Elisia Yeo, Bantul – The United Nations warned that tens of thousands of Indonesia quake survivors still desperately needed shelter as new aftershocks frightened jittery residents.

A. Junaidi, Jakarta – "There is no point of return" is probably a perfect phrase to describe the spirit of human rights activist Ester Indahyani Jusuf in investigating mass killings in the country.

"We will continue to uncover the alleged mass killings even though people have started to forget the cases," Ester said in an interview with The Jakarta Post recently.

Endang Purwanti, Jakarta – An Ad Hoc Team from the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) is currently searching for 13 pro-democracy activists that disappeared between 1997 and 1998.

Elisia Yeo, Bantul – The United Nations says it is in a race against time to help survivors still struggling to get food, shelter and urgent medical care one week after the Indonesian earthquake.

Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) plans to summon all the debtors to the Bank Indonesia's Liquidity Support Scheme (BLBI) to ensure they pay back their debts by the government's December deadline.

It also plans to arrest one of the debtors who is wanted for a lending scam worth trillions of rupiah.

Jakarta/Bandung – The much-maligned Pancasila state ideology, now championed as the cure-all for societal conflicts, should not be returned to its once sacrosanct status in society, political experts say.

Ridarson Galingging, Chicago – The challenge ahead for the newly-reelected chief of the Indonesian Supreme Court Bagir Manan will not just be fighting corruption among judges, but also making the country's highest judicial body a forum for reviewing sharia-based bylaws that are not compatible with international human rights.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Sixty-five percent of people in a recent survey think the government was wrong in abandoning its prosecution of former president Soeharto for graft.

Palembang – Many poor residents have not been listed to receive the monthly cash assistance from the government although a reevaluation of poor families to be registered in the social welfare program has been conducted.

"We are included in the poor category because we have no jobs and we live in a slum," Dedi, a Lima Ulu subdistrict resident, told Antara on Thursday.

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – A group of activists began circulating a petition Thursday seeking nationwide support to preserve Indonesia's diversity and to fight back against growing intolerance that they warn could tear the nation apart.

Jakarta – Indonesia and the United States will discuss ways to improve military ties during a visit by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Indonesia's foreign minister said Friday.

Rumsfeld is to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Indonesia's defense and foreign ministers during his two-day visit, which begins Tuesday.

Jakarta – The persistent weakness in Indonesia's economy has resulted in open unemployment remaining stubbornly high, with the number of people out of work in February compared to the same month last year staying unchanged at more than 10 percent of the workforce.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A breakaway faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has officially registered as the country's 28th political party, a move that the faction's supporters say will spell doom for the PDI-P.

Elisia Yeo, Bantul – As thousands of Indonesian earthquake survivors held their first Friday prayers since the disaster, the United Nations warned the relief effort could take up to six months.

Jakarta – Pro-democracy supporters and scholars are urging the upholding of the founding Pancasila state ideology to thwart hardline religious groups attempting to impose a monotheistic belief system.

Jakarta – Activists and academics have condemned the government's plan to spare state officials from prosecution if their policies are judged "erroneous", saying the regulation would only hinder the fight against graft.

Chris Brummitt, Bantul – Medicines, rice, water and tarps were delivered to Indonesia's earthquake disaster zone Wednesday to help about 650,000 displaced people, but many said the international aid was taking too long to get there.

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – When the suggestion was made that Indonesia needs to restore Pancasila to its proper place as the unifying national ideology, many people reacted with skepticism or even downright cynicism.

Jakarta – Governor Sutiyoso arrived back in the city Tuesday, from a day trip to Yogyakarta, to face allegations the administration misappropriated Rp 1.56 trillion (US$166 million) from the 2005 provincial budget.

"I'm asking the council not to make any statements that will cause a stir. I'm afraid the public will think we really have embezzled the money," he said.

Jakarta – The debate over whether to protect the country's forests or promote investment in the mining sector has reemerged, with mining firms now up in arms over Forestry Ministry guidelines that they claim are hampering their operations.

Ridwan Max Sijabat/Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The government is insisting on classifying Saturday's deadly earthquake in Yogyakarta and Central Java as a local disaster, despite calls for it to be declared a national disaster and complaints about poorly coordinated aid efforts.

Yogyakarta – Indonesian officials defended the earthquake relief operation under way in central Java, amid complaints from local residents that aid has been slow to arrive.

Chris Brummitt, Bantul – US Marines joined an international effort to deliver aid and medical care to nearly 650,000 Indonesians displaced by a devastating earthquake, as hopes faded of finding more survivors.

Jakarta – Some 300 people from several labor organizations staged a rally Tuesday in front of Jakarta Police Headquarters, demanding the release of eight workers who were detained following an ugly demonstration on May 3.

Rally coordinator Ilham Syah said the eight were not guilty of damaging public property as charged.

The entire country and the world have once again reacted with solidarity following another natural disaster here, this time the magnitude 5.9 earthquake that devastated Indonesia's densely populated Yogyakarta and parts of Central Java last Saturday.

