Hamish McDonald – Next month the legendary guerilla army Falintil, an acronym for Armed Forces of the Liberation of East Timor, will cease to exist as its remaining active fighters are

Shefali Rekhi – The man behind the reforms and privatisation efforts of Indonesia's state-owned enterprises has criticised his government for the slow progress in its privatisation proc

Gay Alcorn, Washington – The new Bush administration wants Australia to take the lead in dealing with Indonesia's problems of violence and political instability, according to incoming s

Jakarta – The Army's Special Force (Kopassus) will be reorganized to meet the demands of security environment in the future, a senior military officer said on Thursday.

Jakarta – In yet another desperate attempt to locate the fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, police announced plans on Thursday to drill and break into at least three other spots in

Jakarta – The political history of bombings in Indonesia took a sharp turn after the 1998 May riots, in which all of the cases involving bomb explosions have never been solved, the Indo

Vaudine England – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday brushed off calls for his resignation from students and lawmakers, saying his opponents were the tools of "those who are hungry f

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The kidnapping of 12 hostages, including a South Korean businessman, in Indonesia's troubled Irian Jaya province, is suspected to be a "fake" one, staged to

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is demanding 30 million rupiah (S$5,700) for each firearm they give up.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels in remote Irian Jaya have seized seven negotiators trying to win the release of 11 abducted plywood workers and now hold 18 people hostage, police said Frida

Jakarta – The generals are back.

Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court commenced the trial of Bank Indonesia (Central Bank) governor Syahril Sabirin on Wednesday regarding his alleged involvement in the disburse

Jakarta – Police fired warning shots at stone throwing protesters outside a trial of three Christians accused of provoking bloody sectarian riots in central Indonesian, news reports sai

Makassar – The South Sulawesi Police sent 300 personnel from its Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit to the restive regency of Poso in Central Sulawesi following an escalation in sectarian ten

Jakarta – Speaker of the House of Representatives Akbar Tandjung rejected calls by the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction for an investigation into an alleged financial leakage in t

Jakarta – South Aceh Police found a mass grave with 14 bodies, three of which were suspected to be those of the missing researchers from the Bandung-based Center for International Fores

Jakarta – While expressing support for a united territory of Indonesia, United States Ambassador to Indonesia Robert S.

Dini Djala, North Sulawesi and West Kalimantan – At a crowded refugee camp in Bitung, North Sulawesi, some 3,000 children pass their days jumping rope, throwing ball or playing a game t

Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta – With a shaky currency, the former president's son on the run from police and a series of recent bomb blasts in major cities, you would be forgiven for thinking

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesian police yesterday denied reports that they were investigating the involvement of former army generals in the Christmas Eve bombings, linking the fatal

Jakarta – A group representing the Chinese community in Indonesia yesterday met Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid to ask for help in removing discriminatory legislation against the

Jakarta – An Indonesian court has dismissed a case against an author charged seven years ago with insulting former president Suharto by suggesting that the former dictator masterminded

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – While President Abdurrahman Wahid gave his backing for another ceasefire between Acehnese rebels and the government, analysts said the bloodshed over the pas

Pip Hinman – Acehnese activist Kautsar has been struggling for his people's right to self-determination for some years.

Jeremy Bowden, Singapore – East Timor is raising the stakes in talks on sharing offshore oil and natural gas revenues with Australia, according to Australian government sources.

Jakarta – Police on Wednesday fired volleys of teargas at 2,500 protestors who gathered outside parliament calling on Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid to answer corruption charges

Max Lane – The process of overthrowing the Suharto dictatorship did not go sufficiently deep enough to deliver a deathblow to the political ambitions of the old regime, of Suharto's for

Kerryn Williams – "We see the potential energy among urban poor youth, whose power has been shown many times in Indonesian history.

Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – "Let our people go quickly or Indonesia will suffer the same fate as Yugoslavia." That was the dire warning from separatist rebels, as the Indonesian province

Jakarta – Indonesian police in easternmost Irian Jaya province have questioned four people including a woman cleric over separatist activities, a report said here Tuesday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri has vowed to clean up her Indonesian Democratic Party-Perjuangan (PDI-P), amid allegations that corrupt MPs

Hamish McDonald, Dili – The Australian Government is retreating from its tough opening stance on the oil revenue split in a new seabed boundary treaty with independent East Timor, a sen

Maggie O'Kane – The discovery of the bodies of four women murdered with machetes in different parts of the country last summer passed almost unnoticed in East Timor.

Jakarta – Indonesian Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri Sunday told 100,000 supporters of her Indonesian Democracy Party- Struggle (PDIP) that national unity was at stake and called o

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab has reassured Asean members that the South-east Asia grouping is still central to Indonesia's foreign policy.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Even though the police are taking extra precaution to secure the capital against mass demonstrations rumoured to begin tomorrow, commentators say the real po

Jakarta – Vice President and chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Megawati Soekarnoputri scolded unscrupulous party legislators on Saturday for ha

Jakarta – The government is under the control of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and has to obtain IMF approval for every economic step taken, says chairman of the National Mandat

Reuters in Jakarta – Three people have been killed and four wounded in a fresh bout of violence in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, showing the futility of a recently agreed ceasefire

Jakarta – More than 150 East Timorese journalists, gathering at their inaugural congress in the East Timor capital of Dili, have agreed to build an independent, free press in their new

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Banking magnate James Riady's conviction for illegal funding of US politicians will ruffle feathers in the US Congress and government but is unlikely to scare

Jakarta – Indonesian police have detected an underground bunker below the central Jakarta home of former president Suharto's fugitive son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

Ambon – One hundred people marched to the Maluku Police Headquarters in Batumeja on Friday to protest Thursday's arrest of Alex Manuputty, chief executive of the Maluku Sovereignty Fron

Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – The controversial trial of Aceh's top civilian independence activist is expected to start in the course of a new one-month truce with separatist rebels, his c

Yogyakarta – Activists from various groups representing laborers, peasants, fishermen and youths have launched a new organization called the All-Jawa Socialist Movement Committee.

Jakarta – The State Official Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) functionaries and members were sworn in by President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid at the State Palace on Thursday.

Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – Behind Banda Aceh's landmark Baiturrahman mosque, a street vendor was scratching a living as he does every day, mashing up sugar cane for drinks.

Banda Aceh – At least six people, including a soldier on guard at an Exxon-Mobil oil company complex were killed, and eight others injured in renewed violence in Indonesia's Aceh provin

Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court began on Thursday the trial of six pro-integration East Timorese for the murder of three United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Vaudine England, Jakarta – A busload of militant Muslims walked into the offices of the English-language Jakarta Post to "deliver a strong protest" over an editorial that described Indo