Banda Aceh – The average height of children first entering school in Aceh over the last six years has decreased by eight centimeters. In 1997 the average height of children first entering school was 119cm however by the end of 2003 the average was only 110cm.

Makassar, South Sulawesi – Some 200 protesters, mostly women accompanied by their children, barred the gates of the municipal council here on Wednesday, to protest their evictions by the city administration.

Their move left at least 15 councillors and officials unable to go home, although office hours were over.

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Representatives of major parties have jumped on the bandwagon to call for a delay in the deliberation of the military bill, with the party led by the President shifting the blame on Cabinet members who they said pushed her into approving the government-sponsored bill.

Louise Williams – The failure of human rights prosecutions against the Indonesian military over abuses in East Timor has put millions of people at risk of continuing military abuses in the contested provinces of Papua and Aceh, a prominent Papuan says.

John Rumbiak, Papua's most influential human rights leader, said the East Timor case had set a dangerous precedent.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – A coalition of non-governmental organizations filed a complaint on Wednesday with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) over corruption allegations concerning the procurement of materials for the legislative election by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

Ian Timberlake, Jakarta – A spate of acquittals absolving Indonesian military officers of human rights violations proves how powerful the armed forces remain in the country despite their claims to have abandoned politics, observers say.

Jakarta – Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung threatened to take disciplinary action against party leaders and members who held meetings with the candidates in the upcoming election runoff without the prior consent of the party's central executive board.

Abdul Khalik and Suherdjoko, Jakarta/Semarang – Former Banyumas Police chief Sr. Comr. Andi Mapparesa admitted during a police professional ethics board hearing on Wednesday that he had been partial and had acted beyond his authority by endorsing President Megawati Soekarnoputri for reelection in a May 29 meeting.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The credibility of Washington-based International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) and other independent pollsters have bee questioned ahead of the Sept. 20 election runoff, with analysts saying their opinion polls have been misleading.

Piet Soeprijadi, Peter Rimmele and Anne-Lise Klausen, Jakarta – Ross H. McLeod's – Competition: Key to reform of civil service two-part article on The Jakarta Post of August 4 and 5 is an interesting eye opener that something has to and can be done to reform the Civil Service.

Medan – Hundreds of truck drivers from Belawan port staged a protest on Tuesday in front of the office of North Sumatra provincial council, demanding the council revoke a government ruling that prohibited drivers with container trucks entering the port.

US-based rights groups called for a UN inquiry to bring to justice Indonesian security officers let off the hook for atrocities during East Timor's 1999 violence-marred independence vote.

The head of the Indonesian military command overseeing the restive province of Aceh has said that controversial air strikes have been effective in battling separatist guerrillas there.

Kusnanto Anggoro, Jakarta – There are quite a few positive sides to the territorial structure of the Indonesian Military (TNI), as ID Nugroho and Netty Dharma Somba wrote in this newspaper on August 6.

A public debate is raging over the Indonesian Military (TNI) bill. As the TNI maintains that a law is needed to justify its duties, activists burn placards in dissent, claiming the bill protracts the military's engagement in politics.

Sari P. Setiogi, Jakarta – Former Jakarta military commander Maj. Gen. (ret) Pranowo implicated in a massacre 20 years ago walked free on Tuesday, leaving a big question mark over the trial of his subordinate who now commands the army's elite special forces.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri sought to reassure Indonesia's media that it would remain unshackled despite claims her government was putting the squeeze on free speech.

"Have I ever tried to shackle the press?" Megawati was quoted as saying by Indonesian Broadcasting Commission chief Victor Menayang after she met commission members at the state palace.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Golkar Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB) put an end on Tuesday to their fragile and less-than-three-month-old coalition, following the elimination of their presidential ticket from the race.

Suherdjoko and M. Taufiqurrahman, Semarang/Jakarta – Central Java's Semarang General Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) discovered on Tuesday that three related companies had contributed to the Megawati Soekarnoputri-Hasyim Muzadi campaign fund.

Yogyakarta – Yogyakarta municipal police chief Sr. Comr. Chondro Kirono confessed on Tuesday that his office had become a transit point for thousands of campaign T-shirts emblazoned with images of Megawati Soekarnoputri and Hasyim Muzadi.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – In response to demands by businessmen operating in Glodok business district, West Jakarta, the Jakarta administration will delay the afternoon three-in-one traffic restriction by half an hour. The new time will be from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Security personnel have again arrested aid workers in the violence-ravaged province of Aceh, following a high-profile arrest to an environmental activist earlier this year.

Neles Tebay, Rome – It was the first time in the history of Papua that the Government of Indonesia recognized the Papuans' need for democracy (The Jakarta Post, July 30, 2004). This recognition is fundamental, not only for the Papuans, but also for the government and the international community.

Dadan Kuswaraharja, Jakarta – People living in and around mining operations find it difficult to obtain their rights. Aside from governments which don't really care, they are also confronted by militarism.

Jim Lobe, Washington – Saturday's dismissal by a Jakarta appeals court of all pending cases against Indonesians indicted for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor five years ago may bolster efforts by US lawmakers to halt the George W Bush administration's normalization of ties with the Indonesian armed forces (TNI).

