Jakarta – The government and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) came under fire Wednesday from legislators, legal experts and observers for their failures in the battle against corruption.

The Indonesian government made the right decision to aggressively promote forest product certification, or ecolabeling, as a market-based instrument to curb illegal logging, because the traditional approach to protect forests through a regulatory system has failed miserably due to the corrupt system of governance and inadequate institutional capacity.

Jakarta – The government is doing almost nothing to support research and technology development in the country, investing less than half a percent of the nation's total gross domestic product in this important sector, scientists say.

Jakarta – Some banks in regencies have been involved in financing illegal logging, though the forestry industry has been regarded as a sunset industry and put in the negative list for the extension of bank credits, according to a researcher.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – An organization has warned that the trafficking of women from Medan to Malaysia is increasing in intensity, with 16 new cases in the first two months of the year.

We may have good reason to congratulate ourselves for the peace in Aceh, which has now lasted for six months, the longest in decades, but we must never forget the role played by our international friends in ending the violence.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The country's often gloomy business and economic front received a much-welcome boost this week, with several positive reviews from international agencies.

Pekanbaru – Margarine, lipstick, ice cream, shampoo, chocolate – all use palm oil as a crucial ingredient but with booming demand, the plantations are swallowing up forests, a conference here heard.

Jakarta – One of the hunger strikers who claim to have suffered health problems because of the ultra-high voltage electricity wires (Sutet) in their village was admitted to Cikini Hospital on Monday, his 18th day of fasting.

Kuswiyanto, 24, a resident of Langensari in Semarang, Central Java, is in critical condition. He was diagnosed with liver, kidney and bowel problems.

Jakarta – Indonesia's army special forces, Kopassus, has resumed a joint exercise with Australia's special forces SASR after the program was stopped in 2002.

Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – Osama bin Laden's terror network helped fund suicide bombings in Indonesia over the past four years, a senior police official said Tuesday, highlighting links between al-Qaida and the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah.

Jakarta – A military tribunal in Indonesia's Papua province has jailed a soldier for eight months for his role in a shooting last month that left a student dead and two others wounded.

David Costello – If our leaders were to have a collective brain meltdown and press Jakarta over Papua, the regional fallout would be dramatic

Jakarta – The United States will undermine efforts to reform Indonesia's armed forces if it sharply increases military sales to the world's most populous Muslim nation next year, rights activists said Tuesday.

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) today urged Congress to reject the Bush administration's request for increased Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funds for Indonesia. The group said Congress should "zero out" the greater than six-fold increase and re-impose conditions on military assistance to Indonesia.

Jakarta – Some top Indonesian officials appear peeved over the latest assessment on the country's economy by the International Monetary Fund, which for six years after the monetary crisis had administered tough and painful medicine to get the country back on its feet.

Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi – A rally was held at the Southeast Sulawesi provincial council Saturday to protest against the involvement of military personnel in a land eviction case in Korumba district, Kendari.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – An alliance of environmental activists have called on the government to stop all mining operations in the country until their negative environmental, social and economic impacts are properly tackled.

Jakarta – Legislators of the House of Representatives are moving to appease opponents of the pornography bill. They plan to approach Bali, Papua and Batam, regions where the strongest opposition to the bill has come from.

Fadli, Batam – Police in Batam, Riau Islands province, began trawling the city's malls Thursday looking for women wearing revealing clothes. However, police insist they are not out to punish the women, but to protect them from sex-related crimes.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Twenty-seven Muslim activists, who were released by police in Bandung on Saturday after being detained for "disturbing" foreign nationals during a protest, vowed to continue with their actions.

[Di Balik Tragedi 1965 (Behind the 1965 Tragedy) Yayasan Pustaka Umat. Januari 2006. 179pp.]

[Saya Terbakar Amarah Sendirian! (I'm Enraged Alone!) Pramoedya Ananta Toer talks to Andre Vltchek & Rossie Indira. By Andre Vltchek & Rossie Indira Edited by: Chandra Gautama & Linda Chistanty. Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia (KPG) January 2006 xxix + 130 pp.]

Jakarta – Until a team of government workers sniffing out bird flu descended on his slum by a railtrack in the Indonesian capital, Setia Budi, 45, was the proud owner of a dozen preening turtledoves.

Jakarta – Members and supporters of a family blocked on Friday a section of the BSD turnpike linking Bintaro, South Jakarta, and the Bumi Serpong Damai satellite city (BSD), demanding payment for land acquired for the road's construction.

Imron Rosyid, Surakarta – Employers in the Central Java city of Surakarta (Solo) have threatened to send thousands of their workers onto the streets if the government goes ahead and increases electricity rates. Workers have agreed to hold joint actions with employers and students including launching a boycott on paying electricity bills.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Police arrested at least 27 Muslim activists in Bandung on Friday for targeting foreigners during a protest against the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in cartoons first published by a Danish newspaper.

