Patrick Walters – East Timor is calling for the United Nations to deploy a 400-strong paramilitary force at least until 2006 to bolster its tiny security forces.

Fedhly Averouss Bey, Jakarta - The Centre for Electoral Reform (Cetro) and Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) have stated that they reject holding the 2004 general elections in Aceh while it is under the status of a military emergency. At the very least there needs to be a break in the military emergency if [the government] still wishes to organise elections in Aceh.

Kasparman Piliang, Padang – At least one man was killed, and three kiosks and a local community health center (Puskesmas) were set ablaze during a clash between residents from two villages in West Sumatra, witnesses said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – House Commission IV for settlement and telecommunications failed on Wednesday to endorse the controversial water resource bill, ordering the Ministry of Settlement and Infrastructure to promote the draft among other state ministries and the public sectors that have opposed the bill.

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Apriadi Gunawan, Bandung/Medan – Labor protests erupted separately in Bandung and Medan on Wednesday after their respective 2004 minimum wage pay increases were apparently much less than they had hoped.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Papuan people concluded a two-day meeting here on Tuesday, recommending that the central government speed up the establishment of the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) as mandated by the special autonomy law, and revoke controversial Law No. 45/1999 on the partition of the territory into three smaller provinces.

Tangerang – Hundreds of workers of shoe producer PT Dongha Perkasa staged a rally at the Tangerang Municipal Council building on Wednesday starting at around 10:30 a.m., demanding their right to better welfare.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The huge increase in the number of cases reported of rape and domestic violence against women and children is an indication of the growing level of willingness among the victims to speak to women's organizations about it.

As East Timor continues to delve into its painful past, there's been a suprising confession from Timor's last European governor. During this week's final hearings at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Major General Mario Lemos Pires publically admitted that Portugal failed to prepare the former territory for democracy.

Presenter/Interviewer: James Panichi

Leony Aurora, Jakarta – It looked like just another rally on Wednesday, when about 50 people holding cardboard posters stood inside the Ministry of Health compound in South Jakarta, chanting their demands.

Urip Hudiono and Nani Farida, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Indonesia risks losing its international credibility if it fails to stop abuses by the military against civilians in Aceh and ensure that perpetrators of the human rights violations are brought to justice, an international rights group warns.

Jakarta – Indonesia's peak Islamic body has put a religious ban on terrorism and suicide bombings. The Indonesian Council of Ulemas issued a binding religious decree, or fatwa, on the attacks after its annual meeting on Tuesday.

Jakarta – An Indonesian human rights group on Thursday accused President Megawati Sukarnoputri of giving the national intelligence agency too much power.

The executive director of Imparsial, Munir, said the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) had recruited regional officials, including village chiefs, as their agents and set up regional offices.

Jakarta – Central Jakarta police arrested 54 protesting students, six of them girls, just as they were dispersing after staging an anti-election rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Employers can no longer arbitrarily dismiss their workers as a new bill on industrial dispute settlement that the House of Representatives endorsed on Tuesday allows a dismissed worker to directly bring his or her case to court.

The Indonesian military in Aceh is pursuing a campaign of killings, "disappearances" and beatings of civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Acehnese refugees interviewed in Malaysia revealed widespread abuses in the Indonesian province, which has been effectively closed to observers since martial law was imposed in May.

Max Lane – Most of the 24 parties which gained registration for the 2004 general elections trace their origins back to groups or parties that were participants in the New Order political system rather than its opponents. There are just a few partial exceptions.

Kafil Yamin, Jakarta – Some Indonesians see the presidential candidacy next year of former strongman Suharto's daughter, Siti Hardianti Rukamana – on the heels of that of her father's former military chief Wiranto – as a sign of the failure of reforms in the post-Suharto era.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Distressingly little has changed in Indonesia from the previous received wisdom that the country's leaders could use state-owned enterprises, including financial institutions, as their personal piggy banks.

Rampant illegal mining in Indonesia is inflicting annual losses of Rp3.3 trillion ($389.38 million) on the state, a government official said Tuesday (16/12/03).

"The losses exclude environmental destruction, pollution and other forms of damage whose impacts are far greater than the material losses," Muzani Syukur was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Despite a declining trend among most recorded crimes in the city, the number of rape cases has significantly soared – by 25 percent – this year. Women's rights activists, as well as police, blame legal limbo as one of the main factors behind such an astounding rise.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Two witnesses for the adhoc human rights trial of Col. Sutrisno Mascung and 10 of his subordinates gave on Tuesday testimony contradictory to his own previous statements regarding the massacre in Tanjung Priok in 1984.

Dan Eaton, Jakarta – Indonesia's military is waging an extensive campaign of extra-judicial killings, kidnapping and torture in Aceh province, mostly targeting young men and forcing thousands to flee their homes, a human rights group said.

East Timor's tiny military has discharged 27 soldiers and will soon fire more than 60 others for being absent without leave or skipping training, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The country's 1,500-strong East Timor Defense Force is slowly taking over responsibilities from UN peacekeepers in the newly independent nation.

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta – A legislator expressed concern on Tuesday about a price war among the country's generic medicine producers, fearing it would prompt drug trade in the black market.

Nani Farida and Teuku Agam Muzakkir, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe – In a bid to ensure that the Acehnese can exercise their right to vote in the upcoming elections, rights campaigner Todung Mulya Lubis has called for a delay in the elections pending the lifting of martial law there.

