Kupang – Col. Moeswarno Moesanip, chief of the Wirasakti Military District supervising security in East Nusa Tenggara, turned down East Timor's request for the province to allow overland public transportation from Dili to proceed its enclave Oecusi through Atambua for security reasons.

Eric Ellis – For most of the chic clientele at Dili's City Cafe, the awesome struggle facing the Democratic Republic of Timor Lorosa'e seems the least of their concerns.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Two of the survivors in the April 1999 incident at Liquica Church in East Timor testified here on Thursday that what happened on the day was an attack on scared people by armed pro-integration militiamen.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – How can students study and their teachers concentrate on their work under a classroom ceiling that is threatening to fall on them at anytime? Yul Indira, the principal of state elementary school SD Pisangan Baru 13 in East Jakarta, may be able to answer the question.

Joe Leahy and Tom McCawley – When the veteran United Nations official Sergio Vieira de Mello went to Tokyo in late 1999 to lobby donors for funds to rebuild East Timor, he had no inkling of the task that lay before him.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A Portuguese company is poised to win a $US16 million contract to set up East Timor's new telecommunications network, further consolidating Portugal's commercial influence in the new nation.

Jakarta – Two East Timorese bearing scars from a 1999 massacre Thursday told Indonesia's human rights court of a day of terror when militiamen brandishing guns and machetes attacked a church and killed 22 people.

Jakarta – The government has backtracked on its earlier decision to review a law on regional autonomy and agreed to wait until an evaluation of the legislation is completed before making changes.

Lela E. Madjiah, Ambon – Indonesian military personnel serving in Maluku face a tough choice: Remain loyal to the republic or leave the military.

The option was offered by Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) Chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu during a one-day visit to Ambon on May 20.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The Indonesian armed forces (TNI) has been accused of imposing "concealed martial law" on the trouble-torn Maluku islands after initial attempts to impose it through the proper channels met with widespread opposition.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The international environmental group Greenpeace, which is renowned for its confrontational stance towards governments, has been invited by Indonesia to help fight illegal logging, in a sign that Jakarta is getting desperate to prevent the widespread destruction of its environment.

Newly independent East Timor urged former ruler Indonesia to drop its compensation demand for assets left behind after Jakarta ended its two-decade occupation of the country.

But Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta played down Jakarta's decision to postpone indefinitely a visit by Dili's new leaders to Indonesia which had been scheduled for Wednesday.

Pandaya, Dili – There is a tragicomedy taking place in the East Timor's elementary schools. It revolves around the teachers' low proficiency of the Portuguese language, which the government has decided to use as the official language of instruction for grades one to three.

[The following is a slightly abridged version of a speech given by Sarah Stephen, a member of the Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific brigade to East Timor, at a protest organised by a number of East Timorese groups in Dili on May 19.]

[In the 2.5 years of UN administration in East Timor, the UN has been criticised for failing to pursue those responsible for the atrocities of 1999. With new president Xanana Gusmao's commitment to reconciliation with Indonesia and its former militia, there are fears that justice will be equally elusive in an independent East Timor. Dateline's Mark Davis reports.]

As East Timor struggles with its new relationship with Canberra, a book is being published on Australia's role in that extraordinary journey to independence from 1998. Titled "Deliverance – The Inside Story of East Timor's Fight for Freedom", it's the work of two Australian journalists, Don Greenless in Jakarta and Robert Garran in Canberra.

Review by Jon Land – This is a two-part series looking at how two different individuals begin new lives in East Timor following the August 31, 1999 referendum on independence.

Sarah Stephen, Dili – May 19 marked the turning point of a historic period of transition for the East Timorese people. It was the last day of operation for the UN Transitional Administration of East Timor (UNTAET), bringing to a close more than 400 years of foreign rule.

Mark Drajem, Washington – The Bush administration is calling on Indonesia to rein in the military's financial empire, saying profit-making ventures have allowed the armed forces to become unaccountable to the central government.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's capital is still reeling from the effects of severe flooding three months ago with some areas submerged in water, major roads damaged by huge potholes and some residents without proper housing.

An Indonesian minister has warned regions not to go ahead with a threat to blockade oil and gasfields in their areas following dissatisfaction about the revenue split with the central government.

Banda Aceh – Tension in war-ridden Aceh, especially East Aceh regency, was rising following the release by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) of female students allegedly abducted early this month.

Agus Maryono, Purwokerto – Drug abuse, student brawls and pornography have reached an alarming level among junior and senior high school students in Central Java's rural areas.

The three problems, which have long affected students and school-age children in urban areas, are befalling teenagers in rural and remote areas of Purbalingga, Cilacap and Banyumas regencies.

Geoffrey Barker – There are three forms of land title in East Timor, reflecting the country's long history of foreign occupation.

Some land, notably rural land, is held under customary communal title. During 450 years of Portuguese rule, 2,709 parcels of land were given to the colonial elites. During Indonesia's 24-year rule, some 44,000 land parcels were handed out.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The City Council approved on Monday a regulation in the gubernatorial election that limits the public's participation in monitoring the election process, including the possibility of money politics.

