East Timor hailed its move to democracy May 20 by signing the Timor Gap Treaty with Australia just hours after becoming the world's newest independent state. However, the signing of the treaty was more an empty symbol of goodwill than a declaration of cooperation between the two on developing the Timor Sea's vast natural resources.

Jakarta – Severe economic hardship and political instability have undermined efforts to eradicate child labor in the country, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said on Monday.

Vaudine England – Indonesian media greeted the birth of an independent East Timor with congratulations and the stated desire for better ties. But behind the positive rhetoric remains a Government and armed forces determined to avoid responsibility for past abuses in the new nation.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Investigation into the killing of Papuan pro-independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay last year points at the possible involvement of high ranking officers, National Military Police Chief Maj. Gen. Sulaiman A.B. said on Monday.

Jakarta – Acehnese separatist rebels have warned civil servants to stay away from state facilities, which they plan to attack.

Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman Tengku Sofyan Dawod said from the group's foreign base in Norsborg, Sweden, that the prior warning was issued to avoid futile fatalities in the long-standing conflict.

Dean Yates, Dili – About the only thing pro-Jakarta militias didn't destroy in their rampage after East Timor voted in 1999 to break free was something they couldn't touch – the territory's stunning natural beauty.

Jakarta – Students, activists and members of non-government organizations held various protests and rallies to commemorate National Awakening Day on Monday, reports said.

Semarang – A demonstration held by the Democratic Front for Poverty Eradication (FDPRM) turned violent on Monday when the group was attacked by dozens of people claiming to be members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Two demonstrators, a plainclothes police officer and a local photojournalist were injured in the violence.

Ian Timberlake, Jakarta – Four years after restrictions on free speech ended with the fall of strongman Suharto, Indonesian reporters fear a recent government crackdown could signal a return to this nation's repressive past.

Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement armed wing (AGAM) joined the worldwide chorus of congratulations for the people of East Timor on their independence and the inauguration of Xanana Gusmao as the country's first president.

Lincoln Wright – To avoid provoking Indonesia, Australia should pull its 1450 troops out of East Timor after the United Nations leaves in 2004, according to a new defence report.

But the Howard Government should help upgrade East Timor's police force to improve security.

Joseph Fitchete, Lisbon – Bill Clinton presumably didn't notice any problems during East Timor's independence celebrations last week. After nearly two days' flying time to the Pacific as the Bush administration's representative, Clinton spent only a few hours in Dili, the new capital.

Jakarta – East Nusa Tenggara Military district chief Col. Moeswarno Moesanip consoled some 30,000 pro-integration East Timorese refugees who were politically estranged in West Timor following East Timor's independence on Monday, saying all sides, including the military must accept the reality.

Simon Montlake Tanahmerah – From the mangrove-fringed shore, the waters of Bintuni Bay look deceptively calm. Only a metal platform a few miles offshore hints at the riches beneath this remote bay in eastern Indonesia.

Aboeprijadi Santoso and Yemris Fointuna, Dili/Kupang – Despite reconciliatory gestures from their leaders, the future of ties between Indonesia and its new neighbor East Timor hangs in the balance due to a legacy of wide-ranging unfinished business.

Lyall Johnson – As East Timor celebrated its nationhood yesterday, 1600 East Timorese asylum seekers living in Australia faced an anxious wait to see if they could remain in the country many have called home for more than a decade.

I Wayan Juniartha and Agus Maryono, Denpasar/Purwokerto – President Megawati Soekarnoputri said the unabated crisis the country was facing had been exacerbated by the yawning gap between the political classes and the masses.

Jakarta – Former president B.J. Habibie's written testimony in the Rp 40 billion Bulog scandal read during a hearing on Monday has solidified the case against his former minister/cabinet secretary Akbar Tandjung.

Tangerang – Some 75 artists from the Tangerang Arts Council staged a rally at the municipal administration office on Monday to demand the administration provide them a space to put on exhibitions and performances.

Dili – Australian soldiers marred East Timor's independence day by stealing flags from outside a Dili hotel, an Australian businessman claimed.

Hotel Dili manager Gino Favaro also accused the six soldiers of threatening a local security guard with a rifle butt.

Tom Hyland, Dili – On its first day as an independent nation, East Timor yesterday warned Australia of a tough fight ahead for a greater share of Timor Sea oil and gas revenue, even as the two sides signed a treaty to exploit resources in the energy-rich seabed area.

Tom Hyland and Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – East Timor became an independent nation early this morning but a row over the unauthorised arrival of Indonesian warships highlighted the potential fragility of its hard-won freedom.

Tributes

"If 92 countries are gathered here today it is because the settlement of the question of East Timor was the responsibility of the international community.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The US Congress will evaluate the embargo imposed on the Indonesian Military (TNI) in July, pending the completion of the ongoing Human Rights Tribunal in the country against military and civilian officials accused of committing gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999, an official said on Saturday.

[East Timor has claimed its independence. How is the new nation viewed by its imposing neighbour, Indonesia? Tony Eastley speaks with Wimar Witoelar, who was spokesman for Indonesia's former president Abdurrahmin Wahid, and who is now a visiting professor of journalism at Deakin University, in Victoria. Compere: Tony Eastley Reporter: Tony Eastley.]

