Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Having lived for years in violence, Acehnese are demanding that representatives of Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels support all attempts that could pave the way for peace during their meeting in Geneva on December 9.

Acehnese need peace the most, therefore the warring factions should focus on this, an activist said.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – The commander of the military wing of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Sabang was arrested and then executed by Indonesian security authorities in Aceh on Monday, GAM claimed Tuesday.

On November 25, the trials of Australian-based, British-born academic Lesley McCulloch and US nurse Joy-Lee Sadler began in Aceh. They are being tried for visa violations, after the prosecution failed to make espionage charges stick. McCulloch is a leading expert on Aceh and has documented human rights abuses in the province by the Indonesian military (TNI).

More than ever, Australia has a direct interest in the reform of Indonesia's corrupt, politicised legal system. With the arrests of the main suspects in the Bali bombings it is to this legal system that Australia will now look to mete out the appropriate punishment for a horrendous crime.

Max Lane, Jakarta – Any analysis of Indonesian politics during the last year three years, especially since the downfall of President Abdurrahman Wahid, has to take account of the steady rise in the masses' alienation from the Indonesian political elite.

The sectarian bloodshed in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi is the direct result of Jakarta's failure to punish violence when it broke out four years ago, Human Rights Watch said.

An estimated 1,000 people have died and more than 100,000 have been displaced since violence between Christians and Muslims erupted in the province's Poso region in December 1998.

Bireun – Separatists in Indonesia's Aceh province commemorated the 26th anniversary of their fight on Wednesday with at least one military flag-raising ceremony and vows to keep fighting Jakarta's rule.

James Balowski – On November 27, an Indonesian court sentenced notorious militia chief Eurico Guterres to 10 years in prison for crimes committed during the violence in East Timor following the 1999 referendum for independence.

We are of the view that Prime Minister Howard's statement that [Australia] will carry out pre-emptive strikes against terrorist threats in South-East Asia is clearly an arrogant statement from an imperialist country which wishes to show its fangs to the poor people of South-East Asia.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Rising wages, coupled with a hyperactive labour force, are turning off foreign investors, some of whom are packing up and abandoning the country.

To bring back investors, Jakarta needs to better control workers and the rate of pay hikes. Indonesia has simply gotten too expensive.

[East Timor authorities have imposed a curfew and sent troops onto the streets of the capital Dili, following a day of rioting in which as many as five people have died. Several businesses, including the ANZ bank, were targetted, after a large crowd which was demanding the release of an arrested student went on the rampage.

Hundreds of Amarek village residents in Cikupa district, Tangerang, ran amok on Monday afternoon and damaged the office of PT Bintang Abadi at Jl. Raya Serang km.18.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Observers have said the US-led war against terrorism had caused a setback in the promotion of human rights, which was demonstrated in the continuing impunity among security officers charged with atrocities in East Timor.

Jane Perlez, Denpasar – His fingers clasp a long brush and with the finest of strokes, Nyoman Kantor paints the figures of a Balinese myth onto eggshell. Luscious reds, greens and yellows sparkle on the egg, a memento popular with tourists who come to Mr. Kantor's outdoor studio and salesroom.

Dili – East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has rejected President Xanana Gusmao's demand that he sack Interior Minister Rogirio Lobato, saying his cabinet is characterized by "solidarity and cohesion".

Andrew Trounson, Melbourne – Plans to market natural gas from the Greater Sunrise fields in the Timor Sea to markets in Australia are to be abandoned, with the partners in the project now expected to target offshore markets, potential customers say.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Shortly after dawn on April 7, 1999, independence, let alone justice, for the East Timorese seemed a distant dream in the fearful and empty streets of Liquica.

David Fickling, Darwin – Absurdity is a concept particularly popular with politicians treading on shaky moral ground. Invoke absurdity, and you immediately set yourself up on the side of reason, while ushering all right-thinking people to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you. Those you criticise are self-evidently in the wrong.

[East Timor's independence celebrations have been marred by a series of anti-government protests, centered on the failure of former resistance fighters to find employment. This week a police station in Baucau has been attacked by an angry mob and 3000 anti-government protestors have rallied in Dili.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Human rights activists see no hope that the ad hoc human rights court will uphold justice and punish military and police officers for their alleged involvement in the 1999 East Timor violence.

Jakarta – At least six people, including two soldiers and a member of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), were killed in the latest violence to hit Aceh, AFP reported.

Three civilians were shot dead by soldiers searching for members of GAM in Manyang Baroh, in the North Aceh district, early on Sunday, the local GAM spokesman Teungku Jamaica said.

Indonesia's West Kalimantan province has lost an estimated 300,000 hectares to illegal logging over the past two years and will become a desert by 2040, reports said today.

Research recently compiled by the University of Tanjungpura, in West Kalimantan, shows that the province has lost 165,631 hectares of forest per year in 2000 and 2001, said The Jakarta Post.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Defying President Megawati's instructions, some 500 Papuans gathered outside the residence of former Papuan Presidium Council (PDP) chairman Theys Hiyo Eluay on Sunday to commemorate what they called the independence day of the country's easternmost province.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Thousands of people packed Dili Cathedral yesterday to hear Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo's reasons for quitting as head of the East Timorese church and leaving the territory.

The special service followed his unexpected announcement last week that Pope John Paul had accepted his resignation on grounds of physical and psychological ill health.

An explosion shook a government building in the main town of Indonesia's restive Poso district on Sulawesi island, but police say no one was hurt.

