Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Three days before the Central Jakarta District Court hands down its verdict on a case against Tempo chief editor Bambang Harymurti, who is on trial for defamatio

Jakarta – The presidential election runoff will mark the end of the political career of the outgoing Vice President Hamzah Haz, who announced on Friday that he would retire from politic

Phar Kim Beng – With the price of oil hovering around US$40 per barrel, it is easy to assume that the oil-producing countries are laughing all the way to the bank.

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Indonesian officials reacted with outrage after a man jailed for life for his key role in the deadly Bali bombing was treated to coffee in a Jakarta Starbucks by police, who say the ou

Jakarta – Indonesian presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday told a pre-poll corruption check that he was worth 4.57 billion rupiah (S$848,000), a sum likely to be dwa

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Frustrated by their inability to complete case files on the main suspects in the scam involving state bank BNI 46 and the resulting low recovery of state losses,

Jakarta – A rift in Indonesia's powerful Golkar party deepened yesterday, threatening to pull the rug from under President Megawati Sukarnoputri's carefully assembled coalition just wee

Jakarta (Agencies) – A number of executives from the Golkar Party defiantly set up a faction to support the candidacy of the Democratic Party's presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yud

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Can President Megawati Soekarnoputri, and the country's governors, regents and legislators really claim to represent the people?

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Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – In an apparent move to prove their will to fight corruption, presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and vice presidential candidate Hasyim Mu

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – An internal rift within the Golkar Party has led several party leaders to split ranks from the party's pro-President Megawati Soekarnoputri Nationhood Coalition

Nana Rukmana, Majalengka – The price of vegetable paid to growers has been declining in Majalengka regency, West Java province, over the past few months, sparking concern among thousand

Jun Honna, the author of the book Military Politics and Democratization in Indonesia (2003), and an associate professor at Ritsumeiken University in Japan, has been in Indonesia for abo

Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – The ongoing deliberation of the Indonesian Military (TNI) bill at the House of Representatives (DPR) in the final days of the House members' terms in office h

Jakarta – Media-shy President Megawati Sukarnoputri, trailing in opinion polls weeks before the election, has refused her opponent's offer for a televised debate on issues confronting t

Jakarta – The Banda Aceh District Court ordered the release of 10 councillors being detained on graft charges, prosecutors and their lawyers said on Monday, while hundreds of protesters

In the early hours of Sunday, one of the most feared, yet respected sons of the nation left us. Gen.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – "Of course the risks are high.

Jakarta – Ex-president Abdurrahman Wahid has thrown his weight behind President Megawati Sukarnoputri's rival in next month's election but said his party had yet to decide which candida

Jakarta – The United States yesterday announced US$468 million (S$802 million) in aid to Indonesia, earmarking part of it for improving Islamic schools, which have been blamed for encou

Jakarta – Forest fires and hot spots in Kalimantan are spreading at a rate of more than 100 a day over the past week, an Environment Ministry official said.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) and the government wrapped up on Monday their deliberations on the truth and reconciliation commission bill following a half

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Legislators with hands in the till beware: The government is on your trail and lawmakers in the provinces are a prime target as it cracks down on graft and orga

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Lawmakers have criticized a stipulation in the bill on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which allows it to recommend the granting of a presidential par

Patrick Walters – A strange paradox continues to afflict Australia's bilateral relations with Indonesia.

Shawn Donnan – Leonardus Benyamin "Benny" Murdani, who died yesterday, was the architect of Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor and from 1983 to 1993 served as first the head of the

Governor Abdullah Puteh was on the front pages of newspapers for weeks in recent months, linking him to corruption in the scandalous purchase of a helicopter and a power generator for t

Tempo recently journeyed over the 16-kilometer Blangkejeren-Dusun Gajah section of Ladia Galaska to look at the impact of the controversial road project on the environment and the local

Tiarma Siboro – A true intelligence officer to the end, L.B.

[Indonesia's Secret War in Aceh. John Martinkus. Random House Australia, 2004 326 pp.]

Kupang – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) is sending another team to Manggarai to continue its investigation into shootings in which five villagers in the area were

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The administration and supervision of the military court is to be transferred to the Supreme Court on September 1 in accordance with Law No.

Suherdjoko, Semarang – Some 25 activists from the Front for Poor People's Struggle (FPRM) staged a protest in front of a government office here on Friday, questioning the government on

Jakarta – Indonesia's Parliament is debating a controversial Bill to safeguard the military's profile and let it continue its regional commands.

Jakarta – On Friday August 27, the Women's Alliance Against RUU TNI (Aliansi Perempuan Tolak RUU TN) held a demonstration at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Jakarta.

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – Police now have no suspects in a bizarre case involving a former Jakarta city council chairman, a businesswoman and an alleged "fraud" worth Rp 1 billion (US$112,

Political coalitions with several parties, including the Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP), may not be enough for presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri and her

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Two former presidential candidates have elected not to support either Megawati Soekarnoputri or Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the September 20 election runoff, bu

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Leaders of the so-termed national coalition of four major parties held their first plenary meeting on Friday, to consolidate their ra

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Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Three daughters of founding president Sukarno look set to bury their hatchets for a family reunion ahead of the election runoff, which will see the elde

Jakarta – A coalition of non-governmental organizations said on Friday it would press ahead with its drive to unravel the corruption allegations plaguing the General Elections Commissio

Matthew Moore – The South Jakarta District Court is best known as a place where judges give decisions to the highest bidder, but its ruling this week to set aside the Bali bombing charg

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – More than 60,000 workers of the Texmaco Group may lose their jobs following the government's refusal to reschedule its huge debts.

Jakarta – Approximately 300,000 people are living in refugee camps across the country, a senior minister says, adding that the government hopes to repatriate all of them by October.

Theresia Sufa, Sukabumi – Five groups of the endangered Javan silvery gibbon (Hylobates moloch), or Owa Jawa, have disappeared from the 100-hectare (ha) Kabandungan Forest, a lush corri

Simon Marcus Gower, Jakarta – Nobody would question the importance and great value of books to the processes and tasks of learning and "becoming an educated person".

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Lt. Col.