Jakarta – Dozens of people, many of them mothers with small children in tow, protested outside City Hall on Friday the water rate increase.

The protesters grouped in the Movement of Indonesian Consumers Rights demanded the Jakarta administration revoke the 8.39 percent increase, which was announced Feb. 17.

Jakarta – It may be a cliche, but grinding poverty continues to force women into sex work. It also drives children on to the streets. Dahlia, not her real name, was just 15 when her mother sold her to a woman for Rp 2 million.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – The government, the House of Representatives and the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission agreed Friday to end their dispute over the four controversial government regulations on broadcasting, saying they will team up to revise the laws.

Jakarta – Police have questioned six Cabinet Secretariat staff members in connection with Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi's controversial letters recommending a company for an embassy renovation project.

Police intelligence officers also went to the Foreign Ministry on Friday to obtain the original copies of the two letters that Sudi sent last year.

Jakarta – Dozens of former security guards of city-owned company PT Pulomas Jaya demonstrated in front of City Hall on Thursday, demanding of Governor Sutiyoso their severance pay.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The government continues to drag its feet on setting up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR), despite a law ordering its immediate establishment.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Doing the necessary work to address human rights issues has never held much appeal for any administration in Indonesia. During the many decades that Sukarno and his successor Soeharto were in power, rights abuses of all types occurred. Subsequent presidents – B.J. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Soekarnoputri – had little time for such issues.

Abdullah Alamudi, Jakarta – The eyes and ears of broadcast organizations focused on the Constitutional Court building Friday, anxiously waiting for the outcome of a meeting between four government agencies that will decide the fate of the broadcast media in the country.

Jakarta – Despite the recent downturn, Indonesia's medium-term prospects for growth remain strong, the International Monetary Fund says, with economic expansion reaching up to 5 percent this year as long as government policies are consistent with achieving macroeconomic stability and pushing structural reform to attract investment.

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – Shadow puppet master Ki Manteb Sudarsono has joined the ranks of seductive singers and erotic models wondering if they could fall foul of the proposed pornography law.

The government, in refraining from forcing its will on Papuans in the protracted dispute over the status of West Irian Jaya, seems to have learned from the past.

Although earlier setting a Feb. 20 deadline for a settlement of the dispute, the government has opted to heed the wishes of the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) and the provincial legislature.

Semarang – The financial losses suffered by Central Java province last year due to various natural disasters has been calculated at Rp 51.6 billion, with the death toll at 19. However, there were 133 in January this year due to a massive landslide.

Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – If there is anything that Indonesians all agree on right now, it is the need to put off unnecessary expenditures, two newly released consumer confidence surveys reveal.

Tito Sianipar, Jakarta – Muhammad Said Didu, Secretary to the State Minister of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), has stated that 85 percent of SOE shares already listed on the stock exchange are owned by foreign parties.

Jakarta – The government's hopes of achieving higher growth this year on the back of increased investment has suffered a setback, with official figures showing a slow start to the year for both foreign and domestic investment approvals.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Home Minister M. Ma'ruf supports the idea of soldiers being allowed to vote in the 2009 elections.

Jakarta – It's long been known that animal markets in Jakarta are the place to pick up endangered animals at bargain prices to add to a personal menagerie.

While hunters may only get a few hundred thousand rupiah for catching a rare animal, organizers of the illegal wildlife trade are assured a princely sum, a non-governmental organization said Wednesday.

Ken Yunita, Jakarta – It has not just been once or twice that the families of pro-democracy activists that were abducted in 1997-98 have expressed their disappointment with the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) Ad Hoc team. This time around they are conveying the same thing, annoyance and disappointment with the sluggishness of the team's work.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesia is working to uproot militant Islamic ideas but officials and moderate clerics say they face a long struggle, while also coping with setbacks such as anger over cartoons that lampooned the Prophet Mohammad.

A debate about pornography is growing in Indonesia. The controversy has been sparked by news that Playboy magazine has signed a deal to produce a local edition. Parliament's expected to pass a law this year banning sensual diplays of the body. But there are fears Indonesia could be heading back into the dark ages of censorship and repression.

Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court is coming under increasing fire from officials and legal activists for its many questionable acquittals of high-profile graft suspects.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Activist groups united on Monday to oppose the government's plan to "legalize" the military's security business, in which private companies pay soldiers to protect their industries in conflict areas.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – A revised version of a controversial ministerial decree on the establishment of places of worship has won grudging acceptance from minority religious groups, who say they have little choice in the matter.