Riyadi Suparno, Tokyo – The World Bank, a strong advocate of private sector investment in infrastructure, is now calling on governments around the world to increase their investment in infrastructure, noting that private sector investment in the sector can never be enough and has often brought about an unintended consequence: the victimizing of the poor.

Sri Wahyuni and Blontank Poer, Bantul/Jakarta/Klaten Homeless survivors of Saturday's earthquake resorted to desperate measures Monday amid a dearth of assistance, with some camping out in a cattle shed and others begging for food from passersby.

Ian Timberlake, Bantul – Desperate Indonesian quake survivors were still waiting for aid despite pledges help would come fast, as the rising activity of a nearby volcano fuelled fears of an eruption.

Jakarta – In the wake of the tragedy in Yogyakarta, in which thousands died in collapsed houses and buildings, experts warned that earthquake-resistant construction standards must be strengthened to prevent future disasters.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – A coalition of non-governmental organizations demanded Sunday the House of Representatives draft a regulation that would outlaw all types of discrimination.

Tangerang – The Tangerang Saviors Front (FPT), a paramilitary group, became involved in a brawl with locals late Saturday night after protesting the presence of nightclubs in the Pinangsia commercial complex in Karawaci, Tangerang.

The FPT demanded the clubs be closed, in accordance with a controversial local bylaw banning prostitution and the sale of alcoholic drinks.

Ponorogo – The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has issued an edict demanding the government and House of Representatives pass a controversial pornography bill into law.

"We ulemas agree Indonesia must have an antipornography law... With us, there is no negotiation on this point," said Ma'ruf Amin, chairman of the MUI's fatwa commission.

Jakarta – The death toll from Saturday's earthquake had reached more than 4,600 as of late Sunday, as rescue workers continued to search for survivors.

Television reports of disasters in the country now come with melancholy tunes, most notably the ballads of Ebiet G. Ade. Since the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Aceh, his song Berita kepada Kawan (News to a friend) seems to have become the official theme song for tragedies.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Illegal loggers in Lampung have cleared tens of thousands of hectares of mangrove forests, the green belt along Sumatra's eastern coast.

Margie Mason, Kubu Simbelang – The three brick-and-clapboard houses stand along the village's muddy dirt road, empty and forlorn. A naked light bulb hangs from a wire over one door, still burning. A white pet bird cries for food from its cage. But no one dares to go near.

Jakarta – About 50 people from North Sumatra's Karo regency living in Greater Jakarta staged a peaceful rally near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle Saturday, protesting the government's decision to name Karo a bird flu affected area.

Jakarta – Amid criticism for his alleged failure to take action, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed concern about the growth of militias who glorify violence in the name of religion or ethnicity.

Jakarta – Experts have criticized a plan by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to form a new working unit to help address the country's economic problems and improve the investment climate, saying the only thing the business community needed was a concrete and unified economic policy.

Yogyakarta – Nothing remains of Cabean hamlet in Sumbermulyo village, Bantul regency. The only sign that it was a thriving community of farmers is the mosque, which now serves as a mortuary.

The simple wooden homes of the hamlet lay scattered across the ground, alongside the bodies of their owners.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A labor union has accused senior officials at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry of misusing Rp 30 billion (about US$3.3 million) in funds earmarked for the severance pay of workers with oil and gas companies.

Jakarta – Fashion products have not bounced back from the fuel price increase in October last year, causing earnings from clothing and shoes to decline by 40 percent since January.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The House special committee on the pornography bill will rework its draft to focus on curbing the prevalence of obscene materials, a development that brings the heated discussion about its contents back to square one.

Jakarta – Unlike Soeharto's many VIP guests whose hospital visits have been covered by television stations, the 20 people attempting to visit the ailing former dictator Friday morning might have gone unnoticed if not for the floral display they carried.

A look at some deadly earthquakes in Indonesia since 2000:

Indra Harsaputra, Ponorogo – The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) on Friday proscribed any movements, either by individuals, groups of people, institutions or organizations, that threaten national unity.

The decree was one of several decisions taken during a meeting of ulema from across the country at the Gontor Muslim boardinghouse in Ponorogo, East Java.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and ID Nugroho, Jakarta/Jember – Hundreds of supporters of Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid rallied Friday to demand the government disband the militant Islam Defenders Front (FPI), who disrupted an appearance by the former president at an interfaith meeting this week.

Jakarta – Religious leaders from the country's major Muslim organizations and activists have demanded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono crack down on extremist groups that commit violent acts in the name of religion.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – For more than 40 years, Hariyanto has been judged by his ethnicity.

During the anti-communist pogrom in the mid-1960s, the native of Tanah Abang was accused of being a communist simply because he was a Chinese Indonesian. Even today, his religion, Taoism, is constantly confused with Confucianism and his ID card says he is a Buddhist.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The government will maintain references to religions on identity cards for the time being, the home minister says.

"There has never been a plan to drop religions from ID cards," M. Ma'ruf told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a House of Representatives hearing Thursday.