Geoffrey Barker – Life is cheap and law is scarce in East Timor. How effective justice will be remains to be seen as the new nation's police and legal systems are being put in place.

[Australia's decision not to negotiate maritime boundaries with East Timor has surprised the new republic's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

Bogor – Hundreds of workers of bicycle tire maker PT Banteng Pratama, staged a rally on Monday at publicly listed tire maker PT Goodyear Indonesia's office to call for a continuation of the contract between the two companies.

The workers asked Goodyear's management not to break the contract with Banteng as it could result in the loss of jobs for over 1,500 workers.

[East Timor's adored first president says he welcomes the tough tasks ahead. Three years ago, Jose (Xanana) Gusmo was a political prisoner languishing in a Jakarta prison. Today he's president of the world's newest nation.

At least seven people, including a woman and three separatist guerrillas were killed in the past four days in Indonesia's Aceh province.

The chief of a village in West Aceh was shot dead by a gunman Saturday, Aceh military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin told AFP.

A former chief of Indonesia's intelligence agency has dismissed US allegations of Islamic terrorist bases in Indonesia and said it was unsupported by evidence.

"The entire statement is based on an analysis, not based on evidence," retired general Maulani told journalists in Solo, Central Java, on Saturday according to the Detikcom online news service.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Foreign Minister Alexander Downer yesterday signalled Australia would dismiss any proposals from newly independent East Timor to radically change seabed boundaries because it would risk unravelling thousands of kilometres of boundaries that have already been settled with Indonesia.

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Friday that "building trust and confidence" were the keys to restoring Indonesian-Australia military ties, according to a report.

Four Indonesian parliamentarians are hanging on to their positions despite their East Timorese electorate having broken away from the republic nearly three years ago.

Amid calls to give up their seats, the MPs insist they are representing the interests of the Timorese remaining in Indonesia.

Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta – Like most lawmakers in Indonesia's Parliament, Natercia Do Menino Jesus Osoria Soares insists she is the voice of her people. The only problem is that the people live in another country.

Jennifer Wells – On the news a few evenings back, CBC correspondent Patrick Brown contextualized the birth of the new nation of East Timor by emphasizing how small it is. With a population of just 800,000 souls, Brown made the point that the former Indonesian-occupied east end of an island is no bigger, people-wise, than Winnipeg.

HT Lee – When Howard claimed Australia is generous by giving East Timor a 90% share of the royalties – what he forgot to mention is that it is only for one of the three oil and gas fields off the Timor Sea – Bayu-Undan.

Michael Richardson, Uotolari – Paradoxically, the neat figure of the Reverend Damianus Wagur seated behind a school desk in his office epitomizes the complexity of East Timor's recent history. Wagur, a missionary teacher from Flores, a predominantly Christian island of Indonesia, directs the senior high school in this town about 250 kilometers southeast of Dili.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute says disaffected members of East Timor's guerilla group Falintil are forming into armed groups and pose a serious threat to security in the new nation.

At the Northern Territory University in Darwin, the Institute's Elsina Wainwright has released a study on security and defence issues relating to the new nation.

Jesse J. Holland, Washington – Congress is moving toward sending money to Indonesia to help train its police but has yet to warm up to the White House's call for increased relations with the country's military forces.

The House on Friday agreed to provide $8 million to help train Indonesia's police forces in anti-terrorism as part of the $29 billion anti-terrorism bill.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh met House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung and People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais on Wednesday to lodge a complaint against what he called the unfair allocation of state revenue from the exploration of natural resources in the oil-rich province.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Promising to boost professionalism in the Indonesian armed forces (TNI), army chief Endriartono Sutarto appeared before a parliamentary commission hearing yesterday to stake his claim to the coveted military commander's post.

Edith M. Lederer, United Nations – Acting with unusual speed, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution Thursday recommending that the 189-nation General Assembly admit East Timor as a new member.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Thousands of poultry farmers declined to pay a special poultry tax to the West Java provincial administration because of their losses in the fierce competition with the chicken cartel.

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – A major increase in construction, overexploitation of groundwater and unstable soil are causing parts of Jakarta to subside by up to eight centimeters a year, making the capital prone to more flooding, a surveyor company's report said.

Jonathan Steele – It's a hard world to be born into, even for nation-states. This week East Timor, half of a small island a few hundred miles north of Australia, became the youngest member of the so-called international community.

The head of East Timor's Roman Catholic Church, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, has said that the Dili correspondent of the Portuguese Lusa news agency "should be withdrawn from East Timor" for having written an article on church power in the new country which was "full of insults and lack of education".

Reacting Thursday to calls from East Timor's religious leader for the expulsion of a Portuguese correspondent from Dili, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said there will be freedom of the press in the new nation.

Jakarta – The European Parliament has issued a resolution calling on Indonesia to formulate an immediate peaceful solution to the conflicts in Maluku, Aceh and Papua, while affirming its recognition on Indonesia's integrity, a report said.

Jakarta – At least 100 Gaspermindo taxi drivers thronged the City Council building on Wednesday, complaining about a lack of transparency in the taxi company's management.