Samarinda – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) criticized councillors on Friday for their poor performance in carrying out investigations into rampant illegal logging in the province.

Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – At the end of this month Indonesia will become the last of the economies plunged into chaos by the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis to graduate from the IMF and is looking to plug a budget gap of more than $10 billion.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – The meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) was a disappointment because it did not address measures needed to tackle the country's huge debt, International NGO Forum for Indonesia Development (INFID) says.

Jakarta – The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has urged the Indonesian government to make the education of girls a priority if it is to improve the country's development prospects.

Jakarta – About a dozen women Golkar Party members demanded on Friday that their party keep its promise to allocate a 30 percent quota for women to be listed as its legislative candidates.

Ainur R. Sophiaan, Surabaya – The East Java administration has proposed a salary increase of more than 100 percent for provincial legislative council members, prompting enraged criticisms that the local officials lacked a genuine sensitivity toward the impacts of the prolonged economic crisis.

Robert Go, Jakarta – At least 80 soldiers have been questioned in connection with a shootout between the country's police and soldiers early this month.

It was the first of two gun battles between the sides in as many weeks.

Tim Johnston, Jakarta – A report from an American university has accused Indonesia of crimes against humanity for its actions in the troubled eastern province of Papua, and has suggested that Jakarta may also be guilty of genocide.

Nani Farida and Teuku Agam Muzakir, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe – Pressure on the press in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam has claimed another victim after the Indonesian Military (TNI) allegedly forced a local biweekly tabloid to stop publishing in the war-torn province.

Jakarta – The international community through the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) has asked to prioritize a peaceful solution of the conflict in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) province.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Indonesian Youth Struggle Front (FPPI) activists staged a rally outside the parliament building here on Friday calling on the people not to vote for any political party in the 2004 general elections.

The rally turned noisy as many FPPI activists set fire to used cardboard and tires, causing traffic congestion along Gatot Subroto thoroughfare.

New Orleans (Associated Ppress) – A shareholder resolution asking that Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. stop payment to the Indonesian military has been filed by the New York City comptroller's office.

That office manages retirement funds holding $28.8 million in Freeport stock. Freeport operates one of the world's largest mines in Indonesia.

Bambang Bider and Abdul Khalik, Pontianak/Jakarta – Indonesia Military (TNI) personnel and police officers clashed on Tuesday in Wanawa, West Kalimantan, leaving one TNI soldier dead, one badly hurt and two police officers severely wounded, just a week after a similar incident in Palopo, South Sulawesi.

David Usborne, New York – Sitting in the Deluxe Cafe on Broadway just south of Columbia University on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, John Rumbiak is far from his native land. Home is West Papua, a province of Indonesia the size of France which has suffered violence for nearly forty years.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – A coalition of 96 non-governmental organizations called on the government on Wednesday to promptly ratify all international conventions on human rights in order to stem rampant abuses across the country.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Legislators want the government to resume investigations into graft allegations against former president Suharto, after a member of his inner circle revealed that the 84-year-old had been consulted about his daughter's political comeback.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – The two-day annual meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) kicked off on Wednesday, with donors stressing the importance of intensified efforts to tackle corruption to help improve the investment climate and increase the effectiveness of foreign loans.

Jakarta – South-east Asian militants are divided over the wisdom of attacking hotels, nightclubs and other "soft targets" where Muslims may be killed alongside Westerners – an internal split which could weaken the terrorist enterprise, the authorities said.

Jakarta – The public at large are disappointed with the sluggish process of reform, including in the legal sector, and have begun to hope for the return to the old system under former authoritarian president Soeharto who, with his iron fist, managed to make the people abide by the law, legal observers said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – On Wednesday December 10, hundreds of students, youths and non-government organisation activists, victims of land evictions and farmers came out into the streets to commemorate world human rights day.

An East Timor court has jailed a former Indonesian army sergeant for crimes against humanity during the territory's bloody breakaway from Jakarta.

It is the first time a soldier has been convicted of such an offence since trials began two years ago.

Canberra – East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta has demanded Australia halt development of massive natural gas fields in the Timor Sea until a dispute over their ownership is settled.

Ramos Horta said Australia should not exploit resources potentially worth billions of dollars before a treaty detailing how they will be distributed is finalised.

Richard Norton-Taylor and John Aglionby, Singapore – The legality of Britain's arms sales to Israel and Indonesia is to be challenged in the courts on the grounds that they breach stated government policy, the Guardian has learned.

Canberra – East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday it is too soon to fret over the final shape of a permanent maritime boundary between his impoverished nation and Australia.

Johann Hari – September 11 comes around once every three days. One thousand three hundred innocent people are slaughtered with conventional weapons within 24 hours somewhere in the world: by the middle of a third day, the death toll from 9/11 is surpassed.

Jason MacLeod – Abdul Teng is in his element. Teng is here to talk about his home, Gag Island in violence-ridden West Papua, the scene of a four-decade-long struggle for independence. The 56-square kilometre island is located 150km north-west of Sorong, one of hundreds of islets that make up the Raja Ampat Archipelago.

