Helsinki – The Indonesian government and Acehnese rebels have reached a groundbreaking agreement to end 30 years of fighting in Aceh province and a memorandum of understanding will be f

The United States Congress is to vote on a bill which could see the US Government ordered to monitor the human rights situation in the Indonesian province of West Papua.

Jakarta – Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who has already been declared a suspect in the murder of top rights campaigner Munir, was expected to tell the court who the main actor was in t

Rusman, Samarinda – Nearly forty years after his arrest, Ismary Musran, 74, remains confounded by how his family's once tranquil life in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, was forever altered

Endy M.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The government has promised to provide free basic education starting this year.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Though the government promised to provide free basic education for all school-age children across the country starting this year, most schools are still making n

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Living in the capital is not easy with its uncontrolled development, pollution, traffic snarls and, more recently, flooded streets.

Rusman, Samarinda (East Kalimantan) – Former soldier Oentoeng Soejanto, 65, never imagined that his love for acting would lead him to spend nearly half his life in a village designated

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Sunariah, Jakarta - The TNI (armed forces) is ready to withdraw its troops from Aceh if it is part of an agreement reached in Helsinki between the Indonesian government and the Free Ace

Dimas Adityo, Jakarta – Within three months after a peace deal is agreed to between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the separatist group's arms will be surre

Indonesia's government and Aceh rebels have reached a peace deal to end a 29-year insurgency in the tsunami-devastated province, a top Indonesian official said Sunday.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono rejected a key political demand by rebels in the restive province of Aceh, denting their claim that a peace deal to end the 30-year conflic

Ellen Nakashima, Jakarta – Indonesian government officials said they expect to avert calls for an international war crimes tribunal on Indonesian military atrocities in East Timor, prom

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has pledged over US$15 million to aid in the fight against illegal logging which is leaving the country's forests depleted, the forestry ministry sai

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Rights activists on Friday urged the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to speed up the investigation into the murder of the country's top rights

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – After attending to a client Agung (not his real name), an employee at the office of an abortion clinic in Dukuh Kupang, Surabaya, begins checking off names

After decades of little serious effort to fight gambling, the new National Police chief's bold announcement that he planned to completely eradicate gambling nationwide came as a quite a

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Nusa Kambangan – In theory, the "official residence" of convicted murderer Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the son of former president Soeharto, is in the Batu pe

Hera Diani, Jakarta – How much violence in this country is committed in the name of religion?

The United Nations said on Friday international aid was flowing smoothly to tsunami-hit areas of Aceh, denying reports of large numbers of containers languishing on Indonesian wharfs.

Peace talks between Indonesian officials and Aceh separatists have run into a "disastrous" hurdle in discussions of political participation, the rebels said, claiming Jakarta had "sabot

Helsinki – Aceh separatists on Friday called for the Establishment of an international tribunal to try Indonesian troops accused of Committing war crimes in the province.

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Jakarta – House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono defended on Wednesday plans to jack up state budget allocations next year for financing overseas travel for lawmakers, despite t

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The ongoing peace talks between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Finland may end in deadlock with Jakarta refusing the rebels' dema

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) information center head Major General Kohirin Suganda Saputra said that the TNI welcomed the statement made by high-rank officers of the Free Aceh Mo

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Raids on gambling dens have started in the capital, but the public at large complained Wednesday that police were only targeting small-time gamblers.

Jakarta – Twenty days after the Fact Finding Team (TPF) investigating the case of the death of human rights activist Munir handed over the conclusions and recommendations of their six m

Aleksius Jemadu, Bandung – Recently, thousands of farmers took to the streets in front of the presidential palace to protest against the enactment of Presidential Regulation No.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement's (GAM) wish to form local political parties in Aceh has been in vain.

Jakarta – A recent investigation conducted by the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) revealed that parents are still being burdened by various school fees for their children attending el

Separatists in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province have reiterated their demand for self-government to end a decades-long war, saying democratic local elections are a basic right.

James Balowski, Jakarta – Hundreds of Acehnese residing in the Indonesian capital Jakarta demonstrated on July 4 in support of the current peace negotiations being held in Helsinki, Fin

Damien Kingsbury, Melbourne – Representatives of the Government of Indonesia (GoI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) are again meeting in Helsinki for the fifth and probably last round o

Vaudine England, Hong Kong – The recent acquittal of 12 soldiers in a politically sensitive court case in Indonesia is seen to indicate the failure of the nation's human rights tribunal

Irwin Arieff – The Security Council is sitting on a UN expert panel's recommendation for an international tribunal to try Indonesian and local militia leaders blamed for a deadly 1999 r

Jakarta – Human rights groups on Wednesday called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to back a plan for international trials for Indonesian military officers accused of atrocities in Ea

Rendi A.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – The government will not grant amnesty to members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) who have been involved in criminal activities.

Mohamad Mova Al 'Afghani, Jakarta – The recent caning of people convicted for gambling offences in Aceh has sparked controversy about the extent of the implementation of sharia law ther

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Denpasar – A senior legislator revealed on Monday that 80 percent of the penitentiaries in the country, including those in Bali, were currently way over capacity.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – As lawmakers gear up to deliberate the long-awaited law on the protection of witnesses and victims of violence, experts have said that it must be comprehensively

Leaders should lead by example. And the thriftiness of a government plays an exemplary role in setting the pace of a nation's consumptive habits.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have agreed to a demand by the Indonesian government that the tsunami-hit province should remain a part of Indonesia, bu

AK-1, Jakarta – The meeting between representatives of Acehnese civil society and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Stockholm on July 9-19 has resulted in a number of recommendations on A

AK-38, Jakarta – The Aceh Working Group (AWG) says there have been systematic efforts to ensure that the peace negotiations with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) fail.

Anton Aliabbas, Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has denied that it supports the dialogue between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)

Contributor to The Jakarta Post Riedo Panaligan is a recipient of the 2005 Journalism Fellowship Program of the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance.