Fabiola Desy Unidjaja & Netty Dharma Somba, Jakarta, Jayapura – The Indonesian government has brushed aside any questions about the legitimacy of the 1964 UN-sponsored self-determination vote in Papua, saying current standards should not be applied to past events.

Dadan Kuswaraharja, Jakarta – The People's Democratic Party is calling on the public not to use their right to vote or golput (boycott) in the second round of the presidential elections.

Jakarta – After failing to submit their report on campaign funds on time, retired general Wiranto and Mr Solahuddin Wahid gave their figures to the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Friday.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Presidential candidates have been criticized for not coming up with viable plans on how to reform the politically powerful Indonesian Military (TNI).

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government told United States senators on Sunday to mind their own business and not to interfere in Indonesia's internal affairs.

Two years after independence, the people of East Timor are trying to sort out the muddle of languages that is a legacy of the country's complicated history and politics. There are indigenous languages as well as the languages of the colonisers, the occupiers and the peacekeepers: Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesia and English.

A controversial immigration decision taken by the East Timorese government is to be challenged in East Timor's Court of Appeal.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military said yesterday it had sacked an officer and suspended 21 military drivers for involvement in suspected vote-rigging at a major Islamic boarding school.

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta – Indonesia is not working effectively to prevent HIV/AIDS among students because of a lack of commitment on the part of the government and social agencies to teach prevention in schools, the National AIDS Commission (KPA) says.

Jakarta – Government prosecutors on Friday demanded 10-year jail sentences for 13 military officers charged with committing gross human rights abuses for their alleged roles in the massacre of more than 30 Muslim protesters 19 years ago.

Bandung/Indramayu/Jakarta – The West Java General Elections Commission (KPUD) established on Thursday a fact-finding team to investigate alleged election violations at the massive Al-Zaytun Islamic school complex, where tens of thousands of people from Jakarta were bused in to cast their votes.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The central government's reluctance to implement Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy status for Papua might incite a separatist movement in the province, a court was told.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Judging by statements from international and domestic monitors of Monday's historic presidential election, two completely different events seem to have been observed.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The jockeying and deal-making for Round 2 of Indonesia's presidential election has begun, even before the results of Monday's polls are in.

Jakarta – Senior party executives and campaign managers for the top three presidential hopefuls are wrestling with coalition building for the expected Sept 20 run-off election.

With all the horse trading going on, analysts say front runner Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono faces an even tougher fight in the second round.

Indonesian prosecutors have requested a 10-year sentence for the commander of Kopassus, the country's top special force, for his alleged role in the massacre of Muslim activists almost two decades ago.

Ex-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has kept his lead over closest challenger Megawati Sukarnoputri, with about two-thirds of the vote tallied from Indonesia's first direct presidential election.

Current president Megawati remained ahead of third-placed Wiranto, a former armed forces chief who is standing for the largest party Golkar.

Jakarta – The conduct of Indonesia's first direct presidential election has enabled Indonesians to cast their votes freely and fairly, an Australian election observer said here Thursday.

"The election was another significant step in Indonesia's democratic transition," leader of the delegation of Australian election observers, Chris Gallus MP, said.

Jakarta Post, Jakarta – Election frontrunners Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Megawati Soekarnoputri are now climbing over each other to woo the Golkar Party in order gain much-needed support for the likely runoff poll in September.

Kurniawan Hari and M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The fact that most members of political parties did not support the candidate backed by their party is evidence of the country's political maturity, analysts said on Thursday.

They said that party coalitions would, therefore, not ensure the victory of a particular candidate in the September 20 runoff.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – The Jakarta stock market fell on Thursday, with some analysts saying an key factor was fears "market favorite" Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono might fail to win the president's job.

The Jakarta Composite Index ended lower by 1.54 percent or 11.92 points, to 759.742, on volume of 1.72 billion shares traded worth Rp 908.78 billion (US$101 million).

Wimar Witoelar, Jakarta – If the trend emerging from the vote tally continues, in two months time we shall have to choose between Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The pair of Megawati Soekarnoputri and Hasyim Muzadi collected and spent the highest amount of money on the July 5 presidential election, while the Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar ticket received and spent the least.

An Indonesian court has jailed an Islamic militant for three years for having attended a meeting which plotted the deadly Marriott hotel bombing in August last year, an official said.

The various languages of East Timor speak of the history of the place, but in the present they are the topic of fierce debate.

John McBeth, Dili – Peter Galbraith is not popular with Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – While local observers declined to call the July 5 polls free and fair, the Carter Center and other foreign monitoring teams said on Wednesday that they were impressed by the way in which the election had proceeded.

