[In Indonesia, freedom of the press is under the spotlight with controversial plans by the government to prevent the rebroadcast of certain foreign programs on local media. Opponents say its a crude attempt at censorship. If the legislation gets through parliament later this month, it'll directly impact on news services from the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Australia.]

Jakarta (agencies) – Indonesia's army chief yesterday called on the international media not to speculate on who was responsible for the fatal ambush of American schoolteachers near the Freeport mine in Papua at the weekend.

"If there is foreign media which is unclear, please tell the media not to speculate," General Ryamizard Ryacudu told El Shinta radio.

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri, Vice President Hamzah Haz and some other senior state officials are morally responsible for the agribusiness scam involving PT Qurnia Subur Alam Raya (QSAR), lawyer Juniver Girsang said here on Monday.

Matthew Moore and Greg Roberts in Timika and Townsville – West Papuans yesterday accused Indonesian security forces of involvement in an ambush of mine workers that left three people dead and 11 injured.

On the streets near the giant American Freeport gold and copper mine, Papuan locals claimed security forces were involved in a "set-up".

Achmad Sukarsono and Jerry Norton, Jakarta – Indonesian troops fanned out through thick jungle in Papua province on Monday in search of an armed band that killed three people in the bloodiest clash involving foreigners since a long-simmering rebellion began.

Denise Leith – Kelly Kwalik of the OPM has denied that the nationalist group is responsible for the killing and wounding of Freeport employees on the company road from Tembagapura on Saturday.

Tom Wright, Jakarta – Indonesia's attempts to blame the weekend killing of two US citizens on Papuan separatists may be the first step in a military crackdown in the restive province that could complicate US political and business interests.

Jakarta – Indonesia posted higher inflation in August, the first increase in six months and a figure prompting speculation further interest rate cuts would be limited.

Robert Go, Jakarta – First it was shoemakers, toy makers and leather workers. Now it is the turn of the textile producers to complain that theirs is an industry choked by Indonesia's inability to compete against Asian countries like China and Vietnam.

[Tensions between Jakarta and Papua's independence movement have escalated following the weekend attack near the giant Freeport gold mine in Papua. Three people, including two Americans and an Indonesian, were killed when unidentified gunmen ambushed a convoy of cars.

[The Indonesian province of Papua is notoriously a black hole for information, and after the weekend's shocking attack on employees of the giant Freeport Mine, few things are clear except that three people are dead.]

Transcript:

Sydney – Papuan rights and independence activists said on Monday they believed the Indonesian military could be to blame for a weekend attack that killed three people, including two Americans, near the world's biggest gold and copper mine.

[Violence has escalated to Australia's north, in the Indonesian province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya. Over the weekend two American teachers and one Indonesian were shot dead and more than ten others were injured, in an ambush near the giant Freeport gold and copper mine.

[Anti-corruption campaigners in Indonesia have charged that new districts and townships are being created out of existing provinces, as the nation's decentralisation programme is hijacked by corrupt local elites.

Abdullah Alamudi, Jakarta – Indonesia's newly won press freedom is now in limbo as the broadcast bill – nearly at its final reading at the House of Representatives – will prevent local radio and TV stations from relaying foreign-made news, thus curbing the public's right to information.

East Timor's religious leader has said that the Timorese people are "disenchanted" after three months of independence.

Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo was cited by a Chilean newspaper Monday as saying that the Timorese, "are now suffering disenchantment and disillusion, as they thought that with independence, they would obtain all".

Mari Alkatiri – It is a truism of the developing world that the blessing of petroleum wealth can be a curse. Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Venezuela and many other countries have learnt this the hard way.

Dili – The fledgling nation of East Timor risks being exploited by organized crime and developing institutionalized corruption, because of its poverty and rudimentary legal system.

The head of the Australian Federal Police, Mick Kelty, said Sunday East Timor could be vulnerable to drug traffickers, money launderers and those engaged in the sexual exploitation of children.

[Kirsty Sword was a resistance fighter who became the First Lady. Now comes the hard part. Susan Wyndham profiles the wife of the East Timorese leader.]

Jakarta – Thousands of illegal Indonesian workers and their families are living in dire conditions in camps near the country's border with Malaysia and one relief worker said a few are selling their babies to raise cash.

Marni Cordell – It's cold on the first morning of the Yumi Wantaim gathering, and we – an eclectic mix of faces, ages and colours – are huddled under a large white marquee in Pipemaker's Park in outer Melbourne. Outside, under a drizzle of rain, a fire pit is being prepared to cook sweet potato and a pig, killed for the occasion.

Mystery has shrouded the death in September 2001 of Willem Onde, a local OPM commander in Merauke, together with a colleague. Investigations conducted this year by the Catholic Diocese in Merauke point to the involvement of Kopassus in his murder, just two months before Theys Eluay, the pro-independence leader was put to death by Kopassus officers.

[The following review of Don Greenlees and Robert Garran, "Deliverance: The Inside Story of East Timor's Fight for Freedom" (Allen & Unwin), is by John Martinkus. It was published in Australian Book Review, September 2002, No 244, pp 24-5, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of both the author and of the Editor, Mr Peter Rose.]

Jakarta – Health and emergency workers in an Indonesian border town said yesterday they were struggling to ensure thousands of Indonesians fleeing an immigration crackdown in Malaysia had access to clean water and adequate sanitation.

