Aaron Goodman, Dili – The unfurling of East Timor's flag and the lighting of fireworks on Sunday marked the formal coming out of the newest country of the millennium, one whose test of

In trying to rein in Jakarta, Australia put its special relationship with the Indonesian army on the line, write Don Greenlees and Robert Garran in the third of four exclusive extrac

Bandung – Hundreds of people from the Forum of Struggle for the Disabled (Forpadi) marked National Awakening Day with a rally here on Monday.

Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced seven defendants on Tuesday to two months and 15 days each for the March attack on the offices of the Commission for Mission Perso

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – About a dozen children, each with a piece of paper and a pen in hand, gathered together and were engaged in a serious discussion.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Due to a greatly increased amount of construction and over-exploitation of groundwater, the city's land has subsided up to 91 centimeters in recent years, a

Jakarta – Unlike other historical days, the fourth year of the reform movement was observed in a bitter mood on Tuesday, with students nationwide taking to the streets to vent their dis

Jakarta – At least 40 protesters were detained at Jakarta Police headquarters following clashes that broke out separately in Megaria and Jl.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students staged rallies in at least six cities throughout the country on Tuesday to mark the downfall of former president Soeharto and to remind the government und

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Bandung Police are questioning more than 40 crews of container trucks after a rally they held to protest widespread levies and demand a whole day of access t

Robert Go, Jakarta – Surabaya businessman Lukman Hartono knows he is a marked man in the eyes of predatory immigration officials in Indonesia.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students of various universities from Jakarta, Bogor and Bekasi on Tuesday threatened to stage huge rallies if the government was unable to improve the condition o

Dili – Australian soldiers marred East Timor's independence day by stealing flags from outside a Dili hotel, an Australian businessman claimed.

Lincoln Wright – To avoid provoking Indonesia, Australia should pull its 1450 troops out of East Timor after the United Nations leaves in 2004, according to a new defence report.

Joseph Fitchete, Lisbon – Bill Clinton presumably didn't notice any problems during East Timor's independence celebrations last week.

Jakarta – East Nusa Tenggara Military district chief Col.

Dean Yates, Dili – About the only thing pro-Jakarta militias didn't destroy in their rampage after East Timor voted in 1999 to break free was something they couldn't touch – the territo

East Timor hailed its move to democracy May 20 by signing the Timor Gap Treaty with Australia just hours after becoming the world's newest independent state.

Tom Hyland, Dili – On its first day as an independent nation, East Timor yesterday warned Australia of a tough fight ahead for a greater share of Timor Sea oil and gas revenue, even as

Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement armed wing (AGAM) joined the worldwide chorus of congratulations for the people of East Timor on their independence and the inauguration of Xanana Gusma

Aboeprijadi Santoso and Yemris Fointuna, Dili/Kupang – Despite reconciliatory gestures from their leaders, the future of ties between Indonesia and its new neighbor East Timor hangs in

Lyall Johnson – As East Timor celebrated its nationhood yesterday, 1600 East Timorese asylum seekers living in Australia faced an anxious wait to see if they could remain in the country

Jakarta – Severe economic hardship and political instability have undermined efforts to eradicate child labor in the country, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said

Simon Montlake Tanahmerah – From the mangrove-fringed shore, the waters of Bintuni Bay look deceptively calm.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Investigation into the killing of Papuan pro-independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay last year points at the possible involvement of high ranking officers, Nationa

Jakarta – Acehnese separatist rebels have warned civil servants to stay away from state facilities, which they plan to attack.

I Wayan Juniartha and Agus Maryono, Denpasar/Purwokerto – President Megawati Soekarnoputri said the unabated crisis the country was facing had been exacerbated by the yawning gap betwee

Vaudine England – Indonesian media greeted the birth of an independent East Timor with congratulations and the stated desire for better ties.

Jakarta – Former president B.J.

Tangerang – Some 75 artists from the Tangerang Arts Council staged a rally at the municipal administration office on Monday to demand the administration provide them a space to put on e

Ian Timberlake, Jakarta – Four years after restrictions on free speech ended with the fall of strongman Suharto, Indonesian reporters fear a recent government crackdown could signal a r

Semarang – A demonstration held by the Democratic Front for Poverty Eradication (FDPRM) turned violent on Monday when the group was attacked by dozens of people claiming to be members o

Jakarta – Students, activists and members of non-government organizations held various protests and rallies to commemorate National Awakening Day on Monday, reports said.

Ben Terrall, Oakland, California – East Timor will celebrate its independence today after throwing off a 24-year Indonesian military occupation that killed 200,000 East Timorese.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Catholic society declared on Saturday the establishment of the Democratic Solidarity of Indonesian Catholics, a social organization which will serve asan altern

Oyos Saroso, Bandar Lampung – Fishermen in Lampung have accused a sugar cane plantation company of polluting waters off the province's Pelabuhan Panjang, killing thousands of tons of fi

Jakarta – Assembly Speaker Amien Rais said on Monday that the nation must accept the fact that its former province of East Timor had become the world's newest country, reports said.

Tom Hyland and Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – East Timor became an independent nation early this morning but a row over the unauthorised arrival of Indonesian warships highlighted the potentia

Ben Terrall – As the world's newest nation looks forward, the US must look back at its complicity in East Timor's bloody past.

Robert Go, Jakarta – When Mr Haryanto, who runs a hardware store in West Jakarta, takes a payment from a customer these days he quickly scans the rupiah bills under a blue-light device

Yemris Fointuna, Atambua – As East Timorese proclaimed their hard-fought independence at midnight on May 19 and changed the name of their country to Timor Lorosae, some 30,000 refugees

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights activists have set an early deadline for the government to open an ad hoc court to try military and police officers for alleged gross hum

[East Timor has claimed its independence. How is the new nation viewed by its imposing neighbour, Indonesia?

As the East Timorese celebrated their hard-won independence overnight, spare a thought for the Jakarta lobby in Australia, including luminaries such as Dick Woolcott, Gough Whitlam, Gar

Ambon – Muslims in the riot-hit Indonesian province of Maluku yesterday surrendered hundreds of weapons and explosives to the security authorities.

Don Greenlees, Dili – Soon after sundown in a football field here, Domingos Ribero's gaze fixes on the screen of a makeshift outdoor cinema.

Jakarta – Vice President Hamzah Haz expressed on Monday his sympathy over the Seroja fighters' frustration at President Megawati Soekarnoputri's visit to East Timor, but reminded the na

Dili – On their first day of East Timor's independence, leaders of the new country raised the prospect of taking Australia to court to gain a greater share of the rights to resources in

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The US Congress will evaluate the embargo imposed on the Indonesian Military (TNI) in July, pending the completion of the ongoing Human Rights Tribunal in the c

Tributes

"If 92 countries are gathered here today it is because the settlement of the question of East Timor was the responsibility of the international community.