Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – As talks with city administration officials on violent evictions have become futile, three human rights commissions called on Thursday for a moratorium on all eviction plans in the next 180 days, pending an evaluation of the city's policy on eviction.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – An Aceh woman activist denied on Thursday the treason charge leveled against her, saying she had campaigned for a referendum as part of efforts to settle the prolonged conflict in the province.

"A referendum is demanded by the Acehnese to end the conflict," Cut Nurasyikin told the Banda Aceh District Court.

Banda Aceh – A court martial in Aceh province on Friday cleared 12 soldiers of beating villagers during a hunt for separatist rebels in the province.

The twelve were on trial for assaulting about 50 residents at two villages in North Aceh's Dewantara area in late August after they failed to give information on the whereabouts of Free AcehMovement (GAM) rebels.

Netty Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Jayapura District Court sentenced on Thursday Edison Waromi and Herman Wanggai to two years in prison for treason.

The district court also sentenced Yordan Ick to 10 months in prison for having known of the planned treason but failing to report it to the authorities. The three were the first Papuans to be jailed for treason.

Kurniawan Hari and Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Politicians in the Papua provincial legislature have threatened to boycott the 2004 general elections if the central government insists on establishing West Irian Jaya as a separate electoral district from its mother province, Papua.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Suspended workers of state-owned aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) threatened on Thursday to break into the company's compound if the management refused to allow them to return to work within a week.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – All 50 eligible political parties beat the midnight deadline for registration with the General Elections Commissions (KPU) on Thursday, paving the way for their participation in the 2004 general elections.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The government's lack of legitimacy and political will has allowed corruption to flourish, say activist students, the vanguard of the country's reform movement.

They also suggested that the country, which has been mired in protracted multidimensional crises, badly needs a powerful government with strong commitment to combating corruption.

Denpasar – President Megawati Soekarnoputri said Thursday that she does not want to be accused of abusing human rights in her fight against corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) at home.

Jakarta – The assessment by number of groups is that the 2004 general elections represent a critical period, where it is hoped that a political transition towards democracy will occur.

Damar Harsanto and Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Thirty-four political parties filed a complaint with the Jakarta Police on Wednesday against members of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights' party verification team, alleging that they accepted bribes during party screening.

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – Lack of knowledge about sex, reproductive health and illegal drugs has put Indonesian adolescents at risk, while data made available by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) shows that 23.5 percent of the country's adolescents have no idea what HIV/AIDS is.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Major political parties contesting the 2004 general election have failed to woo support from poor people living in urban areas, according to a recent poll.

Indonesia is to restrict the number of countries which receive free travel visas to just 10. Thirty-eight countries, but not Singapore, will be affected by the new ruling, which is being introduced for security reasons and will take effect from December 1.

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Blontank Poer, Bandung – Around 200 hard-line clerics urged the government to include Islamic sharia law in the revised Criminal Code (KUHP) as they cut short their two-day meeting here, which was originally scheduled to have ended on Wednesday.

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed its 10th review of Indonesia's performance under a 5.2 billion-dollar extended fund facility arrangement and approved the release of a further US$493 million loan.

Dulhadi, Jakarta – A class action suit which was launched by the People's Lawyers Union (Serikat Pengacara Rakyat, SPR) against President Megawati Sukarnoputri, TNI [armed forces] chief General Endriartono Sutarto and the chairperson of the People's Representative Assembly (DPR), Akbar Tandjung, over the military emergency in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), was rejected by a panel of

Indonesia's chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that separatist rebels in troubled Aceh province are the country's greatest threat, well ahead of terrorists. "Our top national security priority is fighting armed separatisms in Indonesia and here the most serious military threats came from the armed rebels in Aceh," he told a conference in Canberra Thursday.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The Medan district court is scheduled to begin the trial next week in Medan of 11 alleged members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on charges of planting bombs in three separate locations in Medan last year and early this year.

Amid the ongoing military operation to quell the armed rebellion in Aceh, it is very difficult to meet with GAM leaders. Ishak Daud, GAM Commander for East Aceh gave an exclusive interview to The Jakarta Post's Tiarma Siboro at his base camp in an undisclosed area in the province recently.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – This week yet another glitzy road show will set out to sing the praises of yet another Indonesian bank that has clawed its way back to financial health. The People's Bank, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Indonesia's oldest and fourth-largest bank, is going public.

Jakarta – Standard Poor's Ratings Services Wednesday raised its long-term foreign and local currency ratings on Indonesia by one notch to reflect the country's good fiscal performance and growing stability in economic conditions.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Defense lawyers for former Jakarta military police chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Pranowo asked the ad hoc rights tribunal for the Tanjung Priok massacre to reject the prosecutors' indictment against him on Tuesday, saying it lacked legal merit.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Observers have warned the public not to be overly optimistic about the newly established Constitutional Commission, saying that the final say was still in the hands of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Robert Go, Jakarta – A fire gutted South-east Asia's largest textile bazaar on February 19, and Tempo, Indonesia's best-selling magazine, has been feeling the heat ever since.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The lack of political will to combat corruption has once again positioned Indonesia as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, anticorruption activists say.

Paul Robinson – An Australian union official has been jailed in East Timor by United Nations police after a demonstration outside a local airline office owned by Australian travel company executives.