Only misery, not wealth, flows from the ExxonMobil gas pipeline that passes near this poor Aceh village, residents say.

They blame Indonesian security forces assigned to guard ExxonMobil's facilities for beatings, kidnappings, sexual assaults and other human rights abuses.

The murder of two Americans and an Indonesian by unidentified gunmen on Saturday near PT Freeport Indonesia's huge copper and gold mine is certain to reinforce attention on the company's "environmental vandalism" and alleged complicity in human rights abuses.

[The Indonesian government has had harsh colonial policy vis-a-vis the people of West Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). Whereas East Timor became a cause cilhbre, West Papua has been passed over. The United Nations is not interested. Yet the forgotten people fight on for their cultural and political identity. By our special correspondent Damien Faure.]

While civil society groups have placed their hopes in creating a zone of peace in West Papua, thousands of members of Laskar Jihad have flooded into the province in the past year, amid protests from West Papuans that this could lead to inter-religious conflict.

In a statement issued today by Messrs Willy Mandowen, Victor Kaisiepo and Clemens Runawery on behalf of the people of West Papua, the Papua Council Presidium and its interim Chairman, Mr. Tom Beanal, and Mr.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Less than three weeks after lawmakers agreed to scrap the military and police's free seats in the House of Representatives (DPR) and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) by 2004, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto has urged his troops to shun the next general election.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Legal experts and critics yesterday described the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the graft conviction for Central Bank governor Syahril Sabirin as yet another blow to Indonesia's legal system.

They said the ruling was further evidence of the country's corrupt legal system, which has recently handed down a slew of controversial verdicts.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A Bill that involves placing a government "spy" in broadcasting agencies here is likely to be passed next month by parliament to regulate the electronic media.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Indonesia's supreme military commander has warned the separatist movement in Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh that he would prefer war to a negotiated settlement to the 26-year-old dispute.

Jakarta – Legislators are drafting new changes to the long running debate on the labor bill, proposing, among other items, a government permit for worker strikes and a ban to outsource workers under temporary contracts.

Jill Jolliffe, Gugleur – Gugleur has little to recommend it. Its people are subsistence farmers and the maize crop has failed this year. The dust whips around the cluster of forlorn thatched huts that provide the bare necessity of shelter, no trimmings.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Hundreds of members of the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) marched to the West Java provincial legislature compound to demand the local authorities release all detained activists and stay out of industrial disputes.

Jakarta – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao urged his people on Friday to focus on the task of nation-building as the territory marked its first 100 days of independence.

The former guerrilla leader said in an address to the nation the tiny country was suffering growing pains and warned against the threat of corruption.

Catharine Munro, Jakarta – Indonesia's military (TNI) commander today argued for greater international ties but could not fully guarantee against human rights abuses by his men.

"It's impossible that 100 per cent of all soldiers respect human rights, it's almost impossible," General Endriartono Sutarto told reporters.

Banda Aceh – Adj. Brig. Syarifuddin was killed by unidentified gunmen and 10 others, presumed to be civilians were killed on Wednesday and Thursday in strife-torn Aceh.

Syarifuddin was on his way from his office to his home in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, early on Thursday.

Jakarta – President Megawati's sister, Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, proclaimed here on Thursday the establishment of a new party, Partai Pelopor (Pioneer Party).

Jakarta – In yet another sign of a return to New Order policies, the government is now drafting a bill that will give more power to political parties to expel non-conformist legislators from the House of Representatives, likely quelling opposition voices, an essential ingredient in a healthy democracy.

Rizal Sukma – After being postponed for almost two weeks from August 5, the government finally issued a "new policy" for Aceh on August 19. The policy, while it continues to stress the relevance of previous "comprehensive policy" to deal with the Aceh problem, has two new, additional elements.

East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao took stock of his new nation on Friday in a speech marking 100 days of independence, calling for greater grassroots democracy to check potential abuse of power.

Dili – East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao on Friday asked his critics for more time to solve the vast problems facing the newly independent nation.

There are worrying signs that Indonesia's timber barons are trying to accelerate their destruction of Indonesia's last remaining forests.

In a series of underhanded campaigns, the tycoons are posing as conservationists in order to increase their profits and productivity.

Banda Aceh – Security authorities in Aceh have arrested 12 members of the pro-independence Front for Acehnese People's Democratic Resistance.

They were netted in a security operation conducted by a group of security personnel from the Police Mobile Brigade, in Indrajaya, Pidie on August 15, 2002 and so far, none have been released.

Jakarta (Agencies) – The war of words between leaders of the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) independence group continued, an Army captain was killed and at least five civilians were injured in the latest clashes in the region, according to military sources.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Jakarta has seen its security situation worsen considerably recently as indicated by the increase in street crime over the last three years, and many people are now afraid of utilizing public facilities, a seminar concluded here on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's biggest mainstream Muslim organisation said on Thursday it strongly opposed any US attack on Iraq. Hasyim Muzadi, head of the 40-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama, said his group would protest if the United States launched military action against Iraq, although he declined to say how.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Indonesian police have drawn up plans to outlaw the main Papuan independence organisation in a crackdown on separatism aimed at preventing Papua from becoming a "second East Timor".