Annabel Crabb, Canberra – Australian military co-operation with the Indonesian army and its special forces unit, Kopassus, would not be affected by their involvement in Jakarta's attack on the rebellious Aceh province, Defence Minister Robert Hill said yesterday.

With the war in Aceh set to to intensify, Jakarta says its preparing for the evacuation of some 300,000 people. Since the weekend declaration of martial law after the collapse of peace talks, an estimated 12,000 Acehnese have already been displaced. And with that number expected to rise, Jakarta has launched a humanitarian operation, designating refugee shelters.

Patrick McLoughlin, Stockholm – The leadership of separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province, under attack by government forces after peace talks collapsed, called on the United Nations on Wednesday to intervene immediately in the conflict.

Jakarta – Indonesian police with water cannons drove back hundreds of students Wednesday protesting the slow pace of reform since the downfall of ex-dictator Suharto five years ago.

At its peak, the nighttime rally had about 400 demonstrators, some of whom tried to tear down the main gate to the tightly guarded Parliament in Jakarta.

Quinton Temby, Perth – At an international conference on regional security held in East Timor last year, the frustration of many Timorese officials was obvious. It was just over two years since East Timor had voted for independence from Indonesia and been ravaged by its scorched earth retribution. But the frustration wasn't directed at Indonesia.

Max Lane, Jakarta – A report issued on May 9 by the conservative Brussels-based International Crisis Group, headed by former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans, declared: "The Indonesian military is not using the phrase 'shock and awe', but the stream of reports on the number of troops, tanks, and weapons being prepared for Aceh is designed to have the same effect."

Locals in the Indonesian province of Aceh are accusing forces they won't name of setting about destroying the island's very future, its schools. Hundreds have been torched in just one day, at the same time as Indonesia's military chief ordered his soldiers to exterminate the separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM.

Twelve months ago there was great fanfare when East Timor was declared the world's newest nation. But today the celebrations were muted as President Xanana Gusamo lamented the nation's problems in his address to the East Timorese people.

East Timor, the world's newest nation, marked its first birthday but President Xanana Gusmao found little to celebrate.

East Timor was Asia's poorest country when it declared independence one year ago, after 31 months of United Nations stewardship and 24 years of often brutal Indonesian rule. Gusmao, in a national address Tuesday, summed up the problems bluntly.

Matthew Moore – Two things are certain about the newly resumed war in Aceh: a lot of innocent people will die and not many people will care, at least outside this province on Sumatra's furthest tip.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – On May 20 last year the Democratic Republic of East Timor became the first new nation of the second millennium.

For a second straight day, the Indonesian military has continued its offensive against Aceh's separatist rebels, with an order to exterminate those who refuse to surrender. The assault began yesterday after last-ditch peace talks between Jakarta and the rebels broke down in Tokyo on the weekend.

Biak – Nine hundred inhabitants in the district of Kuyawage have fled their homes and sought sanctuary in Sinak district, Puncak Jaya, because Indonesian troops are conducting operations in their area.

Michael Casey, Dili – A year after independence, dozens of burned-out buildings dot East Timor's capital – haunting reminders of the country's bloody history.

Unemployed men hang out on Dili street corners hawking phone cards, oranges and cigarettes. In the countryside, residents live on as little as 55 cents a day. Clean water and electricity are luxuries most do without.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri's declaration of martial law brings to an end a six month cease-fire. The Free Aceh rebels say they are ready to return to war and Indonesian troops have already begun military attacks against the rebels. But does President Megawati's decision have the solid backing of the Indonesian people?

Maumeta – Cancio dos Santos readily admits he joined pro-Jakarta militias and torched three homes in East Timor when it voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999.

[The following is a translation of an interview in Tokyo with Erwanto, a representative Aceh People's Freedom Front (FPDRA).]

The talks between RI and GAM in Tokyo could have succeeded. As a representative of civil society, Erwanti attended the talks between the two sides in Tokyo on 17 and 18 May, the day before martial law was proclaimed in Aceh.

Nani Farida, Lhokseumawe – Despite the apparent normalcy, hundreds of thousands of residents of North Aceh, a stronghold of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), are preparing to flee their villages and take refuge if the government launches a military operation.

Jakarta – United States President George W. Bush welcomed on Thursday a decision by the Indonesian government and Aceh separatist rebels to hold weekend talks in Tokyo in a last-ditch effort to save their peace pact.

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) officers troops said Friday they had shot dead two suspected separatist rebels in the jungles of Papua province.

Jakarta – Discrimination against women remains rampant in Indonesian workplaces, the International Labor Organization (ILO) says.

In its report titled Time for Equality at Work, the ILO said that discrimination took various forms, but the most blatant example was discrimination over wages.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The country's commercial courts, renowned for being ineffective and corrupt, must be reformed to encourage more investment and in turn boost economic recovery and growth, an expert said.

As popular discontent continues to fester over unmet economic expectations in East Timor, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has rejected criticism that his Fretilin government is too centralised and intolerant of opposing views. At the same time, he's also taken a swipe at Canberra, accusing some of wanting to make the world's newest nation a mere extension of Australia.

