Tony Kevin – Tomorrow, Alexander Downer launches a book on Australia's role in East Timor between 1998 and 2000. One wonders why he should wish to reopen this Pandora's box.

Dili – East Timor's defacto parliament, the National Council, was dissolved on Saturday, one day before the start of political campaigning for a new 88-seat Constituent Assembly, taking

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Campaigning began yesterday for East Timor's first election, but confusion reigns in the minds of voters about what they are voting for and whether it bears a

Mark Dodd, Dili – Campaigning for East Timor's first democratic elections began at the weekend, but hopes for a smooth start were marred by a strike and the seizure of a consignment of

Banda Aceh – Violence pitting Indonesian government forces against separatist rebles in the restive province of Aceh has claimed another four lives, police and the military said Monday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – It's just trash for most people, but some Jakarta residents are finding novel ways of using garbage to help build their impoverished community.

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Jon Land – The start of the formal election campaign period for East Timor's new Constituent Assembly began on July 15.

Max Lane – There are now more political prisoners in Indonesia than there were during the last 12 months of General Suharto's 32-year rule.

Jakarta – Indonesians are bracing for a stormy countdown to the August 1 national assembly session which will decide the fate of embattled Abdurrahman Wahid, the country's first freely-

Jakarta – Top Army officials held on Friday a closed-door consolidation meeting at Wiladatika field in Cibubur, East Jakarta on Friday canceling the weekly Friday sports event between t

Agencies in Cirebon and Jakarta – Isolated and facing open defiance within the police force, President Abdurrahman Wahid said yesterday he will declare a state of emergency next Friday

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Thursday's order to arrest Indonesia's sacked police chief Bimantoro and yesterday's backdown from the arrest indicate that President Abdurrahman Wahid is wi

Robert Go, Jakarta – A new draft agreement between the International Monetary Fund and Indonesia will impose fewer conditions and targets for the country, in what is perhaps an admissio

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The current standoff between Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid and his police chief, and within the top ranks of the force, could lead to a dangerous sh

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – It is personal ambition, not political partisanship, that is fuelling a dispute between middle and high-ranking officers over who should lead the Indonesian pol

Jakarta – Indonesian police who rushed to their commander's home to protect him from arrest pulled back overnight after President Abdurrahman Wahid appeared to back down.

Surabaya – East Java's security forces were ready to anticipate possible outbreaks of violence, ahead of the August1 special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), police

Mark Dodd, Dili – Two days before the start of East Timor's election campaign for a Constituent Assembly, the territory's United Nations administrator, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, has pr

East Timor's Independent Electoral Commission Friday determined the order in which the territory's 16 political parties and five independent candidates will appear on the national ballo

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Widodo A.S.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday ordered the arrest of the police chief he has been trying to sack for weeks, widening the struggle over his impeachment

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The Indonesian army is training and equipping Javanese migrants in Aceh to defend themselves against independence rebels in the province, non-governmental gr

Jakarta – Indonesian legislators have asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to write off the country's foreign debts, including those to other donors recommended by the Fund.

Robert Go, Jakarta – A long-delayed International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan tranche to Indonesia, worth around US$400 million (S$728 million), would be released next month.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia has started forming East Timor-style militias in oil- and gas-rich Aceh, where scores of civilians are being murdered under the cover of a brutal cr

Jakarta – Smoke haze attributed to underground fires continued to choke the city of Pontianak on Indonesian Borneo Thursday, local officials said.

Jakarta – A US lobbyist for Indonesia revealed on Wednesday that he would try to help foster dialog between the United States government and the Indonesian Military (TNI) to promote bet

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A three-day registration period now under way for the start of the new school year is bringing smiles – and extra income – to teachers and education officials e

Vaudine England in Jakarta – A Javanese militia has formed in Central Aceh and, with encouragement from security forces, is stoking conflict between Acehnese and other ethnic groups in

Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta – If the script had unfolded as planned on June 30 officials at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, or IBRA, would have been popping champagne and posing f

John McBeth, Jakarta – Smartly dressed in a suit, tie and polished shoes, the nervous Indonesian visa applicant gave the American consular official interviewing him a strange feeling th

Jakarta – While neighboring countries have been complaining about the choking haze caused by Indonesia's forest fires and have called on Indonesia to take action to deal with the proble

London – The situation within the Sukarno family is deteriorating with a clear split between the sisters widening and "becoming more serious now", political analyst Hermawan Sulistyo ha

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Political compromise, intimidation, constitutional deadlock and a divide-and-rule approach to weaken his enemies are some of the options that Mr Abdurrahman Wah

On July 5, representatives of the East Timor Transitional Cabinet, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor and the Australian government met in Dili and signed the

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid appointed on Tuesday his old friend and current Minister of Justice and Human Rights Marsillam Simanjuntak as the new attorney general to replace t

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid shared the public's disappointment on Tuesday over the conclusions of the House of Representatives (DPR) on the Trisakti and Semanggi fatal shootin

With Wednesday passing as the final deadline for East Timorese to challenge the list of proposed candidates for the upcoming elections, the United Nations transitional administration to

Jakarta – UN officials in East Timor raised concern Tuesday about the fate of refugees who chose to be repatriated from squalid camps in Indonesia during an Indonesian-run census last m

Only 666 of the 1,250 East Timorese refugees Indonesian authorities said wanted to return to their homeland last month have been able to do so, UN officials said on Tuesday.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Indonesian security forces have arrested 23 hardcore militiamen including the notorious leader of the gang involved in the 1999 massacre in East Timor's Suai cathedral

Banda Aceh – Clashes in Indonesia's oil-rich province of Aceh have killed at least 12 people including five suspected separatist rebels, and endangered food supplies to residents, offic

Dili – As a UN security team toured refugee camps near Indonesian controlled West Timor's border with East Timor Tuesday, officials of the world body in Dili warned that pro-Jakarta mil

Jakarta – More than 100 middle-ranking Indonesian police officers yesterday spoke out against their chief, who has defied his sacking by President Abdurrahman Wahid, accusing him of dis

Jakarta – Indonesia's army chief has played down President Abdurrahman Wahid's renewed threat to declare a state of emergency if political parties fail to compromise with him by July 20

Chris McCall in Tentena, Central Sulawesi – With guns that look like cut-out toys, a Christian army is fighting a war to hold on to its ancestral lands.

Jakarta – Relatives and parents of students slain in the Trisakti and Semanggi shootings expressed disappointment at the findings of a House of Representative special committee investig

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Bandung – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) has asked its supporters across the country to revive community posts in the lead-up to the special session of the