In the latest verdict to favor Indonesia's powerful military, a court acquitted a former army general on Tuesday of charges that he tortured scores of Muslim activists two decades ago.

John Saltford, London – In his July 30th article in this newspaper, Foreign Affairs official Andri Hadi argues against any discussion of the 1969 Indonesian-organized act of self determination in West Papua known as the "Act of Free Choice".

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – The Islamic card may not be a sure vote-winner in secular Indonesia, but candidates in the first direct presidential election are not taking any chances.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has completed the report on its investigation into bloody incidents in the Papua towns of Wamena and Wasior, saying soldiers and police committed gross abuses in both cases.

Dan Eaton, Jakarta – East Timor urged its friends on Monday not to push for a U.N tribunal for Indonesian forces accused of abuses during its bloody 1999 vote for independence, saying such a court would not help the fledgling state.

David Gollust, State Department – The United States Monday expressed dismay over an Indonesian appeals court ruling overturning convictions of security officials for crimes against humanity in the 1999 violence in East Timor. The State Department called the Indonesian legal process "seriously flawed."

An Indonesian independent rights watchdog has found evidence that the country's police and military were involved in gross human rights abuses in the troubled eastern province of Papua, a report said.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – A UN prosecutor and human rights groups called for international action yesterday after an Indonesian appeal court quashed the four outstanding convictions of members of the country's security forces prosecuted for their alleged involvement in violence in East Timor in 1999.

Jakarta – Foreign rights groups Saturday demanded the establishment of an international tribunal to punish Indonesian security officers implicated in the 1999 violence in East Timor after an appeals court overturned four earlier convictions.

New York – US-based rights groups called for a UN inquiry to bring to justice Indonesian security officers let off the hook for atrocities during East Timor's 1999 violence-marred independence vote.

Andrew Burrell, Jakarta – The only four Indonesians found guilty of the wave of killings and destruction in East Timor in 1999 have all had their convictions and jail terms overturned by a Jakarta appeals court.

The High Court verdict almost certainly means that no Indonesian will ever be punished for the East Timor atrocities that shocked the world five years ago.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – "I saw seven police firing their pistols at L-7, a volley of bullets directed at his legs. It would be surprising if he hadn't been hit."

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Three Indonesian soldiers and a police officer have won their appeals against convictions for gross human rights abuses in East Timor, in a decision that means all Indonesian security force personnel have now been cleared of the violence that resulted in the deaths of about 1600 people.

East Timor's first lady, Kirsty Sword Gusmao has called on the Alkatiri government to listen to the needs and demands of rebel Cornelio Gama or L-7. The disgruntled war veteran recently lead a demonstration in Dili in which 26 people were arrested after riot police fired tear gas to break up the protest

Presenter/Interviewer: Claudette Werden

A dispute over the killing of two Americans in a remote Indonesian province two years ago shows no sign of abating, despite a recent US indictment against an Indonesian man believed to have been involved.

Evelyn Rusli, Jakarta – An Indonesian appeals court has overturned the convictions of three army officers and one policeman for crimes against humanity during violence in 1999 over East Timor's independence that left some 1,500 people dead.

Melbourne – East Timor's first lady today accused the federal government of making the Timor Sea oil negotiations a political football.

Melbourne-born Kirsty Sword-Gusmao, the wife of East Timorese president Xanana Gusmao, was in Melbourne today to call on the Australian public to lobby for a fairer deal for East Timor in the maritime boundary negotiations.

It was a bloody event that Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, then a human rights activist and University of Indonesia law student working part-time at the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), can never forget. Even today, as Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), he can still recall the scent of death that day.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Three human rights groups in Papua province have accused the US Attorney-General, John Ashcroft, of withholding evidence of the Indonesian military's involvement in an attack that killed two American teachers in 2002.

Jakarta – Rights groups in Indonesia's Papua province Wednesday accused US Attorney General John Ashcroft of a cover up over the killing of two US teachers and an Indonesian near Papua's giant Freeport gold mine in 2002.

John Roberts – US Attorney General John Ashcroft announced in late June that the Justice Department and FBI had indicted Anthonius Wamang over the August 2002 ambush of employees of the giant US-operated Freeport mine in West Papua that resulted in three deaths-two US teachers and an Indonesian colleague.

Oil wealth was always expected to play an important role in rebuilding East Timor after independence. Two years on, thanks to the stubbornness of neighbouring Australia, there is still much uncertainty over whether the bulk of that wealth will ever be made available to the government of the struggling new country.

Jon Lamb – Australian Labor Party federal leader Mark Latham's comments on July 22 that a government led by him would start new negotiations with East Timor over the maritime boundary in the Timor Sea has provoked a threat from Prime Minister John Howard's government to cancel the next round of talks between Canberra and Dili scheduled for September.

[This transcript was kindly supplied by Tony O'Connor as ABC TV no longer provides transcripts.]

Reporter: Anthony Balmain (AB)

Speakers: John Rumbiak (JR), Anthonius Wamak (AW), Spier (PS), Albert Kailele (AK)

Scene of Wewak beach and town

The eyes of world are far from the small coastal ton of Wewak on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea.

Max Lane – On July 27, outside the office of the Jakarta governor, scores of civil service police – the governor's security corps – attacked a peaceful demonstration as it was dispersing.