Daniel Nelson, Dili – Economic and social rights are as important as traditionally defined human rights, UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson emphasised on her recent visit to Eas

Mark Dodd, Dili – Almost a year since voting to end Indonesian rule, East Timor is about to launch into open politicking about the shape of its independent state once the United Nations

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Government ministers admit they were caught off guard by a constitutional amendment which appears to provide legal protection to the generals and other milita

Jakarta – Suspected militiamen attacked a UNHCR mission in Indonesia bringing aid to a refugee camp in West Timor on Tuesday, badly beating up three of its members, a UN official there

Jakarta – Hundreds of members of the Riau Farmers Association (SPR) yesterday demonstrated outside the main branch of Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) in Pekanbaru city, demanding the disbur

Vaudine England – The Independent Commission on Aceh, which has helped bring soldiers and officers to trial over human rights abuses in the strife-torn province, said in its final repor

Medan – Some 10,000 public transportation drivers paralyzed the North Sumatra capital on Monday with a city-wide strike.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – Top military commanders have won a skirmish in Parliament to slow their retreat from political influence.

Jakarta – A three-month truce in Indonesia's restive Aceh province enabled rebels to set up a "shadow government" across almost two-thirds of the province, a government commander based

Yogyakarta – The Yogyakarta Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) condemned the violence committed against activists and the office of the university student magazine "Arena", Dema,

Kafil Yamin, Jakarta – Indonesia's still floundering economy has thrown many families across the country into throes of despair and wreaked havoc on relations between husbands and wives

MMI Ahyani/BI & AH, Bandung – Hundreds supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have staged a protest in Bandung.

Anthony Spaeth – If you stand at the harbor of Surabaya, Indonesia's famed port and second-largest city, you can see the island of Madura only 4 km across the water.

Jason Tedjasukmana, Pekanbaru – Syaparudin, a former logger, stands next to the Caltex oil pipeline that stretches for 900 km across the central Sumatra province of Riau.

Scott Burchill – In his first lecture on Indonesian soil after being banished for 26 years, Professor Benedict Anderson spoke about the bewildered expression on the faces of his Indones

Hestiana Dharmastuti/Hendra & LM, Jakarta – The blame for the disappearance of four activists from the parliament grounds is being laid in many quarters.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The upsurge in fighting on the border between East and West Timor is the latest sign that the Indonesian military's special forces remain outside the control

Mark Dodd, Aileu – Fighters from the former guerilla resistance force Falintil, in their first move out of forced cantonment since the United Nations entered East Timor, will join UN pe

Jakarta – Indonesia yesterday demanded that separatists drop demands for independence for Aceh, and warned that it was losing patience in the search for peace for the troubled province.

Jakarta – An average of 1.6 million ha of Indonesia's forests are being destroyed every year, mostly by illegal loggers with powerful connections here and abroad, a report said yesterda

Devi Asmarani and Robert Go, Jakarta – No fire on the streets and smaller fireworks than expected in Indonesia's parliament complex.

Jakarta – Employees of coal mining firm PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) in Sangata regency, East Kalimantan, ended their strike on Friday after assurances were made that the company would no

Jakarta – Concluding its Annual Session on Friday, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) endorsed nine decrees, two of which certified the military's presence at the Assembly until 2

Jakarta – Human Rights Watch on Saturday slammed Indonesia's MPs for passing a law that could let former president Suharto and senior military officers escape punishment for gross human

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's discredited military yesterday won a blanket amnesty for past human rights abuses.

Jakarta – Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab on Saturday said some soldiers might have encouraged the pro-Jakarta militias in the border area of East Timor.

Banda Aceh – A commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels in restive North Aceh regency Abu Sofyan Daud conceded that the movement has special links with officers in th

Jakarta – Hundreds of people from various groups rallied outside the compound of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to express their disappointment with the results of the Annual

Robert Go, Jakarta – One of the most amazing outcomes of the recent MPR session must be that the rupiah continued to strengthen even as legislators bashed President Abdurrahman Wahid's

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid led on Thursday a solemn commemoration of Indonesia's 55th anniversary on the grounds of the official residence, Istana Merdeka, as students staged

Jakarta – People across the country, including those in troubled areas, marked the 55th Independence Day on Thursday with solemn ceremonies and traditional games.

Aulia Andri/Swastika & Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – The People's Democratic Party (PRD) did not just demo on the final day of the annual parliament session in the capital, Jakarta.

Irna Gustia/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – A Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) investigation into a foundation owned by the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) has uncovered corruption to

Shinta NM Sinaga/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – The Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI) led by Dita Indah Sari marked the final day of the annual session of the Assembly

Abdul Haerah HR/BI, Makassar – Up to a hundred low paid workers and waterside labourers who demanded a 100% pay rise have been forcefully removed from Makassar harbour side in Makassar

Warren Caragata, Jakarta – If anything represents the uneasy muddle that is Indonesian politics these days, it may well be Golkar, the party of discredited ex-president Suharto.

Jakarta – About 1,000 university students staged a peaceful demonstration in Central Jakarta yesterday, to celebrate Independence Day with calls for further reform.

Hestiana Dharmastuti/Hendra & Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – Disgraced former dictator Suharto and his cronies can not yet breathe easily.

Maryadi/Fitri & Lyndal Meehan, Pontianak – Today is Indonesian Independence Day.

Jakarta – Six students who pulled down the Indonesian flag at the Attorney General's Office in South Jakarta yesterday could be imprisoned for up to four years.

Andrew Perrin, Ainaro – Fearing UN peacekeepers cannot guarantee their safety, villagers in East Timor's mountainous central south-west have fled to the forest or formed vigilante group

Marianne Kearney Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's pre-Independence Day address to Parliament yesterday began and ended with his trademark humour and, this time, legislators laugh

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Removing the military from politics was one of the key agendas of the reform movement in 1998, yet legislators on a People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) comm

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – A leading armed forces reformer has made an unprecedented attack on corrupt generals.

Iin Yumiyanti/Swastika & Lyndal Meehanm, Jakarta – As commemorations to mark the 55th anniversary of the declaration of independence on 17 August approach, groups of local people in

Surabaya – Dozens of the banners denouncing political figures and parties which have been erected since the start of the People's Consultative Assembly Annual Session are being taken do

Jakarta – Indonesian police on Wednesday said they had identified 22 suspects in connection with a violent military-backed attack on the then-party headquarters of Vice President Megawa

A group of prominent East Timorese leaders, spanning the territory's historical political spectrum, are organizing a new center-right political party with the apparent blessing of indep

James Balowski – After months of delays, false starts and a performance to rival Christopher Skase's "Now I'm sick, now I'm not", former president Suharto is finally to stand trial for

Jon Land – Pro-Jakarta militia operating out of refugee camps and other bases in West Timor show no sign of scaling down their attacks upon refugees or United Nations soldiers and human