Nani Farida and Tiarma Siboro, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – Activists representing 41 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Aceh have launched a month-long campaign to save the five-month-old peace agreement that has nearly ended almost three decades of armed conflict there.

Jakarta – Indonesia's security minister has warned that a recent peace deal between the government and rebels in Aceh province could break down because of repeated violations by the guerillas.

Police in Indonesia say a Muslim hardliner believed to be close to the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network has been reported as missing.

Lamkaruna Putra recently reported the alleged abduction of his father, Fauzi Hasbi, alias Abu Jihad, to national police headquarters. The alleged abduction occurred on February 23. The reason for the delay in reporting is not clear.

Jakarta – A parliamentary panel drafting an education Bill is retaining a controversial article requiring missionary schools to provide religious instruction in the pupils' own religion despite opposition from educators and mission schools.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – As Balinese prepare for the year 1925 on the Saka calendar, young men in every neighborhood banjar are busy building and displaying ogoh-ogoh, the colorful bamboo and papier mache demon effigies featured in celebrations leading to Nyepi, the day of silence marking the new year.

Indonesia's defence ministry has defended a policy document which calls for the military's close scrutiny of civilian affairs to be maintained.

Dili – An East Timor-Australia treaty that serves as the basis for the development of the major oil and gas deposits in the Timor Sea between the two countries came into force Wednesday.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have stepped up security at vital installations in Medan after two bombings within 24 hours.

The first explosion rocked the parking lot of the Medan city administration's offices on Monday afternoon, shattering windows and damaging two cars. No one was hurt.

Paul Kelly – Iraq is not the only humanitarian issue facing the Howard Government today. East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao made an urgent and desperate appeal to Australia last week and failed to raise a flicker of media interest.

Kalinga Seneviratne, Sydney – Australia's international profile, already hurt by criticism against its role in the US-led invasion of Iraq, is under fire for is its desire to boot out East Timorese asylum seekers who fled the former Indonesian territory more than a decade ago.

Indonesia has expressed alarm at the opening of a Papuan People's office in Vanuatu.

The Indonesian embassy in Canberra has issued a statement saying it may review diplomatic ties with Vanuatu.

It says it learned from credible sources the office was set up in the capital Port Vila last week. Indonesia has asked the government of Vanuatu for an explanation.

Soldiers in Indonesia have killed two suspected rebels in the province of Aceh.

A police official says the two Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels were shot dead after they attacked soldiers investigating reports of blackmail by GAM in the Pidie district. Soliders confiscated an automatic rifle from the scene.

Not one charge has been laid in Sydney since the post-Bali raids on six Indonesian families, but 255 Indonesians have been locked up since and the community feels under siege. Now some have even lost trust in each other. Linda Morris writes.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government launched on Monday a white paper on defense strategy, which calls for maintaining the military's much-criticized territorial function.

Police in the Indonesian province of Papua say the accidental discovery of a cache of illegal explosives has led to fears of covert militia activity in the region. Police say tribal leaders in the coastal town of Sorong, where police have arrested a local businessman and Islamic politician, have raised the concerns.

The First Commission of the Papuan Legislative Assembly and human rights activists in Papua have expressed alarm about plans to send one thousand more soldiers to Papua.

Ed Aspinall – Immediately after the bombings in Bali on 12 October, there was much speculation in the foreign, especially Australian, press, that this was a watershed event for Indonesian politics. Nothing in the country would now be the same, or so the commentators argued.

Medan (Agencies) – A strong explosion rocked the back parking lot of mayoralty building here on Monday, injuring one people, agencies reported.

Antara reported the blast in late afternoon damaged two cars and injured a staff of the city administration. The blast came from a bomb which was laid down at a bicycle in the parking lot.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia launches its election process today, beginning a census of its 210 million citizens and the registration of about 130 million people eligible to vote in April next year.

The plan, according to elections commission KPU, is to send 230,000 bureaucrats door-to-door with questionnaires, in the cities, rural areas and jungles.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Life for Jakartans will get tougher starting this month as they face a 40 percent increase in water charges and a 20 percent increase in bus fares.

Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced six members of the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) on Monday to six months in jail for an attack on the offices of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) last year.

The United States State Department says serious human rights abuses occured in Indonesia last year.

It says Indonesian soldiers and police murdered, tortured, raped, beat and arbitrarily detained civilians and members of separatist movements.

Jakarta – A group of migrant workers officially established an organization on Saturday to help them in their struggle for justice and fair treatment.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Jakarta's main thoroughfares turned into seas of humanity as hundreds of thousands of people from various religions and ethnic groups took to the streets in the country's largest ever rally to protest the US-led war in Iraq.

Jakarta – Around 1 million people – originating form at least 25 political parties and social organisations – held a demonstration in Jakarta on Sunday, in the framework of opposing the US invasion of Iraq.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – With Muslims in Indonesia becoming increasingly devout in recent decades, an exclusively Islamic market has now evolved, offering strictly halal products. They range from exclusive Islamic housing estates to cosmetics and foodstuff.