Jason MacLeod – On Wednesday 3rd of December Indonesian security forces detained four West Papuan students in relation to a nonviolent action two days earlier.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students staged a rally outside the Bank Indonesia building here on Wednesday to protest a meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) on December 10-12.

The students arrived at the building's gate on Jl. Budi Kemuliaan in Central Jakarta at 02.30 pm local time. However, they were not allowed to enter the Bank Indonesia compounds.

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta – Around 50 students from various different tendencies, who joined together under the banner of the Anti-Imperialist People's Alliance (Aliansi Rakyat Anti Imperialisme, ARAI), held a demonstration rejecting the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Suwarjono, Jakarta - Around 1000 demonstrators held a demonstration commemorating world human rights day at the Presidential Palace on Jalan Merdeka Utara on Wednesday December 10. Although the palace was empty - President Megawati Sukarnoputri is currently visiting Japan - it did not diminish the spirit of the human rights activists.

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta – As well as Jakarta, lively actions to commemorate world human rights day were also held in other parts of the country.

Jakarta – Some 3000 workers of state telecommunication company PT Telkom staged a rally outside the office of the State Enterprises Minister here on Wednesday to protest the sale of PT Mitra Global Telecommunikasi Indonesia (MGTI)'s shares to PT Alberta Communication.

Nethy Darma Somba, Timika – A group of former East Timorese militiamen postponed a plan on Tuesday to open a branch office of their pro-integration Red-and-White Defenders Front (FPMP) in Papua province, following strong objections from the local people.

Andrew Burrell – It's an alarming statistic that helps explain Indonesia's economic, political and social predicament: about 110 million people are scraping by on less than $US2 ($2.70) a day.

Michelle Nichols, Canberra – East Timor appealed to the United Nations Wednesday not to desert the world's newest nation by diverting its assistance to flashpoints like Iraq and Afghanistan.

The majority of people eligible to vote in next year's general election here are politically alienated, intolerant and hoping for a strong leader like former dictator president Soeharto, according to a survey.

Kupang – Twenty-six East Timorese who have been seeking asylum in Belu district since last October have sent a petition to President Megawati Soekarnoputri asking for protection and expressing their objections to being deported.

The country may obtain some US$2.7 billion in fresh loans from the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) to help finance next year's state budget. The amount is the same as that pledged last year by the donor grouping for the current 2003 budget.

Mark Colvin: In East Timor, thousands of people remain in the grip of an acute food shortage, and now face a bleak and hungry Christmas. A severe drought has left much of the country parched and barren, with some crops declared a complete failure. But although the long dry has now ended, the food crisis is unlikely to ease until at least March, as Anne Barker reports.

ID Nugroho, Surabayan – Police here said on Monday they had detained two people and were hunting two others suspected of slaying a Muslim cleric from the National Awakening Party (PKB), following increasing pressure to bring the alleged killers to justice.

With the official announcement by the General Elections Commission (KPU) that 24 political parties have been passed as eligible to contest the 2004 polls, the ideological affiliation of the parties and the potential for polarization between reformist versus pro status quo groups can be determined.

Three daughters of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno, including incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri, will contest next year's general election as leaders of rival political parties.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – After five years in political hibernation, old forces from former president Suharto's New Order regime are re-emerging in politics.

The strongest indication of this is the comeback of none other than his eldest daughter, Ms Siti 'Tutut' Hardijanti Rukmana.

Indonesian troops said they had uncovered an arms cache and a weapons factory in Aceh province, where soldiers and police have been battling separatist rebels since May.

Soldiers found weapons including a home-made grenade launcher, guns, rifles and ammunition at Nisam in North Aceh, provincial military spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki said yesterday.

Chris White – Not 8 hours into this day and google retrieved over 100 American news articles that have been published commemorating the day that will forever live in infamy. 62 years ago today, 2,400 Americans lost their lives in Pearl Harbor.

Several Indonesian legislators have urged the attorney general to resume a corruption investigation into former autocratic president Suharto, one of the parliamentarians said.

"I have asked the attorney general's office to be more professional and continue its probe into the case of Suharto," said J.E. Sahetapy.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Military soldiers deployed to quell the demonstration in Tanjung Priok in 1984 opened fire at the crowd without prior warning shots, a witness told the human rights court on Monday.

Dan Eaton, Jakarta – Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, issued some of its harshest criticism of Washington's Iraq policy on Monday, saying the US occupation had not met objectives and was becoming a debacle.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – City police efforts throughout the year to restore their tarnished image were largely ineffective given the increase in cases committed by defiant personnel from 206 cases last year to 234 this year.

Rachel Kleinman – Yarra's East Timorese asylum-seekers face a miserable Christmas unless their appeals for residency are resolved.

About 700 of Australia's 1700 East Timorese asylum-seekers live in the City of Yarra. Most have been through painstaking and drawn-out application processes for residency during the past 18 months.