Farah Farouque – Flag raising is common at public events. But when RMIT raised the Morning Star – the flag of those seeking independence for the Indonesian province of West Papua – the impact went as far as Jakarta.

Sian Powell – Turf wars over extortion rackets often trigger armed clashes between the Indonesian military and the nation's police force, a conference on the weekend was told.

Diarmid O'Sullivan – The struggle over land and natural resource rights is a key aspect of the conflict in Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, that pits the Indonesian state against an independence movement supported by most of the indigenous population.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Drug addicts in a crowded Jakarta kampung are being submitted to one of the toughest drying-out regimes around. They are being chained to a post in a mosque for weeks on end.

But the unconventional cure has helped dozens over the past few years as the number of drug abusers in the country has exploded.

Simon Elegant, Jakarta – George W. Bush told the nations of the world after September 11 last year that they were either with the US in the war on terror or against the US At the time, the choice for most frontline governments was stark: join up or face the wrath of the world's military and economic superpower.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The seemingly forgotten issue of enacting an anti-terror law resurfaced in Indonesia after several prominent figures, including the military chief and the head of the country's largest Islamic body, stressed the need for a legal basis in the fight against terrorism.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Legal experts and human rights activists have warned of extensive human rights abuses and political suppression should a new bill on terrorism being drafted by the government be passed into law as it will give security forces the authority to arrest suspected terrorists arbitrarily.

Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress, Jakarta – Indonesia's decision to detain and interrogate Seyam Reda, a German citizen suspected of links to al Qaeda, marks a significant shift for Indonesian security forces, which earlier turned suspects over to the United States for questioning elsewhere, according to diplomatic and security sources.

Middlemen, smugglers, exorbitant tariffs in foreign countries and a dire need for agricultural reform are all leading Indonesian farmers to take drastic action to protect their livelihood, as highlighted by last week's mass demonstrations by sugar industry workers to mark National Farmers' Day.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The dossiers of British academic Lesley McCulloch and American nurse Joy Lee Sadler will be submitted to the Banda Aceh district prosecution office on Monday, one of their lawyers has said.

"The questioning of Lesley and Joy Lee was already completed several days ago," lawyer Afridal Darmi told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Banda Aceh – A female student was shot dead and a soldier was wounded in the latest violence to hit the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, the military and residents said on Sunday.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Foreign countries must stop giving the impression Indonesia is home to a terrorist network, otherwise this could incite popular anger in the world's largest Muslim nation, Vice President Hamzah Haz said.

Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – Indonesian police have questioned 19 soldiers as witnesses in an investigation into the killing of two American school teachers and an Indonesian last month in rebellious Papua province, police said on Sunday.

Slobodan Lekic, Magelang – They take classes in human rights, are required to carry a handbook listing international conventions and are taught to put themselves in the place of prisoners of war.

They are officer-cadets at Indonesia's equivalent of West Point, in an army hoping to shake off a notorious reputation for brutality and oppression.

[One of Australia's top Indonesia-watchers says that Indonesia's military is promoting, not fighting, communal violence. Dr Harold Crouch has told the annual Indonesia Update Conference that it serves the interests of the Indonesian Army to keep violence going in areas such as Aceh and West Papua.]

Transcript:

Jakarta – Religious radicalism has no place in the world's most populous Muslim country due to the fact that the sociocultural diversity of the people here would discourage such extremist movements, analysts said on Friday.

Jakarta – The number of people with HIV/AIDS has increased sharply in the northeast coastal areas of West Java in the past two years because of increased drug use and prostitution in the area.

Jakarta – In line with sharia law, the Aceh legislative council is proposing that caning be one of the punishments for people who tempt Muslims to desert religious teachings.

A special team set up by the council is drafting the bylaw in response to Law No. 44/1999 on Aceh's special status and Law No. 18/2002 on special autonomy for Aceh.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Dozens of activists and city councillors marched to the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday, demanding the annulment of the recent election of Sutiyoso and Fauzi Bowo as the new governor and deputy governor of Jakarta, due to allegations of money politics.

Jakarta – About 60 per cent of Indonesia's four million civil servants are unqualified for their jobs, according to the State Administrative Reforms Minister.

Mr Feisal Tamin said on Wednesday that studies by his office and other parties showed that only 40 per cent of Indonesia's civil servant force were qualified, the state Antara news agency reported.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Life is hard for thousands of farmers in the northern coastal areas of Tangerang regency. After being hit by huge floods early this year, now they are being attacked by drought which is destroying their rice fields.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – For a fleeting moment on Monday it looked as if Indonesians might be getting closer to the truth about the Bush Administration's contentious claim that their country had been infiltrated by al-Qaeda.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Debt collectors, not a terror group, were behind Monday's deadly grenade explosion near a building owned by the United States embassy, police said.

