Australia's new Defence Force Chief has made it clear he wants Australia to have strong defence ties with Indonesia.

Indramayu – An estimated 80,000 fishermen did not vote in the Indramayu regency election on Sept. 22, said Bachtiar of the Indramayu General Elections Commission on Monday.

Shanties, Jakarta - Indonesian police have identified the presence of infiltrators in social groups who will demonstrate against fuel price increases on October 1.

Henri Salomo Siagian, Jakarta – Although political parties are expected to exploit demonstrations against fuel price hikes, as a whole the atmosphere in the lead up to the price increas

Semarang/Makassar/Samarinda/Batam – Gasoline and diesel shortages worsened across the archipelago on Monday as the government's scheduled price increase on Oct. 1 draws near.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Holding her family card in both hands, Niah, 57, a resident of Petojo Selatan subdistrict, Gambir in Central Jakarta, was figuring out how to spend the Rp 300,

Aleksius Jemadu, Bandung – The success of a monitoring mission involving foreign parties in resolving an intra-state conflict can be achieved as long as the implementation of the peace

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) chief says Australia's defence relationship with Indonesia is as good as it has ever been.

Peter Gelling – The Indonesian military on Sunday withdrew the last of a promised 6,000 troops from Aceh Province, completing the first phase of the peace accord signed by the governmen

Nani Afrida, Tamiang – Tears flowed down the cheeks of Nuraida, 35, a resident of Bendahara district, Tamiang regency, Aceh.

Jakarta – Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the government's plan to raise fuel prices on Oct.

Tony Hotland and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Over Rp 38.8 billion (US$3.85 million) worth of profits from assets of the Indonesian Military (TNI), which were used by third parties, have no

Jakarta – A team set up by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to probe into the abductions of prodemocracy activists during the regime of former dictator Soeharto has

Simon Pitchforth – Indonesian policemen, noble upholders of the law, with their voluminous peaked caps and their epaulets the size of telephone directories.

Tiarma Siboro and Hera Diani, Jakarta – The House of Representatives has set up a special commission to draft a revision of Law No.

For children of mixed marriages: Children automatically take the fathers' citizenship.

Miswar, Banda Aceh – The chairperson of the Acehnese Popular Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA), Thamrin Ananda, is calling on all parties not behave in a counter-productive manner and

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – A Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report on the House of Representatives has revealed that legislators left hundreds of millions of rupiah worth of unpaid electric an

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Legislators and activists lashed out at the Attorney General's Office (AGO) for not being serious in its efforts to recover over Rp 6.66 trillion (some US$660 mi

Riswan, Banda Aceh – The Acehnese people are calling on the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) to disarm the militia in Aceh during the period of demilitarisation.

ID Nugroho, Probolinggo – Seven former counselors at a drug and cancer rehabilitation center in Probolinggo were sentenced on Thursday to jail terms of between three and five years for

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Actor Anjasmara and model Isabella were reported to the Jakarta Police on Thursday by an extreme right wing Islamic group for allegedly posing nude in a photogra

Padang – An environmental group has issued a statement in protest over West Sumatra Governor Gamawan Fauzi's decision to issue a letter of recommendation to the central government to gr

Jakarta – Following the selling of the Kartika Eka Paksi foundation's 11-percent in PT Bank Artha Graha for not depositing the requested capital, the working group within Indonesian Mil

Canberra – A US defence commander said on Friday that Indonesia must show it had taken steps to reform its military for resumption of aid and arms sales, held back because of concerns o

Rendi A.

Shanty, Jakarta – On Thursday September 22, the Munir Solidarity Committee (Komite Solidaritas Untuk Munir, Kasum) went to the police headquarters' criminal investigation bureau to ask

Veronika Kusuma Wijayanti, Jakarta – The ineptness of the investigation into the murder of human rights activist Munir is being questioned.

The Supreme Audit Agency, for the fourth consecutive year, placed a disclaimer on the government's financial statement for the 2004 fiscal year, due mainly to inadequate internal contro

[The following is a compilation abridged translations on demonstrations between September 16-25 against the government's plan to increase fuel prices by as much as 60 per cent on Octobe

Ardimas Sasdi, Jakarta – The peace pact signed by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government in Helsinki on Aug.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The United Nations food agency expressed deep concern over the slow recovery in tsunami-devastated Aceh, saying another crisis might occur

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Hundreds of people in West Java vandalized on Monday night houses, mosques and cars belonging to members of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), a Mu

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Former Garuda Indonesia president director Indra Setiawan had given a special assignment to pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who is charged with murder

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – A senior judge in the world's most populous Islamic country, declaring that "killing is a big thing in the eyes of God, blood must be paid with blood", sentenced

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has again put a disclaimer note on the government's financial report of the state budget, despite the implementation since last ye

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Driven by their frustration over the sluggish investigation into corruption cases, dozens of anticorruption activists took high-ranking prosecutors hostage in

Sydney – East Timorese president Xanana Gusmao says pursuing Indonesian generals through the courts for atrocities committed years ago won't provide justice.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government promised on Monday to install the members of the much-awaited Papua People's Assembly (MRP) early next month and to refrain from making any strat

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Joining a group of young Indonesian intellectuals who hold liberal Islamic views was once just a ticket to controversy. Now, it could be life-threatening.

Jakarta – Suspected bird flu patients can be forced into hospital under "extraordinary" measures welcomed by the World Health Organization to counter a widening outbreak of the virus in

Sri Wahyuni, Yogyakarta – The much-vaunted reform movement has helped Indonesia build a democratic infrastructure but the country has yet to develop democratic practices, a noted politi

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The fact that one in five Indonesians still lives on less than US$1 a day is made even gloomier by the fact that every person in the country – including those ex

Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni and Eva C.

Miedy Pakasi, Manado – Newmont Mining Corp.

Jakarta – Dozens of people, including two policemen, were injured as farmers and police clashed on Sunday over a dispute in connection with land earmarked for the construction of an air

Ruslan Sangadji, Poso – The peace was again shattered in the Central Sulawesi city of Poso on Saturday night when a homemade bomb exploded injuring four people.

Firebrand Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir and more than a dozen Bali bombers may get further automatic jail remissions within weeks despite pressure from Australia.

Jakarta – Indonesia will pull 2,600 soldiers out of Aceh province on Tuesday as it steps up the withdrawal of troops under a peace agreement that ended decades of conflict with rebels,

Simon Montlake, Lhue and Banda Aceh – For Mahfud and Jaafar, two former Acehnese fighters, life after the rebellion has left time for quiet afternoons like this one, sipping coffee in a