Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Academics and unionists have criticized the President's instruction to five universities to study the government's new labor legislation, calling the idea a wast

Kerryn Williams – The Indonesian government withdrew its draft labour law revisions on April 8, pressured by a wave of workers' protests.

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Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Mentawai Islands – The indigenous people of Mentawai Islands in West Sumatra have demanded that the central and local governments recognize their rights as an ethn

Jakarta – State power utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has reported a 2005 loss that is more than double that of the previous year after higher fuel prices increased its elect

Denpasar – After losing a grueling and sometimes violent Star Reform Party (PBR) leadership battle here over the weekend, a morose faction leader Zaenal Ma'arif now plans to resign from

Jakarta – The Business Competition Supervisory Agency (KPPU), the nation's official antimonopoly watchdog, has urged the government to stop granting new monopolies so as to ensure equal

Jon Afrizal, Ujungjabung – Coastal erosion is continuing at a steady rate along the east coast of Sumatra, especially in East Tanjungjabung regency in Jambi, due to the destruction of m

Jakarta – The Indonesian Environment Forum (Walhi) plans to build a green political front as an alternative political force.

Dili – Four years ago as East Timor became the world's youngest nation, hundreds of cars driven by UN personnel criss-crossed the streets of Dili as the nation's strife-torn people face

Dili – A protest rally by hundreds of former East Timorese soldiers sacked after deserting last month turned ugly Wednesday when at least five houses and a market in Dili were vandalise

Nancy-Amelia Collins, Jakarta – Some East Timorese soldiers who were fired last month vow to continue their protests in the world's newest nation unless the government takes action over

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A march by dissident soldiers through the East Timorese capital yesterday turned ugly when demonstrators attacked market traders from the eastern Lospalos region.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – More Christian places of worship have been vandalized or forcibly closed by local Muslims because they have failed to meet the requirements of a controversial mini

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has named Maj. Gen. Erwin Sujono the new commander of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), replacing Lt. Gen.

East Tanjungjabung, Jambi – The high price of diesel fuel is making life hard for fishermen in Ujungjabung, Jambi.

The Islam Defenders Front (FPI), which recently attacked Playboy Indonesia's office to press the magazine to stop publishing, may fit the stereotype of Islam in the West: anarchistic, u

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The on-again, off-again legal saga of former president Soeharto may be back on track, although Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh kept mum Monday on "alternativ

Dita Indah Sari – The uproar over the planned revisions to the labour law has yet to subside.

Bogor – Dozens of youths, grouped under the nationalist youth group Pemuda Panca Marga, distributed hundreds of pamphlets Saturday to passersby and placed banners around Sempur soccer f

Banda Aceh – National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) member MM Billah believes that there is strong resistance from a certain circles against trying the perpetrators of human righ

Jakarta – The head of the Jakarta metropolitan police General Firman Gani and the Jakarta military commander Major General Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo have warned workers to be careful du

Mark Dodd and Stephen Fitzpatrick – The warning signs were obvious to anyone paying attention.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Up in arms over a government proposal to amend the national labor law, Indonesia's powerful unions have threatened to stage a nationwide general strike next Monda

Former dictator Suharto has made yet another public appearance in good health, prompting renewed calls that he be put on trial for corruption.

Jakarta – Painting an ominous picture of religious intolerance and national disintegration, a group of activists and intellectuals warned Saturday that Muslim hard-liners threatened to

Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – The government has asked the international Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) to extend its presence in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam to help ensure upcoming local

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Amsterdam – As the debate on the law on the Aceh administration enters a critical stage, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is preparing ground to establish a political p

Aguswandi, Banda Aceh – Aceh is currently still in a transition to peace.

Nearly 600 soldiers dismissed last month from East Timor's armed forces for striking over labour conditions have threatened to wage a guerrilla war if the government failed to resolve t

Dili – About 2,000 demonstrators, backing hundreds of soldiers dismissed from the East Timorese army, marched through Dili Monday, launching five-days of announced protests against alle

Lisabona Rahman, Jakarta – A group of elementary schoolchildren carefully take notes as a guide takes them around Lubang Buaya (Crocodile's lair), a monument for the seven army officers

Jakarta – Indonesia's vice president set an August target date for elections in Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province.

Jakarta – Dress smart if you want to convince the bank manager you deserve a loan. But for businesswomen, they should also bring their husbands along.

Jakarta – Hundreds of activists, artists and cultural communities – decked out in colorful garb – bedazzled passersby and spectators along the city's main thoroughfares Jl.

After living abroad for decades, the self-exiled leaders of Aceh's rebel movement have returned to Indonesia to support the province's peace process, but a prominent American journalist

Louise Dodson and Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Australia is ready to offer economic aid to help Indonesia smooth the introduction of Papuan autonomy, as the two countries try to restore relat

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – "You should send the Australian military into Papua. Why not? The sooner the better. It would be a humanitarian operation."

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The controversy over the payment of "incentives" to legislators during the deliberation of the Aceh governance bill is causing tension in the House of Repr

Hera Diani, Jakarta – The landmark year 1998, with the bloody May riots, the mass rape of Chinese-Indonesian women and the fall of the Soeharto regime after 32 years of authoritarian ru

Jakarta – Thousands of people from various cultural groups rallied Saturday against the implementation of Indonesia's much- debated obscenity law.

Mark Dodd – East Timor's Government is under pressure to eradicate torture and ill-treatment of detainees by its police force amid fears of a return to Indonesian-era human rights abuse

Indraswari, Bandung – According to Indonesia's Demographic and Health Survey, in 2002 the maternal mortality rate (MMR) was 307/100,000, meaning that for every 100,000 births, 307 mothe

Gary LaMoshi – The debut of Playboy Indonesia this month unfolded predictably. The magazine flew off the shelves despite its premium price of Rp39,000 (US$4.35).

Radzie, Banda Aceh – Hundreds of activists from the Acehnese Democratic Network (JDA), students and local people held a parade though the streets of Banda Aceh on Friday April 21.

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Rendi Akhmad Witular and Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The Indonesian economy remains exposed to possible slower economic growth this year as government spending, which plays a key role in fu

If there was one thing John Howard wanted as Prime Minister it was to differentiate himself from his Labor predecessor, Paul Keating.

Bogor – Cement producer PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa is allowing workers at its factory in Citeureup to take part in nationwide demonstrations planned for May 1.

Jakarta – The crop of bylaws on sex and morality, which have been enforced by several regencies and municipalities, are unconstitutional, gender-biased and threaten to splinter the coun