M. Taufiqurrahman and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Amid calls for a speedy investigation into the death of rights campaigner Munir, the House of Representatives has agreed to support the establishment of a special investigative team.

Today, Wednesday 24th November, Indonesia hosts its first ever arms fair in Jakarta, with over 250 companies attending [1] including UK-based Rolls Royce [2] and a subsidiary of BAE Systems, Atlas Elektronik [3]. Arms from UK based companies have been used against civilians and insurgents in the conflicts of West Papua and Aceh.

Sari P. Setiogi, Jakarta – The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) warned Indonesia on Tuesday that the virus was spreading rapidly among women and girls in the country.

The Indonesian Human Rights Committee is calling on the New Zealand Government to make urgent representations to the Indonesian Government to allow diplomats, international agencies and journalists renewed access to West Papua and Aceh. This urgent request was faxed to Minister Goff today.

Nala Edwin, Jakarta – Around 20 Bojong residents from the Bogor regency demonstrated at the Jakarta national police headquarters demanding the release of 17 colleges who were arrested in relation to a recent clash at the Bojong Integrate Rubbish Dump.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Activists here told the government on Tuesday that illegal logging was the work of domestic organized crime syndicates – including security officials – and that everybody involved must be investigated and prosecuted to stop the forest destruction.

Suwarjono, Jakarta – TNI (armed forces) chief Endriartono Sutarto is asking that the death of human rights activist Munir not be turned into a political issue. Munir's case is a criminal one and must be resolved legally.

Jakarta – Non-government organisations (NGOs) are concerned about Indonesia's nomination to chair the United Nations Human Rights Commission because it will actually silence the human rights movement in Indonesia itself. In order to hold this prestigious position Indonesia must first demonstrate a strong commitment to upholding human rights at home.

Indonesian police have confirmed their arrest of four Muslim militants, including the bombmaker, for the suicide blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta that killed 11 people in September.

Banda Aceh, Jakarta – Citing better security conditions in Aceh after six months under a state of civil emergency, the provincial authorities have decided to lift its travel ban on foreigners in three regencies.

Tony Hotland and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta/Jayapura – Police are investigating the possible involvement of high-ranking police officers in illegal logging in Papua following the confession of a low-ranking officer who surrendered late last week after years on the lam.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Human rights advocates in Australia and Indonesia fear a new military campaign in Papua province is behind eight recent deaths and has caused up to 5000 people to flee their villages.

Indonesia's human rights watchdog may launch an investigation in Papua following fighting which has left eight people dead and forced thousands to flee gunmen said to be covert members of the notorious Kopassus commando unit.

The cruelest fate has befallen the sincerest of men. He spent his life absolving the glories of our blood and state. But his dauntless effort was indemnified by a poison chalice. An unrighteous end to a noble life.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – The city's civil servants straggled back into the office on Monday, the first day back to work after the long Idul Fitri holiday.

Medan – The local administration is investigating a rumor that materials for civil servant recruitment tests had been sold to applicants.

Each copy of the exam was sold for a maximum Rp 10 million (US$1,063), said North Sumatra Secretary Muchyan Tambuse.

Bogor/Jakarta – A protest over a waste treatment plant turned violent on Monday as police opened fire on residents of Bojong village in Klapanunggal district, Bogor, wounding seven.

Santiago, Chile – On the sidelines of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Santiago, US President George W. Bush and the US Chamber of Commerce requested that the Indonesian government, represented by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, improve the investment climate in Indonesia.

Dimas Adityo, Jakarta – Indonesian government has refused to have the settlement of human rights violation in East Timor following the 1999 ballot and the murder of US citizens in Timika, Papua, in August 2002, as the main conditions in resuming military relations between Indonesia and the USA.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A United States Senate's demand for the putting on trial of the Indonesian Military (TNI) officers deemed to be responsible for atrocities in East Timor remains a thorny issue in the efforts to restore military ties between the two countries, a minister has said.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – Threats in the form of a package containing a rotting chicken carcass which were sent to the wife of Munir were also been sent to the offices of Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) on Jalan Diponegoro at around 1.15pm on Tuesday November 23.

M. Taufiqurrahman and Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) appeared reluctant on Monday to lend their support for a thorough probe into the death of human rights campaigner Munir, who died of acute arsenic poisoning.

Indra Darmawan, Jakarta – Leading non-government organisation (NGO) figures are urging the government to form an independent team to investigate Munir's murder.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Punctuality is one thing that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has enforced during his first month in office, unlike his predecessors.

After having a career in the military, Susilo is demanding that Cabinet members, presidential staff and even journalists covering his activities be punctual.

Jakarta – The Central Sulawesi Police seized more than 500 weapons including homemade firearms in two days of raids over the weekend following a bombing in the restive regency of Poso on November 13 that killed six people.

Jakarta – The wife and colleagues of human rights activist Munir who died of arsenic poisoning aboard a plane flight in September vowed on Sunday not to be silenced by intimidation and to continue voicing their demands for justice.

