Simon Montlake – As recently as 1999, Indonesia idled in the AIDS slow lane. At the time, health officials attempted to curb the spread of the disease by concentrating on the nation's premier high-risk group – sex workers and their clients.

Jakarta – A group of journalists associations revealed on Thursday a series of violent incidents and restrictions imposed on journalists covering the military operation in Aceh which began on May 19.

The press association, grouped under the Coalition Against Violence Toward Journalists, said restrictions to press freedom and abuses came from both warring parties in Aceh.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – People living in Jakarta will be jailed for up to three months without trial and fined during a massive city administration crackdown on illegal residents starting June 12.

Robert Go, Banda Aceh – Ten-year-old Embrianda Hassan stayed up later than usual on Tuesday last week.

Kafil Yamin, Jakarta – As the Indonesian television journalist faced the cameras from atop a military truck, the sound of gunfire interrupted his report, providing immediacy and reality to his real-time broadcast from Aceh province.

Jane Perlez, Singapore – Paul D. Wolfowitz, the United States deputy secretary of defense, warned the Indonesian Army today that its war against separatist rebels in the northern province of Aceh could not be won militarily.

[Excerpt from report by Indonesian Detikcom web site on 30 May.]

Dili – Timor Leste's Prime Minister yesterday called for the establishment of an international tribunal in a neutral country to try Indonesian military officers for the bloodshed that swept the territory when it voted to break from Jakarta in 1999.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The National Awakening Party (PKB) concluded its three-day national meeting late on Thursday by naming its chief patron, Abdurrahman Wahid, its presidential candidate.

Jayapura – Indonesian military using flame throwers are burning houses, killing people and destroying livestock and gardens in the Kurawage district in West Papua, according to the human rights group Elsham.

Fifteen Papuans had been killed and several hundred others who fled into the forest were now starving, group spokesmen said yesterday.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Pressure is mounting on the Indonesian media to support the military offensive against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), with the government insisting that national integrity should come before press freedom.

Banda Aceh – An Acehnese joke: Why does an Acehnese with dental problems leave Aceh to get treatment? Punchline: Because he's not accustomed to opening his mouth on his home ground.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A Chinese-Malaysian businessman who won a case of illegal arrest against East Timorese police has been re-arrested and jailed within 24 hours of the court decision.

Robert Go, Banda Aceh – Soldiers and policemen strut about in battle gear, machine guns slung from their shoulders and holstered pistols at their waists. They can be seen manning posts, drinking coffee at street stalls, or browsing through stacks of video compact discs in front of supermarkets.

James Politi, Washington – The US on Friday raised the political pressure on Indonesia, urging the Pacific nation to allow independent monitors into Aceh, the restive island province where Jakarta recently launched a massive military crackdown on separatists.

New York, May 29 – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by a recent series of sniper attacks in which unknown gunmen have targeted journalists in Aceh, a conflict-riven province on the northwestern tip of the Indonesian archipelago.

Singapore – The United States said on Friday it had warned Indonesia "at the highest levels" that a failure by Jakarta to cooperate in solving the murder of two American teachers would seriously affect bilateral ties.

An Indonesian group linked to the al-Qaeda network held a high-level meeting last month in Indonesia, possibly to identify new terrorist targets, The Australian newspaper reported.

David Fogarty, Singapore – Deputy US Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz called on Indonesia on Friday to ensure transparency in its military offensive in Aceh province and said independent monitoring should be allowed.

Phar Kim Beng, Hong Kong – Aceh, like East Timor, has seen its share of separatist problems for the greater part of the past 30 years. Located in northern Sumatra, gas-and-oil-rich Aceh has also become the scene of one of the most neglected conflicts in Southeast Asia, certainly less conspicuous than the running battles between Manila and Mindanao.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia's military reported increased rebel casualties in Aceh province yesterday but admitted that troops were having a tough time confronting highly mobile guerillas who blended into the population.

Dean Yates, Banda Aceh – Their allegations of Indonesian military brutality cannot be verified, but the pain etched on their faces is real. So are the tears, the quivering voices and the vacant stares.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Despite several shortcomings, the government said on Wednesday the ongoing military operation to crush the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the province had been nothing but a success and was moving faster then expected.

Jakarta – Chief of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Gen Endriartono Sutarto said human rights group the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) should look into itself following the assault and vandalism by a youth organization.

Lhokseumawe – Fatimah stopped a car carrying several journalists and begged them to load her belongings into the car. "Please take my stuff to the Meunasah [mosque]; I will follow you by bicycle," pleaded a trembling Fatimah.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Public bus drivers are forced to pay, on average, up to Rp 40,000 for legal and illegal fees each day, a factor that has caused their services and safety to worsen, a survey reveals.

Jakarta – Flora & Fauna International (FFI) and the Team for the Conservation of Sumatran Tigers (TPHS) have received reports on the unchecked poaching of Sumatran elephants and other protected species in Kerinci Seblat National Park (TNKS) in Jambi.

