Devi Asmarani, Surabaya – With another sweeping victory already at hand in this politically strategic province, the Nation Awakening Party (PKB) looks set to secure again a top five position nationwide.

This will give the party leverage as a kingmaker ahead of the presidential election in July, according to observers.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Three days after it knocked her flat, President Megawati Soekarnoputri was still waiting patiently for the truck carrying the nation's votes to arrive.

Jakarta, Kompas – Support from the political "roots" of presidential candidates continues to be a big factor in getting votes in elections.

Deddy Sinaga, Jakarta – The 2004 General Election observers from European Union (EU) countries have said that they considered the election went well and peacefully despite some weaknesses during the election, including the work performance of General Election Commission (KPU).

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The palace is plotting. With her political life on the edge as her party teeters on the brink of defeat, President Megawati Sukarnoputri is fighting back with a game plan to keep the top job and destroy her foes in the July presidential election.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian soldiers have shot dead eight separatist rebels in Aceh and seized weapons, the military said on Thursday.

Four Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members were killed Tuesday and four more Wednesday in separate clashes, said provincial military spokesman Lt. Col. Asep Sapari. Soldiers seized two rifles and ammunition on Wednesday.

Andrew Burrell – Remember these initials: SBY. They belong to Indonesia's new presidential frontrunner, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose prospects were boosted even further by his fledgling party's astonishing performance in Monday's parliamentary elections.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – What a difference a week makes in politics! Seven days ago, Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) carried the banner of the Big Two. Their dominance was unquestioned.

Patricia Reaney, London – More than 300 of the world's rarest and most exotic creatures, including flying foxes in the Comoros Islands and yellow-eared parrots in the Colombian Andes, are completely unprotected, scientists said on Wednesday.

All could disappear in future decades because global efforts to protect them are inadequate, the scientists believe.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Supreme Court has upheld a special court's decision to acquit a middle-ranking officer and to sentence a senior government official on charges of gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999 when its people voted to separate from Indonesia, court sources said late Wednesday.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A human rights expert has called for new charges to be laid against senior Indonesian leaders, based on war crimes evidence salvaged from smouldering barracks during their army's 1999 retreat from East Timor.

Jakarta – Indonesia's fight against terrorism is being hampered by a US military embargo, President Megawati Sukarnoputri said Wednesday.

"I seek the understanding of the West in tackling this issue. We need resources," she told Singapore's Channel NewsAsia in an interview due to air Wednesday evening.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Several local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) reported vote buying on Tuesday allegedly committed by political parties ahead of the April 5 poll.

Banda Aceh/Jayapura/Ambon – Violence marred polling day on Monday in several parts of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam in an apparent attempt to disrupt the election, while people cast their votes peacefully in three other troubled areas of Poso, Papua and Maluku.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The Ministry of Forestry is demanding an objective investigation into the recent arrest of environmentalist Bestari Raden, 50, after the Aceh martial law administration accused him of involvement with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Counting continues after Indonesia's national elections in the world's third largest democracy. The remote province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, was the first place to vote in the Indonesian archipelago, which covers three time zones. However, Papua's remoteness has thrown up some challenges for local authorities.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam

Indonesians have been voting in parliamentary elections today in a crowded contest billed as the biggest one-day vote in history. National police say there were no reports of violence despite earlier fears of election-related attacks by Islamic radicals.

General Wiranto, a possible presidential candidate from the Golkar Party, gave student protesters the slip in Surabaya on Saturday.

The former chief of the Indonesian military was taping a talk show on the campus of Airlangga University while dozens of students from various groups in Surabaya held a protest in front of the building.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – An international expert says Australia "shares some responsibility" for the 1999 atrocities in East Timor, despite its leading role in the United Nations peacekeeping force.

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Australians who mourned the dead at the first commemoration of the Bali bombings will remember the man who is now the favourite in Indonesia's presidential race.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, then Indonesia's chief security minister, moved many to tears as he stood under the hot Bali sun, and spoke of the tragedy that had ripped apart so many lives.

Aguswandi – A high court decision last Monday could have major repercussions for the democratic development of the world's fourth most populous country, which goes to the polls in national elections today.

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – A number of arrests of Acehnese activists across the country for their alleged link with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has raised questions among observers over the performance of the Aceh martial law administration.

His name is Ayus Rizal, 13. He is the youngest Acehnese resident currently undergoing training at the military camp for former separatist rebels in Reuleut village, North Aceh.

He once became a chantoi (civilian recruited by GAM as an undercover agent to spy on the rebels' enemies) and was tasked with finding supplies, such as rice or cigarettes, for his commanders.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Police here said on Sunday that they had shot dead a suspected separatist in the troubled province of Papua for allegedly trying to discourage people from voting in the legislative election on Monday, while a policeman and an activist were reportedly missing.