Take Pusaka Tradisi Ibu, a company that produces the only beauty products in the country with a halal certificate.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – At a glance, Vila Ilhami is a typical housing estate, one of the dozens developed on the outskirts of Jakarta in the past decade to cater to the ever growing number of middle-class families.

Jakarta – The country's four largest political parties organized separate events over the weekend as they begin to gather pace for the general election in April 2004.

East Timor became a fully independent republic on May 20, following approximately 2½ years under the authority of the U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). The country has a parliamentary form of government with its first parliament formed from the 88-member Constituent Assembly chosen in free and fair, U.N-supervised elections in August 2001.

Banda Aceh – A separatist rebel hacked a soldier to death with a machete before being shot dead in the troubled Aceh province, the military said Saturday.

Ambon – Maluku island in Indonesia's Maluku province has been declared a foreigner-free zone, head of the provincial immigration office Wiryono said here on Saturday.

Foreigners who want to visit Maluku island should obtain permission from the Civilian Emergency Authority in Ambon, he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Washington (Agencies) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday approved a fresh loan worth US$469 million to Indonesia, bringing its total lending to about US$3.5 billion under the current US$5 billion loan program for the country.

Around 200,000 people gathered in front of the United States embassy in the Indonesian capital in the biggest anti-war rally yet in the world's largest Muslim-populated nation.

The protestors gathered in the sprawling Monas square facing the US embassy, guarded by police wielding batons and shields.

Dean Yates and Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – More than 100,000 angry Indonesians, many carrying young children, jammed the streets of Jakarta on Sunday, shouting anti-American slogans and waving protest banners over the war in Iraq.

Takaras village in Central Kalimantan is an ecological disaster waiting to happen, with illegal miners reportedly dumping an estimated 160 kilograms of mercury into a local river every month.

Mercury, which is used to facilitate the extraction of gold ore, can cause crippling nerve disorders, brain damage, birth defects and death.

Jakarta – Indonesia is drafting a regulation under which people who owe more than 100 million rupiah in taxes would be jailed for up to one year without trial.

The move comes amid concern that many taxpayers have been evading tax payments for several years, a burden to the cash-strapped government in Jakarta.

Jakarta – A rally calling for peace by hundreds of students in Jakarta on Friday was in marked contrast to a number of other rowdier rallies around the country against the United States-led attack on Iraq.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Thousands of people who claim to be Acehnese refugees ignored North Sumatra governor T. Rizal Nurdin's ultimatum to leave the provincial legislative council building, saying they would continue occupying the compound until they obtained resettlement funds.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) has warned the Indonesian Military (TNI) and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) against reinforcing military strength during the demilitarization process, saying that the move would violate the peace deal signed last year.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Which country has just passed a law to provide two days a month paid menstruation leave for women workers? Perhaps you're thinking northern Europe? Or maybe Scandinavia? If so, you're wrong.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Along with the refusal of Iraqis to follow the United States and British "shock-awe-welcome liberators" script, a major surprise in the first week of the war has been the reaction of Indonesia.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Indonesians protested in several cities on Friday against the US invasion of Iraq, with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as well as President George Bush coming in for criticism.

Jakarta – East Timor has formed a new border patrol unit to replace international peacekeepers, the UN said Friday – a sign that the military is assuming greater responsibility for security in the world's newest nation.

Medan – Hundreds of angry refugees from war-torn Aceh prevented North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin and all provincial councillors from leaving the legislative building for six hours on Thursday, as their demand for immediate disbursement of resettlement funds remained unheeded.

There are fears in Jakarta that the war in Iraq is diverting attention from a conflict much closer to home – in the province of Aceh. Under a demilitarisation deal signed four months ago, Indonesian military and police who've been controlling the province for over a decade, were due to start to withdraw from villages to regional barracks.

Amnesty International says two human rights activists in Indonesia's Aceh province are believed to be being held by the military and could face torture or death.

The British-based rights group says Mukhlis Ishak, 27, and Zulfikar, 24, were detained on March 25 by plain-clothed men believed to be from the military intelligence unit, Satuan Gabungan Intelijen.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Smuggling of protected animals in Indonesia is valued at a whopping US$1.5 billion a year, with Jakarta topping the list with $1.5 million per day or $547.5 million per year, according to a survey.

Jakarta – Indonesia has criticized the United Nations' Security Council (UNSC) for its failure to take a clear stand against the United States' military campaign in Iraq.

Jakarta – The South Jakarta district court decided that there was enough grounds to proceed with the lawsuit filed by Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung against Rakyat Merdeka daily's chief editor Karim Paputungan for defamation.

Jakarta – Rallies to protest against the attack on Iraq continued on Thursday across the country, with demonstrators in some cities expanding their targets to parties not affiliated with the United States or its allies.