The Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles (FNPBI), the militant trade union federation, organised mass actions across the country on May 1.

Pip Hinman, Sydney – "We have no relationship with Indonesia anymore.

The commemoration of the forced integration of West Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya, now Papua) with Indonesia on May 1 was marked by peaceful protests by pro-independence supporter

[Dita Sari is a former Indonesian political prisoner and is chairperson of the militant Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI) union federation.

Kautsar, chairperson of the Acehnese Peoples Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA), attended the second Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference in April to build support for the

Aceh rebels said they had detained nine female students because of their "close relationship" with Indonesian troops.

Colum Lynch, United Nations – The United States is seeking assurances from the United Nations that all UN personnel serving in a peacekeeping mission in East Timor would be shielded fro

Bogor – Drivers of public minivans in Bogor, West Java, went on strike on Tuesday, demanding that the Bogor city council legalize the increase in bus fares from Rp 900 to Rp 1,000.

Asia's newest nation has been officially listed by the UN as the poorest country in the region.

Joanne Collins, Dili – Paint is being slapped on fences, scaffolding is coming down from buildings, weeds are being ripped up and soccer fields are getting new goal posts.

Sibylle Kaczorek, Darwin – The fourth solidarity brigade to East Timor organised by Action in Solidarity with East Timor/Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific will leave for Di

Stephanie Coop – After a lifetime dedicated to fighting for a free East Timor, Jacinto Alves will finally see his country move to full independence Monday, when the United Nations' tran

Chris Brummitt, Dili – Children in East Timor are having trouble getting their tongues around their new official language.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Increasing rice shortages could force many Indonesians into having to give up their favourite dish of nasi goreng by the end of the decade.

East Timor has traditionally been a patriarchal society with limited opportunities for women, but Maria Domingas, an ex-guerilla, says that it is now necessary to "start from scratch" i

Leo Wahyudi S., Jakarta – The Jakarta administration's plan to increase bus fares does not necessarily mean improving drivers' welfare.

Berni K. Moestafa and A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Chatting to a number of commuters at the Gambir station, a man complains about rampant crimes.

Tim Dodd – Dili, which becomes the capital of the independent state of East Timor at midnight this Sunday, is a relatively prosperous town for a developing country.

Don Greenlees, Dili – Francisco Alves voted in favour of East Timor remaining a part of Indonesia in the 1999 referendum on independence.

Rod McGuirk – East Timor has a good chance of becoming financially independent in a few years through Timor Sea energy royalties, the World Bank told donor nations yesterday.

Jon Land – On the eve of East Timor's independence on May 20, the crucial issue of the Timor Gap has still to be fully resolved.

John Martinkus, Kupang – On the outskirts of the West Timorese capital, Kupang, a dusty former bus terminal still serves as the home for some of the estimated 60,000 East Timorese refug

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Several non-governmental organizations (NGO) officially proposed on Monday to City Council a draft bylaw that aims to replace the controversial No.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Advocates and Lawyers Association (HAPI) reprimanded on Monday a lawyer defending Tommy Soeharto on weapons and murder charges for influencing witnesses to chan

Denpasar – A violent clash erupted here on Monday afternoon after police officers attacked 60 student protesters from Udayana University who were staging a peaceful protest to commemora

Jakarta – In a move to commemorate the bloody May riot in 1998, about 200 activists and students staged an anti-violence demonstration in Blok M, South Jakarta on Sunday.

Jakarta – The chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum, Azaz Tigor Nainggolan, failed to answer a summons from the city police on Monday morning, when he was to be questioned as a suspec

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Army chief Endriartono Sutarto looks set to become Indonesia's next military commander by the end of this month after President Megawati Sukarnoputri forwarded

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urged the US Congress to ease restrictions on military relations with Indonesia, saying Jakarta was dealing with past human rights violations "in an or

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave a positive report on the Indonesian economy on Monday, saying that macro economic indicators in the first few months of the year wer

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Lies and irregularities uncovered during the ongoing trial of a corruption scandal implicating House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung have failed to e

Tim Dodd – The infant Government of East Timor is supposed to have a car registration system and, indeed, there are plenty of vehicles on the road sporting the new TLS plates standing f

Former Indonesian militia leader Eurico Guterres is being questioned in Jakarta today at the trials of 18-military, police and civilian officials accused of human rights abuses in East

Nusa Dua, Bali – Udayana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Willem T.

jakarta – A civilian and policeman testified on Monday at the trial of four soldiers and one policeman accused of gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999 that they saw all t

Tangerang – Around 400 workers of PT Mawar Nirwana, a plastic flowers manufacturer in Tangerang, went on strike on Monday, demanding the management dismiss the company's production mana

Kasparman and Apriadi Gunawan, Padang/Medan – Hundreds of public minivan drivers in Padang, West Sumatra went on strike Monday, forcing thousands of students, civil servants and other c

Simon Montlake, Jayapura – When a tall, stocky Army officer came to his home last October with a dinner invitation, Willy Mandowen was reluctant to accept.

Banda Aceh – A Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist leader in Aceh Besar, Ayah Sofyan, alias Zakaria Yahya, 37, was shot dead during a raid at a rebel base in Kuta Baro village on Saturd

Tiarma Siboro and Yogita Tahilramani, Jakarta – The National Military Police Headquarters has put a key witness in the November 2001 murder of Papua Presidium Council leader Theys Hiyo

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Jakarta – Vexed by assertions that international terrorists may have burrowed into Indonesia, Vice President Hamzah Haz decided to find out for himself – by hostin

Chris McCall at Mota Ain, the Timor border – Torn between tears and smiles, the refugees line up with all their worldly goods and wait to go home. Some are even bringing their dead.

As East Timor readies for independence on 20 May, Jakarta correspondent Richard Galpin writes that most of those who wreaked terrible violence after the 1999 vote to end Indonesian rule

Joanne Collins, Dili – Tiny East Timor, counting down to its independence in a few days, is Asia's poorest country and will need considerable international assistance in the years ahead

Michael Richardson, Bacau – Marito Reis spent nearly 15 years in Indonesian prisons after he was arrested in 1980 for being a member of the clandestine underground movement supporting t

Jane Perlez, Jakarta – When the United States recast the Central Asian states from dubious dictatorships to necessary allies in the war on terrorism, Indonesia's generals took heart.

Michael Casey, Jakarta – With tales of deception, violence, and corruption, the murder trial of Tommy Suharto is gripping this country.

Philip Sherwell, Maliana – In a calculated snub to the United Nations and Europe, the prime suspect in the murder of a Financial Times journalist in East Timor in 1999 returned to the t

Tim Dodd, Dili – Commodity markets are doing no favours for East Timor, which becomes an independent nation next weekend, with prices for coffee, its most valued agricultural product, l

Chris McCall in Noelbaki Camp, West Timor – Among decrepit huts, a few hundred disgruntled and demoralised East Timorese militiamen are pondering a bleak future, a shadow of the terror