Banda Aceh – Military troops rescued two boatmen held by Aceh separatist rebels on Friday, a military spokesman revealed on Saturday.
"The two hostages are from neighboring North Sumatra province and have been identified as Subur Mardi, 42, and Zainal Abidin, 53," military operation command spokesman Lt. Col. Asep Sapari said in Lhokseumawe.
John Kerin – John Howard has used a previously top-secret report to comprehensively reject explosive claims of intelligence agency failures by Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins.
The rebuff comes in a seven-page letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Collins, obtained by The Australian, in which the Prime Minister rejects the whistleblower's call for a royal commission.
Louise Williams – East Timor's rapidly souring stance towards Australia is all about money.
Oil and gas money. It's an emotive tale of the world's poorest and youngest nation confronting the region's richest nation over a fair share of the wealth beneath the Timor Sea.
Dili – Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri launched a public debate Friday on proposed legislation to facilitate and promote private investment by East Timorese entrepreneurs.
In presenting the draft bill at a Dili conference, Alkatiri said it currently cost 30 percent more to set up a new business in East Timor than in neighboring countries.
David Jardine – In the commentary Wiranto must face the storm by Pitan Daslani (The Jakarta Post, April, 26) there appears a truly astonishing paragraph, "Everybody put the blame on Wiranto as well as the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the police, despite their self-sacrificing devotion to the conception of the Republic of Timor Leste."
Bill Guerin, Jakarta – A sense of deja vu surrounded the astonishing news that an Indonesian court has once more declared a major foreign enterprise bankrupt, despite its healthy financial state.
Jayapura – Most of people in Papua living with HIV/AIDS are between 5 years and 29 years of age, or in their productive years, numbering 746 or 51 percent out of a total 1,454 people with AIDS in the province, according to government data.
Naval lawyer Martin Toohey today continued his criticism of Australia's spy agency the Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO), saying it was politicised and misled the public.
Captain Toohey has attacked the Federal Government over its treatment of him and whistleblower Lieutenant Colonel Lance Collins amid allegations of failures by the DIO.
Bantarto Bandoro, Jakarta – To the surprise of many, domestically and internationally, Gen. (ret.) Wiranto trounced Golkar Party leader Akbar Tandjung in the party's first-ever internal election, making him a strong contender for the presidential position. He is now positioned as one of two former generals with the best chance to beat Megawati Soekarnoputri for the presidency.
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) is likely to recommend the government lower martial law in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam to a state of civil emergency, given improving security and public order in the province.
The lifting of martial law, however, would not necessarily mean the withdrawal of troops from the resource-rich province.
Jakarta – US lawmaker who authored a bill freezing military ties with Indonesia following violence in East Timor in 1999 said Thursday an indicted general running for president should be brought to justice for his alleged role in that conflict.
M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – United Solidarity for the Victims of Human Rights Violations (Solidaritas Kesatuan Korban Pelanggaran HAM, SKKP HAM) has called on the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to take the initiative and have an active position on the process of nominating presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
Jakarta – In Jakarta, opposition to presidential candidates from military circles continues to be organised.
Robyn Waite, Dili – During April 14-16, an empty block opposite the Australian embassy in Dili became a fervent and colourful site of protest, as more than 1500 people mobilised to oppose the Australian government's violation of East Timorese sovereignty in the Timor Sea.
Federal Labor today supported a lawyer who wrote a damning report on Australia's intelligence services and who now claims the government has been involved in a shabby cover-up.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard rejected allegations by another senior military officer that his government was involved in a cover-up over a critical report into defence intelligence.
The senior officer who wrote a damning report on the Australian intelligence services says he has been made a scapegoat in a "shabby, tawdry cover-up". John Lyons reports.
Lt Col Lance Collins' claims that Australian officials attempted to suppress crucial intelligence about East Timor may have found an unlikely new ally – a diplomat at the US embassy in Canberra. Paul Daley reports.
Sarah Stephen, Sydney – "Each of us has to choose between being either a champion of human dignity or a collaborator with an increasingly inhuman system", Sister Susan Connelly from the Mary MacKillop Institute of East Timorese Studies told a crowd of 600 people in the Sydney Town Hall on April 21.
Danang Sangga Buwana, Jakarta – The deputy chairperson of the leadership board of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Mahfud M.D., has sought to clarify a statement by Gus Dur [PKB chairperson and former President Abdurrahman Wahid] stressing that Gus Dur is not anti-military.
Jon Lamb – Human rights and solidarity organisations are deeply concerned by the Golkar party's nomination of General Wiranto for president of Indonesia. Wiranto, the former head of the Indonesian military, was indicted in February 2003 for his role in coordinating the 1999 terror campaign in East Timor, conducted by the Indonesian military and its militia proxies.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Coordinating minister for political and security affairs ad interim Hari Sabarno chaired a closed-door coordination meeting at the Indonesian Military (TNI) on Tuesday to discuss a variety of security issues.
Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – The Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) is to lodge a complaint with the Constitutional Court over intervention by the Aceh Emergency Military Command (PDMD) into political parties and the National Election Commission (KPU) in the Aceh general elections.
Alisa P., Jakarta – Scores of activists from the Papuan National Student's Front (Front Nasional Mahasiswa Papua, FNMP) held a demonstration at the United Nations offices in Jakarta on Tuesday 27.
Andreas Harsono and Jim Lobe, Jakarta – In mid-May 1998, as rioters were ransacking business areas and looting properties owned by Chinese-Indonesians in Jakarta, General Wiranto, then Indonesia's military chief, was approached by his No 2, Lieutenant-General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Robert Go, Jakarta – One reading of the election aftermath has the old guard and the Suharto clan making a comeback.
