Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Maps showing the location of military forces in Indonesia's Aceh province in the possession of a former University of Tasmania lecturer and her American colleague prove the women are guilty of espionage, the prosecutor's office says.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri is said to be considering replacing Indonesian Attorney-General M.A. Rachman after auditors questioned him for allegedly concealing assets worth billions of rupiah.

He has also been under fire since early this year for his poor record in following up on corruption cases.

Kendari – The People's Consultative Assembly has urged the government to stop its cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as early as late 2003 on the grounds that the Fund cannot do much to overcome the country's economic crisis.

A Muslim radical from Singapore allegedly helped finance a plot to assassinate Indonesian leader Megawati Sukarnoputri before she became president.

Rod McGuirk – East Timorese private sector groups today urged the federal government not to ratify the new Timor Sea Treaty.

Leaders of the East Timor National NGO Forum, Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring Analysis and Independent Information Centre for the Timor Sea flew to Darwin to address the Federal Parliament Treaties Committee.

East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao appealed to business leaders in the former colonial power Portugal Friday to invest in his war-battered country, recently admitted to the United Nations.

Adam Morton, Melbourne – Australia will have to step in and "sort out" East Timorese politics within five years unless the Timor Sea Treaty is balanced, the ACTU said today.

Mark Forbes and Jill Jolliffe – The Australian Defence Force has promised a vigorous investigation into allegations that SAS troops carried out torture and murder in East Timor, and will examine the exhumed bodies of two militia fighters.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timorese authorities are fighting an invasion by Indonesian prostitutes, who have swarmed into Dili since independence on May 20.

Tom Allard and Jill Jolliffe – The bodies of two militia fighters, one of them alleged to have been summarily executed by the Australian SAS in East Timor, have been exhumed by United Nations order as part of investigations into the incident.

The alleged war crime centres on claims someone using a handgun of a senior SAS officer shot one of the militia members in the head.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – The Lampung chapter of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) has urged Governor Oemarsono to step in and resolve a land dispute between thousands of villagers in the regency of Tulangbawang and sugar firm PT Indo Lampung Perkasa (ILP).

The bodies of two Timorese militiamen shot dead in a gun battle with Australian soldiers in 1999 have been exhumed as part of an inquiry into allegations of torture and brutality by SAS troops.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The brutal five-hour siege of a police station in North Sumatra by about 200 soldiers reveals the lack of discipline in the Indonesian armed forces.

Just as important, Monday's bloody battle in the town of Binjai also illustrates the soldiers' desperation to make extra money to supplement their meagre income.

Rumours a captured pro-Indonesian militiaman was summarily executed by Australian troops in East Timor had floated around special forces circles for some time, a defence commentator said today.

Tangerang – Some 300 workers of two companies located on Jl. Raya Serang, Cikupa district of Tangerang staged a rally at the Tangerang regency office in Tigaraksa on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Around 500 workers of PT Doson Indonesia, a subcontract firm of the shoe giant Nike, held a demonstration on Wednesday in front of the BRI building, which houses the US firm PT Nike.

But unlike their previous demonstration, they could not enter the building as security guards blocked the area and installed barbed wire in front of the building.

John McBeth, Jakarta – Black markings along its flanks, a large grey fish glides across the aquarium at the far end of Eddie Widiono's tasteful, wood-panelled office in south Jakarta. The Sumatran belida is said to have mystical qualities, but there's nothing mystical about the way it strikes out and swallows one of the dozens of tiny red carp trying to stay out of its way.

Ben Bohane, Port Vila – A senior Indonesian diplomat who went to Vanuatu last week on a mission to try and persuade the Vanuatu government against supporting the West Papuan independence movement has left without success, according to a statement from Vanuatu's Foreign Affairs department.

East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao prepared to head to Portugal Thursday after a "positive" round of meetings in Washington, including talks with President George Bush.

City Council secretary Moerdiman revealed on Wednesday that the ceremony inaugurating Sutiyoso as city governor could be moved from the council building to some other place if there was a threat of demonstrators occupying the building.

Papua has the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia. Latest official figures put the number of cases in the province at 1,1,25 but experts say the real figure is much higher.

Papua deputy governor Constan Karma on Tuesday expressed concern over the ongoing spread of the incurable disease, saying about 80 new cases are being recorded every month.

Max Lane, Jakarta – As the Indonesian economy sinks into even deeper crisis, a major social and political crisis has begun to unfold. This crisis began with the September 11 re-election by the Jakarta provincial parliament of retired general Sutiyoso as Jakarta governor.

Brigham Goldenm, Jakarta – A hail of gunfire burst from the mist-shrouded jungle in Indonesia's remote Papua Province, strafing a convoy of cars belonging to the American mining corporation Freeport McMoRan.

[The Indonesian military has discharged 20 soldiers accused of involvement in a bloody gun battle between the army and police in North Sumatra. Army Chief General Ryamizard Ryacudu personally tore off the rank insignias of the men, at the headquarters of the regional command in Medan.

Medan – Indonesia's army chief dishonourably discharged 20 soldiers from a crack airborne unit on Wednesday, saying they had behaved like thugs by killing at least seven people in recent attacks on two police posts.

