Jakarta – The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) has decided to postpone a national bipartite meeting with the country's labor unions supposedly due in June to an unspecified future date.

Apindo secretary-general Djimanto said Thursday said that the association made the decision Wednesday because up to now representatives of labor unions did not have a united front.

Tangerang – Some 500 workers of plywood producer PT Panah Forest Perkasa at Cikupa Mas Industrial Plant continued their strike Wednesday, bringing production to a halt.

The work stoppage, which started Monday morning, is to demand the company – which is located in Cikupa district, Tangerang regency – improve conditions for workers.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – It was a day like any other at the Jakarta Transportation Agency on Wednesday, with public transportation drivers arriving in droves to file complaints.

Dozens of drivers of taxis, minibuses and buses gathered in the office, demanding to be heard.

Cianjur – Administrations of a dilapidated state elementary school in Gunungmanik village are making pupils wear safety helmets during classes – just in case the roof crumbles in.

Jakarta – The second International Conference of Islamic Scholars (ICIS) ended with a call for Muslims living in non-Muslims areas to promote their religion as one of moderation and tolerance.

Jakarta – The courts should severely punish members of radical groups convicted of violent offenses, National Police chief Gen. Sutanto says.

Sutanto, who has been criticized for being too soft on ethnic gangs and religious vigilante groups, said the police had done their utmost to arrest and legally process offenders from these groups.

Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – The government will provide subsidies for farmers engaged in planting palm oil, cacao, rubber and corn in an effort to boost the country's plantation output and create jobs.

Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, Jakarta/Sidoarjo – On Tuesday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla offered soothing words to local residents displaced by a huge industrial accident that has spewed tons of foul-smelling mud into their homes.

Those responsible, he said, would be made to provide compensation at whatever price necessary.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Within hours of his release from prison, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir wasted no time reiterating his jihadi mission.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang – The Human Rights Center of Surabaya's Airlangga University revealed Wednesday that seven cases of gross human rights violations in East Java remain unsettled to date through either the judicial system or the human rights tribunal.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Opposition is mounting against the government's plan to issue a decree reviving the authority of state oversight bodies to handle corruption cases involving officials.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Residents of Jatimulya village in Tangerang regency have complained about dust emanating from a nearby plastic pipe company.

"The dust hangs in the air like fog, from midnight to dawn... We are really worried because some of us are suffering respiratory problems and skin diseases," a resident, Husein, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Jakarta – Unscrupulous officials who fast-track developments without concern for planning laws are favoring big developers over common Indonesians and are choking the productivity of cities, costing the country trillions in lost rupiah, experts say.

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Jakarta – Newly installed Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Adang Firman was right when he pledged that combating thuggery would be a priority during his tenure.

But there are question marks on whether he will have the courage to succeed where his predecessors did not.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Leaders of Nadhlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, the country's two largest Muslim organizations, say they are committed to campaigning for moderate Islam to counter the emergence of militant groups.

Jakarta – Conservative religious leaders are marshaling hard-line Islamic groups to counter the growing public pressure for the government to outlaw organizations that commit violence in the name of religion.

Agus Supritanto, Manado – The productivity of the Indonesian agriculture sector has declined.

Etty Puji Lestari, a member of the Association of Indonesian Economic Graduates (ISEI), has revealed that between 2001 and 2003, a total of 610,596 hectares of productive paddy-fields were turned into housing or used for other activities.

Duncan Graham, Gembol (East Java) – Westerners who have seen concerts or videos featuring Indonesia's top entertainer Inul Daratista wonder what the fuss is all about. The archipelago's No 1 dangdut singer and dancer performs fully dressed – and stays that way.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Empowering moderates to speak up in the increasingly divided Islamic world is essential to promote peace and cultivate interfaith harmony, the chairman of Indonesia's largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama said Tuesday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government's plans to reform military-owned businesses do not sufficiently address the human rights problems fueled by the current system, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The Indonesian military's independent financing undermines civilian control, contributing to abuses of power by the armed forces and impeding reform.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – State higher learning institutes have invited controversy by applying steep admission fees for those who can afford, such as Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) when it sought Rp 45 million (US$5,000) in education development fees from each new student in 2003.

Ken Yunita, Jakarta – The secretary general of Government Watch (Gowa), Andi W Saputra, says that 60 percent of public officials and level II regional heads used false diplomas to get elected.

Most Indonesians consider the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is doing a good job and trust its leadership, according to a quarterly survey by Roy Morgan Research.

Only 40 percent of respondents in the last quarter of 2005 agreed with the statement "I don't trust the current government", and it dipped another percentage point during January-March 2006.

Jakarta – The government will embrace hard-line groups in an effort to persuade them to stop using violence, even though it has already been proven that the groups have broken the law.

Jakarta – The illegal logging that continues unchecked across Indonesia has had a worse impact on human lives than expected, experts say.

The unauthorized practice has caused a massive loss of biodiversity, particularly in Papua, that could have eventually been useful to human lives, said Barnabas Suebu, the recently elected new governor of the resources-rich province.

