Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – In order to ensure fairness within the Indonesian Military (TNI) forces, several factions in the House of Representatives proposed on Wednesday that the TNI ch

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Attempts to heal the wounds of those victimized by large scale human rights violations in the past should be the priority of the truth and reconciliat

Jane Perlez and Evelyn Rusli, Uyat Bay Beach – First the fish began to disappear. Then villagers began developing strange rashes and bumps.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Defying criticism from human rights activists and victims of rights abuses, the House of Representatives unanimously endorsed the bill for the Truth and Reconc

East Timor's foreign minister reaffirmed his opposition to an international rights tribunal Wednesday, telling parliament that the country's economic future depended on good relations w

Papang Hidayat and Usman Hamid, Jakarta – Amid the fanfare and bustle of this year's general elections, the trial of the gross human right violations in 1984's Tanjung Priok incident ha

Jakarta – Indonesian troops shot and killed five alleged separatist rebels – all but one of them unarmed – in the country's westernmost province of Aceh, a military spokesman said Wedne

ID Nugroho and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Two weeks to go before the election runoff on September 20, both presidential candidates are availing of every opportunity they can to wo

Richel Langit, Jakarta – Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tanjung is not contesting the September 20 election, nor is he a member of either political party whose candidates advanced to the s

Maryadi, Jakarta – Hundreds of people from the Committee Against the Criminalisation of the Press (Komite Anti Kriminalisasi Terhadap Pers, Kakap) held a demonstration at the Hotel Indo

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Hundreds of villagers in East Lampung blocked off a section of the Sumatra East Coast Highway that is under repair in protest of a company they accuse

Jakarta – The Golkar Party has officially reprimanded all members who have defied the party's official decision to support Megawati Soekarnoputri in the presidential election runoff on

Munir, one of Indonesia's most respected and courageous – yet also most humble – human rights activists, passed away Tuesday (7/9/04), apparently due to cirrhosis of the liver, while on

Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) clerics have issued conflicting statements to voters grouped in the country's largest Muslim organisation in the run-up to the September 20 presidential p

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Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Supporters of terror suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir fought a running battle with police officers and hurled shoes and other debris inside a courtroom, shortly after

Jakarta – Thick haze from forest fires and farmland burnings blanketed the Indonesian province of Jambi, delayed flights to and from the eastern Sumatra region, officials said on Tuesda

Together with journalists of other printed media, The Jakarta Post's Sri Wahyuni was recently invited to join an investigative team formed by the Yogyakarta-based Silvagama Foundation.

Samarinda – Hundreds of Mulawarman University students held a rally on Monday here, demanding that the local government allocate a greater budget for education.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The government demanded on Monday that the Indonesian Military be granted the power to take preemptive measures against groups suspected of threatening nationa

Kiki Verico, Jakarta – On July 31, 2004 in Geneva, Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi successfully led the meeting of 147 WTO member governments to approve "the package of framework

Lisbon – East Timor's religious leader, Catholic Bishop Basilio do Nascimento, is optimistic over efforts, backed by Portugal, to re-introduce the use of Portuguese in his newly indepen

Semarang – Some 25 former residents of East Timor descended upon the Central Java provincial administration on Monday, demanding that the Indonesian government pay the compensation prom

Jakarta – A non-governmental organization (NGO) expressed its concern about the presence of 19 alleged militias in Aceh, which all fall under the supervision of the local military comma

Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh, still the subject of an ongoing corruption investigation, is now facing accusations of supporting the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Nearly 1,250 of 1,784 state schools in Tangerang regency are in need of renovation, but the regency administration has only allocated enough money, about Rp 60

Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Pekanbaru/Jambi/Samarinda – A senior official at the Office of the State Minister of the Environment said on Sunday that at least two-thirds of the over 1,000 fore

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – New shopping malls and lavish condominium buildings are sprouting up across the capital city and hypermarkets such as Carrefour are expanding fast, at the expen

Muhammad Uzair and Suherdjoko, Palembang/Semarang – In observance of Jilbab (Muslim headscarf) International Solidarity Day on Saturday, hundreds of Indonesian Muslim women staged separ

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is expected to endorse the bill on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday, but a human rights campaigner doubts the ef

Rendi A.

Jakarta – International and national pressure has intensified against settling disputes over media reports using criminal charges, saying the trend will sacrifice press freedom and curb

[The Invisible Palace: The True Story of a Journalist's Murder in Java, Jose Manuel Tesoro, Equinox Press, August 2004, Rp 139,000.]

Jakarta – The presidential election runoff will mark the end of the political career of the outgoing Vice President Hamzah Haz, who announced on Friday that he would retire from politic

Phar Kim Beng – With the price of oil hovering around US$40 per barrel, it is easy to assume that the oil-producing countries are laughing all the way to the bank.

Jonathan Head, East Timor – Five years ago the people of East Timor had their first opportunity to choose their own future and a staggering 98% of registered voters turned out to cast t

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Three days before the Central Jakarta District Court hands down its verdict on a case against Tempo chief editor Bambang Harymurti, who is on trial for defamatio

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A soldier from the Siliwangi Military Command posted in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam recently complained about his length of duty in the province.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – With the government's term nearing its end, the National Awakening Party (PKB) is giving the thumbs-down to law enforcers' efforts to eradicate corruption duri

Jakarta – State officials, particularly those in the regions, should be wary of people posing as Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) officials demanding money, the KPK warned on Fri

Indonesian security forces carried out gross human rights abuses including murder, torture and arbitrary arrests during two incidents in remote eastern Papua province, a rights body say

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Indonesian officials reacted with outrage after a man jailed for life for his key role in the deadly Bali bombing was treated to coffee in a Jakarta Starbucks by police, who say the ou

Banda Aceh – Indonesian troops shot dead three suspected separatists in the restive province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, while 11 other suspected rebels surrendered in six separate are

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – At least 421 separatist rebels have been killed since Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam was placed under a state of civil emergency three months ago, an official has sa

Jakarta – Indonesian presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday told a pre-poll corruption check that he was worth 4.57 billion rupiah (S$848,000), a sum likely to be dwa

Jakarta (Agencies) – A number of executives from the Golkar Party defiantly set up a faction to support the candidacy of the Democratic Party's presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yud

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – An internal rift within the Golkar Party has led several party leaders to split ranks from the party's pro-President Megawati Soekarnoputri Nationhood Coalition

A labor dispute in Timor-Leste (East Timor) is putting the World Bank's "dream [of] a world free of poverty" to the test.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – In an apparent move to prove their will to fight corruption, presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and vice presidential candidate Hasyim Mu