The leaders of Indonesia's two largest Islamic groups have called for an end to efforts to get Islamic Sharia law enforced in the country, the world's largest Muslim nation.

"There is no need to press ahead with the struggle for Sharia," Ahmad Syafii Maarif, chairman of the Muhammadiyah group, told The Jakarta Post daily.

Jakarta – A court on Monday acquitted a military commander of crimes committed during East Timor's break from Indonesia, the ninth official to be cleared over the 1999 bloodshed.

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – The international community needs to bring pressure to bear on the ad hoc human rights trials being held in Indonesia in order to assure that judges and prosecutors are held accountable for questionable verdicts and justice is served, analysts said.

A British academic and an American nurse who visited a separatist rebel base in Indonesia's Aceh province were jailed for violating their tourist visas.

Briton Lesley McCulloch, 40, was sentenced to five months. Her travelling companion Joy Sadler, 57, who says she is terminally ill with an HIV-related condition, was jailed for four months.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's President, Xanana Gusmao, has appealed to his people to reject violence in 2003 – but has also renewed criticism of the Fretilin-led government.

"I ask you to remain calm, because violence does not help us build, it only destroys," he said in a new year message broadcast nationally on Saturday.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – After clinging to the shadows for much of her 18-month presidency, Megawati Sukarnoputri flies to bomb-hit Bali on Monday to mark the New Year, hot on the heels of visits to Indonesia's two separatist hotspots.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) will continue with its plan to question President Megawati Soekarnoputri about the controversial divestment of publicly listed telecommunication company PT Indosat, a spokesman said.

Tom Hyland, Jakarta – A human rights group in the Indonesian province of Papua has linked the Indonesian Army to an ambush in which the wife and daughter of a human rights activist were shot and wounded.

Banda Aceh – A new phase began in the troubled region's peace process as the first monitoring teams started work in this Indonesian province yesterday.

A total of 72 monitors were being deployed to investigate any breaches of a ceasefire agreed to earlier this month. They are divided into 12 teams of six monitors each.

Nani Farida, Tamiang – Fatigued after a long journey, four journalists, one from The Jakarta Post, received a fright when a gunman suddenly stepped out from behind some trees near Paya Reyeuk, a remote village in Tamiang that is home to a large population of ethnic Javanese and Bataks.

Jakarta – An Indonesian Islamic magazine has named detained terror suspect Abu Bakar Bashir as "Man of the Year" for, what it calls, his steadfast struggle to uphold Islamic law in Indonesia.

Jakarta – The wife of a Papuan activist whose human rights group has accused Indonesian soldiers of killing two American teachers in the restive province was shot and wounded on Saturday, the organisation said.

Jakarta – Military might have staged anambush in which two American teachers were killed near the in August, AFP reported.

Jakarta – Unidentified men shot the wife of a human right activist before an immigration post nearby Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border at about 9 a.m. on Saturday, El Shinta radio reported.

Jakarta – Dozens of employees from telecommunications company Indosat clashed with police while they attempted to prevent Indosat director Widya Purnama from entering a building for a general shareholders meeting, which was scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Jakarta – A court Friday sentenced a senior military commander to five years imprisonment for human rights violations during East Timor's break from Jakarta in 1999, the first time an Indonesian security official has been convicted over the violence.

Dili – President Xanana Gusmao on Friday urged East Timorese to remain calm as the country attempts to solve a slew of problems heading into its first New Year celebrations since gaining independence.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said yesterday that he was ready to run for the top seat in the next election if asked to by Muslim clerics.

"In 2004, if asked by Muslim clerics to run for president, I will," he was quoted by the Detikcom news portal as saying.

Jayapura – President Megawati Sukarnoputri gave the restive province of Papua what she called a Christmas present yesterday, belting out the Sinatra classic, My Way, at a festive holiday celebration.

The normally shy Megawati broke into song after making a brief speech at a Christmas gathering in the provincial capital, Jayapura.

Tom Hyland, Jakarta – Indonesian police have reportedly made fresh allegations of possible army involvement in the killing of two Americans in Papua province, in a move that could further complicate efforts by Jakarta to respond to United States pressure to resolve the case.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Indonesia's landmark human rights trials of alleged gross human rights violators in the former province of East Timor will always raise public concern for their failure to break the cycle of impunity.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – No improvement was made this year with the country's poor human rights record, which was marked by almost no progress of legal action against suspected perpetrators of crimes against humanity and, most lamentably, several acquittals, rights activists said.

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – The gloomy reality for Indonesian women in 2002 should be addressed by women themselves through their active participation in social, political, economical and cultural aspects of life, a noted activist has said.

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – Those involved in the May 1998 riots may not run free much longer as the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and a group of non-governmental organizations have established separate teams to investigate the riots.

Both aim to create pressure for the holding of ad-hoc trials for those responsible for the riots.

Banda Aceh – The police here forced some 300 activists of the Aceh Referendum Information Agency (SIRA) to disperse as they staged a demonstration in front of the local office of the Henry Dunant Center (HDC) on Monday, to protest the inclusion of the Philippines in the monitoring team on the implementation of the peace accord, Antara reported.

