Suherdjoko, Semarang – With the general election drawing near, the cracks within the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) are spreading following the dismissal of the party's Central Java chief Mardijo .

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Most children across the country would probably have nothing to cheer about when Indonesia commemorates National Children's Day on July 23, as their plight seems to be worsening over time.

David J. Green – In many circles in Indonesia there is a sense of confidence that has not been present in years. True, the economy is hardly booming at 3 percent-4 percent growth each year and unemployment is unlikely to go down.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia will not seek more loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a decision that should signal clearly that the country is finally out of its crisis, say senior economic officials in the government.

Robyn Waite, Dili – More than a year after East Timor's labour code came into effect on May 1, 2002, three of the boards required to implement it – the Minimum Wages Board, the Labour Relations Board (an arbitration body) and the National Labour Board (a policy advisory body) – have yet to be appointed.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The government has taken steps toward banning certain jobs for children in order to protect them from health and moral hazards and to ensure their safety, a senior government official said.

Jakarta – A senior member of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's party said yesterday that he and three other top leaders have been targeted by suspected Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists.

Al Gedicks, who teaches sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and is the author of "Resource Rebels: Native Challenges to Mining and Oil Corporations", says the internal conflict in Aceh is much more about politics and economics than religion.

Jakarta – Three months after placing Aceh province under martial law, Indonesia is losing its campaign to win the "hearts and minds" of the Acehnese people, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) warned on Wednesday.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Topo Susanto, a legal observer from the University of Indonesia's School of Law, said on Tuesday that despite the imposition of martial law, the martial law administration in Aceh did not have the power to impose martial law on civilians.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesian Trade and Industry Minister Rini Suwandi will answer legislators' summons next Tuesday and face parliamentary grilling over her involvement in Sukhoigate, a scandal involving Jakarta's purchase of combat aircraft and helicopters from Russia in April.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government warned on Monday that the US Congress decision to withhold military aid to Indonesia – reportedly because of a failure to bring the perpetrators of last year's killing of two US teachers to justice – could jeopardize bilateral ties.

Dan Murphy, Washington – The Bush administration has decided to release to the Indonesian military money that was held up after a preliminary US investigation pointed toward Indonesian soldiers as the likely perpetrators of an ambush that left two Americans dead and eight wounded last August.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said on Monday that it would give 102 mining firms the chance to operate in protected forests, bringing the total number to 124 firms.

Jakarta – There are only a few books which mention that [Indonesia's founding President] Sukarno was involved in the 30GS rebellion(1). Conversely, there are many more books which refer to the involvement of the Indonesian military and others.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has asked a court to order several serving or former generals to answer questions about the bloody May 1998 riots, a commission member said Tuesday.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – At least one person was killed and 25 others injured as police fired shots at more than 1,000 villagers in Makassar, South Sulawesi, who rioted on Monday in a protest against the alleged occupation of their land by a rubber plantation company.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri is fighting a battle on two fronts as elections loom.

One is with an all-powerful Parliament that was nothing but a rubber-stamp body during the New Order regime – and the other, ironically, is with members of her own Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P).

Jakarta – Rebels trying to extort money from a family in Aceh have killed a woman and wounded her journalist husband and their daughter.

Three armed men visited Mr Idrus Jeumpa in Lhokseumawe town late on Sunday to demand that he pay 20 million rupiah in overdue "taxes" to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the Banda Aceh-based Serambi newspaper said.

Jakarta (Agencies) – About 1,000 people protested Tuesday at the office of the national food agency Bulog over a deal which would see its funds used to buy Russian fighter aircraft.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The labor union at PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) said on Monday it would sue the state-owned aircraft company's president director, Edwin Soedarmo, for has been called a "unilateral decision" to suspend more than 9,000 workers .

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Lhokseumawe – After two months of martial law in war-ridden Aceh, the situation in the province turned more uncertain as pro-Jakarta groups of Acehnese took the law into their own hands .

A Lin Neumann, Jakarta – Using tactics inspired by the US military during the war in Iraq, the Indonesian military is keeping the domestic press under control and virtually barring foreign correspondents from covering the ongoing military offensive against separatist rebels in the northern province of Aceh.

Jakarta – The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has formed a Human Rights Investigation Team in [West] Papua. The team, which made up four members, is headed Saafroeddin Bahar, will begin work next August to investigate a number of reports which have been received by Komnas HAM of suspected cases of human rights violations in Papua.

Jakarta – Residents of Kuala district, Nagan Raya, took the law into their own hands over the weekend, taking hostage 36 family members of suspected members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

According to military authorities, this is the second action of its kind since a military operation was launched against the separatist movement.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have finally recognized the importance of gaining support from the Islamic parties in the 2004 direct presidential election.

