Jakarta, Kompas – The Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) is of the view that law enforcement in Aceh since a state of martial law was declared is not working.

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Two Supreme Court judges have risked high-level political opprobrium by criticising Indonesian armed forces' crimes in East Timor in 1999.

In only the court's third dissenting opinion, the two judges ruled against Indonesia's ad hoc tribunal on East Timor, finding five senior army and police officers guilty of gross human rights abuses.

Suherdjoko and Rusman, Semarang/Samarinda – The number of tuberculosis sufferers increased to 36,820, with 12,000 fatalities, in Central Java province this year and that number is expected to go higher due partly to poverty, a local health official said on Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesian Muslims reacted angrily to the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by Israel, with rallies held in several major cities on Java island on Friday in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians. Most of the rallies turned into verbal attacks on the United States, Israel's long-standing ally.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Though now defunct, the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) remains prominent in the current two-month changeover period to a new way of managing debt restructuring and asset sales.

Astrid Felicia Lim, Jakarta – The elections in Aceh will not be delayed, but its implementation will be dependent on the security situation. There are fears however that the elections in Aceh will not be conducted in a democratic manner.

East Aceh – Seven members of the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and two Indonesian soldiers were killed on Friday after an armed clash on Tateh mountain in East Aceh regency. The two dead soldiers are First Pvt. Heroik and First Pvt. Hartono, both from the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus).

Steven Gutkin, Jakarta – Indonesian police have obtained a letter that allegedly identifies jailed militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir as the leader of the al Qaida-linked terror network Jemaah Islamiyah, a senior intelligence official said Friday.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung is facing a fresh court case after a self-confessed middleman filed a lawsuit against the speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) at the South Jakarta District Court on Thursday.

Devi Asmarani, Makassar – Indonesia's most consummate politician, Mr Akbar Tandjung, was clearly in his element.

Standing before more than 10,000 yellow-clad party supporters in the town square of Takalar, a 1 1/2-hour drive from Makassar, the Golkar chairman showed a side normally obscured by his soft voice and composure.

Laurel Teo – In a country where two in three watch television almost every day, the goggle box has turned into a fierce battle- ground for Indonesian politicians.

As Indonesians prepare for general elections next month, there are allegations that as election fever heats up, political parties have resorted to taking over the media to control it.

Presenter/Interviewer: Adelaine Ng

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – For many young people in Jakarta's kampongs, the 22-day official campaign period this month is manna from heaven – free T-shirts and money.

Jakarta – Most of the 24 political parties contesting the upcoming elections are not concerned with public demands, the Forum of People's Concern for the House says.

Haidir Anwar Tanjung and Tiarma Siboro, Pekanbaru/Jakarta – Joyful celebrations erupted in Kampar regency, Riau province, on Thursday, shortly after Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno finally bowed to the people's adamant demand to dismiss the district chief and his deputy.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The situation in Aceh Nanggroe Darussalam at present is calmer than it has been in recent months, but it is not really very different from other days aside from the thousands of party flags fluttering in Banda Aceh during the political campaign period.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The National Police have sent another team to further investigate the recent shooting incident in Manggarai regency on the eastern island of Flores, which killed five people and injured 28 others.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have enough evidence to bring new charges against jailed militant cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who is scheduled to be released from prison next month, a senior intelligence official said on Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesian will no longer pay attention to East Timor's Serious Crime Unit (SCU) which has accused several Indonesian officials of human rights violations, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's government said yesterday it would pay its civil servants a special bonus in June but the finance minister has denied the move is linked to the presidential election the following month.

A Finance Ministry spokesman, Mr Syamsul, said the one-month bonus would help civil servants pay school fees at the start of the education year.

Reporter: Anne Barker

Hamish Robertson: A children's schoolbook which portrays the President and Prime Minister of East Timor as monkeys has caused a diplomatic outcry.

A Washington-based organisation, the International Republican Institute, has compiled the book to teach children about the processes of democracy.

Suwarjono, Jakarta – The results of a survey by the Institute of Research, Education and Information of Social and Economic Affairs (LP3ES), show that the Golkar Party has the largest amount of public support.

Nurul Hidayati, Jakarta – Arbi Sanit, a political observer from the University of Indonesia, is of the view that the a report by Transparency International (TI) which says that former President Suharto is the richest corrupter in the world, will indeed benefit the Cendana [Suharto's Central Jakarta neighborhood, the relatives of of the Suharto clan] clique's political party, the Nat

Dili – Tiny East Timor accused its giant neighbour Australia on Friday of breaching international law by issuing exploration licences in a disputed section of a giant gasfield in the sea area between them.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said his country is committed to honouring agreements with Canberra about the Greater Sunrise field.

The Constitutional Court, established on the basis of the decision of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), is currently engaged in reviewing the legal contradictions that are affecting the province of Papua.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Former Indonesian military chief and prominent presidential candidate General Wiranto has challenged United Nations prosecutors in East Timor to come to Indonesia and discuss their allegations that he is guilty of gross human rights abuses.

