Australia's role in supporting the transition of East Timor, or Timor Leste, to independence in 2002 – making it the first new sovereign state of the 21st century – was pivotal.

It is disturbing that more than a decade after East Timor secured its independence, with the assistance of Australian forces, our nations now are in dispute.

Jennifer Robinson – West Papua's claim to self-determination is gaining grounds internationally.

Bernard Keane – As the United States-style war on whistleblowers and journalists ramps up in Australia, one of the key myths about national security whistleblowers has taken another ham

Paul Cleary – Oil and espionage have gone hand in hand during the past four decades of contestation over the lucrative petroleum resources of the Timor Sea, so the latest revelations sh

Clinton Fernandes – It is not hard to see why ASIO yesterday raided the office and home of a Canberra-based lawyer, Bernard Collaery, and the house of a former Australian intelligence a

Tom O'Lincoln – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may just be posturing about Australian intelligence phone taps. But it wouldn't be surprising if he was genuinely annoyed.

Tom Clarke – Indonesia isn't the only country in our region upset about Australia's spying.

Endy Bayuni, Jakarta – Brace yourself to see more discrimination and persecution of religious minorities in Indonesia, after the House of Representatives formally re-endorsed a law limi

Lance Collins – The storm in a teacup sparked by the Snowden leaks and the heated response from Jakarta – when Tokyo, Hanoi, Dili and Beijing were also mentioned – has resulted in predi

Joanne Wallis – In March 2013 Australia drew down the last members of the Australian Defence Force-led international forces that had been deployed to stabilise Timor-Leste after a major

Paul Kelly – The onus now resides with Tony Abbott to demonstrate a flexible and new approach to intelligence and security issues by offering concessions when he replies to the letter f

Endy Bayuni, Jakarta – Today is International Day to End Impunity, an issue relevant to Indonesia but sadly one the nation appears to be ignoring, at its peril.

Celestino Gusmao – University students from Timor-Leste's eastern Baucau district gathered this week to commemorate the 1979 Matebian cave massacre in a month of events focused on prote

Kanupriya Kapoor – His popularity is sliding in the polls. Accusations of graft are mounting against political allies. The once-powerful economy is limping.

Laura Gumbs – Australia's stumbling Abbott government has managed to insult two Asian nations over spying allegations, with a key advisor to the prime minister tweeting that Indonesian

Clinton Fernandes – Just before Christmas 1981, Indonesia's foreign minister Mochtar Kusumaatmadja asked to meet Australia's ambassador to Jakarta, Rawdon Dalrymple.

Philip Dorling – The news that Australia's electronic spy agency, the Defence Signals Directorate, has targeted Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's mobile phone won't come a

Andrew de Sousa, Bangkok – This Nov.

Neles Tebay, Jayapura, Papua – The central government and the provincial government of Papua have taken the initiative to produce another new policy for Papua under the name of "special

[An interview with Said Iqbal, President of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers' Union (Konfederasi Serikat Pekerja Indonesia, KSPI) published by the Asian Human Rights Commission.]

Michael Bachelard – Twice now the smooth-talking Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has lifted the veil on his discussions with Australian counterpart Julie Bishop to reveal w

Maire Leadbeater – Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully has confirmed that a controversial three-year aid programme will go ahead next year in Indonesian-ruled West Papua.

In September 1999, Sander Thoenes, the Financial Times correspondent in Jakarta, travelled to East Timor to report on the turmoil engulfing the territory.

Max Lane – Widespread strikes and worker protests took place in many Indonesian town and cities on 31 October and 1 November.

Tom Benner, Dili, East Timor – The 2014 budget unveiled last week by tiny East Timor is a $1.5 billion spending plan funded almost exclusively – 95 percent – by lucrative oil and gas re

Damien Kingsbury – With much of the recent discussion about countries spying on each other, the only startling thing is that anyone would bother to feign surprise.

Petrus K.

Step Vaessen – Everything seems easier in my role as a journalist; I handle the death, pain, danger and even murder I encounter scarily well.

Budi Hernawan, Jayapura – Late in September, Vanuatu broke the silence over human rights abuses in Papua.

Tom Benner – There is a free health clinic in Dili, the capital of Asia's newest and poorest country, Timor-Leste, that treats some 400 people a day.

Celebrations this week mark the 15th anniversary of the National Commission on Violence against Women, or Komnas Perempuan. Established on Oct.

Pandaya, Jakarta – As expected, and despite critics' objections, the House of Representatives on Thursday endorsed Comr. Gen.

Pandaya – What could be the best solution to Jakarta's horrendous traffic so that people can get to work on time without them having to leave at dawn and get home again at dusk every ot

Keith Bettinger, Wendy Miles & Micah Fisher – A remarkable study published last week in the highly regarded scientific journal Nature detailed a new method for predicting specific d

Hugh White – Travelling abroad, Tony Abbott has been saying things very different from what we have heard from him in Australia. There are two ways to interpret this.

Elaine Pearson – Indonesia is an early test for of the new Australian government's foreign policy.

Republika, Jakarta – It was distressing to witness the departure of members of the House of Representatives (DPR) on a haj pilgrimage this year.

Benny Wanda – Ever since West Papua was annexed and colonised by Indonesia in 1969 through a referendum ironically called the Act of Free Choice (we call it the Act of No Choice), my pe

The final verdict on the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, announced on Monday, was not just another puzzling note in our history.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Why are we surprised? The fact that our judiciary is riddled with corruption is a foregone conclusion.

If Australia wants a fair and open relationship with Indonesia, as it should, and if Indonesia seeks the same of this nation, then it is incumbent on both countries to keep a firm eye o

Damien Kingsbury – West Papuan activists are testing Prime Minister Tony Abbott's statements in relation to his asylum-seeker boat turnback policy, that he has "total respect for Indone

Andreas Harsono – On Sept.

Phelim Kine – Delegates to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation ("APEC") CEO summit October 5-7 on Indonesia's island of Bali aren't likely to hear about Eko Mardi Santoso.

Jason McLeod – Despite Prime Minister Tony Abbott's speech insisting that his government will do all they can to prevent West Papuans and their supporters "grandstanding" in support of

With some canny scaling back of his asylum seeker rhetoric and a hardening on West Papua, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has done much to retrieve his first international trip.

Dessy Sagita, Jakarta – As Indonesia's 1965 communist purge is under the spotlight with the screening of "The Act of Killing" across the United States and other parts of the world, the

Max Lane – The systematic political murder of around 1 million people in Indonesia began on 1 October 1965 and lasted around three years.

Elisabeth Kramer – American whistle-blower, Edward Snowden, revealed that Australian intelligence agencies had been tapping the phones of Indonesia's president, the first lady and a sle