Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – The situation in Donggala, Central Sulawesi, remained tense on Friday following a bloody attack on a predominantly Christian village in the regency a day before.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A group of environmental non-governmental organizations (NGO) lashed out on Friday at the government for permitting 13 mining companies to resume activities in

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – The man behind the first efforts to privatize Indonesia's state-owned enterprises, and a staunch critic of the slow pace of the program, has been brought back int

Kupang – East Timorese refugees in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province can no longer claim any assets in East Timor, as Thursday was the deadline for the refugees to do so back in the cou

As long-term readers of this column will have realised, Pierpont is unfashionable. He is white, Anglo-Saxon, Anglican, heterosexual, married and monarchist.

Derwin Pereiradevi Asmarani – Indonesian security czar Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono quit his Cabinet post yesterday after falling out with the President.

Jakarta – Following mass rioting at the Manggarai district police station in Ruteng, East Nusa Tenggara, which resulted in the death of four farmers last Wednesday, the National Human R

Shinta Shinaga, Jakarta – Although indistinct and only in the background, [former President] Suharto is appearing in a television advertisement by the National Functional Party of Conce

Jakarta – Indonesia on Thursday blasted the double standards applied by the United States and Australia in criticizing a supreme court decision earlier this week to reduce the jail sent

Jakarta – Public support for incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri has dropped significantly during the past few months while those who backed Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono increased, a

Jakarta – As the General Elections Commission (KPU) disclosed on Wednesday that only 20 percent of the 660 million ballot papers needed for the elections had been produced, on the same

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Tarnishing their much-vaunted label as educational institutions, schools are widely prone to corruption practices through unclear school budgets and the lack of

Fedhly Averouss Bey, Jakarta – The names of six popular presidential candidates have been included in a list of rotten politicians by the University (UI) of Indonesia Student Executive

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Pekanbaru – Some 1,000 civil servants, teachers and community leaders staged a protest on Wednesday in front of the teacher's council building in Kampar regency, t

Robert Go, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri will not sack her top Security Minister despite an increasingly public rift between the two, a senior official yesterday.

Washington – US legislators have urged Australia to negotiate its maritime boundary with East Timor to give the tiny nation a fair share of Timor Sea resources.

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Thursday he has resigned following a rift with President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – A joint monitoring team will begin immediately to inspect humanitarian projects carried out by the martial law administrator and Aceh provincial government sin

Theresia Sufa, Bogor – "From the beginning I didn't want my husband to become a gurandil, because I know how risky it is digging for gold in Pongkor Mountain.

Banda Aceh – Military authorities in Aceh on Thursday banned foreign observers from monitoring next month's general elections in 453 so-called "black areas" in the war-torn province due

Indonesia will only go ahead with plans to build a nuclear power plant on Java island if the public accepts the project, Research and Technology Minister Hatta Radjasa said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's dengue fever outbreak has killed more than 400 people this year and the number of cases could keep rising, health officials said on Wednesday.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Medan Police chief Sr. Comr.

Canberra – Australian opposition lawmakers on Wednesday held up legislation to ratify an oil and gas field development deal with East Timor, saying the agreement exploited the impoveris

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The Muslim cleric accused of a lead role in the group blamed for the Bali bombings is set to be released from jail within weeks after a Supreme Court decision t

Jakarta – Indonesia's Security Minister said yesterday that he wanted President Megawati Sukarnoputri to clarify his duties, following media reports that she had frozen him out of Cabin

US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has charged Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is deeply involved in terrorism after Indonesia's top court halved the militant's jail sentence.

Anton Doni, Jakarta Post – Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, who served as minister and secretary-general of the then ruling party Golkar, during the Soeharto era, was very confident that the new

Jakarta – The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of five top-brass military and police defendants in a case involving East Timor human rights abuses during 1999, a justice said.

Jakarta – Four people were killed and 27 injured when police opened fire Wednesday morning on protesting coffee growers in the island of Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, a doctor said.

Kornelius Purba, Jakarta – When the nation held its first ever election in 1955, the atmosphere was euphoric.

Cirebon/Surabaya – A plenary meeting of influential Muslim clerics (kyai khos) of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has mandated Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid to run for president as a candidate o

Indonesia's most celebrated literary figure Pramoedya Ananta Toer, now suffering declining health, is pessimistic about Indonesia's future due to the country's "lack of good leaders".

Hasrul, Kendari – The Kendari General Elections Commission (KPUD) has barred four political parties from campaigning on the grounds that they failed to register the names of their campa

Robert Go, Jakarta – The 24 political parties that will contest the Indonesian election on April 5 pledged yesterday to keep tight control of their followers and to conduct peaceful cam

Max Lane – Of the 19 parties contesting the July Indonesian presidential elections that are not currently represented in the parliament, eight are regarded as critical of the major part

At least four people have reportedly been killed and 27 others injured after police allegedly fired on protesting coffee growers in Indonesia's eastern island of Flores.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Papua governor JP Solossa has expressed his fear of a possible delay of several days in the legislative elections scheduled for April 5 for technical, geo

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Pekanbaru – A local government official said on Tuesday that tens of thousands of people would take to the streets of Kampar regency on Wednesday to protest the ce

Yuswardi A.

Jakarta – Indonesian policemen shot at a mob and killed three people on one of the country's far eastern islands on Wednesday after protesters besieged a police office demanding the rel

Rendi A.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights' (Komnas HAM) ad hoc team for Aceh has found indications of gross human rights violations in Aceh, most of whi

David Fullbrook, Jakarta – Unnoticed by most, a quiet revolution took place in Indonesia in 1999. Its consequences were plunging air fares and dozens of new airlines.

Jakarta – The central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), has predicted that the country's economy will, in the first quarter of the year, grow by 4.2 percent to 4.7 percent on the back of low i

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – Banking reform in the country is still far from complete despite the closure of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), according to a new survey.

Jakarta – In order get a message across to the public who will soon be under a new administration, around 20 children between 7 and 12 years of age from Cijeruk, Tapos and the Bogor Reg

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – Experts warned the central bank against seeking an instant solution to the slow growth in bank loans to the corporate sector, as aggressive lending without pr

Jakarta/Surabaya – International Women's Day was commemorated across the country with a public call not to vote for any political party which does not promote women's rights during the

Tom Benedetti – A storm is quietly but rapidly gaining force in an overlooked corner of the world.