Kirsten E Schulze – As Indonesia's military operation against the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakin Aceh Merdeka, or GAM) is entering its third month, it is becoming increasingly clear that an end to violence is not imminent.

Azis Tunny, Maluku – More than 202,000 people, or 39,000 families, continue to languish in Maluku refugee camps more than four years after fighting between Muslims and Christians first broke out, officials say .

The prolonged conflict displaced more than 350,000 people, who fled to various refugee camps in the province.

Former Indonesiam president Suharto is still too ill to face trial on corruption charges involving hundreds of millions of dollars, Attorney General M.A. Rahman said.

Semarang – Prabowo Subianto Djoyohadikusumo, a son-in-law of former president Soeharto, met with Golkar members in Semarang, Central Java, over the weekend as part of his campaign to win the party's presidential nomination.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – A decree outlawing the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and one on the impeachment of founding president Sukarno are among 100 rulings that could be scrapped when the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) convenes next month for its Annual Session.

Shawn Donnan, Lhokseumawe – Major General Bambang Darmono believes his mobile telephone proves the popularity of Indonesia's military operation against the separatists in Aceh province.

Eben Kirksey and Jack Grimston – Britain's biggest company, BP, has angered human rights groups by becoming involved with Indonesia's brutal security forces in an attempt to protect a 1 billion Pound gas production scheme.

Leo Wahyudi S. – The unemployed struggle to find vacancies as figures show that nine million are jobless nationwide. Desperation to find work is leading to an increase in collusion and nepotism. Jakartans share their experiences of the job market with The Jakarta Post.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) has found 1,435 financial irregularities worth more than Rp 1.008 trillion (about US$120 million) in government operations in the first three months of 2003 alone.

Rp 1.008 trillion is equivalent to five months salary for more than 300,000 workers earning Jakarta's minimum wage of Rp 631,000 per month.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) renewed its commitment on Thursday to support the democratization process in Indonesia, especially ahead of the 2004 elections.

Jakarta/Wamena – At least two of nine soldiers, charged with involvement in April's deadly raid on the Wamena military district arsenal in the troubled province of Papua, are threatened with the death penalty.

Jakarta – The military operation in Aceh to incapacitate Free Aceh Movement (GAM) forces will result in prolonged trauma in children. After they have become adults, their minds will be filled with sadness, revenge and they will tend towards violence.

Jakarta – An American reporter detained after hiding out with rebels in Aceh has been charged with immigration violations and is expected to go on trial next week, prosecutors said Friday.

William Nessen, who was working as a freelance reporter, was arrested June 24 when he turned himself in to the Indonesian military in northern Aceh.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Lhokseumawe – The number of refugees in war-torn Aceh keeps changing, but their misery remains due to poor sanitation at refugee camps.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), an influential business lobby, and the country's labor unions have agreed to set up a bipartite secretariat that would play a key role in settling disputes between businesses and workers, a move which some said reflected growing disappointment over the government's poor handling of labor conflicts.

Jakarta – Security personnel shot dead at least 25 rebels in two of the bloodiest days of the military offensive against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the Indonesian Military (TNI) said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the military has deployed its medical personnel to provide health aid for Acehnese people taking refuge in many districts in the province.

Roger Mitton, Washington – There are tremors of apprehension in the United States about a serious downturn in its relationship with Indonesia.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – FBI agents have taken evidence from last year's killing of two American schoolteachers in Indonesia's rebellious Papua province back to the United States, just as US lawmakers turn up the heat over the murders.

A victim of Indonesia's anti-communist purge of the 1960s has finally cleared her name after almost three decades.

The Jakarta Post has reported Nani Nurani, who was jailed without trial between 1968 and 1976 because she once danced at a communist party social function, has won the right to a permanent identification card at the age of 62.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Nine political parties have passed the screening by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, paving the way for their participation in the general elections in 2004, when the country will hold its first ever direct presidential election.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Lawyers have raised concern over the government's failure to provide defense lawyers for members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) who are facing trial, saying the government is bound by law to make sure that all defendants are assisted by defense lawyers regardless of their crime.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – The closure of Indonesia's state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Digantara Indonesia (DTI), which has laid off all of its workers in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy, appears to put in mortal danger a startling and unlikely dream: to make a Third World tropical nation into a technological powerhouse.

Marwaan Macan-Markar, Bangkok – Ivete Oliveira refuses to let the past be buried, especially the past of women who were sexually abused by Indonesian soldiers during East Timor's struggle for independence.

Robert Go, Jakarta – At the beginning of his career, an Indonesian teacher can expect a salary of just S$170 per month – a reflection of the low priority given to education.

Depending on where he works, he may have to single-handedly deal with overcrowded classrooms housing between 40 and 50 students each.