort island of Bali and a Jakarta hotel are determined to strike again soon.
Jayapura – Hundreds of Papuans, including students, launched a peaceful rally at the provincial legislative building on Friday to reject the establishment of West Irian Jaya province.
[The article below was published in a slightly abridged form in the Post's opinion pages.]
Max Lane – Prime Minister Mohummad Mahathir's speech at the Putra Jaya meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) articulated an anger against the West which is slowly but steadily accumulating, or re-accumulating, around the world.
Jakarta – Indonesia's economy might enter a crucial period from April to September next year but its overall situation would not be significantly different from that of this year, an economic observer has said.
Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – The government has wasted a golden opportunity to resolve the secession issue in Aceh and Papua by failing to show goodwill to the people of the two resource-rich provinces, further complicating the matter, an expert said.
The Australian High Commissioner believes that the interim legal framework for Timor Sea petroleum development is a winner for East Timor (letters, October 20).
Lesley McCulloch, Kuala Lumpur – When her husband died in January, Faridah (not her real name) fled with her two-and- a-half-year-old son from the province of Aceh in Indonesia's northwest. The heart attack that killed her husband was, according to Faridah, brought on by the stress of being hounded by the Indonesian military.
Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – Alarmed by the increasing number of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has decided to revise its five-year program to include HIV/AIDS awareness in its campaigns.
Dili – An East Timorese court Thursday convicted and sentenced two former pro-Jakarta militiaman for murdering three independence supporters during the country's break from Indonesia in 1999.
Bill Guerin, Jakarta – The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) is trying to sell the government's entire 52 percent stake in what was described last year as the "best Indonesian retail bank" by industry magazine The Asian Banker.
Jakarta – Although small in number, demonstrations opposing US President George Bush are continuing in Bali. Twenty demonstrators however, who were unable to break into the airport, were detained at the Siur intersection.
Kuta – Police dispersed a peaceful rally staged on Wednesday by some 50 students from the Association of Islamic Students (HMI) and the Muhammadiyah Students Association (IMM), who were protesting US President George W. Bush's three-hour visit here.
Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh District Court sentenced on Tuesday three negotiators of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), including chief negotiator Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, and women activist Cut Nurasyikin, to prison terms of between 11 years and 15 years.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara said on Tuesday that reconciliation would not stop the legal process against rights abusers or justify impunity.
Sian Powell, Jakarta – The chief of Indonesia's special forces will make history tomorrow when his trial begins in Jakarta's central court.
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Golkar's presidential candidates presented their electoral platforms before some 500 party members from across the country on Tuesday, but analysts said their programs were too general and vague.
Tantri Yuliandini and Kasparman Piliang, Bukittinggi – Certain cultural values Indonesians hold dearly encourage corruption, making it almost impossible to eradicate such practices, secretary general of Transparency International Indonesia Emmy Hafild said on Tuesday.
Jakarta - The involvement of the Armed Forces Intelligence Body (Badan Intelijen ABRI, BIA) and ABRI's Social and Political Unit (Sospol ABRI) in the takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters on Jalan Diponegoro in Central Jakarta on July 27 1996(1), was revealed in a Central Jakarta State Court hearing on Tuesday October 21.
Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – Research suggests that 66.3 percent of people living in the city have yet to participate in political activities, especially those concerned with policy-making.
The results of a survey conducted by the Institute for Civil Society (INCIS) on Jakarta's socio-political participation were published in a book launched on Tuesday.
Jakarta – The small, but outspoken, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) stated here on Wednesday that it was against the visit of US President George W. Bush to Indonesia.
Max Lane, Jakarta – On October 13, the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) announced the cancellation of a November 6 visit to Australian Defence Force facilities in Perth by a TNI delegation. The decision was in response to the Australian government's policy of vetting individual TNI participants for any joint military programs.
How to describe this urbane gentleman who so smoothly changed his image as Soeharto's loyal man to that of defender of democracy and development? What should we do to stop him from manipulating the proreform forces and prevent him from restoring the power of the New Order regime? Who should be blamed for this messy situation?
Ben Packham, Melbourne – East Timorese trade unionists have ended the nation's first-ever strike. The country's aviation workers ended the two-week strike after reaching an interim agreement with air-freight company Timor Aviation Services.
Gede Suardana, Denpasar – Around 30 students demonstrated in front of the US Consulate General in Denpasar opposing a visit by George Bush who will arrive in Bali tomorrow, October 22.
Jakarta - Prospective presidential candidates who are involved in cases of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), as well as those who have been involved in violations of human rights will not get support from the public.