In a final bid to salvage Aceh's shaky peace pact and avert war, separatist rebels have agreed to meet with the Indonesian Government in Tokyo this weekend. The decision by the separatist Free Aceh Movement comes after an emergency late-night meeting between Japan, the European Union, the US and Indonesia's top security minister.

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Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – What will it take for the world to believe that Indonesia is serious about fighting terrorism? New anti-terror laws have been passed, the Bali bomb suspects are being tried and Abu Bakar Bashir is being kept in jail during his trial, yet too little credit has been given to the country, says the government.

Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – The toll road operators' plan to increase tolls by about 25 percent at the end of the month has upset local motorists, especially as many have said the companies have not committed themselves to improving services.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – The prime minister of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, which celebrates one year of independence next Tuesday, has said he is determined to bring to justice Indonesian officers who committed war crimes in the territory.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – About 200 victims of the May 1998 riots were forced by police to change the route of their march on Tuesday to commemorate the fifth year of the tragedy.

Jakarta – More than a thousand people staged a rally on Tuesday at television stations SCTV and Trans TV on Jl. Gatot Subroto in Central Jakarta to protest their continued airings of performances by controversial dangdut singer Inul Daratista.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Publicly listed state-owned pharmaceutical giant Indofarma is in the public eye over its miraculous transformation of a reported Rp88.6 billion profit in the first three quarters of 2002 into a net loss of more than Rp20 billion (US$2.3 million) by the end of the year.

Jakarta – As war drums beat louder in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, momentum is building at the other end of the giant archipelago for tougher action against separatists in Papua.

John McBeth, Jakarta – Indonesia's 25-year reign as the world's largest liquefied-natural-gas (LNG) exporter is under threat, though it's taken a distracted government years to wake up to the fact.

The Indonesian government and Aceh separatist rebels said they are willing to hold talks in Tokyo on Saturday to avert a return to war in the province.

Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, a senior official of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), said there had been "a breakthrough" in talks between GAM's exiled leadership in Stockholm and foreign mediators.

Dili – As Indonesia marks five years as a democracy, its former territory of East Timor is celebrating its own landmark: one year as an independent nation.

But persistent poverty, anger at the slow pace of nation building and the struggle to come to terms with a brutal past are likely to overshadow any celebration next Tuesday.

John Martinkus – General Taur Matan Ruak, the former guerilla leader who now heads East Timor's defence forces, has called on residents of the world's newest nation to ignore rumours that the first anniversary of independence on May 20 would be marked by militia attacks.

Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – When a troubled commercial bank in Indonesia needed to improve its standing with the public and the business community, it turned to Landor Associates, considered one of the world's foremost authority in image building and branding.

Marianne Kearney – When members of East Kalimantan's timber mafia, or cukong, need some illegally logged timber smuggled through the province's forests and rivers, they usually contact Pemuda Pancasila, or another group of well-connected thugs for hire.

Herbert Docena, Jakarta – Organisers of the "Iraq and the Global Peace Movement: What Next?" conference, which will be held here on May 19-21, expect attendance by as many as 200 delegates from the broad anti-war coalitions that have emerged in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Alexander Irwan – Last year, the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia published a study entitled "The Poor Speak Out: 17 Corruption Cases", which covered several poor communities in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Makassar.

Former foreign minister Ali Alatas talked to The Jakarta Post's Kornelius Purba about his views on Aceh. Now the advisor to President Megawati Soekarnoputri, he pointed out that Indonesia should not repeat the mistakes it made in East Timor, especially in regards human rights issues, in resolving the Aceh problem. The following is an excerpt from the interview:

Canberra – Aid funding will increase but assistance for East Timor will be slashed under the Budget released tonight. In a sign of the government's continuing use of aid to help fight terrorism, much of the increase has been tied to the efforts of neighbouring countries to improve their governance and policing systems.

Lesley McCulloch, Melbourne – Extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture, rape and the targeted harassment of human-rights defenders. This was life in Aceh five years ago; it is also life in Aceh today.

Jakarta – Acehnese scrambled to store basic commodities on Sunday, one day before the deadline for separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to abandon its demand for independence and disarm – two non-negotiable prerequisites for peace talks to resume.

Joe Cochrane – When Indonesia and Australia agreed in 1989 to jointly exploit East Timor's offshore oil and gas fields, the countries' foreign ministers sealed the pact by sipping champagne in a private jet high above the Timor Sea.

The first trial of a Bali bombing suspect began in the Indonesian resort island amid a huge security clampdown.

Australia and the US reasonably expect their ally to deliver justice for victims of atrocities.

Antony Barnett – The Observer Tomorrow is make-or-break day in one of South-East Asia's bloodiest conflicts. Last week more than 2,000 Indonesian government troops sailed from the Javanese port of Surabaya to reinforce a 26,000-strong force already in the province of Aceh, where a 26-year struggle for independence has already led to the deaths of more than 10,000 people.

Richard Bingley – Soon after Labour came to power in 1997, its approach to arms sales to Indonesia became the litmus test for the new ethical dimension to foreign policy expounded by a former anti-arms campaigner himself, the incoming foreign secretary Robin Cook.

Banda Aceh – The United States, the European Union and Japan yesterday issued a joint statement urging Indonesia not to launch a military operation in Aceh province.