The Islam Defenders Front (FPI), which recently attacked Playboy Indonesia's office to press the magazine to stop publishing, may fit the stereotype of Islam in the West: anarchistic, undemocratic and full of anger. Its presence here, a democratic, secular country led by moderate Muslims, has caused problems. The Jakarta Post asked some people to comment on the issue.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The on-again, off-again legal saga of former president Soeharto may be back on track, although Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh kept mum Monday on "alternative" approaches to bringing the octogenarian to court.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has named Maj. Gen. Erwin Sujono the new commander of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), replacing Lt. Gen. Hadi Waluyo who is entering the mandatory retirement age of 55.

East Tanjungjabung, Jambi – The high price of diesel fuel is making life hard for fishermen in Ujungjabung, Jambi.

Muchtar of Sungiitik village in East Tanjungjabung regency said the 30 kilograms of fish caught on his last trip did not cover his operational costs. "The fish can only be sold for Rp 6,500 (72 US cents) a kg," he said.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – More Christian places of worship have been vandalized or forcibly closed by local Muslims because they have failed to meet the requirements of a controversial ministerial decree. Critics of the 2006 Decree on Places of Worship say the incidents only show the regulation is causing more violence than it is preventing.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Up in arms over a government proposal to amend the national labor law, Indonesia's powerful unions have threatened to stage a nationwide general strike next Monday that could cast another dark cloud over the country's already dimming investment environment.

Jakarta – The head of the Jakarta metropolitan police General Firman Gani and the Jakarta military commander Major General Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo have warned workers to be careful during the protests planned for May 1.

Dita Indah Sari – The uproar over the planned revisions to the labour law has yet to subside. The character and process of the next round of deliberations of the revisions, which were agreed to in a meeting at the State Palace on April 7, have also been criticise by labour organisations.

Former dictator Suharto has made yet another public appearance in good health, prompting renewed calls that he be put on trial for corruption. But his doctors and lawyers still insist he remains irreversibly brain damaged and incapable of normal conversation.

Bogor – Dozens of youths, grouped under the nationalist youth group Pemuda Panca Marga, distributed hundreds of pamphlets Saturday to passersby and placed banners around Sempur soccer field and near Kujang Monument after graffiti of the hammer and sickle – the symbols of communism – was seen on several trash cans.

Jakarta – Painting an ominous picture of religious intolerance and national disintegration, a group of activists and intellectuals warned Saturday that Muslim hard-liners threatened to hijack the country's hard-won unity.

Lisabona Rahman, Jakarta – A group of elementary schoolchildren carefully take notes as a guide takes them around Lubang Buaya (Crocodile's lair), a monument for the seven army officers killed in a failed coup presumably carried out by the Communist Party (PKI) in 1965.

Jakarta – Hundreds of activists, artists and cultural communities – decked out in colorful garb – bedazzled passersby and spectators along the city's main thoroughfares Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta and Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta in a peaceful protest against the endorsement of the pornography bill.

Jakarta – Dress smart if you want to convince the bank manager you deserve a loan. But for businesswomen, they should also bring their husbands along.

"Bank people tend to underestimate women. When I first tried to apply for a loan for my own business – not my husband's – the banker doubted my ability to do business.

Jakarta – Thousands of people from various cultural groups rallied Saturday against the implementation of Indonesia's much- debated obscenity law.

Marching peacefully under the theme of Alliance of Unity in Diversity, the protesters included the wife of Yogyakarta's sultan and the wife of former president Abdurrahman Wahid.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – The landmark year 1998, with the bloody May riots, the mass rape of Chinese-Indonesian women and the fall of the Soeharto regime after 32 years of authoritarian rule, was a tumultuous turning point for social movements in the country.

Indraswari, Bandung – According to Indonesia's Demographic and Health Survey, in 2002 the maternal mortality rate (MMR) was 307/100,000, meaning that for every 100,000 births, 307 mothers died from maternity-related causes.

Gary LaMoshi – The debut of Playboy Indonesia this month unfolded predictably. The magazine flew off the shelves despite its premium price of Rp39,000 (US$4.35). Religious leaders condemned the publication as immoral, despite its total lack of pictures of naked women.

Rendi Akhmad Witular and Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The Indonesian economy remains exposed to possible slower economic growth this year as government spending, which plays a key role in fueling the economy, continues to fall far behind schedule.

If there was one thing John Howard wanted as Prime Minister it was to differentiate himself from his Labor predecessor, Paul Keating. Ten years later, Mr Howard finds himself accused of kowtowing to Indonesia over Papua.

Bogor – Cement producer PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa is allowing workers at its factory in Citeureup to take part in nationwide demonstrations planned for May 1.

Human resources director Iwa Kartiwa said Wednesday the workers would protest the proposed revision of the Labor Law.

Jakarta – Government interference in the media did not end with the fall of the Soeharto regime in 1998, academics and journalists said Wednesday.

Jakarta – The crop of bylaws on sex and morality, which have been enforced by several regencies and municipalities, are unconstitutional, gender-biased and threaten to splinter the country, experts warn.

Kenneth Davidson – The Government is playing with the lives of West Papuans. Australia's foreign policy establishment seems incapable of learning from recent history. Australia is following the old East Timor policy of appeasement on West Papua.

