Robert Go, Jakarta – When Mr Haryanto, who runs a hardware store in West Jakarta, takes a payment from a customer these days he quickly scans the rupiah bills under a blue-light device

Yemris Fointuna, Atambua – As East Timorese proclaimed their hard-fought independence at midnight on May 19 and changed the name of their country to Timor Lorosae, some 30,000 refugees

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights activists have set an early deadline for the government to open an ad hoc court to try military and police officers for alleged gross hum

[East Timor has claimed its independence. How is the new nation viewed by its imposing neighbour, Indonesia?

As the East Timorese celebrated their hard-won independence overnight, spare a thought for the Jakarta lobby in Australia, including luminaries such as Dick Woolcott, Gough Whitlam, Gar

Ambon – Muslims in the riot-hit Indonesian province of Maluku yesterday surrendered hundreds of weapons and explosives to the security authorities.

Don Greenlees, Dili – Soon after sundown in a football field here, Domingos Ribero's gaze fixes on the screen of a makeshift outdoor cinema.

Jakarta – Vice President Hamzah Haz expressed on Monday his sympathy over the Seroja fighters' frustration at President Megawati Soekarnoputri's visit to East Timor, but reminded the na

Dili – On their first day of East Timor's independence, leaders of the new country raised the prospect of taking Australia to court to gain a greater share of the rights to resources in

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The US Congress will evaluate the embargo imposed on the Indonesian Military (TNI) in July, pending the completion of the ongoing Human Rights Tribunal in the c

Tributes

"If 92 countries are gathered here today it is because the settlement of the question of East Timor was the responsibility of the international community.

Dili – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri was greeted by 50 silent protesters shortly after she arrived in East Timor late on Sunday to attend independence events for a territor

Harald Bruning, Macau – East Timor's constitution, which came into force at midnight last night, is a combination of civil guarantees, national fervour and provisions for social welfare

[It's the world's newest republic, but it will take a long time for old sores to heal.

Tom Hyland, Dili – Prime Minister John Howard has rejected suggestions that Australia has treated East Timor unfairly in negotiations over the carve-up of rich oil and gas reserves in t

Dili – East Timor formally swore in its cabinet on Monday, hours after the tiny territory became independent and new President Xanana Gusmao took office.

Simba – Today on the eve of the independence ceremonies for East Timor many of the international delegates arrived to address the press.

Philip Sherwell – East Timor has not known a weekend like it.

Michael Casey, Liquica – Marie Fernanda remembered hearing the voices of the approaching attackers as her family was fixing dinner three years ago.

An Australian with one of the closest associations with East Timor, former diplomat James Dunn, has concerns about East Timor's future as an independent country.

An air of optimism buoys East Timor as it prepares to celebrate nationhood. But there are dark clouds on the horizon, Tom Hyland and Lindsay Murdoch report.

Jakarta – Seventy military personnel in East Java will be court-martialled for various violations, a senior officer said on Friday.

Jill Jolliffe – When Fretilin leaders first declared East Timor independent in Dili in 1975 few took much notice of Jose Alexandre Gusmao.

Mark Forbes – Australia and East Timor have reached agreement over exploiting the rich oil and gas fields in the Timor Gap, with Prime Minister John Howard to sign a treaty at independe

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – East Timor's secession in 1999 has still left bitter pains for many Indonesians, particularly veterans who fought for its integration with Indonesia 27 years a

Tom Hyland and Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – A fully armed Indonesian warship was last night ordered out of Dili Harbour by East Timor and the United Nations after it arrived unannounced and

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Governor Abdullah Puteh held a closed-door meeting with activists of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) in Medan, North Suma

Jakarta – UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Saturday downplayed the likelihood that an international tribunal would be established to try those responsible for violence that swept East Ti

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan called on Indonesia to pursue the trials of officers accused of gross human rights abuses in East Timor effectively and credibly.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Spurred on by recent problems between President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her deputy, national assembly chairman Amien Rais is fast moving in to consolidate hi

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung is staring at the end of an illustrious 30-year political career with more incriminating evidence being gathered against hi

Audrey Young – At midnight on Sunday in East Timor, a greying former fighter with the rhythmic name of the newest sovereign nation of the century, East Timor.

Alan Boyd, Sydney – Time is running out for a settlement of disputed oil and gas royalties in the Timor Gap, as Australia turns up the diplomatic heat on the fledgling Timorese republic

Adam Majendie.

East Timor Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo complained of the rise in foreign prostitutes in the staunchly Catholic territory, which becomes independent at midnight on Sunday.

The United Nations Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) asked the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) administration on Thursday to protect East Timorese students studying in Kupang from intimida

Bronwyn Curran, Dili – The flags of the world are fluttering above a frenzy of roof-fixing, painting and construction as East Timor's waterfront capital spruces up to welcome VIPs from

Conservative and isolated for decades, East Timor's Catholic Church is the most powerful institution in the soon-to-be nation, with many Timorese saying its charismatic leader, Bishop C

Leo Wahyudi S., Jakarta – Although city buses are not really supermarkets, passengers may buy a variety of goods on them at low prices.

Joanne Collins, Manatuto – Fidgeting in his chair and staring at the ground, Matias Soares recalls the night he and other pro-Jakarta militiamen went on a rampage, torching houses one b

Alexander Weissink, Jakarta – The world's youngest democracy will have to stand on its own feet from Sunday.

Jakarta/Ambon – Human rights watchdog, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) blamed the escalating tension in Maluku on the lack of law enforcement and po

A'an Suryana and Berni K.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) is divided over how to deal with her errant deputy, with some members calling fo

Banda Aceh – At least 153 refugees from Central and South Aceh were forced to leave the United Nations Resource Center (UNRC) compound in Banda Aceh, four days after they fled their hom

Jakarta – Excessive logging has pushed to near extinction at least 51 isolated tribes living as nomads in Waropen, Papua, the country's eastern most province.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Opposition continued to grow on Thursday against the new broadcasting bill, which many critics see as an attempt by the government to once again curb freedom o

Jakarta – About 100 members of the Association of Jakarta Becak (pedicab) Drivers staged a protest at the Ministry of Home Affairs, on Jl.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – On the eve of East Timor's independence a majority of Indonesians, ranging from the influential political elite to ordinary people, appear ready to accept the new na

Tangerang – Some 1,000 kindergarten, elementary and high school teachers grouped in the Tangerang branch of the Indonesian Teachers' Union (PGRI) staged a rally at the local municipal o