The widow of a murdered Indonesian rights activist has vowed not to be silenced by death threats, including a dismembered chicken sent to her with a warning to stop blaming the military for her husband's death.

Human Rights Watch has warned that Malaysia's plan to arrest and deport hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants could spark rights abuses and harm legitimate refugees and victims of human trafficking.

The expulsion plan "may result in widespread rights abuses," the New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement released Tuesday.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The majority of illegal Indonesian migrants working in Malaysia have chosen to ignore the amnesty offer from Kuala Lumpur.

Jakarta – The wife of an Indonesian human rights activist who was fatally poisoned was sent a dismembered chicken, media reports said yesterday. It came with a death threat, warning her not to publicly blame the military for her husband's death.

Dili – Eight East Timorese anti-independence militiamen have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from four to eight years for crimes against humanity committed in 1999, Dili's UN- backed Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) announced Monday.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Local non-governmental organizations, churches and student organizations urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to set up a fact-finding team to investigate the recent series of shootings in the province.

Endy M. Bayuni, Santiago – Indonesia remains committed to the goals of free trade but it will also exercise its right to protect its industries and workers as far as allowed under the World Trade Organization (WTO), chief economics minister Aburizal Bakrie says.

Ambassador Marie T. Huhtala, Washington DC – Indonesia has experienced a dizzying series of changes since the fall of President Soeharto in 1998, representing rather amazing progress in the country's democratization. With a vast, multi-ethnic nation and little history of democracy, Indonesia has faced a steep learning curve, but the results so far have been impressive.

It is now already a month after the inauguration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's United Indonesia Cabinet and the market is still waiting for what has long been promoted as Susilo's first 100-day action plan to fully restore investor confidence.

Jakarta – Soldiers shot and killed eight suspected rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province, the military said Monday, in the worst violence in the rebellious region for weeks.

The killings occurred during a gunbattle Sunday in the northern village of Krueng Aji, military spokesman Ari Mulya Asnawi said. Troops recovered four assault rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Hopes that an end was in sight to nearly three decades of conflict in the Indonesian province of Aceh are fading. There was more violence over the weekend, just after the Indonesian president had announced a six month extension of the civil emergency in the province.

Blontank Poer, Nusakambangan, Central Java – It rained at dawn on Idul Fitri and 188 inmates at the Permisan penitentiary on Nusakambangan island were forced to crowd into the mosque to perform their Ied prayers.

After the prayers, 31 of them, aged from 25 to 40, hugged each other, some shedding tears. It was their first time to observe Idul Fitri without their families.

Aceh police chief Insp. Gen. Bahrumsyah Kasman has been appointed head of the Aceh Civil Emergency replacing Governor Abdullah Puteh, who has to answer a summons by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) over corruption charges. The Jakarta Post's Nani Farida talked with Bahrumsyah for two hours about the weaknesses of the previous civil emergency and his future plans.

The US Congress agreed yesterday to renew bans on International Military Education and Training (IMET) and foreign military financing (FMF) for Indonesia.

Arin Widiyanti, Jakarta – The executive director of Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial), Rachlan Nashidik, says that the person or persons threatening Munir's family want to send a message that it was the TNI (armed forces) who killed the human rights activist. Imparsial does not want to be provoked by the perpetrator into joining in with accusing the TNI.

Arin Widiyanti, Jakarta – Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) are urging the government and police to investigate threats which have been made against the family of the late Munir.

Arin Widiyanti, Jakarta Munir's widow, Suciwati, says that the threats against her indicate that the death of her husband was politically motivated. She has asked that the investigation not be directed at Munir's closest friends as suspects in the murder.

An Indonesian police team, accompanied by a human rights activist, is visiting the Netherlands to seek more information about the death of outspoken human rights crusader Munir, after a Dutch autopsy concluded that arsenic poisoning killed him on a flight to Amsterdam.

Endy Bayuni, Santiago – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Australian Prime Minister John Howard agreed on Friday to address concerns about defense and security matters to prevent possible misunderstandings in the future.

Fedhly Averouss Bey, Jakarta – The extension of the civil emergency in Aceh will not resolve the problems in the province. On the contrary it is an a-historical policy.

Endy M. Bayuni, Santiago – Building infrastructure will be the bedrock of the government's economic strategy for the next five years, and that means raising no less than US$72 billion, or around Rp 600 trillion to finance related projects, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Friday.

For a newcomer, a simple drive across town can be a heart-stopping experience. A lack of discipline, ignorance of traffic regulations and the plain absence of courtesy among motorists make our streets a hazard. Compounding this is the deficient road infrastructure and the flagrant inconsistency of traffic officers in enforcing the law.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued a regulation on Thursday to extend the state of civil emergency in Aceh for another six months. Criticism loomed even before the decision was taken, with many questioning the new government's commitment to a more comprehensive solution to the long-standing problems in the natural resource-rich province.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The acting civil emergency administrator in Aceh has asked the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to verify reports of malfeasance in the use of Rp 6 trillion (US$6.8 billion) in state funds allocated for the first six months of the state of civil emergency in the province.