Banda Aceh – A prosecutor has recommended that the South Aceh District Court sentence environmentalist Bestari Raden, 45, to five years in prison for his alleged attempt to subvert nati

Muhammad Uzair, Palembang – Pupils of an elementary school in Banyuasin regency here attend classes in the village hall, after strong winds leveled their school to the ground last month

Thang D. Nguyen, Jakarta – As Indonesia celebrates its 59th anniversary of independence this week, it is appropriate to reflect on the democratic progress it has achieved thus far.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday unveiled a grand alliance to support her bid for another term in office, raising the stakes in her battle

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Leading presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono denied accusations that he and his running mate Jusuf Kalla were discriminatory against Chinese-Indonesi

Slamet Susanto and Abdul Khalik, Yogyakarta/Jakarta – The Yogyakarta Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) cleared on Thursday Yogyakarta city police chief Sr. Comr.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Transparency International Indonesia (TII), a group devoted to fighting corruption, has estimated that the presidential candidates for the July 5 election fail

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Leaders of four political parties threw their support behind presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri on Thursday, but doubts lin

President Megawati Sukarnoputri forged a pact with Indonesia's largest political group Golkar to form a bloc that will dominate parliament but is seen as unlikely to ensure her reelecti

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – After more than one year of the military operations that started in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam in May 2003, President Megawati Soekarnoputri for the first time o

Muhammad Azis Tunny, Ambon – This is the second time that Jamaria Makattita, 79, a widow with four children, has had to take refuge when her home in Waringin village was burned down in

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Dozens of residents vandalized the offices of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and police in two separate regencies in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

John Tribbett, Kuala Lumpur – It's late at night and I'm sitting in a 24-hour restaurant drinking tea with a group of Acehnese refugees, all men in their early twenties.

Jakarta – About 100 Indonesian Islamic activists on Friday protested US military attacks on the Iraqi holy city of Najaf by burning the American flag and a dollar bill outside the count

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Although lthough many people complain about choking air caused by high levels of air pollution, the City Environmental Management Agency (BPLDH) has reported t

Rusman, Samarinda – Fires from forests and farmland have spread across East Kalimantan, causing haze in cities and towns around the province.

Paul Barber, London – Indonesia is fast learning the lesson that while elections are an important part of the transition from dictatorship to democracy, the more difficult parts include

Rendi A.

Richel Langit, Jakarta – Politicians from Indonesia's big parties are ganging up against election favorite Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono by rallying behind his rival, President Megawati Suka

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – In an attempted show of force, rebels in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and Papua launched attacks separately on Indonesian security personnel on Tuesday, leavi

Alue Gintong – The military operation to crush the rebellion in the Aceh province will be over within a year, President Megawati Sukarnoputri said.

Jakarta – Around 100 demonstrators from the United People Against Militarism (Persatuan Rakyat Anti Militerisme, PRAM) have again demonstrated in front of the national parliament.

Gunawan Mashar, Makassar – Students from two different groups in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar held demonstrations, one group was calling for corruption cases in the

The Indonesian government has ended a ban on the distribution of thousands of tonnes of rice – which had seen more than 1.5 million of the country's poorest people go hungry for the pas

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Presidential candidates Megawati Soekarnoputri and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono were on the campaign trail again on Wednesday, this time attempting to convi

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Antigraft campaigners questioned on Wednesday the government's commitment to corruption eradication, which President Megawati Soekarnoputri spoke of i

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Drought has hit some subdistricts of Cirebon, West Java, leaving some 3,000 families without clean water.

Zakki P. Hakim and Rendi A.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A legislator from PKB has proposed that the Indonesian Military (TNI), for which a bill is currently being deliberated by the House, be placed under the contro

John McBeth – Western governments and human rights groups could not hide their anger following a decision by an Indonesian appeals court to overturn the convictions of four security off

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri has warned that the country's unity is being threatened by separatist rebellions, as well as illegal sea and forest exploitation by criminals

Jon Lamb – On August 5, the ad hoc human rights court in Indonesia accepted an appeal, and acquitted four generals of any involvement in the killing of at least 1500 East Timorese durin

The Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) says it has killed 1,159 separatist rebels in Aceh province over the past 10 months as part of an ongoing operation to eliminate the outlawed Free Ac

Vannessa Hearman – On August 11, East Timorese foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta and Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer agreed on a "framework" for a Timor Sea agreement.

Vannessa Hearman – Kirsty Sword-Gusmao, the Melbourne-born wife of East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao and chairperson of the Alola Foundation for women and children of East Timor, ha

Matthew Moore, Jakarta (and agencies) – Indonesia's President Megawati Soekarnoputri has acknowledged criticism of the country's human rights tribunals, which have cleared virtually all

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri, bracing herself for a tough election battle next month, yesterday came out in defence of her administration as she spelled out

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The presidency is not yet in the bag for incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Banda Aceh – A series of explosions that left at least seven people injured, including a five-year-old boy, in the country's troubled province of Aceh rumbled Indonesia's anniversary of

Four martial arts gangs, armed with machetes and swords, fought pitched battles in the streets of East Timor over the weekend, leaving a police commander dead and dozens of houses burne

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The government has failed to extend the travel bans on 10 suspects and convicts in the misuse of Bank Indonesia liquidity support funds, sparking concerns that t

Indonesian economic growth slowed in the three months to June, raising fresh concerns over country's hefty debts.

Jakarta – Car ownership is not for the faint-hearted in Indonesia – fuel supplies are erratic, the roads are often awful and price tags on cars are almost hilariously high.

Anton Aliabbas, Jakarta – What's the relationship with the commemoration of the Indonesia's 59th anniversary and the state of civil emergency in Aceh? Who knows.

Jakarta – Two humanitarian organizations in Papua have demanded the United Nations to investigate alleged violations of human rights in the prosecution of two Papuans being held by Wame

Gunawan Mashar, Makassar – Students in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar have again held demonstrations rejecting the draft law on the TNI (armed forces) at the local pa

Semarang – Central Java: A severe drought has affected 14,399 hectares (ha) of paddy fields in Central Java, and more paddies are feared to be affected if rain does not fall soon.

Zakki P.

Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri, facing a tight re-election race, Monday backed the creation of a truth commission to investigate rights abuses by the military that she said h

Indonesia's presidential election race remains wide open despite a decision by the powerful Golkar party of former dictator Suharto to back incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri – a move unli