The Socialist Alliance calls on the federal Coalition government and the ALP opposition to learn the lesson of East Timor in relation to West Papua.

Joseph Nevins, New York – The logic of reparations for war-related crimes has a long history.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia has scored a major victory in the war on corruption after the return to the country of a crooked banker who fled before being sentenced in absentia to e

The government submitted the final draft of its Aceh government bill to the House of Representatives on Thursday, a major step following the historic peace agreement signed in Helsinki

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Brussels, Helsinki – A reception on Jan.

Infrastructure development can be dilemmatic at times.

Aguswandi, Banda Aceh – The fundamental problem facing Muslims and others seeking to understand Islam is not that there are too many versions of Islam.

Australia's enthusiastic embrace of Indonesian democracy overlooks the bleak truth that sweeping political reforms in Jakarta falter when powerful vested interests stand in the way.

Sian Powell's exclusive report on atrocities against the people of East Timor during the 24 years of Indonesian occupation, published in The Australianyesterday, was grim reading, detai

Throughout history there are examples of relatively minor incidents having far-reaching consequences.

An American teacher has survived a traumatic experience in Papua in which her husband was killed, and has returned here in a bid to speed up the search for justice for herself and the o

The welcome resolution of East Timor's dispute with Australia over oil and gas revenue from the Timor Sea means about $150,000 for every man, woman and child in the recently independent

As reported in this paper, hundreds of containers containing goods meant for Aceh tsunami survivors have been languishing in Indonesian ports for at least nine months.

The current furor over rice imports flared up when late last year the trade minister gave clearance to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to import over 70,000 tons of rice to supplemen

Olle Tornquist, Oslo – Donors often say that the major obstacle in the post-tsunami relief and reconstruction work is poor co-ordination of the organizations involved.

Freeport-McMoRan, an American company that operates a giant open-pit copper and gold mine in Papua, is a major contributor to Indonesia's economy.

For thousands of East Java residents, the new year had a nightmarish beginning. Like a thief in the night, flash floods and landslides rudely awoke residents late on Sunday night.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Despite the precious little progress the Indonesian Military (TNI) has achieved in the area of internal reform, it has does have something to be proud this year

Sometimes, it's the little things that count.

Gary Brown – One can only boggle at the folly of the Federal Government's decision to resume co-operation with the Indonesian Special Forces unit, Kopassus.

Tom Benedetti, Vancouver – The attention that the tsunami brought to the previously overlooked conflict in the Indonesian province of Aceh is contributing to an end to three decades of

The first phase of the Aceh peace agreement ended pretty much on schedule before the turn of the year. The Indonesian Military (TNI) withdrew the last of its non-local troops.

This time last year, we ended 2004 on an extremely subdued note.

Lisabona Rahman and Paul F.

John McBeth – It was five years ago.

In one tsunami-devastated area of Aceh, a visitor asked a medical team, "Where are the midwives?" There were none, while only a few weeks after last December's tragedy, an official with

The murderer of Munir has been found guilty. Pending his appeal, Pollycarpus B.

Jeff Kingston – The legacies of Indonesia's brutal occupation of East Timor from 1975 to 1999 – when there were at least 102,800 conflict-related deaths – remain divisive in this small,

John McBeth – The commission formed to investigate human rights abuses during Indonesia's bloody 25-year occupation of the former East Timor, now Timor Leste, has just issued its report

The reports coming out of Papua about a famine that has taken the lives of 55 people since November punctuate the suffering of a country still reeling from the recent fuel price increas

Adirito de Jesus Soares, Dili – This week marks the 30th anniversary of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, with the people of East Timor organizing different activities to commemora

Olivia Ward – West Papua is one of the world's most obscure territories, a rain-forested land that is little known except for its exotic beauty.

Human rights have become part of the daily vocabulary of people at all levels of society.

James Dunn – The 30th anniversary of the invasion of Dili by a large Indonesian force, is a time for sober reflection in Australia as well as in East Timor.

Makmur Keliat, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has relied on three popular arguments to convince the people that the increases in the fuel prices were the right decision.

Richard LLoyd Parry Blog – It is a law of guerrilla wars that they are morally murky affairs, in which it is impossible to separate right from wrong or to sympathise unconditionally wit

This nation is learning – the tough way – the hard lessons of democracy.

Britain, a former foreign secretary once declared, had no permanent allies, only permanent interests.

The United States' decision to restore military ties with Indonesia does more than draw a line under past human rights abuses in East Timor.

Importing rice, like raising fuel prices, is always politically controversial.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, The Hague – A Dutch study on Papua, charged with political implications for Indonesia, has been greeted with rejoicing by many Papuans, and led to controversy in th

A perusal of the backgrounds of the suicide bombers who wrecked havoc in Bali on Oct. 1 can serve to tell us a lot about why there seems to be no shortage of terrorists.

Imam Cahyono, Jakarta – The image of the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) as a clean party committed to good governance with empathy for ordinary people was clear in the resu

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Amsterdam – Conventional wisdom about what happened in Indonesia during the second half of the 1960s generally held leading Army officers, in collaboration with som

Local soap star Anjasmara is naked! And it's an Adam and Eve installation! Is it art or pornography?

The 42 members of the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) were installed on Oct. 31, 2005, in Jayapura, capital of the easternmost province of Papua.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Langsa, Aceh – A new chapter has begun for the region along the southeastern coast of Aceh, a district with a tumultuous past, which has long been the bastion of pr

Enrico Aditjondro – As it turns out, Jose Ramos-Horta has not forgotten about West Papua.

[The following Aceh backgrounder was prepared by the Australian solidarity organisation Asia Pacific Solidarity Network (APSN) to provide an background to the three-decade conflict i

Barbaric!