[Upon the invitation of the International Migrants (IOM), The Jakarta Post's Chisato Hara days observing developments in the tsunami-devastated province, including the hand over of shel

Pip Hinman, Sydney – Paddy Keneally, a former wharfie and Australian commander in East Timor, condemned the Coalition government for stealing Timor's oil at a rally in Martin Place on A

Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne – As talks between East Timor and Australia re-commenced in Dili, the Timor Sea Justice Campaign (TSJC) was notified on April 27 that its latest television c

Ridwan Max Sijabat – A labor dispute bothering a major plywood company in Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan, reflects in many ways the general labor conditions in the country

Eva C.

Sarah Stephen – On April 26, 50 East Timorese asylum seekers were hand delivered letters rejecting their applications for refugee status in Australia, and given 28 days to leave the cou

Dili – Amid signs in recent days of an emerging settlement to church protests against the East Timor government, leading Catholic clergymen made new demands Wednesday on the Dili execut

Tangerang – About 500 public minivan drivers in Tangerang went on strike on Monday to protest the presence of a new public minivan route they said took away their business.

Jakarta – Foreign NGOs that wish to continue their post-tsunami aid work in the Indonesian province of Aceh must not "interfere in the internal affairs of the country" by favouring the

Ellen Nakashima, Lamteungoh – With a flick of her henna-painted hand, the teenage bride adjusted her gold batik head scarf, opened her mouth and accepted a spoonful of cooked white rice

US and Indonesian military officers are meeting in the Indonesian capital to discuss ways to cooperate in the fight against Islamic terrorists in Southeast Asia, a US Embassy spokesman

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The central government is being urged to delay local elections as most regions appear to be unprepared for the polls and existing regulations contain many legal

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Monthly inflation began to ease in April from its sharp rise in March, but still leaves year-on-year inflation unchanged above the 8 percent level, official figu

Zakki P.

Jakarta – Following a recent brawl involving soldiers and police officers, the Army has ordered members of the Cimanggis Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) to limit their activit

Jakarta – Former Aceh military commander Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, who led an operation against separatist rebels, was officially installed as the new Army deputy chief on Monday.

About 300 protesters demonstrated outside the Jayapura provincial council buildings on Monday against the United Nations' decision to give Indonesia control of the province in 1963.

Yogyakarta, Surabaya – More than 500 lecturers, employees and students of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University (UGM) staged a protest on Monday against pay increases decided upon by the

Dili – The East Timorese capital braced Tuesday for the possibility of clashes between police and anti-government Catholic demonstrators, but a police deadline for the end of street pro

Paulo Gorjao – In April 2004, in his progress report regarding the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET), the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, reco

The fall of the New Order regime in 1998 and the formation of a new government after democratic elections in 1999 were seen as major boosts for press freedom in Indonesia.

Canberra – Australia has managed to out-wait a cash strapped East Timor in reaching agreement on lucrative Timor Sea oil and gas revenues, US-based strategic thinktank Stratfor says.

Palembang (South Sumatra) – About 5,000 sidewalk vendors staged a protest at a roundabout in Palembang city center on Monday, rejecting the mayor's decision to move them to the city's J

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Labor unions have blamed the government for the worsening labor conditions in Indonesia, which they say are a result of a bad investment climate, the absen

Presented by Fran Kelly

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Some Indonesians might still remember the case of Samantha, a little girl who made headlines here during the 1990s in an international child abduction

George Monbiot – It all seems a very long way away. But what is happening in an obscure island nation in the south Pacific has now become our business.

Jakarta – Lively commemorations of May Day on May 1 were celebrated in demonstrations by labour organisations, political parties and other social organisations in a number of parts of t

Port Numbay (Jayapura) – Around 500 indigenous Papuans organised by the Papua Youth Group (Kelompok Pemuda Papua) held a demonstration against the integration of West Papua in to the Un

Jakarta – Thousands of people across the country took to the streets on Sunday to mark Labor Day with demands for better working conditions and the protection of workers' rights, as wel

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – The Wan Abdurrahman forest preservation area in Mount Betung National Park, South Lampung, is in a sorry state, with 76 percent or 17,000 hectares of t

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – So much for maturity, let alone democracy, when political parties, which are supposed to serve the various interests of their members and supporters, instead pur

BE Satrio, Litbang Kompas – Democratisation in Indonesia appears to be taking a step back.

Budi Hartadi, Malang – Thousands of workers in East Java city of Malang commemorated May Day by blockading the road in front of the mayor's office on Jalan Tugu.

Deni Mukbar/Siswanto, Jakarta – May Day was commemorated today by hundreds of workers and mass organisations from Greater Jakarta at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta.

AJI/AT, Jakarta – The commemoration of international labour day (May Day) in Jakarta today involved thousands of workers and other social organisations such as students, the urban poor,

Gunawan Mashar, Makassar – Like pelting the holy wall with stones to excise evil.

Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta – Commemorating May Day on May 1, thousands of workers inundated the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta resulting in a massive traffic jam on Jalan Sudir

Ahmad Yunus, Bandung – May Day was also commemorated by workers in the West Java provincial of Bandung.

Tony Hotland and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's introduction of concrete antigraft measures at state institutions will have little impact unless

Reporter: Rachel Carbonell

Indra Harsaputra, Madura – Eyes glistening with tears, Lina (not her real name) slowly, painfully recalled for her visitor the horrors she had suffered in Batam, where the 13-year-old M

Hera Diani, Jakarta – After 10 years of implementing the declaration of the United Nations conference of women in Beijing, most Asian countries including Indonesia have yet to meet the

Jakarta – Police investigators questioned on Friday another Garuda stewardess in connection with the poisoning death of human rights activist Munir aboard a Garuda flight from Jakarta t

Jakarta – Vice-President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla has requested the Phillippines government not to interfere in Indonesia's internal affairs in relation to the problem of Papua.

The government of the Philippines and the University of the Philippines say they do not support a meeting discussing the issue of independence for West Papua.

Women and children in East Timor will continue to suffer in poverty unless the nation is able to determine its own wealth, East Timor's first lady Australian-born Kirsty Sword Gusmao sa

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Activists have warned that the government blueprint for the reconstruction of tsunami-stricken Aceh and North Sumatra, may be inaccurate and prone to embezzlement.

The United Nations will stay in East Timor (Timor Leste) for another year under a new political mission that will significantly reduce the UN troop presence there.

Otto Syamsuddin Ishak, Jakarta – Law enforcement is one of the Indonesian government's strategies for the settlement of the war in Aceh. Which law does the government seek to enforce?