Jakarta – Delinquent debtors and graft suspects will continue to bribe officials and flee the country with the trillions of rupiah they have stolen unless law enforcement agencies are made to clean up their acts, legal experts say.

ID Nugroho and Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – Residents of the once-peaceful East Java town of Sidoarjo are becoming increasingly agitated about the ongoing flow of hot mud from a gas drilling well.

Tony Hotland and Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla says the government has no option but to take up the new loans offered recently by foreign creditors as it lacks other financing sources to fully cover this year's budgetary needs.

Jakarta – Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) chairman Fadloli El Muhir was charged Friday with defaming women protesters, with police declaring the move showed their intent to curb intimidation by mass organizations.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Plans to soften the capital punishment law and old ordinances on sedition and to replace the one-year jail term with community service are among the most contentious issues in a bill to revise the outdated Criminal Code.

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – A beaming Abu Bakar Bashir walked out of the gates of Cipinang jail yesterday, pledging a renewed campaign to impose sharia law on Indonesia in front of hundreds of chanting devotees.

The United States and Australian governments expressed disappointment and concern at the release of a founder and leader of the terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah.

Jakarta – Legal experts rebuked the central government Thursday for being hesitant to immediately revoke sharia-derived bylaws, which they said clearly flouted higher laws and could cause national disintegration.

Manila – About 300,000 Indonesian survivors were impoverished after a deadly earthquake struck the center of densely populated Java island last month, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) study says.

"The earthquake is estimated to have impoverished an additional 67,000 households and increased the poverty head count ratio by 1.6 percent in the affected areas," the report said.

Chazizah Gusnita, Jakarta – At lease six non-government organisations (NGOs) have declared their full support for 259 PT Securicor Indonesia employees who's future's are now uncertain. This support is necessary because the employees are confronting a large foreign owned company.

Irwan Firdaus, Solo – A militant cleric who served two years in prison for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings described the blasts Thursday as "God's will" and called those who carried out terrorist attacks across Indonesia holy warriors.

With its efforts to combat money laundering becoming increasingly feeble, Indonesia faces the risk of being internationally blacklisted again as a haven for dirty money and a high-risk country for international financial institutions.

Solo – A firebrand Indonesian cleric who served time for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings has reportedly called Islamic extremists "misguided" holy warriors, as Australia's prime minister called for him to be monitored.

It is a place where the usual rules do not apply. Inmates can be held indefinitely, their fate decided without recourse to the accepted legal and administrative processes. No, not the American prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, but Nauru under Australia's revised detention regime for asylum seekers. Even a Government-dominated Senate committee has had no option but to condemn it.

Scott Burchill – The Howard Government's decision to subcontract the processing of asylum seekers to Australia's poorest neighbours is more than simply a dereliction of its sovereign responsibilities.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Journalists Association has condemned a Tuesday attack on a group of journalists by a gang of more than a dozen men in Kutai Kartanegara on Tuesday.

Jakarta – A decision to replace three Anticorruption Court judges after they ruled Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan should testify in a graft trial is unfair and irregular, a lawyer and antigraft activist says.

Three non-career judges, Akhmad Linoh, Dudu Duswara and I Made Hendra Kusuma, have boycotted the graft trial of lawyer Harini Wijoso since May 3.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Calls for the central government to scrap sharia-inspired ordinances adopted in many of the nation's regencies and cities have received a cautious response from top officials.

Home Minister Muhammad Ma'ruf said Wednesday he would first let the country's 33 governors decide whether the bylaws contradicted the Constitution or higher laws.

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Attempts to rehabilitate the reputation of the former Indonesian dictator Soeharto and his family have suffered a further blow, with a botched effort by his ambitious daughter to host nationwide World Cup coverage.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The Jakarta Military Commander's recent remark that the House of Representatives has been infiltrated by sympathizers of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was not politically motivated, Army Chief Gen. Djoko Santoso says.

Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has been released from a Jakarta prison, where he served two years for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings. Bashir is viewed by the West as the spiritual leader of the regional militant network, Jemaah Islamiah. He has now been taken back to his home town of Solo in West Java.

Jakarta – Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid has been reported by conservative clerics to the police for allegedly desecrating the holy Koran.

Robin McDowell, Jakarta – A reputed top leader of an al-Qaida-linked terror group that has been blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and other deadly attacks walked free from prison Wednesday to cries of "God is great" from cheering supporters.

Abu Bakar Bashir, the firebrand Islamic cleric accused of inspiring the first Bali bombings, has walked free from Jakarta's main prison and into the arms of hundreds of jubilant militant supporters.

Lifting his hands in the air an otherwise subdued Bashir muttered "I thank Allah" as he was mobbed by adoring fans, many in black "mujahidin" jackets.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Concerned by the creeping Islamization of the country's secular state, 56 national legislators are urging President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to abolish sharia-based bylaws already in place or risk the country's disintegration.