Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Hundreds of workers in Medan are camping out in front of the North Sumatra provincial council building to protest alleged abuses at the furniture company they w

Jakarta – More than 25 percent of the natural forests in Papua have been sold in concessions to timber firms exporting to Japan, the US, the European Union and China, said the director

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The business community and labor unions agreed Tuesday to support the government's plan to insure dismissed workers through state-owned insurance firm PT J

Jakarta – It could have been fueled by an overreaction to fears of authoritarianism making a return, or fanned by eager-to-please businesspeople posturing before political leaders.

Max Lane – On April 5, the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) issued a resolution calling for the closure of the huge Freeport mine, a demand that had been raised by student protesters at a

Sarah Stephen – Soon after the federal government's decision to grant 42 West Papuan asylum seekers temporary protection visas, an April 2 national day of action in solidarity with West

Banda Aceh – Her face heavily made-up, 'Bella Saphira' struts a darkened length of cement path along the Krueng Aceh river in Indonesia's Banda Aceh, wearing a loosely flowing dress but

Markus Makur, Timika – The National Commission on Human Rights urged Mimika regency administration and mining company PT Freeport Indonesia to pay more attention to tribal communities i

Tiarma Siboro and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta/Papua – Security authorities suspect "outside elements" may have been involved in Monday's deadly attack on a military post in Papua, with

John Martinkus – I was last in Papua early in 2003, reporting on the rise of Islamic militia groups aligned with the Indonesian Army on the PNG-Papua border, the intimidation and attack

Jakarta – About 300 hard-line Indonesian Muslims vandalized a building housing the office of Playboy magazine on Wednesday in a protest against its publication in the world's most popul

After triggering a wave of protests, the government's version of the draft revision of the labour law has been canceled.

B. Herry-Priyono, Jakarta – For a few months in 1981, I was a casual worker at a pharmaceutical factory in Central Java.

Rebecca Bream and Shawn Donnan – Freeport-McMoRan has faced a litany of criticism in recent months over the operation of its Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia's remote and conf

Jakarta – The Indonesian military is stirring up unrest and intimidating residents in the remote province of Papua, an independence campaigner charged.

Bruce Haigh – For as long as the Indonesian army administers West Papua, abuses will occur toward the indigenous Papuan population.

Hugh White – Australia's debate over Papua in the past fortnight has fallen into the ruts worn in our national consciousness by East Timor.

Jakarta – The business community warned Monday the government's decision to review proposed changes to the labor law at the urging of workers would jeopardize investment prospects amid

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A rift within the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), which used to be dubbed "locomotive of democracy" has peaked with its chief being fired last week.

Jakarta – Protesting government policy, around 200 students are planning a hunger strike in front of the State Palace – although they will not be doing anything dramatic like sewing the

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – Hundreds of people vandalized and set fire to the Labuapi Police station in West Lombok regency Sunday, injuring two officers.

Minutes after James Leong and Lynn Lee arrived in Jakarta to present their documentary on East Timor, Passabe, at a film festival, they were told it had been struck off the programme.

M. Wahid Supriyadi – The granting of temporary protection visas to 42 West Papuans has given new ammunition to anti-Indonesian activists.

Ellen Nakashima, Singapore – A Singapore timber trader boasted that the cargo he had sent to India was a hardwood known as merbau, prized for its use in elegant flooring and door and wi

Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – The government has officially postponed its plan to submit the controversial draft of the labor law amendment to the House of Representatives following w

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Welfare-based job security could be a win-win way of settling the current the industrial conflict between workers and employers and repairing the investmen

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Blontank Pour, Malang/Surakarta – Thousands of Muslims staged a rally in Malang, East Java, strongly opposing the publication of the Indonesian edition of Playb

Tom Hyland – Efforts are under way to start peace talks aimed at settling the growing dispute over control of the Indonesian province of Papua.

Tom Hyland – Papuan refugees given asylum in Australia claim they are victims of a secret war carried out by undercover Indonesian forces aimed at destroying the independence movement.

Tom Hyland – "There is sensitivity in Indonesia about her sovereignty over West Papua, a sovereignty which Australia has never disputed and a sovereignty which Australia fully respects

Jayapura – Papuans seeking for political asylum in Australia are a bunch of traitors, a Papua youth leader said Sunday.

Sydney – Australia Sunday has signalled a tougher line on refugees from Indonesia's troubled province of Papua as it faced what the foreign minister called a "crisis" in relations with

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Eighteen-month-old Citra stares vacantly up at the ceiling of her parents' small house in Dadap village in Serpong, Tangerang.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – In a village in West Kalimantan, a patient's relative threatened a nurse with a traditional sword because she was reluctant to treat him, a discussion heard on Fri

Tom Allard – In the sad, bloody history of Papua, there have been fleeting moments of optimism, the last of which, dubbed the Papuan Spring, occurred in 2000.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The many poverty reduction programs the government implemented in 2005 took only a million people out of absolute poverty, a survey reveals.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Pasuruan – A small shop damaged by a passing Navy tank has sparked anger among hundreds of residents of four villages of Grati district in Pasuruan, East Java.The

The Australian Government's latest responses to the problems of West Papua and asylum seekers contain an ugly echo of previous times when the underlying causes of human suffering were i

Hamish McDonald – Thirty years ago I met a Papuan man called Imser in a place called Valley X, high in the mountainous spine of the Indonesian half of New Guinea.

Tiro – Ibrahim looks out toward what was once his modest vegetable farm in Indonesia's Aceh province, before decades of separatist conflict reduced his fields to little more than mud.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government is sticking to its guns in the debate over whether the military court should be the only court to try soldiers.

Mike Carlton – Some background for you on the story of those 42 refugees from Papua who were given asylum in Australia last month, provoking that torrent of protest from Indonesia.

Louise Dodson, Mark Forbes in Jakarta and Craig Skehan – The Immigration Department may be forced to consider Australia's interest, not just humanitarian concerns, when deciding who is

Adianto P.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Indonesia's economy is expected to continue slowing down this year, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Thursday, with high inflation and interest rates still

Michelle Grattan, Canberra and Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – John Howard says most Australians do not want West Papuans seeking refuge here.

Canberra – Indonesia's respect for human rights in its Papua province has improved and Australia shouldn't encourage the region's independence, the Australian prime minister said, despi

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Papua's first directly elected governor has warned Indonesia must deliver "justice, equality and prosperity" or face the prospect of more violence and an exodus o

M.

Ridwan Max Sijabat – Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno gathered with top aides in a daylong meeting Thursday, amid increasing signs the government may bow to pressure t