Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The City Council's decision to establish several special committees could encourage corruption and collusion, activists warned on Saturday.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The Supreme Audit Body (BPK) chairman Satrio Budihardjo Joedono blamed Law No.

Tasikmalaya – A little-known outfit calling itself the Taleban Brigade has taken advantage of the new autonomy laws to get the authorities in this West Java city to issue edicts to enac

Riyadi Suparno, Semarang – As recently as the early 1960s, wild birds could be heard singing, entertaining farmers on the slopes of Mount Merbabu, Central Java.

Jakarta (Translated by JSMP) – The Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) considers that the process of the Ad Hoc Human Rights trials that relate to the murders in Ea

Jakarta – Security personnel in the country are reluctant to arrest or take legal action against their colleagues involved in brutality against journalists, according to two prominent p

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – For decades oil has driven the country's growth.

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta A daughter of former president Sukarno said on Sunday the political party she led would likely merge with three other parties with similar support bases.

Jakarta – Separatist violence continued in Aceh province on Sunday with at least five rebels killed in a gunfight with Indonesian Military (TNI) troops in Aceh Besar regency.

Grace Nirang, Jakarta – The streets of Indonesia's strife-torn city of Ambon were deserted on Sunday after another day of violence but Islamic militants warned tensions could flare agai

A lawyer for Tommy Suharto admitted that she had given over 600 dollars to witnesses who later changed their testimony in Tommy's murder and weapons trial.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Three years after East Timor was laid waste by Indonesian military-sponsored militia, the country's President-elect, Xanana Gusmao, declared yesterday that just

Indonesia's army chief has urged his countrymen to forget their traumatic past with East Timor and embrace its sovereignty, amid lingering bitterness about the territory's breakaway.

Andrew Quinn, San Francisco – California's Supreme Court, in an important free speech ruling, said on Thursday that sportswear giant Nike Inc.

East Timor's president-elect Xanana Gusmao met Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in Jakarta to personally invite her to attend his country's independence celebrations later thi

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI)/National Police faction in the House of Representatives (DPR) has taken the same position as the House's Commission I for political and security

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Witnesses in their testimony on Thursday highlighted a clear link between civilian guards roaming East Timor in the run-up to 1999 ballot and military forces, s

[Daniel Casey was on hand to watch the world's newest country, and our neighbour, embark upon the road to democracy with its people tackling the ballot box for the very first time.]

Mark Baker – East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta has ruled out any backing for separatist movements within Indonesia once the country achieves its independence next month.

Ambon – Blasts rocked the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon yesterday and gunshots rang out as hundreds of loyalists protested against the flying of balloon-borne flags on the 52nd anniv

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesian and US defense officials Thursday wrapped up security talks that covered issues from terrorism to piracy, marking a step forward in relations after mili

Jupriadi, Makassar – Thousands of students in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar marched on Wednesday to commemorate the killing of three local students in a clash with security for

Annastashya Emmanuelle, Jakarta – The internal rift within the beleaguered United Development Party (PPP), mainly between the veterans and the newcomers, is widening as evidenced by fre

Kasparman, Padang – Some 7,000 temporarily employed teachers in West Sumatra are threatening to go on strike in protest against the provincial administration's alleged discriminatory re

Hundreds of loyalist Muslims staged a noisy protest in Indonesia's eastern city of Ambon against independence supporters flying flags attached to air balloons to mark the anniversary of

Bogor – About 100 alleged prostitutes were netted in a series of operations launched separately by the police and the local administration on Monday and Tuesday night following Saturday

Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri will attend East Timor's landmark independence handover on May 20, despite strong opposition from MPs.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A witness in the human rights trial into the East Timor mayhem said on Wednesday that top state officials in Jakarta should have been held accountable for the v

Jakarta – Former Indonesian military chief Wiranto, who launched a solo album of classic Indonesian love songs last year, will soon provide the voice for a cartoon character.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) has replaced its navy and air force chiefs in a routine military reshuffle, the head of the military announced yesterday.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Terrorism and piracy were on the agenda but a restoration of full military ties with the United States was uppermost among Indonesia's concerns, with its milit

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has ordered several provinces to revoke "problematic" laws and regulations in a bid to reign in regions which are exercising too much

Dean Yates, Jakarta – In the past two months foreign investors have snapped up a bond by Indonesia's top mobile phone firm, a US investment fund paid good money for the country's bigges

Pip Hinman, Sydney – The news that two Acehnese activists sought refuge in the Finnish embassy in Jakarta on April 10 didn't surprise Erwanto, an Acehnese activist currently visiting Au

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A witness testified before the ongoing Human Rights Court on Tuesday that he was ordered by his superior to bury at least 25 bodies, including three Catholic pr

General Kofi Annan recommended Tuesday that the Security Council approve a new UN mission for East Timor to last two years beyond its independence, slated for May 20.

Name: Jose Alexandre Gusmao
Nom-de-guerre: Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao
Date of Birth: 20 June 1946
Place of Birth: Manatuto, East Timor

Pramoedya Ananta Toer – Grandmother Satima and mother Saidah, according to Pramoedya Ananta Toer, made him who he is.

Phil Zabriskie – Who is Xanana Gusmao? A Portuguese journalist put that question to Gusmao himself shortly before he was captured by the Indonesian military in November 1992.

Jakarta – A soldier told Indonesia's new human rights court Tuesday he was asked by his commanding officer to transport and bury bodies from a church massacre in East Timor, among the w

Dili's interim government has approved a USD 75 million budget for East Timor's first year as an independent state.

Jason Tedjasukmana – Here's why Iwan Fals matters: because boy bands don't take on dictatorships. They don't stand up when everyone else is hunkering down.

Stockholm – East Timor's new president, former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao, on Monday urged Aceh separatists fighting for independence from Indonesia to follow East Timor's example a

Jakarta – The mother of an Indonesian suspected of links to international terrorism said Thursday she was "shocked" to hear he had been jailed for up to 12 years in the Philippines.

A mob of protestors including Islamic students torched and vandalised six suspected brothels and injured four people during a rampage at an Indonesian hill resort, police and reports sa

Following the adoption of a statement on East Timor by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (the Commission) in Geneva last Friday, Amnesty International expressed its disappoi

Grace Nirang, Jakarta – Indonesian farmers may be fed up with the low prices they get for their coffee but young people in the world's fourth most populous country can't get enough of t

Hamish McDonald – Dressed in dun-brown overalls and boots, Fitar dos Reis, Gil Nelson Belo and Gulio Freitas line up under the baking afternoon sun to take their place on a mat and prac

Tim Dodd, Dili – In Dili's old commercial heart is an Javanese bakso (meatball soup) restaurant that does a thriving trade at $US1 a bowl, proving the East Timorese have not lost their

Tim Dodd, Dili – With independence only a month off, how bad is the economic problem facing East Timor?