Indonesia's militant trade union, the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI), on January 20 condemned the minister of finance Bambang Sudibyo's proposal to increase the s

Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – New Indonesian laws could prevent the trial of military officers accused of orchestrating violence in East Timor that left hundreds dead and whole towns razed,

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – In a significant thawing of the relationship with Indonesia, President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday withdrew his travel boycott on Australia and said he would like to

Dario Agnote – With a pack of Australian-made apricot jam and some bread she picked up from a heap of thrash, Margarita Pereira, a skinny 8-year-old, and her eight siblings hurry back h

Slobodan Lekic, Sabang – Indonesia's president on Tuesday accused disgruntled army generals and radical Muslims of provoking violence that threatens his fledgling democratic government

Associated Press in Dili – Gangs of youths wielding machetes and clubs rioted on Tuesday in Dili's main marketplace, seriously injuring at least four people, eyewitnesses said.

Jason Tedjasukmana, Ambon – A twisted pile of scrap metal from buildings gutted during a year of armed conflict lies near one of the many "borders" separating Ambon's warring Muslims an

Nisid Hajari – No one would mistake the calm of Ambon for peace.

Jakarta – Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said here Monday that Jakarta and Canberra have agreed to look to the future and start rebuilding their relationship, dragged to a

Dili – East Timor will adopt the US dollar as its official currency under United Nations rule, a senior member of the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT) told Reuters on Mon

John Martinkus, Dili – The Nobel Peace laureate Mr Jose Ramos Horta has blamed the Indonesian military for the militia border incursions that have seen Australian troops under fire in t

Banda Aceh – Preparations for a planned consultative congress on the future of the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh are nearing completion, participants said Monday on the eve of a

Cameron W.

Louise Williams, Mataram – The lobby of Lombok's expansive Senggigi Beach Hotel is bristling with machine guns.

Jakarta – Nine people were killed in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, days ahead of a planned trip by President Abdurrahman Wahid to try to stem violence amid a rising clamour

Singapore – Thirteen people were injured when Indonesian police and military joined forces early on Sunday to disperse demonstrators at a resort on the Indonesian island of Bintan, the

Jakarta – Two environmentalists, including a British activist, were attacked and beaten by loggers in a national park in central Indonesia, a UK-based environmental group said Sunday.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Soeharto, facing accusations of corruption and self-enrichment on a vast scale, can expect to be amnestied – but not his family or cronies, Indones

Marian Wilkinson and Peter Cole-Adams – Australia would consider a request to hand over classified intelligence material to the Indonesian human rights inquiry investigating war crimes

Richard Galpin, Jakarta – Police in the Indonesian capital Jakarta have detained more than 100 men, some of them armed, as they tried to enter the city from the Moluccan Islands and Wes

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid has nominated reform of the legal and regulatory system as central to Indonesia's economic recovery and development.

Ray Brindal, Canberra – Australia and East Timor stand to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties if oil and natural gas projects in the zone of cooperation in the Timor Sea p

Vaudine England in Jakarta and Agencies in Mataram – Sporadic looting and attacks on ethnic Chinese and Christians continued for a fourth day on the tourist island of Lombok yesterday.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's Government fears that provocateurs linked to elements of the military and the regime of the corrupt former president Soeharto have begun a campaig

By Dewi Loveard, Jakarta – A local conflict rooted in long- simmering religious enmity.

John Martinkus, Dili – Pro-Indonesian militia challenged the authority of Australian troops in the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi this morning, the fifth time in the past three days.

Associated Pressm, Washington – The United States gave Indonesia's fledgling democracy a vote of confidence on Thursday by substantially increasing aid to the world's fourth most populo

Associated Press – At least seven people have died in the latest round of violence in the strife-torn Aceh province, human rights activists said on Friday.

Andrew Kilvert – Military authorities and political enforcers associated with the former Soeharto regime appear to be building up East Timor-style militias in the contested province of

Linda Tenenbaum – Four months after the Australian-led military occupation of East Timor, the United Nations is establishing a colonial-style administration in the former Indonesian ter

Jakarta – Indonesia's new Government unveiled its first Budget yesterday with pledges to reform the bankrupt banking sector.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid expects his first Budget, which tries to meet a multitude of conflicting economic challenges, to return Indonesia to pre-crisis growth le

Tensions are rising as the rebuilding of East Timor begins, Conor O'Clery writes from Dili.

Margot Cohen, Jakarta – It was a gut-wrenching evening for the Defenders of Islam.

Singapore – About 100 armed protestors have withdrawn from a power plant they illegally occupied at a Singapore-managed industrial park on Indonesia's Bintan island as part of a truce o

Jakarta – The Indonesian government on Thursday asked parliament to approve a 10.5 percent rise in overall defence and security expenditure, but a 71.9 percent cut in development spendi

John Aglionby, Jakarta – The foreign office minister John Battle yesterday defended the resumption of British arms sales to Indonesia in spite of the rapidly escalating social unrest, a

Since the coming to power of Indonesia's brutal New Order regime in 1965, discussion and dissemination of Marxist ideas has been banned in Indonesia.

Conor O'Clery, East Timor – The electricity power station in Los Palos, a remote town on the eastern plains of East Timor, survived the devastation wrought on the former Portuguese colo

Jon Land – The low wages that workers receive in East Timor today are little different from the pre-referendum rate, but given the dramatic increase in food and basic commodity prices s

Sam King, Dili – The stated aim of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) is to effectively administer the country during the period of transition to a po

Jonathan Thatcher, Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Wednesday backed his controversial former top general Wiranto, but said he would have to step down if found guilty

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) top brass lashed out at rumors of a coup attempt by the armed forces, saying such a move was contradictory to TNI culture.

Max Lane – For the first time since 1974, a public split has emerged within the Indonesian army's top generals over how best to preserve the political authority of the Indonesian armed

Jakarta – A team promoting reconciliation in the strife-torn Maluku islands has named four men suspected of stirring up sectarian violence, and linked former president Soeharto and ex-

Vaudine England in Makassar, South Sulawesi and Agencies – Indonesia's leading reformist soldier and the regional commander for Sulawesi, Major-General Agus Wirahadikusumah, wants a neu

Makassar – A fierce clash between demonstrators, armed with swords and wooden bats, and military troops erupted at about 9pm local time in Makassar on Tuesday evening.

Jakarta – The government has officially revoked Presidential Instruction No. 41/1967, which restricted the observance of Chinese religious practices and traditions.

Jakarta – On Monday, the government announced a planned revision to the 1999 election law which would include dissolving the present General Elections Commission (KPU).

Andrew Marshall, Jakarta – Indonesia's powerful bank restructuring agency went on the offensive on Tuesday in the battle over control of the country's largest automaker, Astra Internati