Tim Dodd – Now let us see if we can follow this logic through. According to Defence Minister Robert Hill, in the new uncertain international environment Australians may have to rely on the Indonesian army to protect them from terrorists.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Analysts blamed the deadly gunfight between police and soldiers in Binjai, North Sumatra, on the reluctance of the Indonesian Military (TNI) to focus on the national defense and relinquish its involvement in internal security matters to the police.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – When the Indonesian Government hived the police force away from the military two years ago, it hoped it would be another step on Indonesia's road towards democracy, with police looking after law and order and the military focusing on national security.

The United States and Indonesia have agreed to reschedule nearly 500 million US dollars in debt owed by Indonesia and due to mature shortly. Indonesia is also expected to sign a similar agreement with Germany worth over 101 million dollars.

[Paradise Betrayed: West Papua's Struggle for Independence. By John Martinkus Quarterly Essay, issue 7 Black Inc Order at ]

Jakarta – A group of 22 youths from the Democratic Socialist Coalition staged a sit down protest outside the US embassy here on Tuesday to begin a one-day hunger strike against possible US military action on Iraq.

AFP reported they sat behind a strip of concrete erected recently as a security measure to block traffic from the lanes closest to the embassy.

Jakarta – A day after disclosing that Jakarta would work with Washington to probe into Al-Qaeda's alleged links here, security czar Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono backtracked in an apparent move to appease Muslim groups.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Going along with Washington's anti-terror campaign – including pushing the government to enact its own anti-terror law – brings Indonesia's armed forces (TNI) one step closer towards re-establishing full military ties with the US.

Jane Counsel – The key players developing gas resources in the Timor Sea have urged the Federal Government to ratify the Timor Sea Treaty without delay or risk losing billions of dollars in revenue.

[The Australian government has begun four days of hearings into the Timor Sea Treaty it signed with East Timor on the day of that country's declaration of independence in May this year. The Treaty covers the Joint Petroleum Development Area in the Timor Sea from which East Timor will earn most of its income for the foreseeable future.

Tangerang – Dozens of workers from PT Shinta Woosung, a textile producer in Cikupa district, Tangerang, staged a rally at the Tangerang regency legislative council office on Tuesday.

They went to the office to protest the police arrest of a worker, Burhan, accused of stealing a discarded iron plate from the company.

[This letter was received from Lesley McCulloch via an email from the Acehnese human rights activists working for her release from Indonesian custody. It was written on September 27.]

Iggy Kim – A show trial is looming for Australian academic Lesley McCulloch, detained by the Indonesian military in Aceh, along with US nurse Joy-Lee Sadler. Both have been charged with alleged visa violations.

Documents of the police operation code-named Operasi Adil Matoa show that the aim of the Operation is to build cases against Papuan organisations which support independence in order to secure their conviction, the imprisonment of their leaders and activists and the dissolution of the organisations.

James Balowski – On September 25, two leaders of the Acehnese civil rights movement – Muhammad Nasir Azis and Kautsar bin Muhammad Yus – who were abducted on September 22 by the Indonesian military (TNI) in the northern Acehnese city of Lhokseumawe were released following a concerted campaign by Acehnese human right organisations against their detention.

Nani Farida and Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – The separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) insisted on Tuesday that the government must set up an international monitoring committee to supervise the implementation of a cease-fire between the government and GAM, but Jakarta commentators said they hoped the committee would consist of credible local people.

Max Lane – In the last years of the New Order and since the fall of Gen. Soeharto, discussion opened up within Indonesian society about the real nature of what happened on September 30, 1965. A consensus had developed among a large section of the country's intelligentsia, NGO community and democratic activist movement that September 30 was a great human tragedy.

A lobby group in Darwin, Australia, claims Indonesian authorities are persecuting and intimidating civil democratic groups in the province of Aceh.

The group Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor held a protest in Darwin's Raintree Park today to highlight the issue.

Papuan independence activists have welcomed Vanuatu's strong support for their cause at the United Nations, and have urged other Pacific countries to add their voice to the campaign.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – At least 100 soldiers armed with grenades, bazookas and rifles attacked a police station in North Sumatra on Sunday night, killing four policemen and leaving 27 injured.

The provocation was apparently the arrest of a soldier by the police for alleged drug use.

Tiarma Siboro and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – A coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urged the United Nations on Monday to send a rapporteur to investigate the Freeport ambush that killed two Americans and one Indonesian, while it deplored statements implying that the Free Papua Movement (OPM) was behind the fatal shooting.

Geneva – Newly-independent Timor -Leste, formerly East Timor, has just 47 doctors for its 850,000 citizens because of large-scale emigration, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Muhammad Nafik and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Demands have resurfaced for the government to reveal the truth behind the abortive September 30, 1965, coup as a perquisite for reconciliation between the victims and those involved in one of the world's worst tragedies, the seeds of which have been blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Rachel S.

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri broke with tradition when she failed to attend the anniversary of the victory over the 1965 foiled communist coup which led to the rise of former president Suharto.