Banda Aceh – Indonesia's military said on Tuesday its warplanes attacked two suspected rebel bases in Aceh province, in the second use of air power against the separatists in a week.

Antony Balmain – West Papuan leaders, including several from the Free Papua Movement, OPM, have decided to lay down arms and pursue self-determination from Indonesia through peaceful means.

There are claims that the Indonesian military and police have been extorting bribes from Acehnese asylum seekers and selling them into slavery. The claims have been backed by refugee advocates working closely with the UN refugee agency in Malaysia, where thousands of Acehnese are facing expulsion under a government crackdown on illegal workers.

Sydney – The Australian-born first lady of East Timor, Kirsty Sword-Gusmao, Monday appealed to Canberra not to force her country beg for a "fair share" of the Timor Sea oil and gas reserves.

The former leader of the largest Muslim group in Indonesia and possibly its next Vice President says its time for the religious group to rule the country. Hasyim Muzardi resigned as leader of Nadlatul Ulama to contest the election as President Megawati's Vice Presidential running mate.

Jakarta – A former general who led the first round of Indonesian presidential polls agreed yesterday to join forces with a defeated rival, a move that could usher in a strategic alliance for the run-off vote.

Brad Howarth – The East Timorese and Australian Governments have agreed to proceed with negotiations over the Timor Sea oil and gas fields without discussing permanent seabed boundaries.

Richard Norton-Taylor – The government approved a significant increase in arms exports to Indonesia in the first few months of the year despite serious concern from MPs, Foreign Office figures show.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Police are struggling to hold Abu Bakar Bashir on terrorism charges.

Suspected terrorist Abu Bakar Bashir is still in jail, but in the past week the 65-year-old preacher has had his best chance yet to escape the legal net police have used to hold him since the Bali bombings.

Kurniawan Hari and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Despite the growing opposition toward the Indonesian Military (TNI) bill, major factions in the House of Representatives are insisting on deliberating the government-sponsored draft.

Nigel Wilson – The Howard Government has told East Timor it will get no revenue from the Bayu Undan and Greater Sunrise gas fields if it pursues its claim for a maritime boundary set at the median point between the two countries.

Rowan Callick – The Timor gap is getting wider. And both Australia and East Timor are set to delay or lose substantial income as a result.

Australia's row with East Timor over the oil- and gas-rich sea bed between the countries has inevitably turned into a domestic debate, too, as the election approaches, clouding the issues.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – While the July 5 election proceeded orderly and peacefully, democracy may prove to take much longer to develop in the world's largest archipelagic country, analysts and an election watchdog say.

Indra Harsaputra and Blontank Poer, Surabaya/Surakarta – East Java's General Elections Commission (KPUD) is investigating a report that a number of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) clerics had received US$10,000 each to support Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Hasyim Muzadi.

Jakarta – Oil prices remained high on Thursday but fell from record peaks, reviving fears over a ballooning fuel subsidy and widening state budget deficit.

Reuters reported that oil prices fell after Russia's justice ministry said it was not seeking to halt production by oil giant Yukos.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – While unable to implicate Abu Bakar Ba'aysir in the Bali bombings, the National Police said on Thursday they would charge the Muslim cleric with involvement in the 2003 JW Marriott Hotel attack in Jakarta, to keep him in custody.

Darwin – Federal and state mining ministers have shot down a proposal to include East Timor in their talks on the exploitation of oil and gas resources.

Abdul Khalik and Agus Maryono, Jakarta/Banjarnegara – In an apparent demotion, the National Police have transferred the Banyumas, Central Java, Police chief, Sr. Comr. Andi Mapparesa, to a desk job for giving a speech supporting President Megawati Soekarnoputri's bid for reelection. Andi had violated an order by National Police chief Gen.

Abdul Khalik and Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta – Water consumed by residents living near Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi, where US-based PT Newmont Minahasa Raya has a mine, contained higher mercury levels than normal, a laboratory test confirmed on Thursday.

Jakarta – The Constitutional Court has summoned three ministers of economic affairs to provide a clarification on a petition for a judicial review of Law No 20/2002 on the electricity sector, and Law No 22/2001 on oil and natural gas against the 1945 Constitution.

By annulling Law No. 16/2003 on retroactivity of the Antiterrorism Law last Saturday, the Constitutional Court put the nation one step back in its fight against terrorism – and took it one step closer to establishing a viable, working democracy.

After transporting Jakartans for nearly three decades, the city's bajaj will begin disappearing from the streets over the next few days. The city administration is determined to phase out the Indian-made bajaj in favor of locally made kancil (mini-taxi, literally means "mouse deer" in Bahasa Indonesia).

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – It was tipped to be the battle of the generals. But in the end, it was not. Incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri defied the odds with a last-minute surge that catapulted her into the second round of the presidential race with a fighting chance now for re-election.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – An official of the Leuser Management Unit (UML), which manages the Leuser Ecosystem area, has stated that 25 percent of the vast 2.6-million-hectare area has been deforested.

Jeffrey Winters, Chicago, USA – The real controvery in the recent Constitutional Court decision does not turn on retroactivity. In fact, all the judges (including the five for the majority) reject an absolute interpretation of retroactivity (which the defense team had argued for).

