United Nations – Allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN staff more than doubled last year, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said in a report.
There were 121 allegations in 2004 compared to the 53 in 2003, Annan said in a report to the UN general assembly.
Jakarta – A US navy commander expressed optimism that the US will soon resume full military cooperation with Indonesia, citing progress by Jakarta on human rights issues.
The head of Indonesia's intelligence agency says some foreign aid groups in tsunami-hit Aceh province are "harming the security situation" with their activities.
Intelligence agency chief Syamsir Siregar told The Jakarta Post that the agency was monitoring a number of foreign non-governmental organisations because of their "irregular" activities in Aceh.
Edmund McWilliams – Is the United States making the same mistakes in its search for partners in the "war on terror" as it did during the Cold War?
Mark Dodd – Armed East Timorese police were last night poised to break up a huge church-backed anti-government protest in Dili, the most serious challenge yet to the authority of the fledgling state.
Police and security forces yesterday sealed off parts of the city, erecting razor-wire cordons around the main government offices and parliament buildings in central Dili.
Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta – The Press Council again called for the government to revise the controversial draft of the new Criminal Code, which allows for the criminal prosecution of journalists who violate the law in the course of their jobs.
Sarah Stephen – On April 26, 50 East Timorese asylum seekers were hand delivered letters rejecting their applications for refugee status in Australia, and given 28 days to leave the country. The immigration department (DIMIA) is offering individuals $2000 each or up to $10,000 a family, and a one-way ticket to Dili.
[Upon the invitation of the International Migrants (IOM), The Jakarta Post's Chisato Hara days observing developments in the tsunami-devastated province, including the hand over of shelters to displaced people in Tingkeum, Banda Aceh.]
Tasya is six months old, perhaps a little underdeveloped for her age, but bright-eyed and quick to smile – even at strangers.
Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne – As talks between East Timor and Australia re-commenced in Dili, the Timor Sea Justice Campaign (TSJC) was notified on April 27 that its latest television commercials were again refused broadcast by TV stations.
Pip Hinman, Sydney – Paddy Keneally, a former wharfie and Australian commander in East Timor, condemned the Coalition government for stealing Timor's oil at a rally in Martin Place on April 26. The same day, talks resumed in Dili between Timorese and Australian authorities over the disputed oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea.
Jon Lamb – Three days of negotiations over the disputed maritime boundary between East Timor and Australia concluded in Dili on April 29.
Ridwan Max Sijabat – A labor dispute bothering a major plywood company in Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan, reflects in many ways the general labor conditions in the country.
Sibylle Kaczorek – As the Australian government continues its attempted theft of Timorese oil, solidarity from Australians with the Timorese becomes more important than ever. At Easter, Tomas Freitas, a spokesperson from the East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Development, was a guest at the third Asia-Pacific International Solidarity Conference in Sydney.
Indonesia is opposing United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's proposal to abolish the UN Human Rights Commission and replace it with a smaller Human Rights Council that would meet year-round and have its membership restricted to countries that "abide by the highest human rights standards".
Dili – Amid signs in recent days of an emerging settlement to church protests against the East Timor government, leading Catholic clergymen made new demands Wednesday on the Dili executive including a call for a reconsideration of plans to relax the country's abortion laws.
Jakarta – Following a recent brawl involving soldiers and police officers, the Army has ordered members of the Cimanggis Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) to limit their activities in public areas.
Jakarta – Former Aceh military commander Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, who led an operation against separatist rebels, was officially installed as the new Army deputy chief on Monday.
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Monthly inflation began to ease in April from its sharp rise in March, but still leaves year-on-year inflation unchanged above the 8 percent level, official figures from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) show.
Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta – Indonesia's first quarter exports jumped 31.39 percent to US$19.76 billion from $15.04 billion in the same period last year, thanks in part to increased demand for coal, ores, copper and other minerals, as well as knitted apparel.
Tangerang – About 500 public minivan drivers in Tangerang went on strike on Monday to protest the presence of a new public minivan route they said took away their business.
Paulo Gorjao – In April 2004, in his progress report regarding the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET), the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, recommended maintaining it for one more year. In May, the UN Security Council did so, but made it quite clear that this was the last extension.
Yogyakarta, Surabaya – More than 500 lecturers, employees and students of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University (UGM) staged a protest on Monday against pay increases decided upon by the rector.
Palembang (South Sumatra) – About 5,000 sidewalk vendors staged a protest at a roundabout in Palembang city center on Monday, rejecting the mayor's decision to move them to the city's Jakabaring market.
"The mayor is not being fair. We are only trying earn a living in the Pasar 16 market," a trader, Effendi, said.
The fall of the New Order regime in 1998 and the formation of a new government after democratic elections in 1999 were seen as major boosts for press freedom in Indonesia. But the past two years have seen press freedom in the country take a hit, with several journalists brought up on criminal charges for allegedly defamatory stories.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The central government is being urged to delay local elections as most regions appear to be unprepared for the polls and existing regulations contain many legal loopholes, which are feared may spell chaos during the elections.