After all, Suharto's daughter, who took part in the campaigning, had openly banked on nostalgia for her father to bring in the votes.
Jakarta – Indonesia's top economics minister said on Tuesday that a controversial bankruptcy ruling against the local unit of Britain's Prudential Life insurance company will hurt foreign investment in the country.
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The power behind the throne has now retreated even more into the shadows. The President's influential husband Taufik Kiemas and his inner circle are now keeping a much lower profile. In fact, the Sumatran-born tycoon is due to leave for the United States and Europe on a two-week holiday.
Kurniawan Hari and Indra Harsaputra, Jakarta/Surabaya – The Golkar Party agreed on Monday to devote its energies to forging a coalition with the National Awakening Party (PKB) to win the presidential election.
The party will also select whoever is approved by PKB cofounder Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid as the running mate for Wiranto, who won the Golkar convention last week.
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Ubud, Bali – The malnutrition rate in the country has reached alarming levels since the economic crisis, sending a signal to the government to pay more attention to the issue. The infant mortality rate is currently two infants per minute in the country.
The legal dispute over a land swap deal dating back to 2000 between the government and developer PT Tata Disantara, owned by former manpower minister Abdul Latief, has yet to be resolved.
An Islamic militant accused of involvement in bombing Bali nightclubs and Jakarta's Marriott hotel went on trial in the Indonesian capital and could face the death sentence if found guilty.
Evi Mariani, Jakarta – A mob burned down two public minibuses and vandalized eight others, following a traffic accident in which a motorcyclist was killed instantly at the scene in Kalideres, West Jakarta, on Sunday night.
A. Junaidi, Jakarta – Undeterred by a possible rejection due to his health, the National Awakening Party (PKB) submitted Monday the name of half-blind cleric Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid as its candidate in the upcoming presidential election.
Jakarta – Urban voters in the April 5 legislative election had chosen political parties known to have a commitment to eradicating corruption and zero tolerance for crooked politicians, a survey revealed on Monday.
Woro Swasti, Jakarta – Two years after it was disbanded, Laskar Jihad is ready to be sent back to Ambon if the government cannot overcome the situation there.
Ambon – Snipers killed one policeman and wounded two in Indonesia's strife-torn Ambon on Tuesday as police and soldiers patrolled the streets to restore order, officials and witnesses said.
Jakarta – Researcher George Aditjondro blamed on Monday Acehnese activists for fleeing their homeland and failing to provide the press with information on what was really happening in the province.
Bob Burton, Canberra – Australia's effort to block East Timor from billions of dollars of oil resources – by refusing to agree to a maritime boundary between the two countries – will be tested by an emerging coalition of community groups, which insist on economic justice for the world's newest nation.
Astrid Felicia Lim, Jakarta – Actions rejecting militarism and the New Order [regime of former President Suharto] continue to be organised. At a free speech forum on Tuesday April 27 at the campus of the Indonesian Christian University (UKI) in Salemba, Central Jakarta, students set fire to photographs of [presidential candidates] Wiranto and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY).
Lisbon – East Timor's president lashed out at Australia, saying in an interview published Tuesday that Canberra had snatched oil reserves that belong to his country.
In an interview with the Portuguese newspaper Publico, President Xanana Gusmao added his voice to the increasingly public spat between the countries over a disputed oil field in the Timor Sea.
One of Indonesia's most senior Muslim scholars has warned that a failure to release jailed cleric Abu Bakar Bashir could result in an Islamic backlash. The Vice-Chairman of Mohammadiyah says Indonesian authorities have come under international pressure to keep the cleric behind bars.
Presenter/Interviewer: Marion MacGregor
Indonesian police postponed plans to question jailed Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir as a terrorism suspect after he and his lawyers complained that the summons was legally flawed.
"Allahu Akbar!" (God is greatest) shouted about 50 supporters of the elderly cleric Monday as police announced the delay outside Jakarta's Salemba prison.
Melbourne – East Timor would work with former military chief General Wiranto if he is elected Indonesian president despite his alleged war crimes, the fledgling state's first lady said Monday.
Wiranto was last week selected as the presidential candidate for the Golkar Party, which ruled Indonesia for 35 years under former President Suharto.
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Reform-minded political parties should form an opposition in the House of Representatives if a candidate with military background gets elected in the July 5 presidential election, a respected Muslim scholar says.
Imran Rusli and Apriadi Gunawan, Padang/Medan – Local residents blamed on Sunday illegal logging as the main cause of Friday's landslide in Pasaman regency, West Sumatra, that buried a bus and killed at least 39 of its passengers.
ID Nugroho, Surabaya – The government's controversial plan for a mega nuclear power plant (PLTN) on Madura island, East Java, has been thrust back into the spotlight by a group of students.
The students from Madura's Trunojoyo University (Unijoyo) began a hunger strike on Thursday to pressure the National Atomic Energy Agency (BATAN) to cancel its plan.
Evi Mariani, Jakarta – Since the establishment of a special desk to handle cases of violence against women at the Jakarta Police headquarters in 1999, the number of reports filed have been steadily increasing.
The police data reveals that there were 107 cases filed in 2002, but the number increased by 25 percent to 134 cases in 2003.
Ambon – Twenty-two people have been killed and scores badly injured in a major outbreak of Muslim-Christian violence in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon, medical staff said on Monday. The violence which flared on Sunday after a parade by Christian separatists was the worst since a pact in February 2002 ended three years of sectarian fighting in which some 5,000 people died.
A. Junaidi/Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – An alliance of 17 small parties said on Sunday that it would reject the result of the April 5 legislative election, saying the poll was illegitimate due to many flaws, including erroneous ballot counting and money politics.