Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – In the beginning, Bali had a wet season and a dry season.

Jakarta – The military presence in Indonesia's troubled region of Papua is necessary to prevent a slide into tribal warfare, Jakarta's defence minister said on Monday amid allegations t

The military presence in Indonesia's troubled region of Papua was necessary to prevent a slide into tribal warfare, Jakarta's defence minister said, amid allegations the army has abused

Jakarta – New political parties continue to surface.

M.

Benito Lopulalan, Jimbaran – Survivors and relatives of the 20 people killed in suicide bombings on Indonesia's Bali one year ago held a sombre memorial Sunday amid stepped-up security

Dili – Unidentified men set the Dili headquarters of East Timor's main political party Fretilin on fire today, but there were no casualties, a member of the fire brigade said.

Bandar Lampung – The Bandar Lampung City Preparatory Committee for the National Liberation Party of Unity (KP-Papernas) plans to start socialising the new party this afternoon at the La

Kadek Krishna Adidharma, Ubud – Despite the lateness of the hour for the sleepy artisan town of Ubud, a star-studded cast began to gather at 8:30 p.m.

At the end of November, a new broad, left party will hold its founding congress in Indonesia.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – On Aug.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Blitar – At 78, former legislator Putmainah's eyes light up when she recounts her past activities in the women's division of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A group of legislators and human rights activists lodged a protest Friday against last week's executions of three Christian men in Central Sulawesi, saying

Jakarta – Indonesia is angry at Washington's refusal to give it access to a suspected al-Qaeda member and Indonesian citizen held in Guantanamo Bay.

In communist and authoritarian countries it has been common for rulers to order historians to write official history textbooks is such a way as to dignify those in power and help ensure

ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Shrimp pond owners are resigned to losing their livelihood from the government's plan to directly dump hot mudflow into a local river from the gas exploration wel

Jakarta – A new showdown is brewing between the House of Representatives and the Attorney General's Office, this time over the decision to charge a human rights campaigner with graft.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Activists urged lawmakers Thursday to revise the demography bill or change it into a civil registry law, as they believe the bill still maintains religious discrim

Morgan Mellish, Jayapura – A group of 40 international donor organisations, including the Australian government and the World Bank, flew to the troubled Indonesian province of Papua thi

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Former rebels may lose upcoming direct elections in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam because they have split into two rival groups, analysts say.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Former chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto denied Thursday that he berated then president B.J.

Lindsay Murdoch – The man appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to head a new mission in East Timor has decided not to take the job, in a setback for plans to h

Jakarta – The challenge of staging polls in Indonesia's Aceh this year should not derail a peace pact signed in 2005 between separatists and the government, an analyst said Thursday.

Riky Ferdianto, Jakarta – Yesterday (27/9) the South Jakarta District Court rejected an appeal against the Order to Stop Prosecution (SP3) in the case involving former president Suharto

Jakarta – Dozens of former employees of Hotel Indonesia, otherwise known as Inna Wisata, staged a protest in front of the hotel management's office on Jl.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – A member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), Achmad Ali, claims the South Sulawesi Prosecutor's Office has wrongly named him as a suspect in

Dili – International police in East Timor fired tear gas to disperse groups of youths fighting on the streets of the capital today and later arrested some at a refugee camp, witnesses s

Neles Tebay, Rome – The International Crisis Group (ICG) published early this month its report on Papua titled Papua: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

Chris Brummitt, Porong – Factories that once produced watches and shoes lie under a sea of thick, stinking mud.

Jakarta – Peace in Indonesia's once-restive Aceh province should hold even if former separatist rebels running in December's local elections fail to win any posts, analysts said on Thur

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Environmental activists poured some 700 kilograms of toxic mud outside the office of welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie on Wednesday to protest the government's ha

Jakarta/Sidoarjo – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday declared areas swamped by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, a disaster zone and ordered some 3,000 affected families

Natalie O'Brien – Indonesia is not surprised at revelations the 43 Papuan refugees who caused a diplomatic incident when they arrived in Australia by boat in January had been hand-picke

Sutarto, Jakarta – Sidney Jones, President Director of the International Crisis Group for Southeast Asia, estimates that regional leaders' election in Aceh will be safe.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – An Acehnese woman is fighting to contest this year's direct gubernatorial election, saying the local poll body unfairly declared her unable to read the Kor

Jakarta – Election officials in Indonesia's strife-torn Aceh province have ordered that potential candidates for upcoming provincial polls must be able to recite from the Koran, Islam's

Jakarta – Major labor organizations are protesting what they call rampant violations of the law on social security programs by employers, as well as alleged dismissals of unionists for

This week The Australian published an opinion piece by Mark Aarons attacking journalist John Martinkus, and New Matilda, for articles we have published on the recent violence in East Ti

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla is under fire for his statement that democracy is less important than political stability and security in attracting foreign inv

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The government and the House of Representatives once again engaged in heated debate Tuesday over whether to deliberate a bill on state secrecy.

Yemris Fointuna, Maumere – The National Police denied Tuesday accusations that one of three Catholic convicts, Dominggus da Silva, was tortured before being executed last week.

Paul Alexander, United Nations – East Timor needs fair elections, reconciliation and a big injection of international aid to overcome the recent violence that battered the fledgling nat

Max Lane – Several prominent Indonesian historians have come under criminal investigation for writing an official history textbook in 2004 in which they no longer insisted that the Comm

East Timor's police force has begun returning to work in the capital Dili. It is the first time this has happened since the city descended into violence earlier this year.

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – The East Java Police have issued a shoot-on-sight order against anybody trying to disrupt activities of the National Mudflow Mitigation Team at the disaster

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Residents of Saritem, the oldest red-light district in Bandung, West Java, were enraged Tuesday when public order officers began closing brothels as part of

Indonesia is investigating a possible cluster of bird flu cases after a man died and his brother and sister were hospitalised, one of them testing positive for bird flu, a doctor said y

Adianto P.

Khairul Saleh, Palembang – An ammonia gas leak Saturday at state fertilizer company PT Pusri in Palembang, South Sumatra, made residents living near the factory sick, an environmental g

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Muslims in Medan are blaming state power company PLN for recurring power cuts, which they say are disrupting special activities during the fasting month of Rama