Vincent Paunovic – A country under siege for decades, Timor-Leste has more than its fair share of challenges as it seeks to develop, recover and move forward after decades of struggle u

In the far-east of Timor-Leste, where the road narrows to one lane overhung with vegetation, where crocodiles still lurk in the rivers, and where freedom fighters were born, lies Lospalos.

Paulina Quintao – The Alola Foundation has called on women's weaving groups to preserve and maintain the originality of tais traditions as part of the country's identity.

Jakarta – The Ministry of Education and Culture's Head of Language Development Agency, Dadang Sunendar, has said that 139 ethnic languages in Indonesia are at risk of falling out of use.

It would be an "irreversible national scandal" if Australia allowed Indonesian studies to cease in this country, the federal shadow treasurer warns.The language is on track for extincti

Bengkulu, Jubi – Two Papuan indigenous languages, Saponi and Mapia, are among 14 Indonesian tongues that have gone extinct.

Paulina Quintao – The Alola Foundation (FA) is urging the Timorese government to create regulation that will protect the originality of the Tais (traditional cloth) of Timor, including motifs used

Martinha Gusmao – The Education Ministry, through the National University of Timor Lorosa'e, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Portugal's University of Coimbra committing th

Jakarta – A group of artists from the Indonesian Arts Coalition has criticized a draft bill on culture that is currently being legislated by the House of Representatives.

Paulina Quintao – The Monitoring and Advocacy Officer for Programs at the Timor-Leste Coalition for Education (TLCE), Joao Soares R.

Gerald W.

The KNPB (West Papua National Committee) and PNWP (West Papua National Parliament) will march through the streets of West Papua on August 15th on a Papuan cultural parade in support of

Brendan Brady, Dili – The sleeves of his button-down shirt rolled up, standing on an open-air stage before an audience of hundreds, the man read his poems with dramatic pauses, varied i

Jakarta – Only 10 percent of the nation's local languages will survive by the end of the century, according to a researcher.

Banjir Ambarita – An Indonesian soldier was killed in an ambush at Puncak Jaya district in Papua on Thursday.

Jakarta – The Java and Lampung chapters of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) have issued a fatwa that debus, the Banten traditional martial art, is haram or forbidden under Islamic law

Dili – The Secretary General of Fretilin and former Prime Minister of East Timor, Mari Alkatiri, said today in Dili that there are "attacks" against Portuguese as official language in T

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Indonesia's verbal traditions are endangered because of the country's negligence in preserving the heritage amid streams of contemporary culture, the Associati

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandar Lampung – Hundreds of the country's 746 local languages will disappear forever unless the central and local governments work together to preserve them, a sympos

Jakarta – The year was 1928 when young nationalists declared the Youth Pledge, which included a call for a national language, Bahasa Indonesia.

Jakarta – For many young people, more accustomed to slangy speech, having to revert to formal Bahasa Indonesia can be a daunting task, if not altogether impossible.

Dili – The rumble of a generator and the whir of ceiling fans muffled the quiet words of a judge as he questioned a witness in a murder trial one recent hot, still afternoon.

Sebastien Blanc, Dili – With a new president and parliament, East Timor is poised for reconciliation after more than a year of simmering political tension.

Jakarta – Aware that the Indonesian language is spoken by most people in Timor Leste, the country's government has decided to make the Indonesian language, or Bahasa Indonesia, its work

Jakarta – The Indonesian government was grateful and delighted with the use of Bahasa Indonesia as one of the official languages in neighboring Timor-Leste, President Susilo Bambang Yud

Ahmad Pathoni, Dili – Portuguese is one of the two official languages in East Timor, but you can hardly hear it spoken in the streets of the young nation.

Abdul Khalik, Dili – Opening his math book, Manuel da Silva, 17, discovered he had something to clarify before he could finish the homework his teacher had given him.

Mustafa Moses, Jakarta – A hundred out of 600 regional languages in various Indonesian dialects are threatened with extinction.

Dili – "Lia Foun", East Timor's first fully bilingual newspaper, hit the streets Friday, with the weekly's director forecasting it will underline the importance of Portuguese to the cou

Lisbon – East Timor's religious leader, Catholic Bishop Basilio do Nascimento, is optimistic over efforts, backed by Portugal, to re-introduce the use of Portuguese in his newly indepen

Two years after independence, the people of East Timor are trying to sort out the muddle of languages that is a legacy of the country's complicated history and politics.

The various languages of East Timor speak of the history of the place, but in the present they are the topic of fierce debate.

Lisbon – Portugal will continue to support the reconstruction East Timor, "particularly in the areas of education and the promulgation of the Portuguese language", a senior Lisbon offic

Dennis Schulz and Fernando de Freitas report – Opposite the clerk in the Government's Office of Foreign Affairs, Maria Gutierrez stares blankly at the official application, mouth agape.

Several members of East Timor's parliament called Thursday for proposed legislation to be translated into Tetum, as Portuguese is not understood by all of the 88-member assembly.

Pandaya, Dili – There is a tragicomedy taking place in the East Timor's elementary schools.

Michael Richardson, Uotolari – Paradoxically, the neat figure of the Reverend Damianus Wagur seated behind a school desk in his office epitomizes the complexity of East Timor's recent h

Chris Brummitt, Dili – Children in East Timor are having trouble getting their tongues around their new official language.

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

Dili – East Timor's fledgling lawmaking body on Tuesday adopted the tongues of both their native ancestors and Portuguese colonisers as the official languages of the world's newest nati

The Deputy President of the Dili District Court Rui Pereira dos Santoas stressed that the Timor Lorosae Judiciary will continue using Bahasa Indonesia and Tetun in all proceedings for a

Mark Dodd, Dili – East Timor's Cabinet member for foreign affairs, Mr Jose Ramos Horta, has blasted the United Nations mission in Dili for obstructing the implementation of Portuguese a

East Timor's transitional government on Thursday moved forward with a controversial plan to adopt Portuguese as the country's official language by announcing it would recruit 723 Portug

The secretary-general of the Socialist Party of Timor (PST) Avelinho Coelho said Tuesday if the party gets majority seats in the 30 August election it will make Tetun the national langu

Seth Mydans, Dili – There is not much question about the language of commerce here as East Timor begins to define itself as a nation.