Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Stop by Floor M of the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry on Jl. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta to witness a finely honed bureaucratic process in full working order.

Kupang – Activists have urged East Nusa Tenggara provincial council to drop plans to spend Rp 16 billion (US$1.7 million) on renovating the council building.

Jakarta – Robust demand for Indonesia's crude palm oil (CPO) and rubber helped push up the country's total exports for the first two months of the year by nearly 19 percent from the same period last year, offsetting a drop of more than 10 percent in oil and gas exports in February.

Jakarta – Defying the stance taken by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leaders, moderate young activists from the nation's biggest Muslim organization say they oppose the controversial pornography bill.

Grouped in the NU Youth Forum, the activists said the House of Representatives should address issues more urgent than the much-debated legislation.

Some people following the case of the three Christians awaiting execution for their alleged involvement in the Poso violence in 2000 have no doubt recalled the movie In the Name of the Father, based on the real-life story of the Guildford Four, who were wrongly convicted for an IRA bombing.

The late Adam Malik, long Indonesia's foreign minister and later vice-president, was called the "kancil" after the mousedeer which, in his country's folktales, uses cunning and humour against bigger predators. In one story Mr Malik's admirers used to tell – not one found in illustrated children's books – the mousedeer evades a tiger by running into a hollow log.

Ruslan Sangadji and Yemris Fointuna, Palu/Kupang – Two of three men on death row in Poso, Central Sulawesi, told police Monday they were advised by their legal counsel not to reveal the names of 16 men who masterminded a wave of sectarian violence.

Jakarta – Residents of a village in Rawakalong, Depok, have filed a lawsuit against a textile factory, saying their wells are filling up with diesel fuel from its leaking pipes.

Jakarta – Thousands of village heads from around the country staged a street rally in Jakarta on Monday to push for better pay.

Damien Kingsbury, Melbourne – In asking the question, is Papua in danger of becoming another East Timor, Ahmad Qisa'i does little more than highlight a number of misunderstandings about East Timor, Papua and Australia (Jakarta Post, March 29).

Jakarta – Two men who participated for nearly a month in a hunger strike protesting the installation of super high voltage towers ended their fast on Saturday.

Rasjad bin Casmin, 42, and Tarjono bin Carman, 36, residents of Brebes, Central Java, agreed to return to their hometown after being visited by their village chief.

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – Prosecutors insisted Sunday the death sentence for three men convicted for their role in the sectarian conflict in Poso, Central Sulawesi, would be carried out soon despite mounting calls for a stay of execution.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – As many as 393,952 people in Lampung, or 8.5 percent of the population over the age of 15, cannot read or write, recent data from the province indicates.

Jakarta – Social study centers and an NGO focusing on labor rights have proposed the government focuses on reforming the bureaucratic system with its legal and "illegal" taxes rather than reducing labor rights.

Depok – Employees of electronics manufacturer PT Sanyo Jaya Components Indonesia returned to work Friday after a two-day strike.

"The company agreed to give us a raise," said an executive of the workers union, Iswan Abdullah, as quoted by Tempointeraktif.

The work stoppage was in response to the delay of a Jan. 1 pay rise.

Jim Lobe, Washington – Moving with unusual speed, the administration of US President George W Bush officially normalized military relations with Indonesia on Wednesday when the State Department posted a formal notice permitting the sale of lethal military equipment to Jakarta for the first time in seven years.

Denpasar – Legendary dangdut singer Rhoma Irama and others intent on beefing up the moral fiber of Indonesian society would probably have been scandalized by Friday's spectacle in downtown Denpasar.

Julia Suryakusuma and Tim Lindsey, Jakarta – Reformasi promised to unravel the New Order and its legacy of state control, social repression and intermittent violence. One of the key mechanisms for this was, of course, decentralization and the grant to the regions of various levels of autonomy.

Jakarta – Indonesia's slow bureaucratic processes once again appear to be preventing an industry from achieving its full potential in the global market.

The announcement during British Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit to Indonesia yesterday that the two countries plan to strengthen military and anti-terror ties is a blow to Indonesian democracy and human rights, says TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which has been by far the most vocal party in its opposition to the pornography bill, is proposing revisions to the bill if pressure to drop the bill fails.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The manpower and transmigration minister has appealed to workers not to stage massive strikes throughout the country to protest a draft labor law, which unions say will drastically reduce employee pay and conditions.

Erman Suparno said Wednesday the draft bill currently before the House of Representatives had yet to be finalized.

Jakarta – Indonesia's economy may grow more slowly this year than in 2005 as private investment remains sluggish and only likely to pick up during the second half of 2006, the World Bank said in a report released Thursday.

Michael Vatikiotis, Singapore – It was a potentially sticky situation. There was Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda standing beside Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, on her recent visit to Jakarta, and the subject was Iran. The reporter asked: "Do you think the idea of an eventual Iranian nuclear bomb is inevitable?"

Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – British Prime Minister Tony Blair signalled on Thursday that London would normalise its defence ties with Indonesia, saying in Jakarta that the two countries were entering a "new relationship".

David Manne is a refugee advocate who has been a fierce critic of Australia's harsh policies towards asylum-seekers, someone the Howard Government would have dismissed not so long ago as a usual suspect.

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – Four suspects in an attack on an exploration camp run by US mining giant Newmont in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, are being treated at separate hospitals after being shot by police Sunday after they resisted arrest, police said Tuesday.

Jakarta – About 100 Indonesian Muslim hardliners staged a protest outside the British embassy on Wednesday ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Tony Blair to the world's most populous Islamic nation.

Jakarta – The revision of the labor law is vital to provide a more stable labor system that would lead to more jobs from the expected inflow of labor-intensive investment, an employers' group says.

Jakarta – The Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that a law requiring migrant workers to have a minimum junior high school diploma qualification was against the law.

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) denounced today's formal notice that the Department of State will consider provision of lethal military equipment to Indonesia. ETAN called it a major step undermining military reform and justice for the people of Indonesia and East Timor.

Jakarta – Greenpeace Wednesday called on the leaders of Indonesia and Britain to adopt laws to help halt the destruction of Indonesia's last ancient forests, ahead of the arrival of Tony Blair for a one-day visit.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Legal experts have slammed the government for not taking legal action against PT Freeport Indonesia over its alleged violations of the country's environmental laws.

Richard Chauvel – Indonesia's extreme sensitivity and depth of feeling about Papua is reflected in its decision to recall its ambassador.

Papua's economic importance to Indonesia is symbolised by the controversial Freeport gold and copper mine, which is Indonesia's largest corporate taxpayer, worth $US1.2 billion ($1.7 billion) last year.

Budiriza, Jakarta – Indonesian Police Chief, Sutanto has said he assumes that rumors spread by foreign parties are aimed at splitting Indonesia apart.

He called on all elements of the nation not to be provoked because this would only further the interests of the foreign parties.

Slobodan Lekic – The spotlight of international justice has shone on Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic to hold them accountable for alleged war crimes. But many are asking: what about Suharto?

Thousands of workers in a number of cities took to the streets Monday in opposition to a proposed amendment to the 2003 Labor Law.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The odds are stacked against non-Muslims who want to build places of worship because the new joint ministerial decree on their construction is actually more restrictive than its predecessor, a religious figure says.

Andrew Steele, Jakarta – Islam maintains a more visible place in secular Indonesia than it has in years. New mosques are popping up everywhere, while more and more women wear jilbabs, or Islamic headscarves, than before.

Jakarta – The United States, Japan and the European Union (EU) are suspected are likely harboring forestry products from China, which came from illegally felled trees, a report by a coalition of international and Chinese organizations alleges.

Joniansyah, Tangerang – About five thousand workers in Tangerang District this morning (27/3) took to the streets to rejecting the revision the State Decree13/2003 on Manpower Affairs.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang – Muati, 60, seems to enjoy preparing the tobacco, which she blends with other ingredients and puts inside a roll of cigarette paper.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – North Sulawesi has formally expressed its opposition to the pornography bill and at least three other provinces are expected to follow suit, lawmakers said over the weekend.

Jakarta – Violence against religious freedom continued Sunday in West Java when a group of some 200 self-styled religious vigilantes forced Christians to close their church in Bogor.

Police were at the scene during the incident, but did not stop the angry mob, which purportedly consisted of residents from the Griya Bukit Jaya housing complex and other nearby residents.

When 43 Papuan separatists washed up on Cape York last January in a 25m outrigger canoe and demanded asylum, they opened up the biggest rift in Australia-Indonesian relations since East Timor – one that has led to the recall of Indonesia's ambassador to Jakarta for "consultations".

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Christian leaders and members of the Ahmadiyah group presented a united stand Friday in opposing the revised decree on places of worship, and threatened to ignore it unless it is changed to meet their demands.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), meanwhile, is also dismayed by what it considers the disproportional accommodation of other religions.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said a singer invited to the State Palace failed to perform because she was dismissed for showing her belly button. "I was disturbed. I told the singer to home," he said, describing himself as "conservative".

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – Black T-shirts with feminist slogans were selling fast on Thursday to women wanting to express blunt objection to the pornography bill.

Surakarta – A group of Muslims representing several Islamic boarding schools in Surakarta staged a rally at the Gladag traffic circle here Friday over the takeover of the Cepu oil block by ExxonMobil.

They asserted that the United States and other foreign forces were engaging in a new form of colonization through the domination of economic assets.

Jakarta – Health officials, lawmakers and activists are working together to reduce Indonesia's maternal, infant and child mortality rates, which are among the highest in Southeast Asia.