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Golkar's convention deputy secretary Rully Chairul Azwar admitted on Monday that the decision to delay the selection of Golkar's sole candidate from February to April was taken to secure the chances of party chairman Akbar Tandjung.
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Golkar kicked off a preliminary convention last night to pick seven candidates to contest the party's presidential ticket next year.
Amid internal bickering which has significant implications for party unity, Golkar cadres are staring at several well-known contenders, including retired generals and business tycoons.
Protests against the arrival of US President George W. Bush were held today in a number of Indonesian cities. Protests occurred in Solo, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Denpasar, Jakarta, Jember and Makassar. The protests were marked by US flags and posters of George Bush being burnt.
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The government plans to revoke the status of 137 parties as corporate entities following their failure to pass the administrative screening conducted by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.
Letters giving notice of the revocation are being drafted by the ministry, which will ban the parties from staging political activities.
Protests against US President George W. Bush were staged in several cities across Indonesia on Tuesday, one day ahead of his brief visit to Bali.
In Jakarta, about 300 members of the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI) rallied outside the US Embassy, torching pictures and an effigy of Bush, as well as American flags.
Jakarta – The approach of Christmas heightens the risk of terrorist attacks in Indonesia, said chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Trikora Military Command, which is responsible for military affairs in the troubled province of Papua, has dishonorably discharged at least 63 soldiers this year, mostly on account of desertion, an officer said here on Monday.
Banda Aceh – A court here on Tuesday handed a 13-year prison term to a negotiator for the separatist rebels of Aceh after convicting him of treason and planning acts of arson, murder and bombings.
Banda Aceh – A court here on Tuesday sentenced a female Aceh independence activist to 11 years imprisonment on charges of treason.
The Banda Aceh District Court said in its ruling Nur Asikin had been found guilty of committing an act of treason by her involvement in the struggle to separate Aceh from the unitary state of Republic of Indonesia.
Police have broken up a training session by Indonesia's official human rights commission in Aceh province, where the military is in its sixth month of a major offensive against separatist rebels.
Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Experts are calling for the revocation of martial law and the establishment of a transitional administration with full support from the central government in Nanggroe Aceh Darusalam in a bid to resolve the conflict there.
Dili – East Timorese leaders, returning home from a European tour, expressed optimism Tuesday about continued European Union aid but said Dili's expectations should be "realistic".
The steep decline in the number of bankruptcy lawsuits filed with the Commercial Court in Jakarta by no means indicates a strong recovery in the business sector but is simply further evidence of distrust by businesses in the bombed-out, corrupt court system, especially the bankruptcy regime.
The East Timor Action Network (ETAN) today urged President Bush to set the record straight and restrict all military assistance for the Indonesian military (TNI) when he visits Bali, Indonesia.
Jakarta – Leaders of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah Islamic organizations, Hasyim Muzadi and Ahmad Syafii Maarif, in the meeting on Wednesday in Bali will tell US President George W. Bush that US policies in the Middle East, seen as favouring Israel, are one of the root causes of terror attacks in Asia.
Jakarta – The World Bank said Monday that Indonesia was failing to eradicate the culture of graft inherited from ex-dictator Soeharto, hampering development and exacerbating poverty in the world's fourth most populous country.
Jakarta – The State Minister of National Development Planning, Kwik Kian Gie, said all the nation's problems stemmed from rampant corruption, collusion and nepotism, known by the Indonesian acronym KKN.
Jakarta – Police have shot dead five suspects and arrested a total of 13 after a chase through the forests of the troubled Poso in Central Sulawesi province following deadly attacks, police said Monday.
Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) will withdraw its support of Governor Sutiyoso if he continues to conduct wide-scale evictions in the city.
Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – Moderate Islamic leaders say they are prepared to give US President George W. Bush a tongue-lashing over the US invasion of Iraq and what they see as the anti-Muslim tenor of Washington's war against terrorism.
Scott Burchill – The attacks on the United States in September 2001, the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and further terrorist attacks around the world since – including in Bali on 12 October 2002, have had a significant effect upon the way the West views Indonesia politically and strategically.
Dana Priest – President Bush misspoke when he said last week that the United States was ready to "go forward with" a new package of military training programs with Indonesia, according to a White House official questioned about the president's remarks.
Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – The family of former strongman Suharto and other interests tied to his 32-year regime and its widespread corruption continue to "flourish" in Indonesia and are hindering efforts to combat graft, the World Bank says.
Jakarta – It is doubtful that the 2004 general elections will produce a new leadership which can break the vicious circle of continuing economic, social and political crisis.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Golkar has decided to delay selecting a presidential candidate until after the legislative election in April 2004 instead of its targeted date of February 2004.