Rob Taylor – An East Timorese human rights crimes court today sentenced a former member of Indonesia's military to 11 years in jail for murder and torture committed during the wave of violence which followed the country's 1999 independence vote.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Nearly 1,000 Papuans from all walks of life began a two-day meeting sponsored by the local legislative council on Monday to seek a solution to the central government's controversial decision to split Papua into three provinces.

Tiarma Siboro and Nani Farida, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Amid mounting criticism over restrictions on the press and independent groups in the war-torn province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, the Indonesian Military (TNI) said on Monday that the presence of foreign teams monitoring next year's elections in the province was not necessarily needed.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Some 1,000 public minivan drivers in Tangerang municipality drove around the city in convoy before staging a protest on Monday in front of the municipal administration and Tangerang Council building over the relocation of a bus terminal from Cimone to Poris Plawad.

Banda Aceh – Three rebels and three civilians have been killed in Aceh province over the past two days as an offensive against separatist guerrillas continues, the military said on Tuesday.

The news filtered through as legislators in Jakarta urged the government to give soldiers and police serving in the province a hefty increase in allowances.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – A military court here began the trial on Monday of 18 police officers charged with attacking protesters in Medan, North Sumatra, three years ago killing two students.

The two victims were shot dead during the May 1, 2000, incident, when police attacked the HKBP Nomensen University.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – In the hope that the seasonal spirit will prevail, East Timor's Truth and Reconciliation Commission is asking former political leaders to seek forgiveness for triggering the civil war that paved the way for Indonesia's bloody 1975 invasion.

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta – The education of women plays a more pivotal role than the use of contraceptives in curbing population growth, an expert said on Monday.

Sociologist Imam B. Prasodjo of the University of Indonesia said he had noticed in recent surveys that the availability of contraceptives did not automatically lower the fertility rate.

Mataram – Indonesia's human resources development index (IPM) remains low among 175 countries in the world and it is worrying, chairwoman of the Family Planning Board (BKKBN) Sumarjati Arjoso said on Tuesday.

"Of 175 countries in the world, Indonesia is in 112th place ," Sumarjati said in her speech read out by general secretary of the Central BKKBN, L. Sudarmadi, here.

Eony Aurora, Jakarta – A group of lawyers will sue at the Cibinong District Court, Bogor regency, on Tuesday large companies for allegedly producing untreated toxic waste that had polluted the air and groundwater in Munjul, east of Jakarta.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Chief Justice Bagir Manan said on Monday the country's failure to speed up reform within the judiciary was the result of conflicting laws and regulations.

Bagir said that the law making process was often dominated by a conflict of interests among influential groups.

Joseph Kirschke, Jakarta – It's not the cool tile floors, the open courtyard, or the rendering of Picasso's "La Guernica" hanging on the wall by the front door.

Kasparman Piliang, Padang – Despite controversy, President Megawati Soekarnoputri's husband Taufik Kiemas will soon be bestowed with a customary title by leaders of a clan in West Sumatra province.

Indonesian lawyers have complained that police had refused them permission to see six students who were deported from Pakistan on suspicion of terror links.

The six include Rusman Gunawan, a younger brother of top Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror suspect Hambali.

Australia will leave some 50 to 60 troops to assist with training of the East Timorese military once the peacekeeping force comes home, defence chief General Peter Cosgrove said today. He rejected suggestions that Australia could continue to deploy peacekeepers beyond the end of the United Nations mandate on May 20.

Corruption and weak law enforcement are the price which Indonesians are paying for reforms, former Indonesian president B.J. Habibie was quoted as saying.

Since gaining independence in 2002, the people of East Timor have struggled with the legacy of violence of Indonesia's 24-year occupation. Now they are being asked to turn their minds to what many people was an even more disturbing chapter of country's recent history.

Banda Aceh – The troubled province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam still needs 20,000 more teachers for elementary schools, junior high schools and senior high schools in 20 districts and municipalities.

"Aceh still needs 20,000 more teachers to teach at different schools," spokesman for the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Provincial Education Office Bustamam Aly said on Sunday.

[Intel: Inside Indonesia's Intelligence Service Ken Conboy, Equinox Publishing, Jakarta, 2004 253 pp.]

Cynthia Banham – East Timor has accused Australia of dragging its feet in talks over billions of dollars in oil and gas rights under the Timor Sea.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – At least 67 textile companies have had to stop operations in the West Java capital of Bandung this year due to drastic decreases in orders and rising operational costs, businesspeople said on Friday.

The closures had forced around 10,000 workers to lose their jobs, they added.

Many Indonesians are asking just how unwell former president Suharto really is, amid mounting speculation that he's stagemanaging his daughter's political comeback. In September 2000, a court ruled Mr Suharto was mentally and physically unfit to stand trial on corruption charges.

Suherdjoko, Semarang – A coalition of street children, housewives, students and activists took to the street for a rally here on Friday against rampant people trafficking across the country.

Jakarta – Indonesia's justice system is turning young offenders into hardened criminals because of a lack of funds to set up juvenile detention centres, a top policeman has admitted.

National detective chief Erwin Mappaseng said young people were being locked up alongside adult criminals and repeat offenders.