Haidir Anwar Tandjung and Apriadi Gunawan, Medan/Pekanbaru – Tembilahan, a small coastal town in the Riau regency of Indragiri Hilir, has drawn a lot of attention from small-scale businessmen over the last few months as it has become a gateway for used clothes into the provinces of Jambi, South Sumatra and Lampung.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The nation will soon have a new repressive broadcasting law after the government and the House of Representatives reached an agreement last week to pass the broadcasting bill into law on Monday.

Atambua – More and more East Timorese refugees in the camps in Belu regency, East Nusa Tenggara, expressed their wish to return to their homeland of East Timor especially now on the occasion of Christmas and New Year.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – City administration agencies are overstaffed, corrupt and mismanaged, resulting in huge numbers of complaints from a frustrated public.

Banda Aceh – The trials of two foreign women accused of associating with separatist rebels in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province began on Monday with prosecutors saying they had violated visa regulations.

Jakarta – Six people including four alleged members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have been shot dead in Aceh despite an expected peace deal, AFP reported.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A much-anticipated plan to privatise Indonesia's national television station, TVRI, to save it from bankruptcy has been thwarted by parliament because of concerns that station operators would focus only on making profits.

John Aglionby, Banda Aceh – A British academic and her American colleague have revealed the extent to which they have allegedly been assaulted, intimidated, harassed and forced to witness hour-long torture sessions while being detained in Indonesia.

For Lesley McCulloch, the story of Aceh is a forgotten tragedy. The British academic is one of the world's leading authorities on the remote Indonesian province, blighted for decades by a bloody civil conflict. Thousands have died since fighting erupted in the 1970s when separatist rebels launched a campaign for independence and the military responded with a brutal crackdown.

Indonesian police say three workers of US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil who had been abducted in Aceh province have been freed.

An Aceh police spokesman said the hostages were unharmed and probably with their families by now. Police were still investigating the details of their release and whether any ransom had been paid.

Neil Sands, Sydney – Australia and East Timor are locked in a David and Goliath struggle over spoils from Timor Sea gas fields, which analysts warn could jeopardise the entire project.

Everyone has the right to be rich. But in Indonesia, the source of many people's wealth has become a sensitive issue, especially when it happens to be the president or her husband who is under the spotlight.

Sixteen protestors are under arrest and around 500 have fled a town in the Indonesian province of North Sumatra amid controversial plans to reopen a polluting pulp plant, police and a human rights lawyer said.

Tom Allard – Kopassus, the Indonesian special forces unit, which the Government wants to re-engage in the hunt for terrorists, has links to terrorist groups and activities itself, a senior official admitted yesterday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Detained terror suspect Imam Samudra has confessed to masterminding the October 12 deadly attacks on Bali, as well as a series of church bombings two years ago across the country, senior security officials said yesterday.

Jakarta – Unidentified gunmen have abducted three men working for ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia in the country's troubled Aceh province, military and company officials said yesterday.

Major Eddi Fernandi said the three men – all Indonesians – were forced from their car by armed men as they returned home from work on Thursday at the giant Arun gas field.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) once again showed its lack of professionalism to the public on Thursday when its steering committee (Bamus) failed to form teams to deliberate the much-debated bills on antiterrorism due to low attendance.

Matthew Moore in Jakarta and agencies – Indonesian police last night arrested Imam Samudra, alleged mastermind of the Bali bombing which killed nearly 200 people.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – An alliance of non-governmental organizations says it will file a judicial review with the Supreme Court against a controversial government regulation allowing mining in protected forests.

The Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) promises to end its offensive against separatist rebels in Aceh province but warns of harsh reprisals if a planned peace agreement fails.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military announced yesterday it has halted attacks on Aceh separatist rebels and a senior minister said the two sides in one of South-east Asia's longest wars are on course to sign a peace deal next month.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Lawyers representing the Indonesian Military (TNI) rejected on Thursday a peaceful solution to their client's dispute with The Washington Post over a report of the military's alleged involvement in an ambush against employees of a gold and copper mining firm in August.

Greg Poulgrain – Indonesia's feared Kopassus forces had been forced to free Papuan tourist guide Silas Yikwa when the news of his kidnapping reached the outside world, it was claimed last night.

Lisbon – Portugal will continue to support the reconstruction East Timor, "particularly in the areas of education and the promulgation of the Portuguese language", a senior Lisbon official said Friday.

Paul Toohey – Three Timorese men working in the Darwin-based Timor Gap Joint Authority have been suspended on full pay after they asked their Australian bosses why they were paid less than their Australian colleagues.

Federal Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock knows how to kick a man when he's down. About 1500 East Timorese – more than 80 of them long-time Territorians – are in danger of being deported.

They have been told to get out regardless of how long they have been here and even if they have children who were born in Australia.

