Catharine Munro – To walk into the world of Yunus Makasau is to enter a wonderland of exotic creatures stolen from across the – vast and sprawling Indonesian archipelago.

Bernie K.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights has launched an investigation into last year's massacre of 31 residents in Langsa, Aceh, Antara reported on Saturday.

Jakarta – As the government continued to secure more support for its plan to intensify military operations in Aceh, experts warned that an increased military presence in Aceh would not

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – The city administration have turned a deaf ear to the warnings of experts that future floods could be worse if they fail to maintain or even expand the numb

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Cities around Indonesia are increasingly drowning under a sea of rubbish as local governments struggle to cope with the mountains of garbage produced every d

Patricia Nunan, Bangkok – Indonesia's Supreme Court has overturned a controversial bankruptcy ruling against the Jakarta branch of a Canadian insurance company.

Dili – Amnesty should not be offered to those responsible for crimes against humanity during the violence that surrounded East Timor's 1999 bid for independence, said Bishop Carlos Xime

Jakarta – Indonesian police questioned the local franchise holder of fast-food chain McDonald's for seven hours on Monday over a suspected graft scandal involving millions of dollars.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Around 300 foreign vessels believed to be from Thailand are looting fish stocks in North Sumatran waters and robbing local fishermen of their livelihoods, accor

Banda Aceh – At least two civilians and two suspected guerillas were killed in the latest violence to hit Aceh, residents and the military said yesterday.

East Timor's minister of health has said that his country has all the conditions necessary for the outbreak of an Aids epidemic and urgent measure are needed to prevent this.

Jakarta – At least 1,800 hot spots have emerged in fire-prone areas of Sumatra and Kalimantan this year with the dry weather, satellite images revealed.

Reporter: Ross Coulthart

Producer: In collaboration with Max Stahl of Gillan Films

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) yesterday transferred six trainer aircraft to its Indonesian counterpart, and will deliver another 13 more by the end of the year, Singapore's

Robert Go, Jakarta – The Indonesian government will dig out 900 billion rupiah from its cash-strapped coffers to counter El Nino-induced droughts that could devastate this year's harves

Jakarta/Kupang – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday that 1,500 East Timorese children, placed in orphanages across Indonesia in 1999, had not yet b

Manila – The authorities in the Philippines said yesterday that they had received reliable reports that an Indonesian detained since March was involved in deadly bomb blasts in Manila a

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Thousands of sugarcane growers and workers at sugar plants in Cirebon, West Java, rallied on Friday to demand the government reduce sugar imports blamed for the

Jill Jolliffe, Maubisse – Like most country folk in East Timor, the 18,000 people of the Maubisse district are enthusiastic about independence, but worried about their future.

The Indonesian government has asked parliament to approve "emergency" funds of more than 111 million dollars to help the military and police operate in areas of conflict like Aceh.

Rendi A. Witular and Adianto P.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Nationalist politicians back a proposed civil emergency and a likely tougher military action in conflict-ridden Aceh, but legislators from the province oppos

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The hard line taken by the government will dash any hope for a peaceful solution to end the decades-long strife in Aceh, official and activists alike sa

Aceh separatist rebels slammed a statement by an Indonesian minister branding them terrorists as an "irresponsible and desperate" attempt to discredit the movement.

Jakarta – Over a hundred young supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) united on Thursday to reject the nominatio

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – The government said on Thursday that doors were open for a United Nations legal expert who has been assigned to assess Indon

Geneva – East Timor's Health Minister, Rui Maria de Araujo, warned Friday that his newly-independent country was in danger of an AIDS epidemic, saying its low official figures were "jus

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri is riding roughshod over her party and sidelining many of her allies as she veers towards the military and the corruption-tai

[Achieving justice in East Timor for the victims of the violence after the 1999 independence vote, is not proving to be an easy task.

Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta – Approximately 20 percent of the forest in Mount Leuser National Park in North Sumatra had been illegally felled by the year 2000, local officials have announc

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Workers from dozens of hospitals in the capital organized a media conference on Thursday to protest their employers' move to halt their plan to establish wo

Thousands of endangered birds from Maluku and Papua provinces are caught and transported by the Indonesian military for sale at illegal markets, animal activists and officials allege.

Debbie A.

Jakarta – Indonesian air force officials have revealed that more than half their front-line aircraft have been grounded and a third of their radar stations are inoperable due to a lack

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Maj. Gen.

Amy Chew, Jakarta – Indonesia's once mighty military – which saw its powers reduced by democratic reforms following the ousting of former President Suharto – is expected to regain lost

Banda Aceh – Apparently niggled by the continuing violence in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province, the government sent a strong signal on Thursday that the military operation in the resti

Geoffrey Barker – Sixty influential Chinese business association leaders arrived in Dili from Macau last week to talk to East Timorese leaders about investing in the impoverished new na

Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province have released 18 civilians they abducted late last month, a source involved in arranging the release said.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – A bloody battle between security forces and rebels in Aceh looks imminent as the Indonesian government yesterday announced plans to declare a state of emergenc

The Indonesian Government has denied reports that the extremist Islamic Laskar Jihad army is operating in it's province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya.

Mark Dodd, Dili – At just four weeks old East Timor may be the world's newest nation, but its first big problem is how to deal with its past.

Police are awaiting a court's approval to question Tommy Suharto in prison over his claims that members of the security forces protected him while he was a fugitive last year.

Raymond Bonner, Jakarta – The Bush administration's effort to re-establish military ties with Indonesia, which has been curtailed for nearly a decade because of its army's widespread hu

Muklis Ali, Jakarta – Indonesia's government on Thursday branded the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) a terrorist group for the first time, and hinted it may impose a civil emergency in the pro

Jakarta – Indonesia and East Timor on Tuesday agreed to seek the best way of settling the issue of assets the former had left behind in what used to be its 27th province.

Bernie K.

When East Timor President Xanana Gusmao began his official visit in Indonesia on Tuesday, he was received with a red carpet welcome and full military honors fitting for all visiting hea

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Just four years ago, Mr Xanana Gusmao was Indonesia's most prized rebel prisoner.