East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao on 27 September marked his country's admission as the UN's 191st member with a defence of the right to independence of both the Palestinians and the people of the Western Sahara.

Ray Brindal, Canberra – East Timor doesn't recognize a claim by PetroTimor Comphanhia de Petroleos SARL over energy-rich concessions in the Timor Sea, according to a senior East Timor government official.

After decades of authoritarian rule, Indonesia closed its notorious Department of Information three years ago and declared censorship was dead. But journalists, academics and commentators were right to remain cautious.

New York – On the eve of East Timor's joining the United Nations, the president of the former Indonesian-held territory said he would not advise other regions to use armed struggles as their route to independence.

A former Australian University lecturer who is being held by police in the Indonesian province of Aceh is reportedly sick and in need of medical attention.

The head of political and international studies at Deakin University in Melbourne, Damien Kingsbury, says he contacted Lesley McCulloch last night and is concerned for her well-being.

Dili – East Timor becomes the 191st member of the United Nations on Friday, an historic day for the world's newest nation after a bloody transition from Indonesian rule, but East Timorese complain it will pass virtually unnoticed in their own land.

Irwin Arieff, United Nations – The tiny Southeast Asian nation of East Timor, the first country to be born in the 21st century, won a seat at the United Nations on Friday, swelling the world body's membership to 191.

Jakarta – Outspoken activist Azas Tigor Nainggolan was arrested by city police on Thursday for slandering Governor Sutiyoso by alleging that he had bribed city councillors.

Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress, Jakarta – Police are investigating an allegation that Indonesian army special forces carried out the ambush in Papua province last month that killed two Americans and one Indonesian.

Catharine Munro, Jakarta – In a sign Papuan independence still strains relations between Indonesia and Australia, Canberra this week had to repeatedly deny suggestions it supported secession for the province.

Pontianak – Indonesia's environment minister said on a visit to the smoke-choked island of Borneo on Friday corruption was blocking the international help needed to tackle forest fires.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Two home-made bombs exploded near the airport hours before President Megawati Sukarnoputri's lightning visit to Aceh yesterday, adding urgency to her pledge to restore security to the province.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesia's military chief said on Thursday that foreign terrorists were in the world's most populous Muslim nation, saying they had operated in two eastern regions hit by Muslim-Christian violence.

[This article was distributed on September 25 on an online discussion list of academics focusing on Indonesia and appears here via the Joyo Indonesia News Service.]

Bill Guerin – Thousands of Javanese sugarcane farmers staged a massive rally in Jakarta on Tuesday demanding protection from the glut of cheap imported sugar that has threatened their very existence.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – A human rights group claimed yesterday to have evidence that members of the Indonesian army's special forces, Kopassus, were implicated in the killing of two Americans and one Indonesian working for the Freeport copper and gold mine in Papua.

Agencies, Jakarta – Army soldiers from Indonesia's Kopassus special forces were involved in a deadly ambush on employees of the Freeport mine in Papua, a human rights investigator alleged on Wednesday.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Four Indonesian soldiers were at the site of an ambush last month in which three school teachers attached to the United States-owned Freeport mine in Papua were killed, the author of a new report into the shootings said yesterday.

Dili – East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta has said that despite his country's 24-year struggle for freedom from Indonesian rule, it would not support independence movements in Aceh, Papua and other restive parts of Indonesia.

[Indonesia is moving to settle its maritime border issues with East Timor and is keen to see Australia do the same, according to a senior government advisor. East Timor is keen to renegotiate its maritime boundaries with Australia to maximise its share of the rich Timor Sea oil and gas resources, a move Australia is resisting.

Sophie Douez, Canberra – The Federal Government yesterday denied refugee claims to 168 East Timorese who fled the then-Indonesian territory seeking asylum in Australia almost a decade ago.

Robson Seth – "Kill the police" were the only words part-time soldier, Lieutenant Colonel Greg Hart, could understand, as he faced an angry mob of East Timorese dissidents.

Jane Counsel – A former top executive with US oil and gas group Unocal is set to reopen the debate about the Sunrise gasfield in the Timor Sea by arguing its gas should be piped to East Timor, not Darwin.

New York – East Timor's fragile peace will only hold if the international community continues to provide assistance and not abandon the country, said the fledgling nation's foreign minister.

East Timor, which gained independence from Indonesia through a United Nations-backed referendum in 1999, is desperately poor and heavily dependent on foreign aid.

Jakarta – Legislators have once again raised some issues regarding President Megawati Soekarnoputri's overseas trips.

Schools have been ordered to close in the capital of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province because of persistent choking haze caused by fires, an official said.

Four people were wounded when a bomb exploded near police headquarters in the troubled town of Poso in Central Sulawesi province in Indonesia.

The bomb exploded inside a public minibus outside the Poso main market. The minibus was just 10 metres from the town's district police headquarters. Another public minibus was also damaged.