Criminals in East Timor will be offered the chance of clemency for crimes committed in the past year under a new bill passed by the fledgling nation's parliament this week.

Christine Kearney – Ugly. Rapacious. Bruising and governed by the narrowest definitions of national interest.

Banda Aceh – Angry residents in Indonesia's Aceh have disabled a tsunami warning system after a false alarm spread panic in a province still traumatized by the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has criticized the planned construction of waste incinerators in the capital.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Legislators from several political parties are busy collecting political support to back a motion urging the House of Representatives to make an official s

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Indonesian Navy chief Admiral Slamet Soebijanto brushed off allegations of gross human rights abuse in last week's deadly clash between Marines and residents in

Jakarta – Ongen Latuihamalo, one of the key witnesses in the murder case of Munir Said Thalib, has confirmed that he saw Munir on his September 2004 flight to the Netherlands but denied

Nograhany Widhi K., Jakarta – Around 300 people from the Urban Poor Union (SRMK) demonstrated in front of the Constitutional Court on June 6 demanding that the court review Law Number 3

Jakarta – Aware that the Indonesian language is spoken by most people in Timor Leste, the country's government has decided to make the Indonesian language, or Bahasa Indonesia, its work

Shirley Shackleton – The sudden departure on May 29 of visiting Jakarta governor, General Sutiyoso, after being asked to give evidence at the inquest into the death of Brian Peters in E

Jakarta – The Constitutional Court is examining the 2000 Human Rights Court Law, as requested by a former unit commander of the Army's Special Forces (Kopasus) convicted of involvement

Jakarta – The National Land Agency is avoiding taking any action on the Pasuruan land dispute case until the President meets with governors from across the country.

Inadra Subagja, Jakarta – A key witness in the Munir murder case, Raymond Latuihamalo alias Ongen, has spoken for the first time about Munir's activities while he was in transit in Sing

Mark Forbes Herald, Jakarta – Human rights abuses by the military and its continuing role in Indonesia are under renewed scrutiny after marines shot dead four villagers in East Java.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Rogue prosecutors in North Sumatra have ways to help certain people arrested on corruption and drugs charges escape prosecution.

Jakarta – After three years of delays, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) announced Tuesday it will form two special teams to investigate corruption cases involving Bank Indonesia Liqu

Andi Haswidi, Jakarta – The latest trade figures show that Indonesia's monthly exports declined 3.7 percent in April to US$8.85 billion from $9.19 billion a month earlier.

Raden Rachmadi, Kukuh S Wibowo, Jakarta – Imparsial, the human rights monitoring organization, viewed that the case of shooting at civilians in Alas Tlogo Village, Pasuruan, is a violat

Apriadi Gunawan and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Medan/Bandung – In separate protests Monday, farmers in North Sumatra and West Java demanded the government intervene to resolve prolonged, sometim

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Two supporters of East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta have been shot dead by off-duty police as trouble mounts ahead of parliamentary elections.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Pasuruan – A meeting between disgruntled villagers and commander of the Navy's Eastern Fleet Rear Adm.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – A World Bank-sponsored report launched Monday said Indonesia was lagging behind other countries and not making the most of the several options that would help th

Banda Aceh – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has begun to initiate steps to form a local political party.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government was grateful and delighted with the use of Bahasa Indonesia as one of the official languages in neighboring Timor-Leste, President Susilo Bambang Yud

A Darwin-based East Timor activist says there is more than enough evidence for the Northern Territory coroner to hold an inquest into the death of an Australian man 32 years ago.

Jakarta – Rights activists have asked the President to issue a decree nationalizing all commercial military interests, claiming military involvement in business is the root of rights vi

Jakarta – Indonesia and its former colony East Timor agreed Tuesday to extend by six months the work of a joint truth commission tasked at gathering the facts surrounding Indonesia's mi

East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta has praised a much-criticised commission probing the violence that accompanied his nation's break from Indonesian rule in 1999, saying it could be

Sandy Indra Pratama/Wahyu Dhyatmika, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is currently still searching for authentic documents in relation to Suharto's foundations, to be used

M.

Indonesia is among the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters because of deforestation, peatland degradation and forest fires, a new World Bank and British government climate change

Jakarta – Muslim hardliners stormed a church in Indonesia during services, smashing images of Jesus Christ and demanding that it be closed down, the pastor said on Monday.

Ahmad Fikri, Bandung – Activists, students and farmers have protested at the headquarters of the Bandung Navy Detachment in West Java to condemn the shooting by marines of farmers in th

Triono Wahyu Sudibyo, Salatiga – Around 250 students and farmers from the Central Java city of Salatiga were disappointed after being 'removed' before having a chance to express long li

Jakarta – Two years have passed since the Ministry of Home Affairs submitted a bill to revise the law on mass organizations, but the House of Representatives had still not deliberated o

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – A recent survey found most Jakartans would like to see the emergence of an independent candidate in August's gubernatorial election.

East Timor's new president Jose Ramos Horta says the nation's police force continues to suffer from a lack of discipline, after officers allegedly shot dead two activists during rallies

Dili – A mob hurled rocks at the motorcade of East Timorese independence hero Xanana Gusmao and one of his supporters was shot dead Sunday amid growing violence ahead of parliamentary e

Gunmen shot dead a political activist during a campaign rally for a new party headed by former East Timor President Xanana Gusmao, a witness and an official says.

Mita Valina Liem, Jakarta – It's one of the few countries that still has vast swathes of tropical rainforests left. But conservationists say maybe not for long.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Human rights groups have called for the trial over the recent deadly military shooting in Pasuruan, East Java, to be held in a civilian court.

Lindsay Murdoch – East Timor's ruling Fretilin party says it will support the prosecution of people responsible for atrocities committed in the country, including former Indonesian mili

Singapore – US Defence Secretary Robert Gates met here Sunday with his Indonesian counterpart to discuss ways of deepening military relations between the two countries with an emphasis

Hamish McDonald – Families of the five newsmen killed at Balibo, East Timor, in 1975 have told a Sydney inquest they were tricked by Australian officials into agreeing to the burial of

Janet Fife-Yeomans, Sydney – The families of five young Australian journalists "executed" by Indonesian forces at Balibo in East Timor called yesterday for the killers to be prosecuted

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Corruption remains widespread among lawyers, judges and police in Indonesia despite the government's attempts to crack down on the country's long-suffered graft

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Pasuruan – Unfinished grated cassava sits outside a small mosque in a green aluminum bowl. A military police line blocks off entrance to the area.

Tom Allard – East Timor's former prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, and his officials were convinced the Australian Government was spying on them during the often heated negotiations for a

Reporter: Mark Colvin

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Just when it seemed Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was making significant progress in tackling the country's endemic culture of corruption, he and