Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Witnesses in their testimony on Thursday highlighted a clear link between civilian guards roaming East Timor in the run-up to 1999 ballot and military forces, s

[Daniel Casey was on hand to watch the world's newest country, and our neighbour, embark upon the road to democracy with its people tackling the ballot box for the very first time.]

Mark Baker – East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta has ruled out any backing for separatist movements within Indonesia once the country achieves its independence next month.

Ambon – Blasts rocked the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon yesterday and gunshots rang out as hundreds of loyalists protested against the flying of balloon-borne flags on the 52nd anniv

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesian and US defense officials Thursday wrapped up security talks that covered issues from terrorism to piracy, marking a step forward in relations after mili

Jupriadi, Makassar – Thousands of students in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar marched on Wednesday to commemorate the killing of three local students in a clash with security for

Annastashya Emmanuelle, Jakarta – The internal rift within the beleaguered United Development Party (PPP), mainly between the veterans and the newcomers, is widening as evidenced by fre

Kasparman, Padang – Some 7,000 temporarily employed teachers in West Sumatra are threatening to go on strike in protest against the provincial administration's alleged discriminatory re

Hundreds of loyalist Muslims staged a noisy protest in Indonesia's eastern city of Ambon against independence supporters flying flags attached to air balloons to mark the anniversary of

Bogor – About 100 alleged prostitutes were netted in a series of operations launched separately by the police and the local administration on Monday and Tuesday night following Saturday

Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri will attend East Timor's landmark independence handover on May 20, despite strong opposition from MPs.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A witness in the human rights trial into the East Timor mayhem said on Wednesday that top state officials in Jakarta should have been held accountable for the v

Jakarta – Former Indonesian military chief Wiranto, who launched a solo album of classic Indonesian love songs last year, will soon provide the voice for a cartoon character.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) has replaced its navy and air force chiefs in a routine military reshuffle, the head of the military announced yesterday.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Terrorism and piracy were on the agenda but a restoration of full military ties with the United States was uppermost among Indonesia's concerns, with its milit

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has ordered several provinces to revoke "problematic" laws and regulations in a bid to reign in regions which are exercising too much

Dean Yates, Jakarta – In the past two months foreign investors have snapped up a bond by Indonesia's top mobile phone firm, a US investment fund paid good money for the country's bigges

Pip Hinman, Sydney – The news that two Acehnese activists sought refuge in the Finnish embassy in Jakarta on April 10 didn't surprise Erwanto, an Acehnese activist currently visiting Au

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A witness testified before the ongoing Human Rights Court on Tuesday that he was ordered by his superior to bury at least 25 bodies, including three Catholic pr

General Kofi Annan recommended Tuesday that the Security Council approve a new UN mission for East Timor to last two years beyond its independence, slated for May 20.

Name: Jose Alexandre Gusmao
Nom-de-guerre: Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao
Date of Birth: 20 June 1946
Place of Birth: Manatuto, East Timor

Pramoedya Ananta Toer – Grandmother Satima and mother Saidah, according to Pramoedya Ananta Toer, made him who he is.

Phil Zabriskie – Who is Xanana Gusmao? A Portuguese journalist put that question to Gusmao himself shortly before he was captured by the Indonesian military in November 1992.

Jakarta – A soldier told Indonesia's new human rights court Tuesday he was asked by his commanding officer to transport and bury bodies from a church massacre in East Timor, among the w

Dili's interim government has approved a USD 75 million budget for East Timor's first year as an independent state.

Jason Tedjasukmana – Here's why Iwan Fals matters: because boy bands don't take on dictatorships. They don't stand up when everyone else is hunkering down.

Stockholm – East Timor's new president, former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao, on Monday urged Aceh separatists fighting for independence from Indonesia to follow East Timor's example a

Jakarta – The mother of an Indonesian suspected of links to international terrorism said Thursday she was "shocked" to hear he had been jailed for up to 12 years in the Philippines.

A mob of protestors including Islamic students torched and vandalised six suspected brothels and injured four people during a rampage at an Indonesian hill resort, police and reports sa

Following the adoption of a statement on East Timor by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (the Commission) in Geneva last Friday, Amnesty International expressed its disappoi

Grace Nirang, Jakarta – Indonesian farmers may be fed up with the low prices they get for their coffee but young people in the world's fourth most populous country can't get enough of t

Hamish McDonald – Dressed in dun-brown overalls and boots, Fitar dos Reis, Gil Nelson Belo and Gulio Freitas line up under the baking afternoon sun to take their place on a mat and prac

Tim Dodd, Dili – In Dili's old commercial heart is an Javanese bakso (meatball soup) restaurant that does a thriving trade at $US1 a bowl, proving the East Timorese have not lost their

Tim Dodd, Dili – With independence only a month off, how bad is the economic problem facing East Timor?

Jakarta – Indonesia's president will attend next month's independence celebration in the country's former territory East Timor, a palace spokesman said Saturday.

Lee Kim Chew – East Timor's newly-elected President Xanana Gusmao, a poet and freedom fighter, loves the Portuguese language. It gives him a sense of identity.

Banda Aceh – At least four more people including a soldier and a rebel have been killed in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, the military said Friday.

Dan Murphy, Dili – Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao is a figure of such legendary stature here that no viable challenger ran against him for the presidency of the world's newest nation.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Defendants in alleged crimes against humanity in East Timor blamed on Thursday the policy of then president B.J.

Jakarta – US ambassador Ralph Boyce has urged reform of Indonesia's "ineffective and corrupt" legal system to help attract badly needed foreign investment.

Timothy Mapes, Jakarta – The Indonesian military's controversial behavior in resource-rich Papua province could threaten the country's political unity and one of its biggest planned for

Hamish McDonald – On a roadside in rural Balibo, among knots of people lingering to chat after casting their vote in their country's first presidential election last Sunday, different t

Michael Kessler – Next month East Timor will become the world's newest nation when the former Portuguese colony, which voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999, formally adopts its

Geneva – The World Council of Churches (WCC) has called for an independent inquiry to look into the killing of an independence leader in the Indonesian region of Irian Jaya.

Rod Myer – The impasse between joint venture partners in the Sunrise gas deposit in the Timor Sea highlights doubts over plans to pipe gas from beyond Australia's north coast to SouthEa

Jakarta – Indonesia's parliament speaker on Thursday urged President Megawati Sukarnoputri to snub next month's celebrations marking the formal independence of East Timor, which Jakarta

Jakarta – Religious leaders in Indonesia's Papua province have met regional authorities to discuss the entry of a militant Islamic militia into the mainly Christian province, an officia

Jakarta – Indonesia is planning new incentives to raise foreign direct investment after a slump last year, an official said Thursday.

Jakarta – Hundreds of workers from some 15 labor unions representing workers in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) staged an anti-privatization protest in Jakarta on Tuesday as part of a ca

Joanne Collins, Dili – Less than three years ago East Timor's seaside capital was a charred ruin, but now Britney Spears CDs, Singapore noodles and beauty salons are easily found in wha