Bogor – Nine companies have folded since the start of the year in Bogor, West Java, leading to 5,585 workers losing their jobs, Bogor's manpower agency chief Suherdis announced on Thursday.

He said that seven other companies employing 3,211 workers had also sought leave from the agency to fire their workers as they were facing bankruptcy.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – A new initiative to boost prospects for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in eastern Indonesia has been launched by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private sector development arm.

Jakarta – The number of foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia in 2002 is estimated at only 20 percent of its target figure of 4.3 million to 5.4 million, the country's top tourism official said.

Joe Humphreys – Evidence of United Nations collusion in the violent takeover of West Papua by Indonesia 40 years ago is revealed in a new book on the subject, which was launched in Dublin this week.

The Senate has endorsed a motion recognising the plight of the East Timorese refugees and has called on the Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock to grant special visas on humanitarian grounds.

Northern Territory Labor Senator Trish Crossin proposed and moved the motion.

The naming of Special Forces (Kopassus) Commander Maj. Gen. Sriyanto and the alleged involvement of 11 Kopassus soldiers in the ambush which killed two Americans and an Indonesian at the Freeport gold and copper mining site August 31, have brought the elite Red Beret corps back into the spotlight.

Jakarta – East Timor investigators have charged 12 people with committing murder just ahead of the territory's vote for independence at the end of August 1999, the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) said.

[There are hopes of an end to hostilities in one of Southeast Asia's longest running wars. The Indonesian government and international mediators say they will sign a deal with separatist rebels in the province of Aceh on December 9, after the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

[One of the details of the peace deal, which is yet to be negotiated, is the inclusion of international monitors. It's an idea which has never before been accepted by the Indonesian Government. Outside monitors are a crucial ingredient because neither side trusts the other.]

Presenter/Interviewer: Graeme Dobell, Canberra

Sarah Stephen – Fatima is a widow and grandmother who has been in Australia for 10 years, living with her family who are financially supporting her. She has no remaining close family in East Timor and has grown very close to her grandchildren here. However, her case for refugee status has been refused and she is now appealing to the immigration minister, Philip Ruddock.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Indonesian authorities say they granted the alleged mastermind of the Bali bombings, Imam Samudra, two new identity cards in the last three years because they "forgot" police were searching him for his involvement in bomb attacks.

Darren Goodsir in Kuta and Wayne Miller in Surabaya – Sumarno, the stepbrother of the confessed Bali bomber, Amrozi, will be quizzed repeatedly in the next few days by Indonesian detectives for leads on the possible whereabouts of the six fugitives wanted over the October 12 attacks.

Jakarta – Prosecutors at Indonesia's human rights court on Wednesday demanded 10-year jail sentences for the former police and military chiefs in the East Timor capital of Dili for failing to prevent atrocities three years ago.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Residents of Lhoksukon and Pasai districts in North Aceh have accused ExxonMobil Indonesia Inc., the Indonesian unit of the US-based Exxon Mobil Corp., of polluting the environment with hazardous waste for the past two years.

Ian Bostock – Few issues continue to dominate Australia's security outlook more than our angst-ridden relationship with Indonesia.

Richel Langit, Jakarta – The news that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will soon sign a peace agreement with the Indonesian government came as a pleasant surprise to Indonesians who had long wanted to see the bloody conflict there to come to an end.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia and separatist rebels in Aceh province are expected to sign a landmark peace pact early next month, international mediators said on Tuesday.

Sri Wahyuni and Emmy Fitri, Jakarta – Experts are at one over the idea to disband paramilitary groups in the country but are at odds on the mechanism that should be used to dissolve these groups, which often assume the roles of defense and security forces.

Affiliated with the Indonesian Military (TNI)

Organisasi Pagar Desa: Founded in the 1950s by A.H. Nasution to help TNI eliminate Darul Islam/Tentara Islam Indonesia (DI/TII) separatist rebels; militaristic, co-opted by the government.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Intensive crackdowns on beggars and other people living on the street during Ramadhan has done little to restore order in the city. Instead, the raids are apparently worsening the administration's fading credibility, activists said.

Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) condemned the military in Cianjur, West Java, for getting involved in the street vendor problem in the regency.

Kontras coordinator Ori Rahman said in a press release on Saturday that the military's interference had led to violence against the vendors.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students of Ngruki Islamic boarding school staged a rally on Sunday outside the Surakarta Police in Central Java, demanding the police to release Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

The students of the school, which was established by Ba'asyir, urged the government to revoke the recent emergency decrees on terrorism.

Jakarta – Two students from the Jakarta Theology School (STT Jakarta) in Central Jakarta who have been on hunger strike since last week were rushed to the hospital last Saturday.

[The East Timor government says unsuccessful asylum-seekers forced to return from Australia will be a burden on the country's fledgeling economy. A quirk of the former Portuguese colony's status meant the claims of some 1,700 asylum-seekers were not resolved after their arrival in the early 1990's, and they are now being asked to leave.