The Justice and Human Rights Ministry's team tasked to ascertain whether political parties are eligible to contest next April's general election has been accused of taking bribes.

At least 34 new political parties, including 12 that have passed the ministerial team's screening process, on Wednesday reported the alleged graft to the Jakarta Police.

A bitter industrial dispute in East Timor has taken a turn for the worse, with the arrest of an Australian trade union official by United Nations police. The official was taking part in a protest at Dili Airport on Sunday, organised by striking East Timorese employees of Timor Aviation Services.

Indonesian judges jailed three men for more than four years for their part in last year's Bali bomb attacks in which 202 people died.

In separate trials on the resort island, judges handed down sentences for the men accused of assisting those accused of the bombings, seen as the worst global terror acts after the September 11, 2002, attacks on the United States.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The Bandung State Administrative Court ordered on Tuesday that state-owned aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) revoke its resolution suspending its 9,643 employees since July 11 this year.

"The resolution must be revoked on the grounds that the company violated the 2003 Manpower Law," said Arpani Mansyur, who presided over the trial.

Alan Sipress, Laga – On a narrow road strung perilously along a rock ledge above the beach, Cornelio Gama stopped his jeep and motioned to the spot where his rebel band had ambushed a column of three dozen Indonesian soldiers.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Evi Mariani, Jakarta – As the administration continues to evict squatters from land owned by the city and private companies, political parties have begun to calculate the potential loss of voters.

Jakarta – The Berlin-based group Transparency International on Tuesday listed Indonesia near the bottom of its list of corrupt countries, on the same level as Kenya but ahead of Myanmar, Angola, Cameroon, Paraguay, Nigeria and Haiti.

The list rates 103 nations on a score out of a possible perfect 10, with Indonesia placing 122th place with a score of 1.9.

Officials Monday vowed to fight investor perceptions that Indonesia is a haven for corruption and terrorism as a high-level business summit got under way in Bali almost a year after deadly terror bombings on the resort island.

Gel Wilson – Australian officials expect talks on a maritime boundary between Australia and East Timor to be "long and intricate".

The issue is a major test of Australia's relations with the new country, with ownership of oil and gas reserves worth billions of dollars at stake.

Nusa Dua – A number of human rights activists and members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from ASEAN member countries plan to stage a demonstration on Tuesday to protest human rights abuses by the leaders of ASEAN.

Recent polls conducted by several research and survey institutes show growing public sympathy and support for retired Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a possible presidential candidate.

Jakarta – Aceh-Papua Solidarity (Solidaritas Aceh-Papua, SAP) – which is made up of a number of non-government organisations (NGOs) – has called on the government not to extend the military emergency in Aceh. In order to resolve the conflict, SAP is calling for a return to dialogue.

Dili – Prosecutors in East Timor on Tuesday charged 17 Indonesian and East Timorese members of the Indonesian army with murderous attacks on independence supporters and other civilians.

Leo Wahyudi S. – Forced evictions conducted by the city administration usually end in clashes between public order officers and the "illegal" occupants. People often end up in hospital due to their injuries; one even died in the last eviction in Cengkareng, West Jakarta.

The Jakarta Post talked to some people on the use of violence by public order officers.

Tiarma Siboro, Surabaya – President Megawati Soekarnoputri pledged on Sunday to resolve the conflict in Aceh as quickly, wisely, and justly as possible but fell short of divulging any time frame or new ways of thinking about ending the rebellion there.

Tiarma Siboro and Andi Hajramurni, Surabaya/Makasar – President Megawati Soekarnoputri told the Indonesian Military (TNI) on Sunday to "build a bridge over the country's troubled water" resulting from various conflicts and competition among political interests, which have harmed the nation's integrity.

A. Junaidi and Indra Harsaputra, Jakarta/Surabaya – A team of 80 historians tasked with revising the national history book, are gathering new data and information on former president Soeharto's roles in a number of crucial events.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Military observers said on Friday that the Indonesian Military (TNI) had made some progress in reforming in the last 5 years, but pointed out other problems that it must improve to meet the nation's expectations and uphold democracy.

To celebrate its 58th anniversary, which falls on October 5, the Indonesian Military (TNI) has picked "Make the general election a success" as the commemoration's theme. The following is an excerpt of the question and answer session with TNI Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, which was attended by The Jakarta Post's Tiarma Siboro.

Jakarta – The New Order regime [of former President Suharto] which was brought down by the wave of demands for reformasi in 1998, is returning to power though the 2004 general elections.

In Indonesia, one of the country's most respected journalists and intellectuals, Tempo-media group co-founder Gunawan Mohamad, has had his Jakarta home confiscated by the courts....Simultaneous moves to seize a key Tempo office have so far failed on grounds that the company doesn't own the building concerned.

Banda Aceh – Eight separatist rebels and three civilians have been killed in Aceh province where an anti-rebel campaign is in its fifth month, the Indonesian military said Friday.

The East Jakarta District Court on Monday issued an asset preservation order covering the home of Tempo magazine co-founder Goenawan Mohamad. This was followed by the issuance of a similar order against the editorial offices of the Koran Tempo daily by the South Jakarta District Court.