Andrew Burrell, Jakarta – Indonesia's former military chief, Wiranto, tried yesterday to pin the blame for his probable election defeat on Western poll observers, including a group headed by former US president Jimmy Carter.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Repeating an old trick of their New Order counterparts, two subdistrict poll officials in Timika, Papua province, allegedly pierced thousands of ballot papers to benefit Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla.

The act was discovered by the local authorities on Monday and the two were immediately arrested for police questioning.

Sonny Inbaraj, Darwin – Documentary filmmaker and cameraman Max Stahl – whose images of the 1991 Dili massacre in East Timor moved the world into taking action against Indonesia – is back in the fledgling nation to help the East Timorese deal with their past violent history and pave the way for healing and reconciliation.

Jakarta, Kompas – Former East Timor governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares has questioned the verdict handed down against him by the courts. He will therefore be appealing to the head of the Supreme Court to conduct a review into the court's decision because he is simply being made a scapegoat who is bearing the responsibly for other people's mistakes.

Jakarta – Acehnese rebels Thursday accused Indonesian police of torturing to death one of their district leaders, the latest allegation of rights abuses against security forces in the war-torn province.

Damien Kingsbury – It was little surprise that the former lieutenant-general, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was returned as the most favoured candidate in the first round of Indonesia's presidential elections on Monday, even if his vote was well below the most recent polls. But in Indonesian politics, things are not always how they appear.

Frances Evans – West Papua: where the second largest rainforest in the world is cleared for Freeport/Rio Tinto's gold and copper mines; where one of the world's most diverse marine environments is being polluted by BHP-Billiton's toxic tailings; where, for more than half a century, demands for self-determination have been met with mass human rights abuses; where a struggle has been

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A court here ruled in favor of the government on Saturday over a lawsuit filed by a leading environmental watchdog against the controversial Ladia Galaska highway project in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province.

Michael Roston – Perhaps nowhere else in the world is there a more challenging need to carefully balance the global "war on terrorism" with promoting progress on human rights and the development of nascent democratic institutions than in Indonesia.

Four years after Australia helped East Timor gain independence the good will is being threatened by a disputed line on the seabed that will decide how revenue from the multi-billion dollar oil and gas deposits is divided.

Indonesia pressed for the resumption of full military ties with the United States and access to top terror suspect Hambali, an official said.

The request to interview Hambali was made by Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda in talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell Friday on the sidelines of a regional security forum in Jakarta.

Rendy Witular and M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – True colors were displayed on the second day of the two-day official presidential dialog on Thursday, as the retired generals among the presidential and vice presidential candidates presented their ideas on the place of the military in Indonesia.

Jakarta – The two top candidates in the Indonesian election - both retired generals – said Thursday that rights abusers should be treated just like drug dealers and be punished with death.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – All the presidential candidates except for retired general Wiranto agree to civilian supremacy in governance, particularly regarding the handling of defense and security matters.

Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri appeared tense, distracted and unprepared in Indonesia's first presidential debate – a showing critics said may have sealed her defeat in next week's election.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Ex-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the frontrunner, and another former military man contesting Indonesia's presidency squared off on Thursday over graft and jobs in the last of two official campaign debates.

Jakarta – Indonesia faces a tough battle to stem rampant corruption, three of the country's presidential candidates said.

In a nationally televised debate ahead of Monday's election, candidate and former armed forces chief Wiranto said the anti-corruption drive should target corruption past and present.

Election fatigue has set in in Indonesia. After the Parliamentary polls in April, and now a presidential campaign, most Indonesians are keen to put electioneering and elections behind them. But even after 150-million voters cast their ballots next Monday, they face the prospect of having to do it all again in September.

Presenter/Interviewer: Karon Snowdon

Max Lane – Former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appears to be the front-runner in Indonesia's presidential election, to be held on July 5. Some political analysts say he will win more than 50% of the vote, meaning there would be no need for a September run-off.

Robyn Waite, Dili – The Asia Pacific Coalition for East Timor (APCET) is a coalition of Asian human rights groups and East Timor solidarity networks that was founded at a conference in Manila in 1994 with the aim of galvanising solidarity with East Timor's struggle for national self-determination.

John Rumbiak is West Papua's most prominent human rights investigator. He led a 2-year investigation of the Freeport killings, in close cooperation with the FBI. Rumbiak now lives in exile after reports emerged of death threats being made against him by the Indonesian military.

Ahead of Indonesia's first direct presidential election on 5 July, BBC News Online has been hearing from a range of voters about their hopes and expectations.

Achmad Humam Hamid, a sociologist and human rights campaigner from Syiah Kuala University in Aceh province, said there was little difference between the main contenders.

Mark Baker, Jakarta – East Timor has invoked the wrath of God upon Australia in the bitter feud over the division of oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta warned yesterday that God might strike to dry up the ocean between the two countries if Australia refused to give a fair share of the resources to his nation.