Reporter: Anne Barker
Hamish Robertson: A children's schoolbook which portrays the President and Prime Minister of East Timor as monkeys has caused a diplomatic outcry.
A Washington-based organisation, the International Republican Institute, has compiled the book to teach children about the processes of democracy.
Jakarta – Indonesian will no longer pay attention to East Timor's Serious Crime Unit (SCU) which has accused several Indonesian officials of human rights violations, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.
Jakarta – Indonesia's government said yesterday it would pay its civil servants a special bonus in June but the finance minister has denied the move is linked to the presidential election the following month.
A Finance Ministry spokesman, Mr Syamsul, said the one-month bonus would help civil servants pay school fees at the start of the education year.
Jakarta – Indonesia has increased restrictions on foreign journalists trying to visit war torn Aceh province ahead of April parliamentary elections, the foreign ministry said Thursday.
The smiling daughter of Indonesia's former dictator Suharto is waging a high-profile electoral campaign – less than six years after her father was forced to resign amid massive civil unrest.
Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, known as Tutut, is campaigning for a party led by a retired general who proudly calls himself a Suharto lackey.
Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Former Indonesian military chief and prominent presidential candidate General Wiranto has challenged United Nations prosecutors in East Timor to come to Indonesia and discuss their allegations that he is guilty of gross human rights abuses.
Suwarjono, Jakarta – On Thursday March 25, scores of activists from the People's Lawyers Union (Serikat Pengacara Rakyat, SPR) and the Popular Youth Movement (Gerakan Pemuda Kerakyatan, GPK) went to the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) offices in Central Jakarta.
A leading Indonesia analyst says Jakarta has grossly mishandled the troubled province of Papua, and now seems to be stepping back to watch it disintegrate.
Presenter/Interviewer: Graeme Dobell
Speakers: Sidney Jones, the Southeast Asia director, the International Crisis Group
Jakarta – The leaders of Indonesia's Islamic parties have reluctantly accepted the defeat of political Islam by Malaysia's dominant secular political grouping in the recent elections, but said it was far from being final.
Jakarta – Indonesia's bird flu outbreak, which has killed up to 6.2 million chickens across the archipelago, is showing signs of abating, a top agriculture ministry official said on Thursday.
Max Lane – Since the East Timorese independence referendum in 1999, the Australian government has received approximately $1 billion dollars in taxes on oil taken from the Laminaria Corallina field, which is fully situated in East Timorese territory.
Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – A new Islamic fad is sweeping across Indonesia. But this time the divine message is reinforced by an amplifier and a speaker box chanting Islamic musical notes taken from the Koran, Islam's holy book, and sprinkled with modern-day pop culture that appeals even to the MTV generation in Indonesia.
Jill Jolliffe, Pante Macassar – The 45,000 inhabitants of East Timor's tiny enclave of Oecusse have suffered isolation and economic disadvantage as a result of independence in 2002, but this has not altered their passionately nationalist views.
Jakarta – A lawyer for former Indonesian military chief Wiranto accused East Timor prosecutors on Wednesday of trying to sabotage the general's bid for the Indonesian presidency by seeking his arrest.
Bob Burton, Canberra – East Timor's government, Australian political leaders and community groups are condemning the Australian government for what has been described as an attempt to 'rob' billions of dollars of revenues from oil and gas projects in the sea between the two countries.
Devi Asmarani, Makassar – For them to graduate, primary school students in Bulukumba regency, about a three-hour drive from here, must take proficiency tests in Quran reading.
Alcoholic beverages are banned in several towns, and in one regency, women public officials must cover their hair with headscarves at work.
Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta – Despite the nationwide policy of providing free medical treatment to poor dengue fever patients, some hospitals continue to charge poor patients, according to an investigation by the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC).
Jakarta – A court in Indonesia's Aceh province on Tuesday jailed a former separatist rebel ceasefire negotiator for two years for subversion.
Judge Erry Mustanto said Alfi Shahril Fil bin Syafruddin, 26, was guilty of plotting to secede from Indonesia, the state Antara news agency reported.
Dili – UN prosecutors Tuesday urged East Timor's legal authorities to issue an international arrest warrant for Indonesia's former military supremo, saying he was responsible for war crimes committed by Indonesian forces in their former province in 1999.
Jakarta's governor has urged residents to be on guard against terror attacks as Indonesia heads towards next month's elections.
The warning came as police continued to question a group of Muslim radicals arrested after they accidently caused an explosion in their house in a Jakarta suburb during a bomb-making class.
Ahmad Fikri, Bandung – A former senior economics lecturer from the University of Indonesia, Professor Sarbini, has warned that the forces of the New Order regime [of former President Suharto] are trying as hard as possible to buy votes in the 2004 general elections. The available funds to buy these votes are estimated at 5 trillion rupiah.
Brendan Nicholson – A lobby group supporting East Timor wants Australia to put the billions flowing from some of the Timor Gap oil and gas fields into a trust fund until the boundary dispute is resolved.
Dewi Santoso, Jakarta – Eight months after authorities began enforcing Law No. 19/2002 on copyrights, the government will begin using licensed software once it finishes taking inventory and negotiating prices, an official said.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Major political parties are fine-tuning their campaign strategies in order to bounce back from disastrous early indoor campaigning, party sources say. President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is working to improve its television spots.