Jakarta – "I have no religion, but I believe in God," said Lia Eden on Wednesday, the first day of her blasphemy trial at the Central Jakarta District Court.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) continues to maintain its weapons purchases have been completely legitimate, despite claims of one of the parties under investigation in a massive arms smuggling operation that it filled orders exclusively for the military.

Were it not for the corruption-infested public procurement system and the potential conflicts of interest of several members of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Cabinet, the proposed crash program to build several coal-fired power plants with a total capacity of 10,000 megawatts within the next three years would not have set off such a heated controversy.

Australia's relations with Indonesia are at their lowest ebb since East Timor. The granting of temporary protection visas to 42 asylum seekers from Papua has outraged the central government in Jakarta, which fears that this is the first step towards an Australian-led push for independence for the restive province.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Ten major trade unions renewed their opposition Tuesday to the government's plan to revise the 2003 Labor Law.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – The government claimed success Tuesday in its war on illegal logging, saying that a recent clampdown on the industry had cut national deforestation by up to 70 percent during the past year.

However, an environmentalist doubted the government's claims and said there was evidence illegal logging in many areas was continuing unchecked.

Theresia Sufa – Five hammer-and-sickle emblems spray painted on rubbish bins around Sempur soccer field, Bogor, had officials beating the drums of war against communism Tuesday.

Death row Bali bomber Amrozi proved he had lost none of his chilling bravado and humour despite being near execution as he made a rare court appearance to testify for radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.

Rendi Akhmad Witular And Tony Hotland, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has warned policymakers not to jettison the public interest in favor of the interests of their relatives, ethic groups or associates when formulating development plans and policies.

Tangerang – Some 500 residents blocked Jl. Ciater Raya in Bumi Serpong Damai on Monday morning to protest being forced off their land.

Their eviction from some 9,880 square meters of land in Rawa Mekar subdistrict, Serpong district, Tangerang, was scheduled for later that day.

The steep fuel price hike during the last quarter of 2005 severely dented consumer confidence, with 40 percent of Indonesians surveyed back then saying that they were worse off than a year ago.

The results of the survey, conducted by PT Roy Morgan Research, were released over the weekend.

Ken Yunita, Jakarta – The appearance of Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) paraphernalia and symbols is natural and can be understood because the Constitutional Court has already declared that former PKI members have the right to participate in the 2009 elections.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – To curb the destruction of the remaining natural forests in Papua, a coalition of environmental groups has reiterated its call for the government to halt all logging activities in the resource-rich province.

Playboy Indonesia has had a rough beginning in the country. Long before the printing of its first edition, it had already sparked protests from political youth groups and Muslim organizations. A day after its first edition, the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) attacked the magazine's editorial office in South Jakarta. The Jakarta Post talked to some people about the issue.

When is Australia not Australia? When Papuans want to land on it. The Howard Government is planning yet another contortion of the immigration laws and refugee treaties.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Hundreds of non-governmental organizations and labor advocacy groups accuse Indonesia and Malaysia of ignoring fundamental rights in a draft of a memorandum of understanding on workers due to be signed in May.

Ruslan Sangaji, Palu – Fabianus Tibo, one of three men on death row for their roles in the attacks that killed some 200 Muslims six years ago in Poso, Central Sulawesi, has accused the Synod Council of the Central Sulawesi Christian Church (GKST) of involvement in the violence.

Jakarta – Her chores are done and Tina is waiting for her husband to come home to their makeshift shack under Matraman overpass in Central Jakarta. She is not alone.

Damien Kingsbury – The diplomatic row between Australia and Indonesia has highlighted the increasingly critical situation in the already troubled territory of Papua. As events develop, the future of Papua looks less clear than at any time since Indonesia moved into the former Dutch territory in 1963.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and ID Nugroho, Jakarta/Pacitan – Vice President Jusuf Kalla called on workers Thursday to cancel a plan to hold a national May Day strike. Kalla said workers' concerns about the planned revision of the Labor Law were being heard.

Roy Tupai – World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, who served as US ambassador to Indonesia from 1986-89 and more recently as hawkish deputy defense secretary, has been back in town this month, extolling the need for good governance, supremacy of the law and anti-corruption strategies.

Roy Tupai – A human rights group has criticized the US government for inviting the chief of the Indonesian Army's elite Special Forces (Kopassus) to a recent regional military conference aimed at combating terrorism.

Jakarta – More than 25 percent of the natural forests in Papua have been sold in concessions to timber firms exporting to Japan, the US, the European Union and China, said the director of Greenpeace in Southeast Asia, Emmy Hafild, on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia and the United States will restore their joint military training programs, especially for elite forces, after they were halted due to the US military embargo imposed on Indonesia for alleged gross human right violation in East Timor in 1999, an Indonesian military official said.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Barflies and ladies' men of Tangerang regency had best live it up while they can.

The regency is considering adopting the ordinances on prostitution and the sale of alcoholic drinks that were set forth in Tangerang municipality last year.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The government, in another effort to improve the country's investment climate, has completed a new bill prohibiting regions from arbitrarily imposing local taxes.