Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Ministry of Defense says it will ban servicemen from being involved in the management of businesses owned by the Indonesian Military (TNI) in order to achieve the goal of creating a professional defense force.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may be leading the nationwide fight against corruption but a survey reveals that more people now perceive his deputy, Jusuf Kalla, plays an equal or more important role in running the country.

Somewhere in the dark a child cries, someone dies and humanity hides.

These prophetic words perfectly capture the contradictions that prevail in our daily lives; the sense of betrayal felt toward those whom we once held in high esteem. Of broken promises, and deceptive oaths.

Jakarta – A plan to revive a community-based intelligence system run by the Indonesian army as an anti-terrorism measure threatens to harm democracy and lead to human rights abuses, analysts warn.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – House of Representatives lawmakers have warned that the government's plan to revive the military's territorial function in the fight against terrorism would undermine internal reform within the armed forces and put democracy in jeopardy.

Fadli, Batam – Some 90 percent of a total of 221,163 electronics factory workers surveyed in Batam are contract workers; a situation that makes them vulnerable to layoffs.

The figure was revealed by a survey carried out in August by the Association of Batam Human Resource Professionals.

The government has yet to approve a formal resumption of counter-terrorism training and exercises between Australian troops and Indonesia's controversial special force, Kopassus.

But Defence Minister Robert Hill indicated that the government was moving in that direction.

James Balowski, Jakarta – Attending a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the Indonesian military (TNI) on October 5, just days after the deadly bombing in Bali, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono instructed the TNI to "take part in effectively curbing, preventing and acting against terrorism".

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The controversial decision to provide a new additional monthly allowance for members of the House of Representatives would not guarantee any improvement in the performance of the lawmakers, critics have said.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Fallout from the October 1 Bali bombings put a damper on the local Hindu Galungan and Kuningan holidays celebrating the triumph of good over evil in heroic times.

Jakarta – A clash between police and machete-wielding members of a shadowy Islamic sect on Indonesia's eastern Sulawesi island has killed four people, three of them police officers, a senior policeman said on Wednesday.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – If President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's favorite soap opera show is "Judgement Day is Nigh", what is former President Suharto's favorite television show? Apparently Suharto isn't very interested in soap opera. In his twilight years he prefers the quiz show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire".

Jakarta – Over 70,000 workers have been laid off in Indonesia since the government hiked fuel prices on Oct. 1, local media reported on Tuesday.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Several factions in the House of Representatives have urged the government to review its fuel price hike policy, which they said had created a huge burden for the majority of people in the country.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – It was billed as a way to cushion the blow for Indonesia's poorest of the poor. But efforts to compensate 15.5 million families with cash to offset steep hikes in fuel prices have instead triggered violence.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The House of Representatives may claim it empathized with people who are facing increased economic hardship as prices for many goods rise, but almost all of its 550 members appeared to stick with their recent decision to raise their monthly incomes by up to 30 percent.

In Indonesia calls for greater government supervision of Islamic schools have been rejected by the country's leading Muslim groups. Vice President Jusus Kalla has made it clear he wants a small number of schools he suspects of extremist religious teaching to be closely watched.

Presenter/Interviewer: Karon Snowdon

Blontank Poer, Surakarta – Tension heightened in the Central Java town of Surakarta as hundreds of supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Surakarta Islam Followers Coalition ready to stage protests against each other on Sunday.

Jakarta – The move by the House of Representatives to provide a new monthly allowance of Rp 10 million (about US$1,000) for fellow lawmakers drew strong criticism on Friday.

All 550 House members will receive the new allowances for six months starting in November, reportedly as compensation for the recent fuel price hike.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Democrat Party and the Golkar Party, both main supporters of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, seem to be at loggerheads over a Cabinet reshuffle that many pundits have been demanding to improve what they say is the government's poor performance.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government's intention of introducing draconian legislation to fight terrorism appears likely to face a long hard slog after politicians and human rights campaigners roundly criticized the proposal.

Jakarta – Lawmakers have turned a cold shoulder to the Constitutional Court's ruling that obliges the government to increase the education budget, citing financial constraints as their rationale.

Emir Moeis, who heads the House of Representative's state budgetary committee, said the issue had to be viewed pragmatically as the funds simply were not there.

Tangerang – Dozens of disadvantaged people in Kronjo subdistrict, Tangerang regency, ran amok on Friday morning, demanding that they too be given the quarterly Rp 300,000 cash handout from the central government.

They destroyed the subdistrict administration's offices and then demanded that the subdistrict head appear before them.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – After the government raised fuel prices early this month, Bandung textile businessman Satya Natapura could only pray for a miracle for his business to survive.

