Jakarta – The Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) called on the government Friday to delay the execution of three Catholics in Palu, Central Sulawesi, convicted of mass murder in a sectarian c

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – The government is wooing back Indonesian students who lost their citizenship while studying abroad more than 40 years ago, during the failed coup blamed

Jakarta – Indonesian Forestry Minister Malem Sambet Kaban has urged local administrative heads to play a more active role in preventing land clearing by fire, blamed for the thick smoki

Kediri, East Java – Senior ulemas opposed to the leadership of former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid in the divided National Awakening Party (PKB) are vowing to start a new polit

Adianto P.

Jakarta – The workers union of city-owned water operator PDAM Jaya has urged the Jakarta administration to review the sales of shares in its foreign partners, saying it was concerned th

Jakarta – After 44 four years of operation, state-owned television company TVRI has become a public television network, funded by the government but intended to be editorially independe

United Nations – The UN Security Council voted unanimously Friday to authorize 1,600 international police and 34 military liaison officers for a follow-on mission in East Timor – but no

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Four people were injured Thursday when protests against a plan to name the winner of the West Sulawesi gubernatorial election turned ugly.

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Jakarta/Jambi – Haze from fires raging on the jungle-clad islands of Sumatra and Borneo thickened Thursday as officials met to prepare a plan for battling the blazes.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The majority of Indonesian Muslims still believe a secular state is more suitable for the country than an Islamic or Western-style liberal system, a survey found

John McBeth – For three years now, the small white house across the street from the football field in the heart of the frontier town of Atambua has been used as a mess by Indonesia's pa

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Depok – NGO activists are treating reconstruction projects as "battlefields" to compete for donor funding and misuse it for their own benefit, leaving locals to fe

Ahmad Pathoni, Jakarta – Caswali has sold live chickens in a crowded traditional market in the Indonesian capital for over 10 years, but he has never been given any information on how t

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The central government believes excesses in the implementation of regional autonomy are scaring away foreign investment.

Warief Djajanto Basorie, Jakarta – The prime indicator of whether Indonesia is making strides toward greater freedom of information is the process at the House of Representatives surrou

Jayapura – Police in Papua have issued an arrest warrant for Jefri Pagawak, a local activist wanted for allegedly masterminding violent demonstrations throughout the province.

"Dear Lapindo, I hope to go home soon I'm tired of living in the barracks. Will you be cleaning up the mud right away?"

The mudflow disaster in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java, has implicated many parties, not only Lapindo and the Bakrie family, but also the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ul

There is plenty of mud to go around in Sidoarjo, but the one party that looks set to come out of this disaster looking the dirtiest is the powerful Bakrie family.

Lapindo Brantas Inc., a unit under the Bakrie family, has responded to the unprecedented ecological disaster originating from its gas well by going on a public relations charm offensive

Sidoarjo in East Java is the base for the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

"The dam's breaking... it's collapsing...," a resident of Siring, Porong, Sidoarjo, shouted as he noticed hot mud flowing toward his house last week.

While no one knows when the hot mud in Sidoarjo regency will stop gushing from the bowels of the earth, efforts have to be made to handle the increasing volume of the sludge so that it

Jakarta – The United Nations has lodged a complaint after Muslim morality police in Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province broke into a UN diplomatic compound and peered through wind

Mark Dodd – East Timor will double its spending on police and defence this financial year, under a national budget worth $US451.9 million ($601 million).

Palu – Lawyers for three Indonesian Christians on death row say the Supreme Court had exceeded its authority by refusing to process their second demand for presidential clemency.

Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Thousands of people displaced by the mudflow disaster in East Java held protests in two affected areas Tuesday to demand compensation commens

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The level of human rights violations in Papua has increased in recent years, according to one observer, who asked the international community to do more f

Nelson da Cruz, Dili – At this makeshift camp, thousands of East Timor's displaced people fear for their safety as youths intermittently hurl rocks at their temporary homes and rumours

Dili – East Timor expressed regret Wednesday over two Australian policemen injured in a mob attack by youths overnight, the latest unrest to hit the tiny nation.

Jakarta – The government is standing firm against allegations it attempted to whitewash the reality of poverty and unemployment in the country in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's st

Ambon, Maluku – Angry residents attacked a police post in Nusaniwe, Ambon, with stones Saturday upon learning a man was killed in a fight with police.

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Fadli, Tanjung Pinang – Illegal immigrant worker Ahmad Affandi recently landed back at Tanjung Pinang's Sri Bintan Pura Port with nothing more than the shirt on his back.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Corruption watchdogs say there is no point in increasing the national education budget to the constitutionally required 20 percent of total spending unti

Dili – Intra-mural opponents of former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's continued leadership of East Timor's dominant FRETILIN party said Monday they hope to convene an extraordinary cong

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia has urged Indonesia to tackle the forest fires it blames for the choking haze that has engulfed the region.

Youths burnt several houses to the ground in the East Timorese capital yesterday in the latest outbreak of unrest to hit the strife-torn country, eyewitnesses and international peacekee

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Foreign investment still appears to be in the doldrums, with the second half of the year starting off to a 24 percent decline in direct foreign investment compar

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's claim that his administration has made substantial inroads against unemployment is misleading and fails to recognize t

Soeryo Winoto, Jakarta – Many had doubted Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto's capabilities of overseeing all the armed forces, especially the Army, before he was appointed as Indonesian M

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Activists say women are still not treated as equals in many regions, since governments allocate comparatively small amounts of money to empower them and

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono conferred honorary state medals Friday to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari and three other foreigners for their role

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Activists demanded Friday that authorities revoke the license of PT Lapindo Brantas Inc., arrest its shareholders, and confiscate their assets, in connection with

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Former Acehnese rebels are calling for rights abusers from the province's civil war to be put on trial.

Jerry Norton, Dili – An agreement critical to advancing development of the Timor Sea's biggest gas resource could go to East Timor's parliament in September or October, and would likely

Endy M.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Palangkaraya – While millions of people celebrated the country's 61st Independence Day on Thursday, firefighters were busy battling flames in Central Kalimantan.