Jakarta – Indonesia has increased restrictions on foreign journalists trying to visit war torn Aceh province ahead of April parliamentary elections, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

Suwarjono, Jakarta – On Thursday March 25, scores of activists from the People's Lawyers Union (Serikat Pengacara Rakyat, SPR) and the Popular Youth Movement (Gerakan Pemuda Kerakyatan, GPK) went to the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) offices in Central Jakarta.

Jakarta – Indonesia's bird flu outbreak, which has killed up to 6.2 million chickens across the archipelago, is showing signs of abating, a top agriculture ministry official said on Thursday.

A leading Indonesia analyst says Jakarta has grossly mishandled the troubled province of Papua, and now seems to be stepping back to watch it disintegrate.

Presenter/Interviewer: Graeme Dobell

Speakers: Sidney Jones, the Southeast Asia director, the International Crisis Group

Jakarta – The leaders of Indonesia's Islamic parties have reluctantly accepted the defeat of political Islam by Malaysia's dominant secular political grouping in the recent elections, but said it was far from being final.

The smiling daughter of Indonesia's former dictator Suharto is waging a high-profile electoral campaign – less than six years after her father was forced to resign amid massive civil unrest.

Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, known as Tutut, is campaigning for a party led by a retired general who proudly calls himself a Suharto lackey.

Max Lane – Since the East Timorese independence referendum in 1999, the Australian government has received approximately $1 billion dollars in taxes on oil taken from the Laminaria Corallina field, which is fully situated in East Timorese territory.

Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – A new Islamic fad is sweeping across Indonesia. But this time the divine message is reinforced by an amplifier and a speaker box chanting Islamic musical notes taken from the Koran, Islam's holy book, and sprinkled with modern-day pop culture that appeals even to the MTV generation in Indonesia.

Jakarta – A lawyer for former Indonesian military chief Wiranto accused East Timor prosecutors on Wednesday of trying to sabotage the general's bid for the Indonesian presidency by seeking his arrest.

Jill Jolliffe, Pante Macassar – The 45,000 inhabitants of East Timor's tiny enclave of Oecusse have suffered isolation and economic disadvantage as a result of independence in 2002, but this has not altered their passionately nationalist views.

Bob Burton, Canberra – East Timor's government, Australian political leaders and community groups are condemning the Australian government for what has been described as an attempt to 'rob' billions of dollars of revenues from oil and gas projects in the sea between the two countries.

Mafoot Simon – The indoor stadium turned into a sea of white. Some 10,000 supporters of the Islamic-based Justice Party (PKS) crowded into an area no longer than six basketball courts. Outside, many more jostled to get in to hear party leader Hidayat Nurwahid deliver a broadside against corruption in Indonesia.

Just nine days remain to the 22-day campaign period, after which there is a three-day cooling-off period before people cast their votes for legislative candidates on April 5. It will be the first of two direct elections the people of this country have ever participated, the second being the presidential election in July.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Major political parties are fine-tuning their campaign strategies in order to bounce back from disastrous early indoor campaigning, party sources say. President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is working to improve its television spots.

Jakarta – A court in Indonesia's Aceh province on Tuesday jailed a former separatist rebel ceasefire negotiator for two years for subversion.

Judge Erry Mustanto said Alfi Shahril Fil bin Syafruddin, 26, was guilty of plotting to secede from Indonesia, the state Antara news agency reported.

Jakarta's governor has urged residents to be on guard against terror attacks as Indonesia heads towards next month's elections.

The warning came as police continued to question a group of Muslim radicals arrested after they accidently caused an explosion in their house in a Jakarta suburb during a bomb-making class.

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta – Despite the nationwide policy of providing free medical treatment to poor dengue fever patients, some hospitals continue to charge poor patients, according to an investigation by the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC).

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta – Eight months after authorities began enforcing Law No. 19/2002 on copyrights, the government will begin using licensed software once it finishes taking inventory and negotiating prices, an official said.

Devi Asmarani, Makassar – For them to graduate, primary school students in Bulukumba regency, about a three-hour drive from here, must take proficiency tests in Quran reading.

Alcoholic beverages are banned in several towns, and in one regency, women public officials must cover their hair with headscarves at work.

Ahmad Fikri, Bandung – A former senior economics lecturer from the University of Indonesia, Professor Sarbini, has warned that the forces of the New Order regime [of former President Suharto] are trying as hard as possible to buy votes in the 2004 general elections. The available funds to buy these votes are estimated at 5 trillion rupiah.

Dili – UN prosecutors Tuesday urged East Timor's legal authorities to issue an international arrest warrant for Indonesia's former military supremo, saying he was responsible for war crimes committed by Indonesian forces in their former province in 1999.

Brendan Nicholson – A lobby group supporting East Timor wants Australia to put the billions flowing from some of the Timor Gap oil and gas fields into a trust fund until the boundary dispute is resolved.

East Timor has threatened to withold ratification of an agreement with Australia to develop oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea worth eight-billion US dollars. And East Timor says it could still take Australia to the International Court of Justice, even though Canberra says it will not submit to boundary rulings by the World Court.

Banda Aceh – Government troops shot dead two suspected separatists in more clashes in restive Aceh province, the military said Monday, while accusing the rebels of killing a teenaged girl.

The suspected Free Aceh ovement (GAM) rebels were shot dead during a clash Saturday in Pasi Merapa, South Aceh district, Capt. Chandra said.