Previously, his business suffered a 35 percent increase in production costs following the government's decision to raise fuel prices in March as well as power rates and road tolls.

Theresia Sufa, Bogor – As demand for firewood increases following the 200 percent price hike on kerosene, hundreds of low-income people living in the vicinity of the Gunung Walat research forest in Cicantayan – an hour south of Bogor – have begun cutting down trees for firewood to cook with or sell.

Jakarta – Murdered rights campaigner Munir had requested stomach medication from the Garuda crew prior to takeoff at Changi airport, and began to complain about an upset stomach about an hour after the plane took off, a witness said.

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – Karen P. Hughes, a leading US image builder and deputy to US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice, told students here on Friday that she hoped to get to know their hopes for their country, and about how Indonesian-US ties could be improved. But hardly anyone was interested.

Blontank Poer, Sukoharjo – Police officers declared the leader of a Muslim militant group a suspect on Thursday, three days after he led a mob attack on restaurants selling alcoholic drinks.

Fabio Scarpello, Jakarta – Indonesia's renewed "war on terror" in the wake of the latest round of bombings on Bali could pave the way for renewed politicization of the country's military, analysts believe.

Jakarta – Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said that terrorism must be handled with stern measures. According to Kalla, all people must work hard, including the police and the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Jakarta – Maj. Gen. Herry Tjahyana, the Udayana IX Military chief, has said that the bombings in Kuta and Jimbaran on October 1, were due to the weaknesses of territorial commands in carrying out intelligence functions. "We are willing to acknowledge this," stated Tjahyana on Thursday (20/10).

Jakarta - The first anniversary of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla (SBY-JK) on Thursday October 20 was accompanied by demonstrations in a number of place in Indonesia including in front of the State Palace (Jakarta), Solo (Central Java) and Palembang (South Sumatra).

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla denied reports that the government would restrict the activities of Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) as part of the fight against terrorism, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) said on Thursday.

Jakarta – The United States administration has supported the Indonesian government's plan to establish a tougher antiterror body and counterterrorism legislations, but said it has no intention to intervene in the process.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Large-scale raids to find those responsible for the latest Bali bombings have caused unease among some sections of the public, and those who feel they have been unfairly treated have been urged to file complaints against the police.

Jakarta – Fifteen US senators from the Republican and Democrat Parties have written to Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris this week, conveying their concerns over child domestic labor in Indonesia.

Jakarta – The economic hardship faced by businesses, in particular due to the recent fuel prices hike, may result in up to 1 million workers losing their jobs by the end of the year, a minister says.

Surabaya – Four students suffered light injuries after a clash with the police during the latest protests in Surabaya on Thursday as they were expressing staunch opposition to the government's recent move to raise fuel prices.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, will monitor Islamic boarding schools as part of its effort to fight militant violence and suicide bombings, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Despite a number of decisions that many consider burdensome to the public during his first year in office, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has managed to keep his support intact.

Jakarta – A year after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to power vowing to fight Indonesia's rampant corruption more needs to be done to bring the main perpetrators to justice, observers and analysts say.

Blontank Poerwoko, Surakarta – A middle-ranking police officer here was removed from his post on Wednesday, a day after Muslim hard-liners raided at least two local restaurants and destroyed hundreds of bottles of alcoholic beverages.

Even before he stepped into Merdeka Palace, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's legacy had been assured. As the first-ever democratically elected Indonesian president, Susilo was the progeny of trial and error, part of this nation's desire to construct a more representational, fairer, system of governance.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was democratically elected, indicators of democracy in the country have remained poor, a human rights group says.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) will likely retain many of its businesses, despite a law mandating that the government take over all the military's enterprises to improve its professionalism.

Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni, Mataram – Hundreds of people attacked and vandalized local government offices on Tuesday in West Lombok and Tangerang, signaling that public frustration is growing over the messy distribution of fuel compensation money across the archipelago.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to power a year ago after a landslide victory with promises to fight rampant corruption. His unprecedented campaign has rooted out small-time corruption as well as major graft involving top government officials, legislators and officials in state-owned companies and banks.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Despite the country's efforts to combat corruption, Indonesia remains one of the world's corrupt nations according to the latest annual report from the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI).

Jakarta – Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a key suspect in the murder case of top human rights campaigner Munir, rarely sat in his seat during the Sept. 6, 2004 flight from Jakarta to Singapore when the arsenic that killed Munir was believed to have been given, according to witnesses.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A noted human rights activist lashed out on Tuesday at the government's move to compromise on individual basic rights in its fight against terrorism.