Local police say the blast, believed to have been caused by a home-made bomb, slightly damaged the office of a state social welfare group in Poso town.

They say the blast shattered several windows and part of the ceiling.

Robert Go, Jakarta – After the private bank that Ms Sri Astuti worked for folded in 1998, she sought a clerical job at other offices. When no suitable offer came after three months, the mother of two used most of her savings to open a warung, or foodstall, near her home.

Joco Boavida – The riot of 4 December 2002 took residents of Dili and news listeners and watchers worldwide by surprise for the extent of anger and violence that suddenly erupted and vanished in so short a time.

Indonesia's sham prosecutions, the need to strengthen the trial process in East Timor, and the imperative of UN

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Pressure is mounting on the police to release 16 people arrested for protesting against the planned reopening of the PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) pulp mill in Porsea, North Sumatra, as the Sweden-based NGO, Jij Vecht Tegen Onrecht, protested the arrests on Friday.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Indonesia has expressed optimism over the possibility of the United States Congress allowing Indonesian Military (TNI) officers to rejoin the US International Military Education and Training (IMET) program.

Hamish McDonald – Reality seems to have dawned this week on Eurico Guterres, the long-haired young firebrand who led one of the most violent pro-Jakarta militia groups in the campaign to deter the people of East Timor from voting for independence just over three years ago.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Indonesia's Human Rights Court acquitted three army and police officers yesterday over charges of human rights crimes in East Timor – maintaining its unbroken record of refusing to convict senior security force personnel.

Jakarta – Thousands of poor people in Banggai and Banggai Islands in Central Sulawesi are reportedly facing famine, following the sharp decrease in theLuwuk logistics sub-depot's rice stocks, Antara reported.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives endorsed on Thursday a bill on political parties despite the protest of a number of legislators demanding the adoption of specific rulings to ensure gender equality in politics.

State agencies responsible for managing and protecting the environment have come out in favor of a proposal to establish an integrated agency to deal with environmental crimes, but the affected industries remain entrenched within complex business, government and criminal networks left over from the corrupt regime of former president Suharto.

Integrated agency

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – President Xanana Gusmao has attacked East Timor's politicians, condemning the inefficiency and corruption of the Fretilin-dominated government and demanding that the Internal Affairs Minister, Rogerio Lobato, be sacked.

Berlin – East Timor's foreign minister, Jose Ramos Horta, reacted angrily Friday to the latest round of acquittals by the Indonesian court trying human rights abuses committed in East Timor in 1999, describing one of them as "scandalous".

The international community is the only hope East Timorese have of winning retribution for the crimes committed by Indonesia during its 24 years of occupation. Until this happens, justice will remain a mirage for the tens of thousands of people who lost relatives and property.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's plans to beef up its intelligence network by reviving its regional intelligence posts throughout the country, has led to some questioning about whether the body was becoming too powerful.

Japanese technology company Sony Corporation will close its audio equipment manufacturing plant in Indonesia due to labour and tax problems.

Japan's industry and trade minister, Rini Suwandi, has been quoted as saying Sony had been facing labour problems since early this year.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The 10-year jail term given to notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres for instigating attacks on pro-independence leaders during East Timor's bloody referendum in August 1999 is the toughest sentence yet to be handed out by Jakarta's human rights courts.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives passed on Thursday a controversial broadcasting bill despite protests it will curtail press freedom.

"The bill was endorsed by all but one faction," legislator Slamet Effendy Yusuf told AFP, referring to the small Unity and Nationhood faction who wanted the passage to be delayed to allow a further review, he said.

[In Indonesia, one strand in the complex hunt for the Bali bombers has taken police to the troubled Maluku islands. Amrozi, one of the confessed conspirators in the Bali terrorist attacks, says he also helped to make bombs that were sent to the eastern island of Ambon in 2000.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Jakarta's East Timor trials were supposed to be the place where Indonesia would prove that its military had reformed and could no longer escape punishment for human rights abuses.

Kafil Yamin, Jakarta – It took Indonesia's House of Representatives more than two years of often-heated debate to pass a controversial broadcasting bill on Thursday, but critics here say the law is a return to the repressive measures of the Suharto regime.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto welcomed on Wednesday the planned Tokyo meeting on Aceh, but warned that any foreign assistance for Aceh should have no conditions attached.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Fabiola Desy Undjaja, Jayapura/Jakarta – Police in Manokwari, Papua, arrested on Wednesday 13 people who raised the Morning Star flag to mark the fifth anniversary of Papuan independence.

Also on Wednesday, President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a decree banning of all ceremonies celebrating Papuan independence.

The conviction yesterday of former East Timor militia leader Eurico Guterres for crimes against humanity and his sentence to ten years in prison has done nothing to dispel the widespread belief that Indonesia is not committed to providing meaningful justice for the victims of human rights atrocities in East Timor, says Tapol the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.

[In East Timor a tribunal has passed judgement on one of the most notorious militia leaders involved in the violence in the fledgling country three years ago. Eurico Guterres got a ten year jail sentence for crimes against humanity but all along the process has been widely condemned as flawed.]

Transcript:

Bill Guerin – Indonesia's once-mighty footwear industry is in danger of collapse if urgent measures are not taken to enable it to reassert itself in a market long dominated by China. Buyers are increasingly moving to Vietnam as Indonesian shoemakers lose their competitive edge.