Jakarta – Hundreds of university students demonstrated in front of the Jakarta City Council building on Wednesday to protest against incumbent Governor Sutiyoso's reelection bid.

Demonstrator Syarif Effrina, from Jakarta State University (UNJ), said councillors should not be reelect Sutiyoso on Sept. 11 as he was inept, among other things.

[World Bank outgoing country director for Indonesia Mark Baird assumed the position in 1999 when the country was still struggling from a deep economic crisis, making him one of the few people intimately familiar with the country's economic development.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Two schoolgirls from the same village as the head of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were abducted and executed by armed gunmen in Pidie regency, Eastern Aceh on Wednesday.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The peace talks between the government and separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) slated to be held in Geneva early this month are still hanging in the balance as no date has been set.

Damien Kingsbury – Last weekend's ambush of two buses near the giant Freeport copper and gold mine in the eastern Indonesian province of West Papua has highlighted yet again the problems that underscore relations between Jakarta and the deeply troubled province.

Matthew Moore, Timika – Indonesia's national police force chief has promised to investigate allegations of military involvement in Saturday's fatal attack on a group of mainly American teachers working at the remote Freeport gold mine. Three people died in the attack and 11 were wounded.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government will host the 55th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for South-East Asia Region on September 11-13, according to an official release here Thursday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The conviction of parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung, the second case in which a politically connected person has been sentenced to jail in the past two months, is being seen as another positive step for Indonesia's legal system.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Criticism of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) has mounted following the taking control of the once respected non-governmental organization by senior lawyers linked to the military and graft suspects.

[Leading law-makers in Indonesia are calling for the suspension of Akbar Tanjung as parliamentary speaker following his conviction for corruption. A Jakarta court has sentenced Mr Tanjung to three years' jail, for misusing over US four-million dollars in state funds, meant for the poor.

The question to be asked about the bloody ambush in the Indonesian province of Papua of employees of the giant US-owned Freeport mine is who stands to gain. The Indonesian military has been quick to blame separatist guerillas.

Yuliansyah, Banjarmasin – Angered by the fact that South Kalimantan Governor H.M. Sjachriel had ignored their demands for him to leave his official residence, dozens of people, grouped in the People's Suffering Action Forum (Kapera), sealed off the governor's official residence on Tuesday.

David Gosling, Yogyakarta – Indonesian workers are braving police repression to oppose President Megawati Sukarnoputri's IMF-inspired draft labour laws. So far strikes and protest rallies across the country have succeeded in pushing back the parliamentary debate on the laws until at least October, buying time for workers to organise against them.

[It's three years since the violence that accompanied East Timor's vote for independence. Then, thousands of men, women and children fled at gunpoint to the relative safety of West Timor and beyond. Now, most have returned to play their part in rebuilding East Timor. But some can't come home.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Desperate to get away, some female migrant workers now camped in Nunukan close to the Sabah border have resorted to selling their babies to raise money to pay for their return journey to homes in Sulawesi and Java.

Vannessa Hearman – On August 15 an Indonesian court convicted Abilio Soares, the former Jakarta-appointed governor of East Timor, of failing to rein in subordinates in September 1999 as pro-Jakarta militias rampaged, killing at least 1000 East Timorese.

[The security chief for the Freeport mine has said he agrees with assessments by the Indonesian military, that the local independence group, the Free Papua Movement, is probably to blame. He has also linked the attack to the America's so-called War on Terror.]

Transcript:

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) joined on Tuesday opposition against the plan to revive political parties' power to expel dissenting members from legislative bodies, arguing the move would pave the way for authoritarianism by the parties.

Jakarta – Fifteen political parties, each of which won less than 2 percent of the vote in the 1999 general election, are requesting that the application of the electoral threshold be canceled to allow them to contest the 2004 general election.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Three days after a group of armed men killed two American school teachers and an Indonesian in an ambush at a location that is normally tightly controlled by police and soldiers in Papua, the police are as yet in the dark as to who the perpetrators were.

[Last weekend's killing of three school teachers in Papua highlights the complex relationship between the Freeport mining company, the Indonesian military, and local Papuan villagers. P.T. Freeport Indonesia is a subsidiary of the US corporation Freeport McMoRan and operates a giant copper and gold mine in the Grasberg mountains in Papua.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The government has agreed to allow mining companies to operate in areas now categorized as protected forests, a decision that has drawn strong protests from environmental groups.

Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Tuesday that the decision was taken in a bid to boost investment and increase economic growth.

Tim Dodd – You didn't read about it at the time because no announcement was made by Freeport-McMoRan, the US company that controls the Freeport copper and gold mine in the Indonesian province of Papua.

But in the early hours of May 25 the company's local headquarters near the mine site, in the company town of Kuala Kencana, was attacked by an armed group of Papuans.

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday Indonesia was on track to achieve single digit inflation by year end, a day after Jakarta reported its first increase in annual inflation in six months.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Over the past five years, the Internet has become a crucial tool for Islamic groups in Indonesia to spread their beliefs and widen mass support. A local search engine shows as many as 200 websites on Islam run by various groups.

Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington – Will US training improve the Indonesian military's terrible human-rights record?

Jakarta – Chinese herbal medicines are growing in popularity here, even among the non-Chinese, as an alternative to Western drugs.

Dan Murphy, Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers were searching the fog-shrouded mountains Monday near the world's richest gold and copper mine for the killers of two American school teachers and one Indonesian.

Jakarta – Some 800 of employees from five banks facing a merger rallied outside the House of Representatives on Monday, urging legislators to safeguard their jobs.

Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo has called to East Timor's political leaders and the international community to begin moves to establish an international court to try those responsible for the violence in Timor in 1999.

The shocking murder of three employees of the giant US-owned Freeport mine in West Papua on the weekend underscores the instability of our neighbourhood.

The portents are ominous. Indonesian security forces have begun a 60-day campaign to shut down the political wing of the Papuan independence movement.

Jakarta – Communications and information minister Syamsul Muarif said here Monday that the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) had agreed to ban by law local broadcasting companies from relaying the programs of foreign stations.

[In Indonesia, freedom of the press is under the spotlight with controversial plans by the government to prevent the rebroadcast of certain foreign programs on local media. Opponents say its a crude attempt at censorship. If the legislation gets through parliament later this month, it'll directly impact on news services from the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Australia.]

Jakarta (agencies) – Indonesia's army chief yesterday called on the international media not to speculate on who was responsible for the fatal ambush of American schoolteachers near the Freeport mine in Papua at the weekend.

"If there is foreign media which is unclear, please tell the media not to speculate," General Ryamizard Ryacudu told El Shinta radio.

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri, Vice President Hamzah Haz and some other senior state officials are morally responsible for the agribusiness scam involving PT Qurnia Subur Alam Raya (QSAR), lawyer Juniver Girsang said here on Monday.

Matthew Moore and Greg Roberts in Timika and Townsville – West Papuans yesterday accused Indonesian security forces of involvement in an ambush of mine workers that left three people dead and 11 injured.

On the streets near the giant American Freeport gold and copper mine, Papuan locals claimed security forces were involved in a "set-up".

Achmad Sukarsono and Jerry Norton, Jakarta – Indonesian troops fanned out through thick jungle in Papua province on Monday in search of an armed band that killed three people in the bloodiest clash involving foreigners since a long-simmering rebellion began.

Denise Leith – Kelly Kwalik of the OPM has denied that the nationalist group is responsible for the killing and wounding of Freeport employees on the company road from Tembagapura on Saturday.

Tom Wright, Jakarta – Indonesia's attempts to blame the weekend killing of two US citizens on Papuan separatists may be the first step in a military crackdown in the restive province that could complicate US political and business interests.

Jakarta – Indonesia posted higher inflation in August, the first increase in six months and a figure prompting speculation further interest rate cuts would be limited.

Robert Go, Jakarta – First it was shoemakers, toy makers and leather workers. Now it is the turn of the textile producers to complain that theirs is an industry choked by Indonesia's inability to compete against Asian countries like China and Vietnam.

[Tensions between Jakarta and Papua's independence movement have escalated following the weekend attack near the giant Freeport gold mine in Papua. Three people, including two Americans and an Indonesian, were killed when unidentified gunmen ambushed a convoy of cars.

[The Indonesian province of Papua is notoriously a black hole for information, and after the weekend's shocking attack on employees of the giant Freeport Mine, few things are clear except that three people are dead.]

Transcript:

Sydney – Papuan rights and independence activists said on Monday they believed the Indonesian military could be to blame for a weekend attack that killed three people, including two Americans, near the world's biggest gold and copper mine.

[Violence has escalated to Australia's north, in the Indonesian province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya. Over the weekend two American teachers and one Indonesian were shot dead and more than ten others were injured, in an ambush near the giant Freeport gold and copper mine.

[Anti-corruption campaigners in Indonesia have charged that new districts and townships are being created out of existing provinces, as the nation's decentralisation programme is hijacked by corrupt local elites.

Abdullah Alamudi, Jakarta – Indonesia's newly won press freedom is now in limbo as the broadcast bill – nearly at its final reading at the House of Representatives – will prevent local radio and TV stations from relaying foreign-made news, thus curbing the public's right to information.

East Timor's religious leader has said that the Timorese people are "disenchanted" after three months of independence.

Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo was cited by a Chilean newspaper Monday as saying that the Timorese, "are now suffering disenchantment and disillusion, as they thought that with independence, they would obtain all".

Mari Alkatiri – It is a truism of the developing world that the blessing of petroleum wealth can be a curse. Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Venezuela and many other countries have learnt this the hard way.

Dili – The fledgling nation of East Timor risks being exploited by organized crime and developing institutionalized corruption, because of its poverty and rudimentary legal system.

The head of the Australian Federal Police, Mick Kelty, said Sunday East Timor could be vulnerable to drug traffickers, money launderers and those engaged in the sexual exploitation of children.