Jakarta – In line with sharia law, the Aceh legislative council is proposing that caning be one of the punishments for people who tempt Muslims to desert religious teachings.
A special team set up by the council is drafting the bylaw in response to Law No. 44/1999 on Aceh's special status and Law No. 18/2002 on special autonomy for Aceh.
Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Dozens of activists and city councillors marched to the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday, demanding the annulment of the recent election of Sutiyoso and Fauzi Bowo as the new governor and deputy governor of Jakarta, due to allegations of money politics.
Jakarta – About 60 per cent of Indonesia's four million civil servants are unqualified for their jobs, according to the State Administrative Reforms Minister.
Mr Feisal Tamin said on Wednesday that studies by his office and other parties showed that only 40 per cent of Indonesia's civil servant force were qualified, the state Antara news agency reported.
Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Life is hard for thousands of farmers in the northern coastal areas of Tangerang regency. After being hit by huge floods early this year, now they are being attacked by drought which is destroying their rice fields.
Matthew Moore, Jakarta – For a fleeting moment on Monday it looked as if Indonesians might be getting closer to the truth about the Bush Administration's contentious claim that their country had been infiltrated by al-Qaeda.
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Debt collectors, not a terror group, were behind Monday's deadly grenade explosion near a building owned by the United States embassy, police said.
East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao on 27 September marked his country's admission as the UN's 191st member with a defence of the right to independence of both the Palestinians and the people of the Western Sahara.
Ray Brindal, Canberra – East Timor doesn't recognize a claim by PetroTimor Comphanhia de Petroleos SARL over energy-rich concessions in the Timor Sea, according to a senior East Timor government official.
After decades of authoritarian rule, Indonesia closed its notorious Department of Information three years ago and declared censorship was dead. But journalists, academics and commentators were right to remain cautious.
New York – On the eve of East Timor's joining the United Nations, the president of the former Indonesian-held territory said he would not advise other regions to use armed struggles as their route to independence.
A former Australian University lecturer who is being held by police in the Indonesian province of Aceh is reportedly sick and in need of medical attention.
The head of political and international studies at Deakin University in Melbourne, Damien Kingsbury, says he contacted Lesley McCulloch last night and is concerned for her well-being.
Dili – East Timor becomes the 191st member of the United Nations on Friday, an historic day for the world's newest nation after a bloody transition from Indonesian rule, but East Timorese complain it will pass virtually unnoticed in their own land.
Irwin Arieff, United Nations – The tiny Southeast Asian nation of East Timor, the first country to be born in the 21st century, won a seat at the United Nations on Friday, swelling the world body's membership to 191.
Jakarta – Outspoken activist Azas Tigor Nainggolan was arrested by city police on Thursday for slandering Governor Sutiyoso by alleging that he had bribed city councillors.
Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress, Jakarta – Police are investigating an allegation that Indonesian army special forces carried out the ambush in Papua province last month that killed two Americans and one Indonesian.
Catharine Munro, Jakarta – In a sign Papuan independence still strains relations between Indonesia and Australia, Canberra this week had to repeatedly deny suggestions it supported secession for the province.
Pontianak – Indonesia's environment minister said on a visit to the smoke-choked island of Borneo on Friday corruption was blocking the international help needed to tackle forest fires.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Two home-made bombs exploded near the airport hours before President Megawati Sukarnoputri's lightning visit to Aceh yesterday, adding urgency to her pledge to restore security to the province.
Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesia's military chief said on Thursday that foreign terrorists were in the world's most populous Muslim nation, saying they had operated in two eastern regions hit by Muslim-Christian violence.
[This article was distributed on September 25 on an online discussion list of academics focusing on Indonesia and appears here via the Joyo Indonesia News Service.]
Bill Guerin – Thousands of Javanese sugarcane farmers staged a massive rally in Jakarta on Tuesday demanding protection from the glut of cheap imported sugar that has threatened their very existence.
Don Greenlees, Jakarta – A human rights group claimed yesterday to have evidence that members of the Indonesian army's special forces, Kopassus, were implicated in the killing of two Americans and one Indonesian working for the Freeport copper and gold mine in Papua.
Agencies, Jakarta – Army soldiers from Indonesia's Kopassus special forces were involved in a deadly ambush on employees of the Freeport mine in Papua, a human rights investigator alleged on Wednesday.
Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Four Indonesian soldiers were at the site of an ambush last month in which three school teachers attached to the United States-owned Freeport mine in Papua were killed, the author of a new report into the shootings said yesterday.
Dili – East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta has said that despite his country's 24-year struggle for freedom from Indonesian rule, it would not support independence movements in Aceh, Papua and other restive parts of Indonesia.
[Indonesia is moving to settle its maritime border issues with East Timor and is keen to see Australia do the same, according to a senior government advisor. East Timor is keen to renegotiate its maritime boundaries with Australia to maximise its share of the rich Timor Sea oil and gas resources, a move Australia is resisting.