Seven Indonesian special forces soldiers accused over the murder of Papua pro-independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay will go on trial next month, a general said yesterday.

Indonesia has agreed to let agents from the US Federal Bureay of Investigation (FBI) join an investigation into an ambush that killed two Americans and an Indonesian in Papua province.

Top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying that the agents would take part in an inquiry team led by Indonesian police.

Jakarta – A high-ranking official of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) reportedly attended a ceremony marking the 46th anniversary of the Aceh Military Command in Banda Aceh on Monday, Antara reported.

Aceh Military spokesman Lt. Col. Firdaus confirmed the attendance of the GAM member, identified as North Aceh GAM police official Teungku Gumarni.

Jakarta – Employees of PT Indosat, a state-owned overseas call operator, threatened here on Monday to stage a strike later this week if the government does not cancel the recent sale of its stake in the company.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – A series of bizarre revelations and rulings last week has raised serious questions once again about Indonesia's legal system.

Behind the walls of the prison on the remote island of Nusakambangan, influential prisoners are receiving special treatment.

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – A number of local publications have recently rejected or become overly wary of articles critical of Islam after an opinion piece by a moderate Muslim drew condemnation and a death threats from Islamic hardliners, two Muslim intellectuals said on Monday.

East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao has taken another swipe at the new country's politicians in a Christmas message to his people.

Simon Elegant, Venelale – During the bloody insurrection that produced the new nation of East Timor, Hasan Basri presented residents of the small town of Venelale with a proposition: give me your youngest children. I will feed them, I will educate them, and most importantly, I will protect them.

Two soldiers, a policeman and five civilians were shot dead in Indonesia's Aceh province over the weekend despite this month's peace agreement, an army officer and a rebel leader said.

The soldiers were the first known to have been killed in the province since the government and separatist rebels signed the peace pact in Geneva on December 9.

Jakarta – The Supreme Court has ruled to favor of Shangri-La Hotel in its termination of 75 former hotel employees who were involved in a strike, illegal demonstrations and occupation of the hotel in December 2000.

Peace monitors began work in Indonesia's Aceh province as fresh violence erupted between troops and separatist rebels despite a ceasefire pact this month.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – US President George Bush has told Indonesia's President Megawati Soekarnoputri that Indonesia must find and punish those responsible for shooting dead two American schoolteachers at the Freeport mine in Papua and has proposed a joint FBI-police investigation.

Jakarta – A long-time golfing partner of former Indonesian dictator Suharto has been frequently absent from the island prison where he is serving time for corruption.

Former forestry magnate Bob Hasan is serving six years for corruption at Batu prison on Nusa Kambangan island, off the south coast of Central Java.

Jakarta – The draft budget proposal for regular perks for high-profile Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, who was recently in the public eye over allegations of corruption, is raising eyebrows.

Dili – East Timor's outgoing bishop, Carlos Belo, hit back Friday at accusations he had made a fool of an Indonesian human rights court hearing charges against Indonesian military officers, saying he would never appear before it.

Banda Aceh and Lhokseumawe – Neat rows of red and white flags around Banda Aceh's historic Baiturrahman mosque are the Indonesian government's way of saying that, despite a truce signed on December 9th, Aceh is and always will be its sovereign territory.

John Ward and Peter Symonds – In the wake of violent protests in the capital of Dili on December 4, the East Timorese government, backed by UN officials, has attempted to deflect attention from the country's mounting social tensions by blaming politically-motivated "provocateurs".

Jakarta – The family of missing poet Wiji Thukul rejected the Yap Thiam Hien human rights award mainly because a foreign-based mining company is allegedly involved in several human rights violations partially sponsors to the award.

Craig Skehan – Australia's Foreign Minister has cautioned Vanuatu that any change to Indonesia's boundaries to provide for independence for the province of Papua would result in bloodshed.

New York – The Indonesian ad hoc court for East Timor has utterly failed to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 1999 violence in East Timor, Human Rights Watch charged in a new briefing paper released today.

Sidney Jones, Jakarta – Since President Soeharto resigned in May 1998, violence and conflict seem to have become part of Indonesian life.

[The United Nations and legal workers in East Timor have accused the international community, including Australia, of failing to offer continuing support to the country's reconstruction. More than six months after independence, there is broad agreement that the justice system is in crisis.

Jill Joliffe, Dili – The recent resignation of Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo as head of the Catholic Church in East Timor has brought to a close a courageous and painful period in the life of the Nobel laureate. And, in the current volatile climate, it has also heightened the feeling of political insecurity in the newly independent nation.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) is considering dropping its plan to sue US-based The Washington Post daily provided it writes a letter apologizing to TNI for the use of unverified intelligence reports by its reporters.

Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – When Indonesia's national monument to independence, the Monas, underwent a major renovation project recently, another national hallmark – bureaucratic corruption – had no such overhaul.