Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Pekanbaru – With the beginning of the dry season, an increasing number of forest fires have been detected in Riau and Kalimantan, raising a thick haze that could disrupt air transportation in the region and neighboring countries, Malaysia and Singapore.

Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Manado – Regionalism is the latest, unintended consequence of the much-debated national education bill, which has already divided the nation along religious lines.

Thousands of Muslims from the Islamic Solidarity Forum (FUI) held a rally in Yogyakarta on Tuesday to demand the House of Representatives endorse the bill as it is.

Phar Kim Beng, Hong Kong – As the international spotlight focuses its glare upon the Bali bombing trial in Jakarta and renewed separatist violence in Aceh, it is all too easy to assume that Indonesia is a hotbed of radical Islam. But this is to ignore the bigger picture, and the distinctive features of Islam as it is practiced in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

London – Indonesia failed to take decisive action to end human rights violations last year, Amnesty International said Wednesday. The London-based rights watchdog, in its report on 2002, said the country showed "little progress" in its attempts to tackle impunity in human rights cases.

Nick Everett – On May 21, I was arrested for attending a protest in Jakarta. Australian Books not Bombs convener Kylie Moon, South Korean student activist Yung-Chan Choi and South African anti-war activist Lydia Cairncross were also arrested.

Women's groups in Indonesia have welcomed a new law that paves the way for more women to enter parliament.

Jakarta – Rupiah on Monday reached its highest level against the dollar since August 2000, sparking concerns that the upturn could be overdone and harm the country's exports.

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Thousands of sugar cane farmers in the West Java regency of Cirebon threatened to boycott the supply of sugar cane to sugar producers unless the government raised the price of sugar cane, said the chairman of the local sugar cane farmers' association.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandar Lampung – With no protection from the government, farmers in Lampung are having a difficult time surviving a time of economic hardship. Over the last few years, thousands of farmers have cut down their coffee plants to grow rice because of falling coffee prices both at home and abroad.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A further split has cast a shadow over the United Development Party (PPP), the nation's largest Muslim-based party, as a walkout spoiled the finale of its four-day congress on Friday.

A'an Suryana and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Political leaders asserted on Friday that reform had moved at a snail's pace over the past five years, and that fresh leadership blood was needed to salvage and accelerate reform in the country.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Some Indonesian cigarette manufacturers are dodging tax payments to the government to the tune of millions of dollars each year, said officials investigating the matter.

Jakarta – Indonesia has banned the sale of 78 brands of traditional medicine – some of them said to enhance sexual performance – because they contain hazardous chemicals, officials said yesterday.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Despite predictions that Indonesian state oil and gas company Pertamina faces a bleak and uncertain future after the government lifted its decades-long oil and gas monopoly, Pertamina president Baihaki Hakim this week announced his blueprint for the future.

Leo Wahyudi S – On May 21, 1998, then president Soeharto yielded to demands to step down during the bloody rallies that followed the earlier May riots. Five years have passed since then and the country has seen three presidents. Yet, many people have voiced the same criticism: The country's leaders have failed to make things better.

Tangerang – Hundreds of motorcycle taxi (ojek) drivers blocked Jl. Rawa Bokor near the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Wednesday as part of their rally to protest PT Angkasa Pura's decision to ban them from entering the airport.

Nick Everett, from Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP) and co-convenor of the Sydney Walk Against War Coalition and Kylie Moon, coordinator of Books Not Bombs – a youth coalition against the war, were arrested in Jakarta on Wednesday, May 21.

Annabel Crabb, Canberra – Australian military co-operation with the Indonesian army and its special forces unit, Kopassus, would not be affected by their involvement in Jakarta's attack on the rebellious Aceh province, Defence Minister Robert Hill said yesterday.

Jakarta – Indonesian police with water cannons drove back hundreds of students Wednesday protesting the slow pace of reform since the downfall of ex-dictator Suharto five years ago.

At its peak, the nighttime rally had about 400 demonstrators, some of whom tried to tear down the main gate to the tightly guarded Parliament in Jakarta.

For a second straight day, the Indonesian military has continued its offensive against Aceh's separatist rebels, with an order to exterminate those who refuse to surrender. The assault began yesterday after last-ditch peace talks between Jakarta and the rebels broke down in Tokyo on the weekend.

Jakarta – Discrimination against women remains rampant in Indonesian workplaces, the International Labor Organization (ILO) says.

In its report titled Time for Equality at Work, the ILO said that discrimination took various forms, but the most blatant example was discrimination over wages.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The country's commercial courts, renowned for being ineffective and corrupt, must be reformed to encourage more investment and in turn boost economic recovery and growth, an expert said.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Publicly listed state-owned pharmaceutical giant Indofarma is in the public eye over its miraculous transformation of a reported Rp88.6 billion profit in the first three quarters of 2002 into a net loss of more than Rp20 billion (US$2.3 million) by the end of the year.

Jakarta – More than a thousand people staged a rally on Tuesday at television stations SCTV and Trans TV on Jl. Gatot Subroto in Central Jakarta to protest their continued airings of performances by controversial dangdut singer Inul Daratista.

Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – The toll road operators' plan to increase tolls by about 25 percent at the end of the month has upset local motorists, especially as many have said the companies have not committed themselves to improving services.

John McBeth, Jakarta – Indonesia's 25-year reign as the world's largest liquefied-natural-gas (LNG) exporter is under threat, though it's taken a distracted government years to wake up to the fact.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – About 200 victims of the May 1998 riots were forced by police to change the route of their march on Tuesday to commemorate the fifth year of the tragedy.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – What will it take for the world to believe that Indonesia is serious about fighting terrorism? New anti-terror laws have been passed, the Bali bomb suspects are being tried and Abu Bakar Bashir is being kept in jail during his trial, yet too little credit has been given to the country, says the government.

Marianne Kearney – When members of East Kalimantan's timber mafia, or cukong, need some illegally logged timber smuggled through the province's forests and rivers, they usually contact Pemuda Pancasila, or another group of well-connected thugs for hire.

Herbert Docena, Jakarta – Organisers of the "Iraq and the Global Peace Movement: What Next?" conference, which will be held here on May 19-21, expect attendance by as many as 200 delegates from the broad anti-war coalitions that have emerged in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – When a troubled commercial bank in Indonesia needed to improve its standing with the public and the business community, it turned to Landor Associates, considered one of the world's foremost authority in image building and branding.

Alexander Irwan – Last year, the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia published a study entitled "The Poor Speak Out: 17 Corruption Cases", which covered several poor communities in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Makassar.

Australia and the US reasonably expect their ally to deliver justice for victims of atrocities.

The first trial of a Bali bombing suspect began in the Indonesian resort island amid a huge security clampdown.

Richard Bingley – Soon after Labour came to power in 1997, its approach to arms sales to Indonesia became the litmus test for the new ethical dimension to foreign policy expounded by a former anti-arms campaigner himself, the incoming foreign secretary Robin Cook.

Jakarta – Twenty companies in the Tangerang municipality have stopped operations due to the slow business over the past few years, causing 36,108 people to lose their jobs, an official said.

Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta – The business sector has demanded that the government continue working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) through a post-program monitoring system, saying the fund's presence is still crucial to maintain international confidence in the country.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Some of the most contentious issues across Indonesia involve ngebor, drilling. In the far eastern province of Papua, the division of the wealth from gold mining and mitigating the ecological impacts of extraction figure prominently in the province's movement for independence.

Richel Langit, Jakarta – The harmonious relations developed before and during the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies seem destined to be short-lived for Muslims and Christians in Indonesia, the world's biggest predominantly Muslim country.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has found financial irregularities worth about Rp 820 billion (US$97.62 million) in the selected city administration offices and city-owned companies (BUMD), but the City Audit Agency (Bawasda) seems to be taking the news lightly.

Jakarta – The speaker of the Bogor municipal council has admitted to receiving Rp 1.59 billion of taxpayer money in late February from Mayor Iswara Natanegara and distributed the money to council members – Rp 30 million each.

[Indonesia's special forces have tarnished that country's human-rights record. Yet, they weren't always maligned, writes John McBeth KOPASSUS: Inside Indonesia's Special Forces, by Ken Conboy. Equinox Publishing. $14.99]

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Three tycoons, two former generals, a revered Javanese sultan and an icon for religious tolerance – these are some of the men whose names are in circulation for the coveted post of the presidential nominee for Golkar, Indonesia's second-largest political party.

Susan Austin, Jakarta – About 10,000 people marched on May 1 in a colourful display of opposition to the anti-worker policies of the Indonesian government. Organised by the May Day Action Committee, the demonstration drew together contingents from many unions.

Sonya De Masi – Indonesia has a growing drug problem. Some research suggests there are up to a million intravenous drug users and the numbers are increasing daily. Now under a bilateral agreement between the Australian and Indonesian governments, a training program is underway towards the development of a national action plan.

Indonesian prosecutors will bring subversion charges against 129 separatist supporters arrested in Maluku province, a police officer said.

Maluku head of detectives Chief Commissioner Usman Nasution said Monday the suspects will be charged with plotting against the state, a charge carrying up to 20 years in jail.

While President Megawati Sukarnoputri keeps silent in the choice of her running mate in the 2004 direct presidential election, her husband Taufik Kiemas has taken a provocative stand by signaling the readiness of the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to join forces with Golkar, the political vehicle of former dictator Suharto.

Leo Wahyudi S. – Thousands of workers staged rallies to mark International Labor Day on May 1 in an attempt to voice their rights, which they said were often overlooked by employers.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Despite having opposed the United States' invasion of Iraq, Indonesia will probably not be among those countries that suffer trade punishment by the US, analysts here believe.

A mob has attacked and ransacked a police post in Indonesia. The incident happened in Palimanan, in West Java, a day after a policeman allegedly shot dead a bus driver following a traffic accident. The company's bus drivers went on strike today to protest the shooting.