[Daniel Casey was on hand to watch the world's newest country, and our neighbour, embark upon the road to democracy with its people tackling the ballot box for the very first time.]

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI)/National Police faction in the House of Representatives (DPR) has taken the same position as the House's Commission I for political and security affairs, rejecting a visit by President Megawati Soekarnoputri to East Timor next month, according to reports.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Witnesses in their testimony on Thursday highlighted a clear link between civilian guards roaming East Timor in the run-up to 1999 ballot and military forces, saying local authorities established and recruited the paramilitary force.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri will attend East Timor's landmark independence handover on May 20, despite strong opposition from MPs.

"Ms Mega is planning to attend. I repeat, Ms Mega is planning to be present" at the celebrations, top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Tuesday, according to the state Antara news agency.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A witness in the human rights trial into the East Timor mayhem said on Wednesday that top state officials in Jakarta should have been held accountable for the violence that ravaged the former Indonesian province in 1999.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A witness testified before the ongoing Human Rights Court on Tuesday that he was ordered by his superior to bury at least 25 bodies, including three Catholic priests, after a massacre at St. Ave Maria Church in Suai town, Covalima regency, East Timor on September 6, 1999.

General Kofi Annan recommended Tuesday that the Security Council approve a new UN mission for East Timor to last two years beyond its independence, slated for May 20. The proposed mandate, dubbed UN Mission to Support East Timor (UNMISET), would center on aiding good governance and assuring domestic and border security.

Name: Jose Alexandre Gusmao
Nom-de-guerre: Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao
Date of Birth: 20 June 1946
Place of Birth: Manatuto, East Timor

Dili's interim government has approved a USD 75 million budget for East Timor's first year as an independent state.

Phil Zabriskie – Who is Xanana Gusmao? A Portuguese journalist put that question to Gusmao himself shortly before he was captured by the Indonesian military in November 1992. The answer, a celebrated freedom fighter battling a brutal oppressor, seemed plain to most everyone – except to the freedom fighter himself.

Jakarta – A soldier told Indonesia's new human rights court Tuesday he was asked by his commanding officer to transport and bury bodies from a church massacre in East Timor, among the worst of atrocities that followed a 1999 vote for independence..

The East Timor Action Network (ETAN) described Friday's UN Commission on Human Rights statement on East Timor as "a rotten birthday present for the soon-to-be independent nation."

The Chairperson's Statement on the Situation in Human Rights in East Timor was issued in Geneva today.

Hamish McDonald – Dressed in dun-brown overalls and boots, Fitar dos Reis, Gil Nelson Belo and Gulio Freitas line up under the baking afternoon sun to take their place on a mat and practise loading an M-9 machine-gun.

Jakarta – Indonesia's president will attend next month's independence celebration in the country's former territory East Timor, a palace spokesman said Saturday.

Tim Dodd, Dili – With independence only a month off, how bad is the economic problem facing East Timor?

Tim Dodd, Dili – In Dili's old commercial heart is an Javanese bakso (meatball soup) restaurant that does a thriving trade at $US1 a bowl, proving the East Timorese have not lost their taste for the food of the oppressors.

Lee Kim Chew – East Timor's newly-elected President Xanana Gusmao, a poet and freedom fighter, loves the Portuguese language. It gives him a sense of identity.

Like many East Timorese who fought the Indonesians for independence, he draws inspiration from the historical past to face the future.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Defendants in alleged crimes against humanity in East Timor blamed on Thursday the policy of then president B.J. Habibie as the origin of all the troubles that occurred during East Timor's struggle for independence from Indonesia in 1999.

Dan Murphy, Dili – Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao is a figure of such legendary stature here that no viable challenger ran against him for the presidency of the world's newest nation.

Michael Kessler – Next month East Timor will become the world's newest nation when the former Portuguese colony, which voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999, formally adopts its first constitution.

Jakarta – Indonesia's parliament speaker on Thursday urged President Megawati Sukarnoputri to snub next month's celebrations marking the formal independence of East Timor, which Jakarta once ruled with an iron fist.

Rod Myer – The impasse between joint venture partners in the Sunrise gas deposit in the Timor Sea highlights doubts over plans to pipe gas from beyond Australia's north coast to SouthEast Asia, and illustrates how unstable joint ventures can be.

Hamish McDonald – On a roadside in rural Balibo, among knots of people lingering to chat after casting their vote in their country's first presidential election last Sunday, different traditions mingle in the friendly greetings between two old Timorese women.

Barry FitzGerald – Woodside Petroleum yesterday turned on United States oil and gas giant Phillips Petroleum, accusing it of delaying a $5 billion development of the Sunrise gas fields in the Timor Sea so it could protect its gas position in the Californian market.

Joanne Collins, Dili – Less than three years ago East Timor's seaside capital was a charred ruin, but now Britney Spears CDs, Singapore noodles and beauty salons are easily found in what is once more a thriving centre.

The trial of five Indonesian officers accused of failing to prevent a 1999 massacre in East Timor hit a snag when six witnesses failed to turn up.

The human rights court adjourned on Tuesday for a week after chief prosecutor Darmono said the three policemen, two soldiers and one civilian witness could not appear due to "technical problems."