US and Indonesian military officers are meeting in the Indonesian capital to discuss ways to cooperate in the fight against Islamic terrorists in Southeast Asia, a US Embassy spokesman said Tuesday.
Dili – The East Timorese capital braced Tuesday for the possibility of clashes between police and anti-government Catholic demonstrators, but a police deadline for the end of street protests ran down without any confrontation.
Canberra – Australia has managed to out-wait a cash strapped East Timor in reaching agreement on lucrative Timor Sea oil and gas revenues, US-based strategic thinktank Stratfor says.
In an analysis of the deal which is set to be finalised in Brisbane on May 11, Stratfor said Dili was always likely to cave in.
About 300 protesters demonstrated outside the Jayapura provincial council buildings on Monday against the United Nations' decision to give Indonesia control of the province in 1963.
Ellen Nakashima, Lamteungoh – With a flick of her henna-painted hand, the teenage bride adjusted her gold batik head scarf, opened her mouth and accepted a spoonful of cooked white rice from her beaming husband. Then, as tradition dictates, she returned the smile and fed a spoonful of wedding rice to him.
Jakarta – Foreign NGOs that wish to continue their post-tsunami aid work in the Indonesian province of Aceh must not "interfere in the internal affairs of the country" by favouring the local pro-independence guerrilla.
Presented by Fran Kelly
The failure to resolve the differences between Australia and East Timor over the gas reserves has delayed large-scale developments like the natural gas field known as Greater Sunrise.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – So much for maturity, let alone democracy, when political parties, which are supposed to serve the various interests of their members and supporters, instead pursue their own conflicting interests.
BE Satrio, Litbang Kompas – Democratisation in Indonesia appears to be taking a step back. After successfully holding peaceful general elections in 2004, these days political upheavals are centred on the political processes with the political parties.
Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – The Wan Abdurrahman forest preservation area in Mount Betung National Park, South Lampung, is in a sorry state, with 76 percent or 17,000 hectares of the 22,249-ha forest destroyed by illegal logging and land clearing, an environmentalist says.
Port Numbay (Jayapura) – Around 500 indigenous Papuans organised by the Papua Youth Group (Kelompok Pemuda Papua) held a demonstration against the integration of West Papua in to the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia on the morning of Sunday May 1 at the Trikora Abepura Square.
George Monbiot – It all seems a very long way away. But what is happening in an obscure island nation in the south Pacific has now become our business. A few weeks ago BP, the British company that has invested most in "corporate social responsibility", received final approval to start developing a gas field in West Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea.
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Some Indonesians might still remember the case of Samantha, a little girl who made headlines here during the 1990s in an international child abduction case.
The girl was a child of a mixed marriage. Her mother, Erna, was an Indonesian and her father was Dutch. They married in the Netherlands and hold their respective citizenships.
Jakarta – Lively commemorations of May Day on May 1 were celebrated in demonstrations by labour organisations, political parties and other social organisations in a number of parts of the country. The largest demonstrations were held in Jakarta and the West Java provincial capital of Bandung.
Jakarta – Thousands of people across the country took to the streets on Sunday to mark Labor Day with demands for better working conditions and the protection of workers' rights, as well as calling for the government to declare the day a public holiday.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Labor unions have blamed the government for the worsening labor conditions in Indonesia, which they say are a result of a bad investment climate, the absence of legal certainty and the high unemployment rate.
See also below: West Papua Solidarity Meeting clarification
AJI/AT, Jakarta – The commemoration of international labour day (May Day) in Jakarta today involved thousands of workers and other social organisations such as students, the urban poor, farmers and women.
Gunawan Mashar, Makassar – Like pelting the holy wall with stones to excise evil. That's what it was like at a demonstration in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar during the commemoration of May Day – they pelted effigies of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice-president Jusuf Kalla with bottles of Aqua and stones.
Budi Hartadi, Malang – Thousands of workers in East Java city of Malang commemorated May Day by blockading the road in front of the mayor's office on Jalan Tugu.
As well as the demonstration in front of the mayor's office workers also held an action in the grounds of the Gajayana Stadium and the Malang City square.
Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta – Commemorating May Day on May 1, thousands of workers inundated the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta resulting in a massive traffic jam on Jalan Sudirman.
The workers, who were from a number of trade unions from Jakarta and the satellite cities of Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, arrived at the roundabout at around 9am on Sunday.
Ahmad Yunus, Bandung – May Day was also commemorated by workers in the West Java provincial of Bandung. Around 3,000 works spilled into the streets of Bandung organising a long-march and convoy.
Deni Mukbar/Siswanto, Jakarta – May Day was commemorated today by hundreds of workers and mass organisations from Greater Jakarta at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta.
Indra Harsaputra, Madura – Eyes glistening with tears, Lina (not her real name) slowly, painfully recalled for her visitor the horrors she had suffered in Batam, where the 13-year-old Madura native had been offered a job as a shopkeeper but instead was forced to work as a prostitute.
Women and children in East Timor will continue to suffer in poverty unless the nation is able to determine its own wealth, East Timor's first lady Australian-born Kirsty Sword Gusmao said.