Andri Hadi, Jakarta – Efforts by certain quarters, within and outside Indonesia, to question the decolonization process in Papua gain a momentum by the declassification of restricted documents in the US recently.

An ex-general who was ruled out of the running in Indonesia's presidential race after finishing third in initial round voting has petitioned for a Supreme Court review of the poll.

Sarah Boyd – The United Nation's special representative in East Timor, Sukehiro Hasekawa, has been thinking about the O J Simpson trial. "The relatives of the victim and those of the accused needed to look each other in the eye and acknowledge what actually happened. That trial went on for a year and cost a lot of money, but perhaps they never did that."

Max Lane – On the evening of July 22, more than 300 people gathered at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Democratic Party (PRD).

Jakarta/Semarang/Yogyakarta – While President Megawati Soekarnoputri again distanced herself from the tragedy of July 27, 1996 – which identified her as then president Soeharto's political victim – the eighth commemoration of the incident on Tuesday was marked by an attempt to link her opponent in the election, Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to the tragedy.

Jakarta, Antara – Army chief of staff General Ryamizard Ryacudu has suggested that opposition against the draft law on the TNI (armed forces) within a number of circles is because of interference by foreigners who want to divide and weaken the Indonesian nation.

Richel Langit, Jakarta – Indonesia's fledging democracy has come under threat as the country's power-hungry military is seeking to regain its old powers lost to reform movements since 1998.

Jakarta – Amid regional autonomy, state-owned PT Jamsostek has begun forging cooperation with regions to enlarge the coverage of the social security scheme not only for workers in the formal sector but also for those employed in the informal sector.

The Indonesian government has sent a delegation, led by representative from the Ministry of Industry and Trade Directorate General of International Cooperation Pos M. Hutabarat, to the World Trade Organization (WTO) general council meeting in Geneva.

Richard Robison, Jakarta – When the new president is finally confirmed later in September, she or he will confront the immediate task of assembling enough power to rule effectively. More fundamentally, though, is the task of arresting a seemingly inexorable slide into the sort of 'savage capitalism' that often accompanies parliamentary systems in their early years.

Sari P. Setiogi, Jakarta – Campaign workers for the two remaining presidential candidates, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Megawati Soekarnoputri, expressed on Tuesday what appeared to be only lackluster support for press freedom.

Dennis Shanahan and Nigel Wilson – Mark Latham's pledge to start new boundary talks with East Timor is threatening the tiny country's economic future, with owners of a $5 billion gas project saying they will stop development plans if present arrangements are not honoured.

A. Junaidi, Jakarta – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Megawati Soekarnoputri have their work cut out for them in wooing undecided voters whose first picks fell by the wayside in the July 5 election, analysts say.

Jakarta – An independent political research organization predicted here Tuesday that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), winner of the first round of Indonesia's first-ever direct presidential election last July 5, will also prevail in the runoff poll on September 20.

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta – A controversial harm reduction program that was introduced by the government on Friday has split opinion among activists over how effective it will be in containing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – A bomb exploded inside the headquarters of Indonesia's Election Commission yesterday just as the members were preparing to announce the results of the July 5 presidential poll.

Indra Shalihin, Jakarta – An action commemorating July 27 in front of the city's government offices in Jakarta has ended in clashes. Students who were demanding that Jakarta governor Sutiyoso be tried in relation to the July 27 attack(1) were involved in a clash with Pamong Praja security guards after they forced their way onto the grounds.

Risna – On July 27, 1996, a bloody tragedy occurred which began with an attack on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party headquarters in Central Jakarta by a group organised by the military.

Jafar G. Bua, Palu – If July 27 commemorations are usually identified with President Megawati Sukarnoputri, this was not the case in city of Palu, Central Sulawesi, where the commemorations was instead marked by actions rejecting Megawati and presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY).

Triono Wahyu Sudibyo, Semarang – Two student groups have held actions to commemorate July 27(1). One of the groups presented the Central Java National Election Commission (KPU) with a gift of rotten tomatoes while another group brought flowers. Both condemned the repressiveness of the military and demanded that cases involving the shooting of students be investigated.

IN their testy negotiations over oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea, the Australian and East Timorese sides have been driven solely by their respective national interests. This is good and proper. If Australia wants to provide assistance to East Timor, it should do so through the transparent mechanism of aid, not by giving way on maritime boundaries and ceding bits of Australia.

Fadli, Batam – The Batam municipal government will soon launch a raid against unmarried couples living together.

The plan will be executed in August this year, following the recent order by Batam Mayor Nyat Kadir, said Rayanis Aminah, the spokesman of the Batam social affairs office.

Palu – Around 100 protesters grouped in the Cross-religious Forum for Central Sulawesi, staged a rally here on Monday to demand that the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) probe a recent church shooting.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – The tragic events of July 27, 1996, were instrumental in Megawati Sukarnoputri's path to the Indonesian presidency. With the release of official results from the July 5 elections on Monday showing her in second place, Megawati hopes that the events of this seventh-anniversary week will pave the way to her re-election.

Former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is still favourite to win Indonesia's presidential election run-off in September but the race will be close, analysts say.