Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Beaming, Yudhi, in his 30s, a scavenger from Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, emerged from Governor Sutiyoso's official…

Ruslan Sangadji, Poso – A bomb blast jolted Ambon early on Thursday as Muslims prepared to celebrate Idul Fitri, and later in the afternoon, some…

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Despite pro-labor legislation, workers had to bow down to employers' pressure in determining the hike in the 2006…

Jakarta – In an abrupt about-face, the government has decided not to grant convicted terrorist and Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir a sentence…

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Many still living in tents, the Acehnese celebrated their first Idul Fitri almost a year after the tsunami devastated…

I Wayan Juniartha, Denpasar – The Karangasem Police in Bali named on Friday 21 people as suspects in Wednesday's attack and burning of the Rendang…

Bill Tarrant, Lampuuk – In a little shack they built on a rubble-strewn field where the tsunami travelled the farthest inland, a group of teenaged…

John Aglionby, Nusa – The community notice board in Nusa is conspicuously underemployed. There are no updates on reconstruction programmes and the…

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) today praised congressional conferees for agreeing to maintain some restrictions on U.S.…

By Richard Chauvel

[The following Aceh backgrounder was prepared by the Australian solidarity organisation Asia Pacific Solidarity Network (APSN) to provide an…

Max Lane – It has been almost a month since the Indonesian government increased the retail price of petrol by 126% and of kerosene by 300%. The…

Peter Fritsch, Banda Aceh – The tsunami story of fisherman Zamzami is sadly familiar: A black wave taller than the coastal coconut trees swallowed…

Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Military (TNI) hailed on Tuesday the return of a top leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Bakhtiar…

Jakarta – The average 126.6 percent fuel price hike last month has pushed inflation to a six-year high of 17.89 percent for the year to October,…

Jakarta – The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported on Tuesday that the country's exports showed continuous growth during the first nine months…

Veronika Kusuma Wijayanti, Jakarta – Civil servants and journalists posted at the national police headquarters have been forced to enter via the…

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – As an Idul Fitri 'gift' for low-paid workers in Jakarta, the Jakarta administration has increased the minimum wage to Rp…

Charles Scheiner – East Timor hopes to use its offshore oil and gas deposits to enable the country to escape its position as the poorest nation in…

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Tension between Muslims and Christians at Jati Mulya housing complex in Bekasi, West Java, has come to a peaceful end…

Jakarta/Palu – With the police still in the dark over the identities of the killers of three Christian schoolgirls in Poso, Central Sulawesi, on…

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – Lying helplessly in hospital, the stab wound on her face covered with antiseptics and gauze, the girl cries out in pain.…

Hyginus Hardoyo, Jakarta – At the start of his presidential term a year ago, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to put the agricultural sector on…

John M. Miller – Although many view Indonesia's new President, retired General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, known as SBY, as a reformer, he has yet…

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The newly elected members of the Papuan People's Council (MRP) took office on Monday in a ceremony that was notable…

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – In another positive sign for the peace process in Aceh, a top leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) arrived in his…

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR) has lashed out at the Ministry of Finance for…

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Ten months after the devastating tsunami that claimed more than 210,000 human lives and displaced hundreds of…

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Observed by a crowd of hundreds, six convicted gamblers were caned on Monday in front of the Baitul Musyahadah Mosque…

For the first time in 25 years, an exiled leader of Aceh's separatist rebel movement has returned to the Indonesian province in a sentimental…

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Consistent with their firm objection to the operation of a waste treatment plant in their area, hundreds of residents of…

Jakarta – The Riau Police confiscated on Saturday more than 1,600 cubic meters of illegally felled logs from Gaung River in Indragiri Hilir…

Veronika Kusuma Wijayanti, Jakarta – Rats. Student released the animals (which are often the symbol of corruption) into the Jakarta police…

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The killing of three schoolgirls in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso has raised concern among Christian and Muslim…

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urged the National Commission of Human Rights to set up an independent team…

John Roosa and Joseph Nevins – One of the worst mass murders of the twentieth century." That was how a CIA publication described the killings that…

Riwanto Tirtosudarmo, Jakarta – The intention of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto to revive the territorial command is…

Barbaric! No other word describes the anger and exasperation many of us feel at hearing the news of the killing and beheading of three teenage…

Senator Robert Hill
Minister for Defence
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

31 October 2005

Re: resumption of ties…

Yogyakarta – Today, Monday 31/10 One hundred Papuan Students who called themselves the Alliance of Papuan Students (AMP) Jogjakarta took part in a…

Sian Powell in Tubu, West Timor – Yosep Palbeno gestures furiously as he tells the story of how he was threatened by five armed East Timorese…

Alastair Thompson – Timor-Leste Foreign Minister & 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jose Ramos-Horta knows more than most about independence…

In an effort to accommodate fundamental rights for natives, the Indonesian government set up a people's assembly in the easternmost province Papua…

Nurvita Indarini, Jakarta – Just because he increased fuel prices, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is facing a class action. Yudhoyono is…

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – It was almost dusk on Sunday, but a group of children at the refugee camp were still playing outside despite the mud…

Ellen Nakashima, Lorejo – An old man, thin and stooped, raised a wooden stick over his head and swung it down with both hands. This, he said, was…

Simon Parry – Oxfam has built around 300 homes so far at a cost of $ 25,000 each and hopes to build 920 on six different sites around Banda Aceh…

Simon Parry – Her shattered village was one of the most enduring images of the tsunami. Now, 10 months after the horror, Marini Hermansyah cradles…

Three teenage Christian girls were beheaded and a fourth was seriously wounded in a savage attack yesterday by unidentified assailants in the…

Ade Rina and Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Indonesian police beefed up security patrols on Sunday in the Poso area, plagued by sectarian violence for…