Shirley Shackleton – I have studied the TNI (the Indonesian military) for 30 years and what is happening in Aceh has striking similarities to what happened in East Timor.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – History will judge the cataclysmic earthquake and tsunami that devastated Aceh last month as the defining event of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's first 100 days as

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, struggling to cope with the tsunami disaster as he completes 100 days in office, has apologised to Indonesians for failing to fulfil a ran

Jakarta – Dozens of journalists protested on Friday against a House of Representatives Commission, which summoned three editors after its members were questioned by journalists about a

Pekanbaru – Hundreds of students from different universities took to the streets on Thursday to protest at what they claimed were extravagant allowances and payments for Pekanbaru city

Semarang – Tayu police station in Pati regency, Central Java was attacked and wrecked by a crowd of about one hundred people late on Thursday following the death of two motorcyclists wh

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Global acknowledgement of the country's macroeconomic stability, as evident in the recent upgrading of Indonesia's debt rating, would boost positive sentiment in

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Banda Aceh – A lawyer Saturday demanded the release of an anti-corruption activist who was allegedly beaten while in detention after being accused of stealing aid in the tsunami-hit Ace

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Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Today marks the 100th day of the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Jakarta – Improving the economic welfare of communities living in forested areas would do little to reduce the widespread illegal logging across the country, environmentalists say.

Although the Jakarta administration has continued to carry out measures to fight flooding, dredging 13 rivers, maintaining sluice gates and setting up early warning systems and emergenc

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Hundreds of Punclut residents, environmentalists and artists protested on the streets of Bandung on Thursday, rejecting the planned construction of a hotel a

Ray Rangkuti, executive director of the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP):

Jakarta – Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who is being tried on charges of involvement in acts of terror, and his lawyers walked out of the courtroom on Wednesday in protest against the judges' dec

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Tsunami-devastated Aceh, which only a month ago was a war zone, has now become the testing ground for a concerted push to persuade the separatist Free Aceh Moveme

Jakarta – The House of Representatives' Commission II for home and regional affairs has recommended the government delay the direct elections of local executive heads in tsunami-ravaged

Jakarta – East Timor President Xanana Gusmao in a three-day visit here Friday sought to mend bilateral ties with Indonesia, hand humanitarian assistance to tsunami victims and express o

Jakarta – Indonesia and Timor Leste (East Timor) have agreed to establish a permanent border crossing (PLB) for traditional communities that live on the border between the two countries

Astrid Felicia Lim, Jakarta – The Timor Leste (East Timor) government has promised to lobby the US government in its congress, in February 2005 about withdrawing the embargo on Indonesi

Chitra Ramaswamy – Human rights activists and church organisations predict that, without international attention and intervention, West Papua is in danger of becoming the next East Timo

Jayapura – Papua police have arrested seven suspected Papuan rebels in the past five days in Tolikara regency, some 700 kilometers southwest of Jayapura, the Papuan capital.

Jakarta – Indonesian workers are unprepared for competition in regional labor markets among Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, a business expert says.

Julian Lee – The organisers of an advertising campaign that ambushed the Australian Open to highlight disputed maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea have pledged to dog John Howard at pu

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Wellington – New Zealand said on Thursday it will ask Indonesia to investigate claims that its military officers have been accepting bribes to place wealthy people on refugee flights ou

Jakarta – Indonesia's president on Thursday offered concessions to separatist rebels in tsunami-devastated Aceh province if they agree to a cease-fire in upcoming peace talks.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Activists slammed city councillors on Wednesday for requesting a monthly housing allowance of Rp 12.5 million each, saying they had broken their own electio

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – Permissiveness among youngsters abounds in big cities, with many of them having had sex at home without the knowledge of their parents, according to a study.

I Wayan Juniartha, Denpasar – It clearly was not an ordinary day.

Nani Afrida and Dedy Ardiansyah, Banda Aceh/Meulaboh – As the sun rose over the devastated city of Banda Aceh on Wednesday morning, Maizul, a 40-year-old school teacher, was standing in

Banda Aceh – Indonesia has buried more than 100,000 tsunami victims, mostly in mass graves, a month after the disaster, the government said on Thursday.

Alan Sipress, Lhoknga – Ali, a scruffy Acehnese truck driver turned tsunami refugee, said he wasn't sure who provided him with a sack of rice, bottled water, a blanket and a few other m

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – In a bid to create a strong and modern military, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is contemplating up to a five fold increase in defense spending to an "ideal

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The wheels of diplomacy and bureaucracy are notoriously slow.

There was little to talk about when the widely trumpeted first 100-day economic agenda of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government ended.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen.

Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – The widow of an American schoolteacher killed in a 2002 attack initially blamed on Indonesian soldiers urged the Bush administration Friday not to lift a ban o

Tony Hotland and Ruslan Sangadji, Banda Aceh – The Acehnese have long dreamed of peace and prosperity in their homeland, which has seen decades of conflict and, at the end of last year,

Leony Aurora, Jakarta – Major players in the banking industry have welcomed Bank Indonesia's effort to speed up the sector's consolidation through a new policy on the injection of funds

Many seats were left empty in badly damaged schools across Indonesia's Aceh province as children began lessons for the first time since the tsunami struck one month ago, killing thousan

It has been exactly one month since the magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami devastated parts of Aceh and North Sumatra.

An Indonesian ministerial team departs for Finland today to meet Free Aceh Movement or GAM's leadership-in-exile, but though both sides expressed optimism, there is scant hope the talks

Tiarma Siboro and Rendi A.

Santi Soekanto, Aceh – Nina recounted her story to me in the Lamsujen refugee camp in Lhoong subdistrict, Aceh Besar, on January 3. This is what she said: "Assalam mualai'kum.

Sonny Inbaraj, Bangkok – East Timor's Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo is appealing for peace to be given a chance in tsunami-hit Aceh as an Indonesian top-level team meets wit

Meulaboh – The two-faced attitude of United States troops in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami has been revealed.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The country's human rights record remained poor in 2004, with state-sponsored violence and the cycle of impunity still persisting, a rights group says.

Vincent Lingga, Jakarta – The President's lack of leadership to act firm and fast in resolving the government's four-year dispute with Cemex over the Mexican company's investment in the