Maryadi/FW & LM, Pontianak – Indonesia's most prominent environmental protection group, WALHI, has slammed President Abdurrahman Wahid and the current government for their lack of c

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Dili – Lakan Feralafaek, one of a score of money changers who ply their trade on the sidewalk in front of East Timor's only bank, is more than happy to exchange fo

Time is running out for Indonesia's first democratically chosen president. The task is vast.

Jakarta – Top reform leaders blamed each other on Thursday over last night's aborted meeting between them, boding ill for a speedy resolution to the current political disharmony, despit

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid is facing yet another threat to his already shaky presidency with the latest bid by his political opponents in parliament to probe i

A July 12 meeting between Indonesia's top four political leaders was indefinitely postponed at the very last minute.

North Sumatra – Looting of plantations has become a major headache in Indonesia, hitting bottom lines in the sector and threatening investment and privatization plans.

Jakarta – Security authorities have seized thousands of weapons and explosives in a series of arms sweeping operations in Maluku, which remains tense despite the two-week imposition of

Marian Wilkinson, Sydney – An Australian intelligence agency learned from an intercepted Indonesian Army radio message that Australian television crews were in danger and would be targe

John McBeth in South Kalimantan and North Sulawesi – They come equipped with scores of excavators and more than 500 trucks. Their backers have wealth and influence.

Banda Aceh – Three Acehenese civilians died in military custody after being shot and then arrested by Indonesian security forces, witnesses and hospital staff said Thursday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's central bank said Thursday it can fully implement a new monetary policy only once economic stability in the country is restored.

John McBeth, Jakarta – For members of a visiting group of US editors, a mid-afternoon conversation with President Abdurrahman Wahid in late June ended in near-complete bewilderment.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) yesterday appointed three commission members to revise its rejected report on the 1984 massacre in Tanjung Priok, North Ja

C.A Tanjung/SWA & LM, Jakarta – Thick smoke blanketing Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau Province, Sumatra, since Wednesday has been attributed to land clearing activities by businesse

Maryadi/Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – Smog in and around Pontianak, West Kalimantan, caused by slash and burn land clearing has reached hazardous levels while the local government has yet to

Jakarta – Regional Autonomy Minister Ryaas Rasyid has warned that some local bureaucrats and politicians were using the Indonesian government's new decentralisation policy to blackmail

Jakarta – The official number of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia now stands at 1,283, although health experts predicted the real figure could be as high as 350,000 or more, a senior officia

Jakarta – A recent poll conducted by the Center for Electoral Reform showed the majority of Indonesians supported direct presidential elections.

John McBeth, Talawaan – An ecological disaster looms over North Sulawesi's Minahasa Peninsula.

Dini Djalal, Jakarta – Husein could do nothing when the mob set his son Dian on fire. "If I had protested, they would have killed me too," he says simply.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Navy said it had captured two boats illegally ferrying weapons to North Maluku.

Max Lane – The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) has announced that it will be implementing measures to increase Timorese participation in the executive

James Balowski – The sinking of the overloaded Cahaya Bahari ferry on July 6 – which killed at least 481 Christian refugees fleeing the latest outburst of violence in Indonesia – highli

Norsborg, Sweden – The exiled leader of the pro-independence Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Hasan Muhammad di Tiro, said Wednesday he is willing to negotiate an extension of a three-month ce

Bogor – Hundreds of illegal miners working at gold-rich Pongkor Mountain thronged the Bogor Council building on Monday, complaining about violent measures they had suffered from securit

Jakarta – Despite sinister political maneuvers and other efforts to discredit President Abdurrahman Wahid, the one thing in his favor is that there's no one good enough to replace him.

Jakarta – The situation in Dumai municipility, 200 kms from the Riau capital of Pekanbaru, remained tense yesterday, as self-titled commander of Free Riau, Muhammad Sabri, continued to

Jakarta – A defendant in a court trying a 2.1 million-dollar counterfeit money case has testified that Indonesia's army chief had full knowledge of the production of fake bills, a repor

Suwarjono/SWA & LM, Jakarta – Unraveling the intricacies of the mining business during the New Order era of former President Soeharto is as difficult as unearthing raw ore miles und

Pip Hinman – Indonesia's most prominent left-wing political party, the People's Democratic Party (PRD), has filed a 5.5 billion rupiah (US$617,000) lawsuit against Suharto over the aili

James Balowski – The government of President Abdurrahman Wahid appears to be indulging in a veritable orgy of investigations into human rights violations – ranging from the post-ballot

Jakarta – The House of Representatives on Monday unanimously passed a new bill on the rights of workers to unionize.

Christine T.

President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia has ordered the military to safeguard mining operations in the country, following a series of attacks on foreign-owned mines.

Chaidir Anwar Tanjung/Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – It is a truth (almost) universally acknowledged that outlawing gambling does not stop the practice but rather encourages those with the wi

Kupang – Peace has been restored to the West Timor town of Oesau following the July 1 mass riot in which remnants of the feared pro-Jakarta militia gangs from East Timor torched 16 hous

Dili – Militants of East Timor's newest political party have seized a building destined to serve as a police station in the eastern district of Viqueque, claiming it as their headquarte

Greg Ansley, Dili – New Zealand troops have broken a militia-linked extortion racket in a crackdown on organised crime in the western border region of East Timor.

Rizal Maslan/Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – Around 100 members of the Megamendung community of Bogor, West Java, held a noisy demonstration at the parliament complex today demanding the gover

Jakarta – A mob of some 200 people set fire to a major market in Jayapura, the main city of the country's easternmost province of Irian Jaya, which is seeking independence.

Jakarta – More than 500,000 houses have been destroyed in Indonesia due to riots and natural disasters over the past three months, according to Minister of Housing and Regional Developm

Jakarta – A mob attacked a police post in Indonesia's eastern island of Flores, ransacking it and killing two civilians they accused of trying to infect local dogs with rabies, the mili

Jakarta – Tension between East Timorese refugees and locals in Indonesia's West Timor has forced the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to suspend its refugee return operati

Makassar – At least 124 people were arrested over the weekend for their alleged involvement in communal clashes in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso, local security officers said on Sun

Jakarta – Pressure has shifted to House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung in the intensifying conflict among the political elite in the country.

Tom Fawthrop – Political expediency persuaded the UN mission in East Timor to revoke its original requirement to disarm FALINTIL, the army of the pro-independence rebel group Fretilin,

Ambon – In Maluku terms Mrs. Em, a Muslim housewife in this violence-torn city, is lucky.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The United States has attacked Indonesia for its double standards over access to the riot-torn Malukus, questioning Jakarta's commitment to openness and demo

Ambon – Thousands of terrified residents fled the already ravaged village of Waai on Friday, following a murderous overnight raid by a group of heavily armed people.