Sophie Douez, Canberra – The Federal Government yesterday denied refugee claims to 168 East Timorese who fled the then-Indonesian territory seeking asylum in Australia almost a decade ago.
Robson Seth – "Kill the police" were the only words part-time soldier, Lieutenant Colonel Greg Hart, could understand, as he faced an angry mob of East Timorese dissidents.
Jane Counsel – A former top executive with US oil and gas group Unocal is set to reopen the debate about the Sunrise gasfield in the Timor Sea by arguing its gas should be piped to East Timor, not Darwin.
New York – East Timor's fragile peace will only hold if the international community continues to provide assistance and not abandon the country, said the fledgling nation's foreign minister.
East Timor, which gained independence from Indonesia through a United Nations-backed referendum in 1999, is desperately poor and heavily dependent on foreign aid.
Jakarta – Legislators have once again raised some issues regarding President Megawati Soekarnoputri's overseas trips.
Schools have been ordered to close in the capital of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province because of persistent choking haze caused by fires, an official said.
Four people were wounded when a bomb exploded near police headquarters in the troubled town of Poso in Central Sulawesi province in Indonesia.
The bomb exploded inside a public minibus outside the Poso main market. The minibus was just 10 metres from the town's district police headquarters. Another public minibus was also damaged.
Surakata – About 1,500 militant Muslims from various regions in Java and Sumatra attended a mass anti-US rally in Surakata on Wednesday and declared they were ready to wage a jihad against Washington.
[A group of Indonesian politicians has called for President Megawati Sukarnoputri to address the parliament on US intelligence reports that Islamic extremists have twice unsuccessfully tried to assassinate her.
About 60 per cent of Indonesia's four million civil servants are reportedly unqualified for their jobs.
The state administrative reforms minister Feisal Tamin says studies by his office and other parties show that only 40 per cent of Indonesia's civil servant force are qualified.
Jakarta – The National Mandate Party (PAN) urged the police on Tuesday to question a gubernatorial candidate who reportedly gave 10 cheques worth Rp 450 million each to 10 of the party's coucillors to vote for him as governor during the recent election.
Ray Brindal Canberra – East Timor has been poorly dealt with by Australia and companies wanting to develop vast natural gas resources in the Timor Sea, John Imle, a former president and former vice president of US- based energy company Unocal Corp., said this week.
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Thousands of workers from various labor unions continued their rowdy rallies on Tuesday to voice their opposition to the two controversial labor bills, a move labor experts claim will backfire on the workers themselves.
The rallies turned ugly when the police called up water cannon as the workers began shaking the House's entrance gate.
Jakarta – The Federation of State Enterprises' Labor Unions (FSP-BUMN) threatened on Tuesday to file a class action against State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi should he proceed with the ongoing privatization of state enterprises.
Jakarta – Thousands of demonstrators from a number of groups demonstrated in front of the parliament in Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon. The workers were rejecting the Draft Law on the Resolution of Industrial Disputes and the Draft Law on Establishment of Labour Efficiency.
Cimahi – Around 2,000 workers demonstrated at the Leuwigajah market in Cimahi, West Java on Tuesday. Thirty two demonstrators were arrested by police because they were said to have demonstrated without asking for permission from security forces.
The leading human rights group in Indonesian Papua, Elsham, has released a report on its investigation into last month's killing of one Indonesian and two American schoolteachers, at the American owned gold and copper mine Freeport. Suspicion for the attack fell initially on the Free Papua Movement's armed wing, the OPM.
Dean Yates, Solo – Abu Bakar Bashir ambles around the grounds of an Islamic school in Indonesia's central Java in white robes and a skull cap, chatting with students and looking every bit the avuncular teacher he claims to be.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Residents in several parts of Java and the Indonesian capital are suffering from a water shortage – the result of a drought caused by the extremely dry El Nino season in the country.
Robert Go, Jakarta – The United States envoy told moderate Muslim leaders in Jakarta yesterday that the Al-Qaeda network is present here and urged all Indonesians to tackle the problem.
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – After nine months without a permanent director, the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) elected on Tuesday Munarman its top executive.
Munarman, who formerly headed the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), pledged to consolidate the foundation members as his first move.
James Balowski – Three weeks after the fatal shooting of two Americans and an Indonesian from the Freeport gold and copper mine in Indonesia's eastern-most province of West Papua, the identity of the perpetrators is still unclear.
Matthew Moore, Jakarta – A fortnight after the former University of Tasmania lecturer Lesley McCulloch and a friend were picked up by police in Indonesia's Aceh province, two things look increasingly likely: Ms McCulloch will be sentenced to jail and travel for Westerners to Aceh will become more restricted.
Jakarta – After conflicting statements made about a deadly grenade explosion near a house belonging to the US Embassy on Monday, the police have linked the fatal incident to a loan dispute, quelling allegations that the case may have been an act of terrorism.