A former Australian University lecturer who is being held by police in the Indonesian province of Aceh is reportedly sick and in need of medical attention.

Pontianak – Indonesia's environment minister said on a visit to the smoke-choked island of Borneo on Friday corruption was blocking the international help needed to tackle forest fires.

Jakarta – Outspoken activist Azas Tigor Nainggolan was arrested by city police on Thursday for slandering Governor Sutiyoso by alleging that he had bribed city councillors.

After decades of authoritarian rule, Indonesia closed its notorious Department of Information three years ago and declared censorship was dead.

New York – On the eve of East Timor's joining the United Nations, the president of the former Indonesian-held territory said he would not advise other regions to use armed struggles as

Ray Brindal, Canberra – East Timor doesn't recognize a claim by PetroTimor Comphanhia de Petroleos SARL over energy-rich concessions in the Timor Sea, according to a senior East Timor g

East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao on 27 September marked his country's admission as the UN's 191st member with a defence of the right to independence of both the Palestinians and th

Irwin Arieff, United Nations – The tiny Southeast Asian nation of East Timor, the first country to be born in the 21st century, won a seat at the United Nations on Friday, swelling the

Dili – East Timor becomes the 191st member of the United Nations on Friday, an historic day for the world's newest nation after a bloody transition from Indonesian rule, but East Timore

Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress, Jakarta – Police are investigating an allegation that Indonesian army special forces carried out the ambush in Papua province last month that killed tw

Catharine Munro, Jakarta – In a sign Papuan independence still strains relations between Indonesia and Australia, Canberra this week had to repeatedly deny suggestions it supported sece

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Debt collectors, not a terror group, were behind Monday's deadly grenade explosion near a building owned by the United States embassy, police said.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Four Indonesian soldiers were at the site of an ambush last month in which three school teachers attached to the United States-owned Freeport mine in Papua were

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesia's military chief said on Thursday that foreign terrorists were in the world's most populous Muslim nation, saying they had operated in two eastern region

Agencies, Jakarta – Army soldiers from Indonesia's Kopassus special forces were involved in a deadly ambush on employees of the Freeport mine in Papua, a human rights investigator alleg

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – A human rights group claimed yesterday to have evidence that members of the Indonesian army's special forces, Kopassus, were implicated in the killing of two Am

Jakarta – Legislators have once again raised some issues regarding President Megawati Soekarnoputri's overseas trips.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Two home-made bombs exploded near the airport hours before President Megawati Sukarnoputri's lightning visit to Aceh yesterday, adding urgency to her pledge

[This article was distributed on September 25 on an online discussion list of academics focusing on Indonesia and appears here via the Joyo Indonesia News Service.]

Bill Guerin – Thousands of Javanese sugarcane farmers staged a massive rally in Jakarta on Tuesday demanding protection from the glut of cheap imported sugar that has threatened their v

Sophie Douez, Canberra – The Federal Government yesterday denied refugee claims to 168 East Timorese who fled the then-Indonesian territory seeking asylum in Australia almost a decade a

Robson Seth – "Kill the police" were the only words part-time soldier, Lieutenant Colonel Greg Hart, could understand, as he faced an angry mob of East Timorese dissidents.

Jane Counsel – A former top executive with US oil and gas group Unocal is set to reopen the debate about the Sunrise gasfield in the Timor Sea by arguing its gas should be piped to East

Schools have been ordered to close in the capital of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province because of persistent choking haze caused by fires, an official said.

New York – East Timor's fragile peace will only hold if the international community continues to provide assistance and not abandon the country, said the fledgling nation's foreign mini

Dili – East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta has said that despite his country's 24-year struggle for freedom from Indonesian rule, it would not support independence movements

Surakata – About 1,500 militant Muslims from various regions in Java and Sumatra attended a mass anti-US rally in Surakata on Wednesday and declared they were ready to wage a jihad agai

Four people were wounded when a bomb exploded near police headquarters in the troubled town of Poso in Central Sulawesi province in Indonesia.

[Indonesia is moving to settle its maritime border issues with East Timor and is keen to see Australia do the same, according to a senior government advisor.

James Balowski – Three weeks after the fatal shooting of two Americans and an Indonesian from the Freeport gold and copper mine in Indonesia's eastern-most province of West Papua, the i

Ray Brindal Canberra – East Timor has been poorly dealt with by Australia and companies wanting to develop vast natural gas resources in the Timor Sea, John Imle, a former president and

Jakarta – Thousands of farmers across the country marked National Farmers' Day on Tuesday with protests demanding comprehensive land reform and protection from the relentless onslaught

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – A fortnight after the former University of Tasmania lecturer Lesley McCulloch and a friend were picked up by police in Indonesia's Aceh province, two things loo

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Jakarta – The Federation of State Enterprises' Labor Unions (FSP-BUMN) threatened on Tuesday to file a class action against State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi should

Jakarta – Thousands of demonstrators from a number of groups demonstrated in front of the parliament in Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon.

Cimahi – Around 2,000 workers demonstrated at the Leuwigajah market in Cimahi, West Java on Tuesday.

The leading human rights group in Indonesian Papua, Elsham, has released a report on its investigation into last month's killing of one Indonesian and two American schoolteachers, at th

Jakarta – After conflicting statements made about a deadly grenade explosion near a house belonging to the US Embassy on Monday, the police have linked the fatal incident to a loan disp

Robert Go, Jakarta – The anti-US backlash in Indonesia is approaching a feverish pitch.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The United States envoy told moderate Muslim leaders in Jakarta yesterday that the Al-Qaeda network is present here and urged all Indonesians to tackle the problem.

[A group of Indonesian politicians has called for President Megawati Sukarnoputri to address the parliament on US intelligence reports that Islamic extremists have twice unsuccessful

Tim Dodd – Indonesia's Foreign Ministry has a message for Australia that it evidently wants to be heard loud and clear, rather than in the confines of normally discreet diplomatic commu

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – After nine months without a permanent director, the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) elected on Tuesday Munarman its top executive.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Residents in several parts of Java and the Indonesian capital are suffering from a water shortage – the result of a drought caused by the extremely dry El Ni

Dean Yates, Solo – Abu Bakar Bashir ambles around the grounds of an Islamic school in Indonesia's central Java in white robes and a skull cap, chatting with students and looking every b

Jakarta – The National Mandate Party (PAN) urged the police on Tuesday to question a gubernatorial candidate who reportedly gave 10 cheques worth Rp 450 million each to 10 of the party'

About 60 per cent of Indonesia's four million civil servants are reportedly unqualified for their jobs.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Traffic on the roads was as chaotic as any other day, offices and shops were open for business and people made their way about the city unperturbed.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – About 2,000 bus drivers, conductors and other employees of state-owned Djakarta Transportation company (PPD) went on strike on Monday morning, causing thous