Nani Farida and Teuku Agam Muzakir, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe – Two anti-separatist groups in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam held rallies in separate towns, demanding the government help with the relese of all people abducted by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja & Moch. N.

Rachel Harvey, Jakarta – Journalists covering events in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province have faced a particularly difficult task since martial law was declared last year.

Their movements are severely restricted and local reporters are officially forbidden from contacting separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (Gam).

Jakarta – Army chief Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu installed on Thursday Maj. Gen. Djoko Santoso as his deputy to replace Lt. Gen. Darsono, who is retiring.

Jayapura – Two years after the implementation of the Law on Special Autonomy in West Papua, the level of human rights violations remains high. There has been no commitment from any parties to apply the Law on Special Autonomy consistently. Rather, this law is seen as disrupting the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).

Lee Kim Chew – Indonesia's Golkar party could stage a major political comeback and beat President Megawati Sukarnoputri in the presidential election this year.

And if Golkar joins forces with Ms Megawati's party to form a ruling coalition, Indonesia will have a strong government.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A recent survey reveals that although many respondents trust the current presidential candidates, most of them prefer other candidates to lead the nation for the next five years.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The government has drafted a campaign regulation that will ban top state officials, including the President and her ministers, from using state facilities during the election campaign, but analysts said the regulation was rife with defects.

A. Junaidi, Jakarta – The Habibie Center, a study center founded by former president B.J. Habibie, predicted on Wednesday the general elections would not produce leaders who cared about issues affecting the common people and would keep the existing six major political parties in power.

Jakarta – Holding the elections in conflict areas such as Aceh will not result in quality elections. Basically this is because violence by state security personnel against the public is still occurring, particularly violence which increases a sense of fear in society.

Jakarta – The involvement of the TNI-AD (the army) in making the 2004 general elections a success does not represent an effort or ambition on the part of the TNI-AD to extend its role.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The National Intelligence Agency (BIN) will have much broader powers soon after President Megawati Soekarnoputri signs a decree authorizing the agency to open offices in all provinces, regencies and municipalities across the country, creating new fears of repression.

Jakarta – One person was killed and four injured when police opened fire to disperse illegal miners occupying a gold mine operated by Australian firm Newcrest, police said Thursday.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Amid criticism from various parties, the Jakarta administration still plans to go ahead with its eviction program which is expected to affect at least 8,500 families or around 47,500 people this year, according to the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC).

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) claimed on Wednesday that it had ordered another medical examination for former president Soeharto in a bid to reactivate the prosecution case against him on corruption charges.

Pulo Aceh – Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah said the people of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) province should be brave and act against separatist rebels in order to restore security.

Yogyakarta – One thousand students of Gadjah Mada State University (UGM) will actively empower eligible voters and watch the 2004 electoral process in Yogyakarta villages as part of their field study program, UGM Rector Sofian Effendi said.

The students would be sent to 60 villages in four districts in Yogyakarta province, he told reporters here Wednesday.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels in war-torn Aceh province said Wednesday they were willing to release 80 captives including a television cameraman in return for a two-day ceasefire.

"That's a condition that we have put forth," said the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) commander for East Aceh district, Ishak Dawood.

John Roberts – For more than seven months, the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) have been waging a war of repression in the province of Aceh, aimed at crushing the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and intimidating the population as a whole.

Peter King – Ever since East Timor was "lost" in September 1999 the Indonesian military (TNI) have shown strong determination to hold the line against what they see as the next most credible threat of "separatism" in outlying provinces, the independence movement in (West) Papua/Irian Jaya.

Australia has made a huge investment in East Timor for which the nation can be proud, but now is not the time to give up on it. From a position just years ago where Indonesian-sponsored militia were shooting and hacking to death supporters of independence, East Timor now has a semblance of order as a free state.

Separatist rebels and the military in Indonesia's Aceh province have accused each other of responsibility for a bombing which killed 11 people at a New Year's Eve concert in the province.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Indonesia may lose Papua and Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam due to the possibility of a foreign conspiracy aimed at destroying the Unitary Republic of Indonesia (NKRI), the Army's chief of staff has said.

Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu said on Monday that Indonesia was facing the possibility of losing both provinces due to threats from modern warfare.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – According to the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the statement by army chief of staff General Ryamizard Ryacudu that there 60,000 foreign agents in Indonesia is nothing new. However this statement reflects an anxiety and unwillingness on the part of the military to be corrected.

An explosion rocked the Indonesian city of Medan in North Sumatra province late on Monday evening, but there was no immediate report of casualties, police said.

"There was a blast in Patumbak, near the Amplas [bus] terminal but there was no report of casualties," Second Sergeant PM Simanjuntak of the Medan city police headquarters said.

Allesandra Fabro – The sustainability of Australian aid activities in East Timor is at risk despite the significant contribution made by bilateral aid programs, an Audit Office report has found.

The report assesses AusAID's planning and management of aid programs to East Timor, which has continued since the independence ballot in 1999.

Jakarta – Indonesian Finance Minister Boediono said Indonesia's economic growth would persist if the next election was run well and the political situation remained stable.

Ahmad Fikri, Bandung – In order to fulfill the requirements of the National Election Commission (KPU), a number of provincial legislative candidates have submitted copies of diplomas which have been certified by the Siliwangi III Regional Military Command (Kodam). The reason they gave for this was because their schools had already been closed down.

Anindhita Maharrani, Jakarta – A number of youth organisation under the banner of Youth Community (Kaum Muda) have protested the list of legislative candidates [for the 2004 general elections] which are dominated by old faces, people who have previously been legislative members.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The country's judicial institutions have failed to uphold justice for all, as many verdicts have been delivered without proper legal arguments and charges have been leveled at suspects without sufficient evidence, a judiciary watchdog has said.

Andrew Burrell, Jakarta – Indonesia's $5.7 billion tourism industry, still struggling to recover from the Bali bombings and last year's SARS outbreak, has been hit by a government decision to begin charging foreign visitors a visa fee from next month.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – No one in this country who believes in democracy wants the 2004 elections to fail, as it is the only democratic tool to elect a legitimate government that will carry out reforms and dig the country out of its economic doldrums.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Friday the regulations on the electoral campaign, which sets some restrictions regarding campaigning through the mass media.

Hundreds of people have marked the death of the East Timor independence activist Andrew McNaughtan at a memorial service in the Australian city of Sydney.

Dr McNaughtan was the convenor of the Australia East Timor Association in New South Wales. He died in Sydney on December 22, aged 49.

A'an Suryana, Meulaboh – Even during the most desperate hour of need, there are those who still think only of themselves.

"Poltak" alit from a government ambulance loaded with medicines and food aid from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Patrick Walters – From the rocky, tree-shaded summit of "Mount Everest", 1980m up in the cool, moist highlands of the Bobinaro ranges in East Timor, Lieutenant-Colonel Glen Babington surveys his domain.

Jakarta – Indonesian activists yesterday filed a police complaint against Religious Affairs Minister Said Aqil al-Munawar, accusing him of possible corruption over advance money paid by some 30,000 would-be pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – The Jakarta Composite Index took a strong jump on the first day of 2004 trading on Monday, closing at above 700 – the highest in more than four years – as optimism pervaded regional stock markets and the government announced improved key economic indicators.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – Inflation rose by 0.94 percent in December from the previous month, bringing the total inflation in 2003 to 5.06 percent, the lowest year-on-year rate in four years, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported on Friday.

Surabaya – PT Telkom Managing Director Kristiono said here Friday the structure of telephone rates in Indonesia, especially those for fixed phones, were not attractive to investors.

Woro Swasti, Jakarta – The death of RCTI Television journalist Ersa Siregar remains a puzzle to this day. In order that there can be an independent investigation, international institutions are urged to be involved in the investigation of the case.

[Obituary - Dr Andrew Ian, McNaughtan, campaigner for East Timorese Independence, 21-2-1953 – 22-12-2003.]

John Martinkus – Dr Andrew McNaughtan, who has died in Sydney, was an outstanding human rights activist who devoted himself to changing the situation in East Timor throughout the 1990s and to improve the lives of ordinary East Timorese living under theIndonesians.

Jason Mcleod – Abdul Teng is in his element. Mr Teng is from the North Malukus and is the head of Gambir Village, the only settlement on Gag Island, a diminutive and isolated 56-square-kilometre coral atoll located 150km north-west of Sorong, in the Raja Ampat archipelago, the world's most diverse marine environment.

Jakarta – Indonesia said Saturday it will withdraw controversial British-made Scorpion light tanks from Aceh province and replace them with a locally-produced model.

Jakarta – Aceh rebels used a kidnapped television reporter as a human shield during a gunfight with Indonesian soldiers that led to his death early this week, the military claimed on Wednesday.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Despite the praise the police have earned from the international community in solving several bombing cases, many low profile cases are left unsolved as the year 2003 comes to a close.

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – The problem of security is not the only stumbling block to holding the 2004 general elections in Aceh. Public apathy is also expected to be a major problem.

Nur Raihan, Banda Aceh – As many as 13,996 TNI (Indonesian armed forces) members and police officers will be involved in securing election stations during the 2004 general elections in Aceh. The type of security which will be employed at the polling stations will be different from other regions in Indonesia.