As the East Timorese celebrated their hard-won independence overnight, spare a thought for the Jakarta lobby in Australia, including luminaries such as Dick Woolcott, Gough Whitlam, Gareth Evans and Paul Keating, to name only a few. How must they feel?

These men have dedicated much of their professional lives to opposing just such an event.

Ben Terrall, Oakland, California – East Timor will celebrate its independence today after throwing off a 24-year Indonesian military occupation that killed 200,000 East Timorese.

Ben Terrall – As the world's newest nation looks forward, the US must look back at its complicity in East Timor's bloody past. Recently declassified documents reveal that the United States gave a "green light" to Indonesian dictator Suharto before his invasion of East Timor. It's no time, writes PNS contributor Ben Terrall, to renew military aid to Indonesia.

Dili – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri was greeted by 50 silent protesters shortly after she arrived in East Timor late on Sunday to attend independence events for a territory Jakarta once ruled with an iron fist.

Harald Bruning, Macau – East Timor's constitution, which came into force at midnight last night, is a combination of civil guarantees, national fervour and provisions for social welfare and public ownership of the half-island's natural resources.

[It's the world's newest republic, but it will take a long time for old sores to heal. Lindsay Murdoch and Tom Hyland explain why guilty parties on both sides will get off scot-free.]

Dili – East Timor formally swore in its cabinet on Monday, hours after the tiny territory became independent and new President Xanana Gusmao took office.

Tom Hyland, Dili – Prime Minister John Howard has rejected suggestions that Australia has treated East Timor unfairly in negotiations over the carve-up of rich oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

Dili – On their first day of East Timor's independence, leaders of the new country raised the prospect of taking Australia to court to gain a greater share of the rights to resources in the waters dividing the two countries.

Yemris Fointuna, Atambua – As East Timorese proclaimed their hard-fought independence at midnight on May 19 and changed the name of their country to Timor Lorosae, some 30,000 refugees originally hailing from the new country opted to remain in Indonesia.

Don Greenlees, Dili – Soon after sundown in a football field here, Domingos Ribero's gaze fixes on the screen of a makeshift outdoor cinema. Images from East Timor's violent past unfold before him, captivating a large audience who have been exposed to little of their own history.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Catholic society declared on Saturday the establishment of the Democratic Solidarity of Indonesian Catholics, a social organization which will serve asan alternative medium to channel people's concerns on current social and political issues.

Oyos Saroso, Bandar Lampung – Fishermen in Lampung have accused a sugar cane plantation company of polluting waters off the province's Pelabuhan Panjang, killing thousands of tons of fish.

The Lampung Fishermen's Association (SNL) urged that PT Gunung Madu Plantation (GMP) be taken to court and be ordered to pay damages of more than Rp 1 billion.

Jakarta – Assembly Speaker Amien Rais said on Monday that the nation must accept the fact that its former province of East Timor had become the world's newest country, reports said.

Robert Go, Jakarta – When Mr Haryanto, who runs a hardware store in West Jakarta, takes a payment from a customer these days he quickly scans the rupiah bills under a blue-light device designed to spot fakes.

"Some of the fakes are very difficult to tell apart from the genuine bills," he said.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights activists have set an early deadline for the government to open an ad hoc court to try military and police officers for alleged gross human rights violations in May 1998.

Ambon – Muslims in the riot-hit Indonesian province of Maluku yesterday surrendered hundreds of weapons and explosives to the security authorities.

Jakarta – Vice President Hamzah Haz expressed on Monday his sympathy over the Seroja fighters' frustration at President Megawati Soekarnoputri's visit to East Timor, but reminded the nation to move forward and to not only look at the past, reportssaid.

Simba – Today on the eve of the independence ceremonies for East Timor many of the international delegates arrived to address the press. At one press conference was the Australian president (sic) John Howard who was greeted by members of the International Solidarity Movement of West Papua and Aceh.

Philip Sherwell – East Timor has not known a weekend like it. The flags of the world fluttered above Dili yesterday as workmen gave a final spruce-up to the down-at-heel waterfront capital before the arrival of dignitories from nearly 100 countries, including Bill Clinton and Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, for tonight's independence celebrations.

An Australian with one of the closest associations with East Timor, former diplomat James Dunn, has concerns about East Timor's future as an independent country.

Michael Casey, Liquica – Marie Fernanda remembered hearing the voices of the approaching attackers as her family was fixing dinner three years ago.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Governor Abdullah Puteh held a closed-door meeting with activists of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) in Medan, North Sumatra on Thursday to familiarize them with the outcome of the peace talks in Geneva.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Spurred on by recent problems between President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her deputy, national assembly chairman Amien Rais is fast moving in to consolidate his links with moderate Muslim groups to strengthen his position with an eye on the 2004 polls.

Mark Forbes – Australia and East Timor have reached agreement over exploiting the rich oil and gas fields in the Timor Gap, with Prime Minister John Howard to sign a treaty at independence celebrations in Dili next week.