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Pekanbaru – With the beginning of the dry season, an increasing number of forest fires have been detected in Riau and Kalimantan, raising a thick haze that could disrupt air transportation in the region and neighboring countries, Malaysia and Singapore.

Arya Abhiseka, Jakarta – A noted abortion expert said on Wednesday the high number of maternal deaths from unsafe abortions was partly the fault of the media, which has failed to educate the public about the issue.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Two key suspects in the Bali bombings testified yesterday that Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is the head of Jemaah Islamiah, the al-Qaeda linked terror organisation blamed for the attacks.

Ten days ago Indonesia launched a full-scale military invasion into the northern province of Aceh, just hours after talks broke down between the government and the Free Aceh movement. Aceh has now been subjected to aerial bombing and 30,000 to 40,000 Indonesian troops are on the ground. Accounts of civilian executions and other atrocities are now being widely reported.

London – A weak judicial system in newly independent East Timor undermined human rights there last year, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The London-based rights watchdog, in its report on 2002, said the new country inherited an incomplete institutional and legal framework which could not fully protect human rights.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A court case in which a bodyguard of East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri is said to have kicked a Chinese-Malaysian businessman, calling him a monkey, is being closely watched by foreign investors.

International and local human rights activists condemned an attack on an Indonesian watchdog group over its opposition to the military offensive in Aceh.

London – Indonesia failed to take decisive action to end human rights violations last year, Amnesty International said Wednesday. The London-based rights watchdog, in its report on 2002, said the country showed "little progress" in its attempts to tackle impunity in human rights cases.

Nick Everett – On May 21, I was arrested for attending a protest in Jakarta. Australian Books not Bombs convener Kylie Moon, South Korean student activist Yung-Chan Choi and South African anti-war activist Lydia Cairncross were also arrested.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Three residents of Kuyawage village in the Papua regency of Wamena have reportedly starved to death after fleeing their homes to avoid a sweep by the Army for those responsible for last month's raid on the arsenal of the Wamena military compound. The identities of the three people were not immediately available.

Jakarta – Papuan tribal leaders and students from Greater Jakarta urged the government on Tuesday to revoke forest concessions given to dozens of companies that have failed to preserve the environment. They argued that a lack of government control has caused illegal logging and forest fires to increase in the country's easternmost province.

As the do-gooders move on, carpetbaggers and corrupt locals are left to count the loot. Eric Ellis discovers that most East Timorese are wondering what went wrong a year after independence.

Phar Kim Beng, Hong Kong – As the international spotlight focuses its glare upon the Bali bombing trial in Jakarta and renewed separatist violence in Aceh, it is all too easy to assume that Indonesia is a hotbed of radical Islam. But this is to ignore the bigger picture, and the distinctive features of Islam as it is practiced in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Manado – Regionalism is the latest, unintended consequence of the much-debated national education bill, which has already divided the nation along religious lines.

Thousands of Muslims from the Islamic Solidarity Forum (FUI) held a rally in Yogyakarta on Tuesday to demand the House of Representatives endorse the bill as it is.

Chris Brummitt, Lawang – By the time the military arrived at dawn, most men had already fled this isolated village in Indonesia's Aceh province. More than 70 soldiers herded the few that remained, along with the women, into a prayer house.

But what happened next was in dispute Wednesday as the military continued its offensive against separatists in Aceh.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – About 100 members of a nationalist youth organization attacked on Tuesday the office of a local human rights watchdog, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) here and assaulted five staff members for being critical of war in Aceh.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – As part of the government's campaign to end separatism in Aceh, the state has begun prosecuting 18 alleged members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for treason and terrorism.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – It was almost midnight in Tokyo when Indonesia's chief negotiator, Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, waited inside a holding room at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) office for Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders to reply to the third draft of the joint statement to salvage peace in the province.

Tiarma Siboro, Lhokseumawe – The Indonesian Military (TNI) will sue the Koran Tempo daily newspaper for allegedly publishing incorrect reports over the killing of 10 civilians during a raid in the first week of a major military operation to rout separatist rebels.

James Balowski, Jakarta – Following the breakdown of last-ditch talks in Tokyo between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Jakarta on May 19 launched a "security restoration operation" in Aceh – an all-out military offensive to crush GAM and "resolve" the question of Aceh once and for all.

Cokro Hamid, Jakarta – As Indonesian troops launched a full-scale military offensive in Aceh, there have been protests in other parts of Indonesia, especially Jakarta.

Protest and solidarity actions have been organised by the Solidarity Movement with the People of Aceh (SEGERA) and the Ungu Institute, a women's cultural centre.

New York – Indonesian police failed to stop two organized attacks on Kontras, a prominent Jakarta-based rights group, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called for a full investigation into the attacks, which appeared directed at the group because of its work in the embattled province of Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Police in Aceh have named 43 persons linked with separatist movement as suspects for treason.

"Their case will soon be handed over to the prosecutor"s office,' Aceh regional police chief Inspector General Bachrumsyah Kasman said here on Tuesday. He said he would suggest their sentence would be directly implemented soon after it was given.