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The more than 140,000 East Timorese refugees living in West Timor can not return home till March 20 at the earliest due to transportation problems.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) rejects an UNTAET (United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor) proposal that East Timorese public buses be allowed to pass through Indonesian territory to ply return routes between Dili and Oecusse, the East Timorese shelter in the Indonesian provinceof East Nusa Tenggara, an officer said on Monday.

Dili – Almost anywhere else there would be unalloyed delight in an 86-per cent turn-out for a presidential election.

But this is East Timor, the world's soon-to-be newest nation, and Sunday's poll has pundits reflecting deeply on why 14 voters in every 100 either stayed at home or spoiled their ballot papers.

Dili – The government buildings around it are gutted, but surviving intact as a minor miracle in the center of Dili is a billboard urging the locals to speak good Indonesian, the language of East Timors most recent colonial master.

Sydney – Foreign Minister Alexander Downer dismissed a claim Monday that Australia had been less than friendly towards East Timor, arguing it had been generous over sharing oil revenues from the Timor Gap.

Hamish McDonald, Maliana – For Isobelle de Araujo it was a bittersweet day. In the early morning she had walked in her best dress to Mass, then joined thousands of other Maliana townsfolk at the public gymnasium to vote in her new country's first presidential elections.

Jill Jolliffe – Guerrilla hero Jose "Xanana" Gusmao is expected to win a sweeping victory today in a poll for East Timor's first elected head of state, despite an organised attempt to reduce his vote.

Hamish McDonald, Dili – A last-minute dispute has blown up over the treaty that will unlock oil and gas resources worth billions of dollars in the seabed between Australia and East Timor, and the new nation's likely prime minister has accused Canberra of mistrust and an "unfriendly act".

Hamish McDonald – A tropical cyclone has been hovering close to East Timor, dumping frequent rain on a mountainous island still in wet-season green and leaving officials wondering if the depression will move onshore just in time to disrupt tomorrow's presidential election.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Tomorrow, East Timor votes for its first president, taking its final steps towards independence.

It is a process that many in the Indonesian elite would probably rather forget but, of course, cannot.

Jill Jolliffe – It could have been a Meet the Press show anywhere in the world – two presidential candidates on stage in elegant suits fielding questions before an audience of politicians, media and diplomats. They debated domestic and foreign policy, with press assessors watching closely

Dan Murphy, Jakarta – An investigator has uncovered new evidence in the murder of a Dutch journalist in East Timor in 1999 that bolsters the case against an Indonesian Army unit accused of murdering 12 people as it pulled out of the former Indonesian territory.

[East Timor approaches the last formal step in its long hard road to democracy and independence – on Sunday the people go to the polls to elect a president. Xanana Gusmao, who led East Timor's struggle against Indonesian rule, first as a jungle fighter and then from prison, is the overwhelming favourite in a two-man presidential contest.]

Transcript:

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) seems to be trying to use the on-going ad hoc human rights trial to wash its hands of gross human rights violations in East Timor, blaming the United Nations and civilian authorities for the bloody terror campaign in the territory in 1999.

East Timor's two presidential candidates publicly embraced each other Thursday in Dili, appealing to voters to cast ballots in Sunday's election, the last political milestone before the territory gains independence on May 20.

In calling for a heavy turnout, both Xanana Gusmao, the wide favorite, and rival Xavier do Amaral said more united than divided them.

Indonesia's powerful former military chief, General Wiranto, has published a book giving his version of East Timor's bloody 1999 breakaway, as he campaigns to clear himself of responsibility for the orgy of killing and destruction.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto on Wednesday evening launched a book on East Timor, titled Selamat Jalan Timtim, Pergulatan Menguak Kebenaran, Penuturan Apa Adanya Seorang Wiranto (Good Bye East Timor, Struggle to Uncover the Truth, the Revelation of Wiranto).

Jakarta – The highest-ranking Indonesian officer implicated in a wave of violence that swept East Timor in 1999 defended its former police chief on Thursday, telling a court he had saved the lives of thousands of UN personnel.

Jon Land – Two-and-a half years after East Timor's referendum on independence, the effect of the Indonesian military and militia's post-ballot destructive rampage are painfully apparent. Burnt out shells of buildings stand dotted around the suburbs of Dili, which remains a place, for most, of daily hardship and poverty.

UN transition administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello went to East Timor's border with Indonesia Wednesday to welcome a group of returning refugees, marking the repatriation of 200,000 people.

Dili – East Timor independence hero Xanana Gusmao rode on horseback through streets lined with adoring supporters here Monday as the campaign for the presidency of the world's newest nation entered its final week.

The charismatic former guerrilla commander, 56, seems certain to sweep to victory in the April 14 poll against his sole challenger Francisco Xavier do Amaral.

Claire Harvey and A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The United Nations' reconstruction effort in East Timor will continue for at least the next decade, a military expert said on Monday.

Canadian Colonel (ret) Peter Leentjes, the former training chief of the UN's global Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said the magnitude of the task in East Timor was often underestimated.

Tony Parkinson – Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid is planning to attend East Timor's independence celebrations next month, amid increasing doubts that his successor, Megawati Sukarnoputri, will accept her invitation to witness the emergence of the world's newest state.

Dili – Francisco Xavier do Amaral, 66, only had nine days as East Timor's first president in 1975. More than a quarter of a century later, he is bidding for his old position – the only rival to reluctant but formidable presidential candidate, independence hero Xanana Gusmao.