Sentani – Less than three years after special forces troops killed his father, restive Papua's most prominent independence leader at the time, Boy Eluay wants to be an Indonesian politician.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia's parliamentary elections on Monday have been enthusiastically awaited by the majority of the country's voters. Far in the north, in the troubled province of Aceh, however, the democratic festivities are seen as a dilemma by most people.

Dili – Sitting in his cramped jail cell, Joanico Gusmao readily admits he helped torch a village and stabbed to death a pro-independence supporter during the violence that enveloped East Timor in 1999.

Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Aceh province have threatened to shoot or fine residents who vote in Monday's Indonesian general elections, an election monitor said Saturday.

Rachland Nashidik – The past is catching up with General (ret) Wiranto. The Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) of the Attorney General's Office of East Timor (now Timor Leste) has proposed a legal motion for the arrest of the former defense and security minister/Indonesian Military commander.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A key witness to the 2002 ambush in Papua that left two Americans and one Indonesian dead has changed his testimony that Army soldiers were responsible for the incident.

Peter Kammerer – The tussle between East Timor and Australia for oil and gas reserves under the Timor Sea is becoming markedly vocal and tactical.

Canberra's insistence on a bilateral resolution to sea border issue is not fair

Brad Howarth – The newest nation is struggling to its feet, but little will happen without foreign investment.

Jakarta – A human rights group in Papua province said Thursday it was being sued by Indonesia's powerful military for alleging that troops carried out an ambush which killed two Americans in August 2002.

Surabaya – Defying mounting protests, former Army chief Gen. (ret) R. Hartono, leader of the Concern for the Nation Functioning Party (PKPB), has reiterated his calls asking PKPB supporters to be protectors of Soeharto.

Dan Robinson, Washington – In testimony to Congress, US military officials have reaffirmed their commitment to working with Indonesia in the fight against terror. But they also say there must be a resolution of the controversial question of suspected Indonesian military involvement in the killing of two American citizens in 2002.

Jakarta – Prosecutors have indicted two senior police officers on charges of allowing their men to torture hundreds of people in the eastern province of Papua, officials said on Thursday.

Tiarma Siboro and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – The Aceh military has set up security arrangements to enable local residents in areas known as rebel strongholds to exercise their right to vote on April 5.

Jakarta – The Malaysian government is forcibly returning Indonesian refugees from Aceh province to Indonesia where their safety is at risk amid a continuing conflict there, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Thursday.

Laurel Teo – Dark clouds held the threat of rain yesterday morning. But they were a false alarm, for not a drop fell upon the thousands at Golkar's last day of rallies in the capital city.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Golkar leaders have chosen an apt party slogan. Drawn from the lyrics of the final verse of the patriotic anthem Bandung In The Sea Of Fire, it reads: "Let's win it back, brothers!" These are confident words from a party that was once the bastion of support of the Suharto regime.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have criticized Governor Sutiyoso administration's policies on eviction and the environmental and for delaying important projects.

Ruslan Sangadji and Irvan NR, Poso/Palu – Calm has been restored in the troubled regency of Poso, Central Sulawesi, on Wednesday after a series of shooting incidents that killed a reverend and badly injured an academic.

Indonesians go to the polls on Monday in what will be the third free nationwide elections in the country's history. The ballot is to be the most complex and biggest single day event ever staged by a developing country. And there are concerns that some people will be left out of the process.

Presenter/Interviewer: Marion MacGregor

Max Lane – On March 24, the Senate resumed debate of the Greater Sunrise Unitisation Bill 2004, a bill to allow for the implementation of the Greater Sunrise International Unitisation Agreement that the East Timorese government was pressured to sign last year. The IUA covers how government revenues from the Greater Sunrise gas field are to be calculated.

Nigel Wilson – The federal Government's release of exploration acreage in the Timor Sea has been described as "a slap in the face" for East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

Shadow resources minister Joel Fitzgibbon said it was another example of the Australian Government bullying East Timor over maritime boundaries.

An environmentalist arrested in Indonesia's Aceh province is at serious risk of torture by the military, Amnesty International said. It said Bestari Raden, 55, was said to be undergoing intensive interrogation.

Alan Sipress, Bandung – When Gen. Wiranto's stump speech ended, the real action began. "We should fall no more!" he exhorted the crowd. "We have fallen enough. Now we have to rise again!"

An Indonesian Muslim-based political party has accused rivals of pre-election dirty tricks by circulating a video compact disc which purports to show a key party member being baptised.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The arrest of Acehnese environmentalist Bestari Raden has drawn strong criticism from rights activists and a sociologist, who see the move as part of systematic attempts to silence those critical to government policies in the troubled province.