Damien Kingsbury – Last weekend's ambush of two buses near the giant Freeport copper and gold mine in the eastern Indonesian province of West Papua has highlighted yet again the problems that underscore relations between Jakarta and the deeply troubled province.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Two schoolgirls from the same village as the head of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were abducted and executed by armed gunmen in Pidie regency, Eastern Aceh on Wednesday.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The peace talks between the government and separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) slated to be held in Geneva early this month are still hanging in the balance as no date has been set.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Three days after a group of armed men killed two American school teachers and an Indonesian in an ambush at a location that is normally tightly controlled by police and soldiers in Papua, the police are as yet in the dark as to who the perpetrators were.

David Gosling, Yogyakarta – Indonesian workers are braving police repression to oppose President Megawati Sukarnoputri's IMF-inspired draft labour laws. So far strikes and protest rallies across the country have succeeded in pushing back the parliamentary debate on the laws until at least October, buying time for workers to organise against them.

Vannessa Hearman – On August 15 an Indonesian court convicted Abilio Soares, the former Jakarta-appointed governor of East Timor, of failing to rein in subordinates in September 1999 as pro-Jakarta militias rampaged, killing at least 1000 East Timorese.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) joined on Tuesday opposition against the plan to revive political parties' power to expel dissenting members from legislative bodies, arguing the move would pave the way for authoritarianism by the parties.

[It's three years since the violence that accompanied East Timor's vote for independence. Then, thousands of men, women and children fled at gunpoint to the relative safety of West Timor and beyond. Now, most have returned to play their part in rebuilding East Timor. But some can't come home.

Jakarta – Fifteen political parties, each of which won less than 2 percent of the vote in the 1999 general election, are requesting that the application of the electoral threshold be canceled to allow them to contest the 2004 general election.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The government has agreed to allow mining companies to operate in areas now categorized as protected forests, a decision that has drawn strong protests from environmental groups.

Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Tuesday that the decision was taken in a bid to boost investment and increase economic growth.

Tim Dodd – You didn't read about it at the time because no announcement was made by Freeport-McMoRan, the US company that controls the Freeport copper and gold mine in the Indonesian province of Papua.

But in the early hours of May 25 the company's local headquarters near the mine site, in the company town of Kuala Kencana, was attacked by an armed group of Papuans.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Desperate to get away, some female migrant workers now camped in Nunukan close to the Sabah border have resorted to selling their babies to raise money to pay for their return journey to homes in Sulawesi and Java.

The question to be asked about the bloody ambush in the Indonesian province of Papua of employees of the giant US-owned Freeport mine is who stands to gain. The Indonesian military has been quick to blame separatist guerillas.

[The security chief for the Freeport mine has said he agrees with assessments by the Indonesian military, that the local independence group, the Free Papua Movement, is probably to blame. He has also linked the attack to the America's so-called War on Terror.]

Transcript:

[Last weekend's killing of three school teachers in Papua highlights the complex relationship between the Freeport mining company, the Indonesian military, and local Papuan villagers. P.T. Freeport Indonesia is a subsidiary of the US corporation Freeport McMoRan and operates a giant copper and gold mine in the Grasberg mountains in Papua.

Yuliansyah, Banjarmasin – Angered by the fact that South Kalimantan Governor H.M. Sjachriel had ignored their demands for him to leave his official residence, dozens of people, grouped in the People's Suffering Action Forum (Kapera), sealed off the governor's official residence on Tuesday.

Dan Murphy, Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers were searching the fog-shrouded mountains Monday near the world's richest gold and copper mine for the killers of two American school teachers and one Indonesian.

Jakarta – Some 800 of employees from five banks facing a merger rallied outside the House of Representatives on Monday, urging legislators to safeguard their jobs.

Jakarta – Communications and information minister Syamsul Muarif said here Monday that the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) had agreed to ban by law local broadcasting companies from relaying the programs of foreign stations.

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday Indonesia was on track to achieve single digit inflation by year end, a day after Jakarta reported its first increase in annual inflation in six months.

Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington – Will US training improve the Indonesian military's terrible human-rights record?

[In Indonesia, freedom of the press is under the spotlight with controversial plans by the government to prevent the rebroadcast of certain foreign programs on local media. Opponents say its a crude attempt at censorship. If the legislation gets through parliament later this month, it'll directly impact on news services from the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Australia.]

Matthew Moore and Greg Roberts in Timika and Townsville – West Papuans yesterday accused Indonesian security forces of involvement in an ambush of mine workers that left three people dead and 11 injured.

On the streets near the giant American Freeport gold and copper mine, Papuan locals claimed security forces were involved in a "set-up".

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri, Vice President Hamzah Haz and some other senior state officials are morally responsible for the agribusiness scam involving PT Qurnia Subur Alam Raya (QSAR), lawyer Juniver Girsang said here on Monday.

Jakarta (agencies) – Indonesia's army chief yesterday called on the international media not to speculate on who was responsible for the fatal ambush of American schoolteachers near the Freeport mine in Papua at the weekend.

"If there is foreign media which is unclear, please tell the media not to speculate," General Ryamizard Ryacudu told El Shinta radio.

Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo has called to East Timor's political leaders and the international community to begin moves to establish an international court to try those responsible for the violence in Timor in 1999.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Over the past five years, the Internet has become a crucial tool for Islamic groups in Indonesia to spread their beliefs and widen mass support. A local search engine shows as many as 200 websites on Islam run by various groups.

Jakarta – Chinese herbal medicines are growing in popularity here, even among the non-Chinese, as an alternative to Western drugs.

The shocking murder of three employees of the giant US-owned Freeport mine in West Papua on the weekend underscores the instability of our neighbourhood.

The portents are ominous. Indonesian security forces have begun a 60-day campaign to shut down the political wing of the Papuan independence movement.

Tom Wright, Jakarta – Indonesia's attempts to blame the weekend killing of two US citizens on Papuan separatists may be the first step in a military crackdown in the restive province that could complicate US political and business interests.

Jakarta – Indonesia posted higher inflation in August, the first increase in six months and a figure prompting speculation further interest rate cuts would be limited.

Robert Go, Jakarta – First it was shoemakers, toy makers and leather workers. Now it is the turn of the textile producers to complain that theirs is an industry choked by Indonesia's inability to compete against Asian countries like China and Vietnam.

[Anti-corruption campaigners in Indonesia have charged that new districts and townships are being created out of existing provinces, as the nation's decentralisation programme is hijacked by corrupt local elites.

Abdullah Alamudi, Jakarta – Indonesia's newly won press freedom is now in limbo as the broadcast bill – nearly at its final reading at the House of Representatives – will prevent local radio and TV stations from relaying foreign-made news, thus curbing the public's right to information.

[Violence has escalated to Australia's north, in the Indonesian province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya. Over the weekend two American teachers and one Indonesian were shot dead and more than ten others were injured, in an ambush near the giant Freeport gold and copper mine.

Sydney – Papuan rights and independence activists said on Monday they believed the Indonesian military could be to blame for a weekend attack that killed three people, including two Americans, near the world's biggest gold and copper mine.

Jakarta – Thousands of illegal Indonesian workers and their families are living in dire conditions in camps near the country's border with Malaysia and one relief worker said a few are selling their babies to raise cash.

[Kirsty Sword was a resistance fighter who became the First Lady. Now comes the hard part. Susan Wyndham profiles the wife of the East Timorese leader.]

Dili – The fledgling nation of East Timor risks being exploited by organized crime and developing institutionalized corruption, because of its poverty and rudimentary legal system.

The head of the Australian Federal Police, Mick Kelty, said Sunday East Timor could be vulnerable to drug traffickers, money launderers and those engaged in the sexual exploitation of children.

[The Indonesian province of Papua is notoriously a black hole for information, and after the weekend's shocking attack on employees of the giant Freeport Mine, few things are clear except that three people are dead.]

Transcript:

Achmad Sukarsono and Jerry Norton, Jakarta – Indonesian troops fanned out through thick jungle in Papua province on Monday in search of an armed band that killed three people in the bloodiest clash involving foreigners since a long-simmering rebellion began.

Mari Alkatiri – It is a truism of the developing world that the blessing of petroleum wealth can be a curse. Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Venezuela and many other countries have learnt this the hard way.

East Timor's religious leader has said that the Timorese people are "disenchanted" after three months of independence.

Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo was cited by a Chilean newspaper Monday as saying that the Timorese, "are now suffering disenchantment and disillusion, as they thought that with independence, they would obtain all".

[Tensions between Jakarta and Papua's independence movement have escalated following the weekend attack near the giant Freeport gold mine in Papua. Three people, including two Americans and an Indonesian, were killed when unidentified gunmen ambushed a convoy of cars.

Denise Leith – Kelly Kwalik of the OPM has denied that the nationalist group is responsible for the killing and wounding of Freeport employees on the company road from Tembagapura on Saturday.

While civil society groups have placed their hopes in creating a zone of peace in West Papua, thousands of members of Laskar Jihad have flooded into the province in the past year, amid protests from West Papuans that this could lead to inter-religious conflict.

In a statement issued today by Messrs Willy Mandowen, Victor Kaisiepo and Clemens Runawery on behalf of the people of West Papua, the Papua Council Presidium and its interim Chairman, Mr. Tom Beanal, and Mr.

Jakarta – Health and emergency workers in an Indonesian border town said yesterday they were struggling to ensure thousands of Indonesians fleeing an immigration crackdown in Malaysia had access to clean water and adequate sanitation.

Marni Cordell – It's cold on the first morning of the Yumi Wantaim gathering, and we – an eclectic mix of faces, ages and colours – are huddled under a large white marquee in Pipemaker's Park in outer Melbourne. Outside, under a drizzle of rain, a fire pit is being prepared to cook sweet potato and a pig, killed for the occasion.

Mystery has shrouded the death in September 2001 of Willem Onde, a local OPM commander in Merauke, together with a colleague. Investigations conducted this year by the Catholic Diocese in Merauke point to the involvement of Kopassus in his murder, just two months before Theys Eluay, the pro-independence leader was put to death by Kopassus officers.