Just nine days remain to the 22-day campaign period, after which there is a three-day cooling-off period before people cast their votes for legislative candidates on April 5. It will be the first of two direct elections the people of this country have ever participated, the second being the presidential election in July.
Mafoot Simon – The indoor stadium turned into a sea of white. Some 10,000 supporters of the Islamic-based Justice Party (PKS) crowded into an area no longer than six basketball courts. Outside, many more jostled to get in to hear party leader Hidayat Nurwahid deliver a broadside against corruption in Indonesia.
Banda Aceh – Government troops shot dead two suspected separatists in more clashes in restive Aceh province, the military said Monday, while accusing the rebels of killing a teenaged girl.
The suspected Free Aceh ovement (GAM) rebels were shot dead during a clash Saturday in Pasi Merapa, South Aceh district, Capt. Chandra said.
East Timor has threatened to withold ratification of an agreement with Australia to develop oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea worth eight-billion US dollars. And East Timor says it could still take Australia to the International Court of Justice, even though Canberra says it will not submit to boundary rulings by the World Court.
Brendan Nicholson – The East Timorese Government says Australia is breaching international law by taking billions of dollars worth of fuel from parts of the Timor Sea oil and gas fields that East Timor says it owns.
Mark Davis – Moves to develop massive natural gas fields in the Timor Sea face new hurdles after East Timor's government yesterday strongly disputed the Australian government's interpretation of a deal between the two countries for exploitation of the resources.
Muchus Budi R., Solo – After failing to form a new political party, in the 2004 general elections ex-members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) will channel their hopes through the National Awakening Party (PKB) and support Gus Dur [former President Abdurrahman Wahid] to win the presidency.
Sian Powell, Jakarta – Accused war criminal, love-song crooner and charismatic speaker: Wiranto is an oddity even among Indonesia's eccentric array of presidential candidates.
Five years ago he was in charge of the nation's brutal armed forces and the master-mind of the relentless battle to hold on to East Timor.
Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – While most political parties are united in condemning the government for failing to set out an economic program that can get the nation out of crisis, most of them have failed to offer any alternative.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The order for Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel not to vote in the upcoming election remains, its chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said on Friday. A few interviewed soldiers backed up the decision.
Constitutional law expert Sri Sumantri said the order violated citizens' political rights, which were guaranteed by the Constitution.
Moch. N. Kurniawan and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information (ISAI) reported on Thursday to the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) 39 violations allegedly committed by political parties in broadcast media advertisements between March 11 and March 15.
Jakarta – The troubles surrounding the preparations for the general elections has led the Indonesian Military to put itself on high alert, Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said.
Robert Go, Jakarta – National Mandate Party (PAN) chief Amien Rais hops from one destination to another across Indonesia on a jet chartered at US$2,000 per hour.
Sometimes, helicopters rented at an hourly rate of US$450 deliver him in style to fields where adoring supporters wait for his appearance and a dose of his fiery speeches.
Jakarta/Medan – Desperate to win people's hearts and minds, political parties have openly employed dubious tactics to draw indifferent voters to largely deserted campaign sites.
Matthew Moore, Surabaya – One-time Indonesian strongman Wiranto couldn't quite decide whether to take the Mercedes or the becak, one of the tiny, three-wheeled, cycle-powered rickshaws that transport the county's poor.
P.C. Naommy, Jakarta – The investigation into alleged corruption involving Attorney General MA Rachman was dealt a large blow on Friday when a key witness said he would withdraw his testimony.
M. Taufiqurrahman and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) Police chief Maj. Gen. Sulaiman A.B. announced on Friday that two presidential guards had been declared suspects in a recent shooting incident and a busway traffic violation.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Despite the series of natural disasters that have ravaged vast stretches of the country in recent years, current and aspiring leaders seem uninterested in addressing environmental issues in their political campaigns.
Bambang Nurbianto and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Time is money – especially that of time-pressed women, as one campaigning political party found out.
Indonesians are hiring themselves out to attend campaign rallies as parties struggle to drum up enthusiasm before next month's general election.
"Accept campaign orders from any political party," read one sign erected by motorcycle taxi drivers in the capital, according to the Jakarta Post.
Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – When Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti "Tutut" Rukmana recently came forward as a possible challenge for President Megawati Soekarnoputri, the daughter of first president Sukarno, some political parties, including Soeharto's former party, Golkar, played down its significance.
Jakarta – The public's lackluster response to election campaigns has forced political parties to draw up new strategies to attract people to their campaign sites.
Rully Chairul Azwar, Golkar's campaign team secretary, said on Thursday that his party had prepared different approaches for various situations in order to draw a large crowd of people.
Surakarta/Surabaya/Yogyakarta – The violent behavior on Thursday by the campaign participants in several cities sent an alarming message to the 24 political parties that they needed to keep a handle on their supporters and improve their street campaign strategies to ensure that the April 5 legislative election would proceed peacefully and democratically.
Jakarta – Here come the ballot papers: A few million are damaged, thousands contain mistakes or are missing and millions more have yet to arrive.
Kendari – Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Jusuf Kalla warned on Friday that if Jakarta continued to disregard development in the eastern part of the country, it would lead to the disintegration of Indonesia.