James Balowski – On September 25, two leaders of the Acehnese civil rights movement – Muhammad Nasir Azis and Kautsar bin Muhammad Yus – who were abducted on September 22 by the Indonesian military (TNI) in the northern Acehnese city of Lhokseumawe were released following a concerted campaign by Acehnese human right organisations against their detention.

Nani Farida and Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – The separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) insisted on Tuesday that the government must set up an international monitoring committee to supervise the implementation of a cease-fire between the government and GAM, but Jakarta commentators said they hoped the committee would consist of credible local people.

Documents of the police operation code-named Operasi Adil Matoa show that the aim of the Operation is to build cases against Papuan organisations which support independence in order to secure their conviction, the imprisonment of their leaders and activists and the dissolution of the organisations.

Tangerang – Dozens of workers from PT Shinta Woosung, a textile producer in Cikupa district, Tangerang, staged a rally at the Tangerang regency legislative council office on Tuesday.

They went to the office to protest the police arrest of a worker, Burhan, accused of stealing a discarded iron plate from the company.

[This letter was received from Lesley McCulloch via an email from the Acehnese human rights activists working for her release from Indonesian custody. It was written on September 27.]

Brigham Goldenm, Jakarta – A hail of gunfire burst from the mist-shrouded jungle in Indonesia's remote Papua Province, strafing a convoy of cars belonging to the American mining corporation Freeport McMoRan.

Jakarta – A group of 22 youths from the Democratic Socialist Coalition staged a sit down protest outside the US embassy here on Tuesday to begin a one-day hunger strike against possible US military action on Iraq.

AFP reported they sat behind a strip of concrete erected recently as a security measure to block traffic from the lanes closest to the embassy.

Jakarta – A day after disclosing that Jakarta would work with Washington to probe into Al-Qaeda's alleged links here, security czar Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono backtracked in an apparent move to appease Muslim groups.

[The Australian government has begun four days of hearings into the Timor Sea Treaty it signed with East Timor on the day of that country's declaration of independence in May this year. The Treaty covers the Joint Petroleum Development Area in the Timor Sea from which East Timor will earn most of its income for the foreseeable future.

The United States and Indonesia have agreed to reschedule nearly 500 million US dollars in debt owed by Indonesia and due to mature shortly. Indonesia is also expected to sign a similar agreement with Germany worth over 101 million dollars.

[Paradise Betrayed: West Papua's Struggle for Independence. By John Martinkus Quarterly Essay, issue 7 Black Inc Order at ]

Jane Counsel – The key players developing gas resources in the Timor Sea have urged the Federal Government to ratify the Timor Sea Treaty without delay or risk losing billions of dollars in revenue.

Papua has the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia. Latest official figures put the number of cases in the province at 1,1,25 but experts say the real figure is much higher.

Papua deputy governor Constan Karma on Tuesday expressed concern over the ongoing spread of the incurable disease, saying about 80 new cases are being recorded every month.

[The Indonesian military has discharged 20 soldiers accused of involvement in a bloody gun battle between the army and police in North Sumatra. Army Chief General Ryamizard Ryacudu personally tore off the rank insignias of the men, at the headquarters of the regional command in Medan.

Muhammad Nafik and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Demands have resurfaced for the government to reveal the truth behind the abortive September 30, 1965, coup as a perquisite for reconciliation between the victims and those involved in one of the world's worst tragedies, the seeds of which have been blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Max Lane – In the last years of the New Order and since the fall of Gen. Soeharto, discussion opened up within Indonesian society about the real nature of what happened on September 30, 1965. A consensus had developed among a large section of the country's intelligentsia, NGO community and democratic activist movement that September 30 was a great human tragedy.

"This would never have been possible in the Suharto era," mused one member of the audience at a showing of the film Shadow Play in Jakarta Monday. "As soon as this film started screening, you would have had police walking in and arresting us all."

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri broke with tradition when she failed to attend the anniversary of the victory over the 1965 foiled communist coup which led to the rise of former president Suharto.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – At least 100 soldiers armed with grenades, bazookas and rifles attacked a police station in North Sumatra on Sunday night, killing four policemen and leaving 27 injured.

The provocation was apparently the arrest of a soldier by the police for alleged drug use.

Geneva – Newly-independent Timor -Leste, formerly East Timor, has just 47 doctors for its 850,000 citizens because of large-scale emigration, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Rachel S.

The top leadership of the Indonesian military has responded angrily, making revengeful accusations against West Papua's leading human rights organisation, ELSHAM, for daring to accuse an arm of the military, Kopassus, of responsibility for the killing of three Freeport officials and the wounding of 12 others on 31 August.

Tiarma Siboro and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – A coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urged the United Nations on Monday to send a rapporteur to investigate the Freeport ambush that killed two Americans and one Indonesian, while it deplored statements implying that the Free Papua Movement (OPM) was behind the fatal shooting.

Papuan independence activists have welcomed Vanuatu's strong support for their cause at the United Nations, and have urged other Pacific countries to add their voice to the campaign.

A lobby group in Darwin, Australia, claims Indonesian authorities are persecuting and intimidating civil democratic groups in the province of Aceh.

The group Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor held a protest in Darwin's Raintree Park today to highlight the issue.

Chris Ballard – Wellem Korwam's dismembered body was found wrapped piece by piece in plastic bags and floating in a river in the Wasior area of West Papua in September 2001.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – At least four people were injured, including two police officers, when dozens of Army soldiers attacked the Langkat Police station in Binjai regency, North Sumatra, on Sunday morning.

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.