Advocate on behalf of East Timorese in Australia, Sr Susan Connelly, has said the Immigration Minister's change of heart on her decision to immediately deport 50 East Timorese asylum se

Andra Jackson – Fifty refugees from East Timor facing deportation are celebrating after being told at the last minute their claims for protection will be reconsidered.

Dili – Tens of thousands of government supporters gathered in East Timor's capital Friday to mark the 31st anniversary of the foundation of the ruling FRETILIN party in festivities that

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – A team hunting the killers of Indonesia's leading human rights activist says the country's main intelligence agency was in close contact with the chief suspect.

Jakarta – The Fact Finding Team (TPF) in the case of the death of rights activist Munir believes that the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) is being uncooperative in solving the case.

Jakarta – The government's plan to provide free education for elementary and secondary school students must be a long-term policy and not a short-term move to counter political pressure

Riyadi Suparno, Jakarta – After more than a week of assessment, the International Monetary Fund has praised Indonesia's overall economic performance and the policy directions pursued by

M.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – As the expiry date of the contract between the city administration and PT Jakarta Monorail draws near without agreement, transportation activists are calling f

Jakarta – State Minister of State Enterprises Sugiharto finally disclosed on Thursday 16 state enterprises allegedly riddled with corruption, following demands from lawmakers who wanted

Jakarta – Seven, for some, is a lucky number.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The government lifted on Wednesday the one-year civil emergency in tsunami-devastated Aceh through a presidential regulation, which also spells out th

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The fact-finding team tasked to assist the investigation into the death by poisoning of Munir Thalib Said revealed incriminating evidence of the invol

Taufik Basari, Jakarta – The atrocities that occurred in East Timor in 1999 have been recognized as gross violations of human rights that constitute international crimes.

"Don't go around digging up old skeletons," so an old Indonesian saying goes.

Rendi A.

Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court ruled on Wednesday that former members of the now-outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) could proceed with a class-action lawsuit agains

Jakarta – Indonesia's lifting of emergency rule in the tsunami-hit Aceh province was a "cruel joke" that came even as the armed forces were stepping up military operations, separatist r

Dan Eaton, Jakarta – Indonesia must show separatist rebels in tsunami-hit Aceh province that the central government is ready to compromise if it ever hopes to achieve a peace deal, a re

Dili – East Timor's political and military leaders unanimously criticized Thursday the UN Security Council's decision to ignore Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendation that the ne

The United Nations has marked the end of its peacekeeping operations on East Timor, celebrating a mission credited with bringing stability to the tiny country following its bloody break

Jakarta – More witnesses and suspects have blamed General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin for corruption at the national election organizer, making it more dif

David Nason, New York – The Security Council has extended the UN presence in East Timor by implementing the mandate of the United Nations Office in Timor-Leste, which will operate until

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is well on its way to failing in its lawmaking function, with zero laws passed and only a few bills drafted since its 550 members to

Dean Yates and Achmad Sukarsono – Indonesia gave mixed signals on Wednesday about a visit by UN experts who will inquire into carnage that swept East Timor in 1999, with one minister ca

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Two former military operations chiefs in Aceh received strategic posts in the latest military reshuffle, which affected several other high-ranking officers over

Jakarta – Observers cast doubt on Tuesday over the ability of the UN-sanctioned Commission of Experts (COE) to bring the perpetrators of the 1999 atrocities in East Timor to justice.

Agung Yudhawiranata, Jakarta – In an effort to stave off the creation of an ad hoc international rights tribunal to investigate the clearly orchestrated violence that accompanied the vo

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Ahead of talks that it is hoped will seal an enduring peace in tsunami-devastated Aceh at the end of this month, a group of civilians born in Aceh will meet wit

Three members of the UN-sanctioned Commission of Experts (COE) are scheduled to arrive in Jakarta on May 20 to meet with legal people involved in the human rights tribunal for Indonesia

Dean Yates and Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesia on Wednesday labelled as "irrelevant" a visit by UN experts who will inquire into bloodshed that swept East Timor in 1999 during an

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat – This goes beyond a simple case of an "oddball" preacher in Malang leading prayers in Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia.

Jakarta – Only a week before representatives of the Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) are to meet for peace talks in Helsinki, an Indonesian court on Wed

Bandar Lampung – Hundreds of journalists and activists rallied here on Monday to protest the use of Criminal Code to imprison two local tabloid editors for defamation recently.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – General Elections Commission (KPU) chief Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin was once again dealt a body blow on Monday that should make it harder for him to prove his innoce

Ambon, Jakarta – Seven people, including five police officers, died during a predawn attack by unidentified gunmen in troubled Maluku province on Monday.

Jakarta – The draft revision of the Criminal Code has sparked new concerns about gender questions, specifically with regard to female and morality issues, a scholar said.

Bob Burton, Canberra – After eighteen months of often tense discussions, officials from the governments of Australia and East Timor reached an agreement last week on the division of rev

Shawn Donnan in Jakarta and Lachlan Colquhon in Sydney – East Timor's prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, warned on Tuesday that key details remained unresolved in the tiny nation's negotiat

Rendi A.

Jakarta – The reduction of Aceh's status from a state of civil emergency to one of a civil authority must be seized as an opportunity to further increase the involvement of civil societ

Agus Supriyanto, Jakarta – Non-government organisations from the Aceh Working Group (AWG) have welcomed the reduction of the state of civil emergency in Aceh to one of a civil authority

Suherdjoko and Nethy Dharma Somba, Semarang/Jayapura – Discontent with disciplinary actions taken against police officers involved in the violent handling of protesters in Papua, dozens

Jakarta – A splinter group of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) filed a police report against party leader Megawati Soekarnoputri on Monday for her dismissal of 12 PDI

Jakarta – What could be more ironic than being opposed by fellow women when one intends to defend women's rights in matrimony?

Tim Boreham and Karen Brown – East Timor will have to wait at least a decade to see any economic benefit from the Greater Sunrise gas field, with the $5 billion project slipping down th

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – The ongoing corruption investigation into the General Election Commission (KPU) centers more on who among its members got how much money.

Merle Ricklefs – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has just announced a new Coordinating Team for Corruption Eradication consisting of 51 prosecutors, police and financial o

Normalcy is a luxury for most Acehnese. Their province has practically been in a perpetual state of war for as long as most people can remember.

HT Lee – The weekend media faithfully reported the foreign minister's announcement on Friday that last week's Timor Sea talks in Sydney with East Timor had finished successfully.