Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – At least 8,455 children under five in Jakarta are suffering from malnutrition, the City Health Agency reported on Friday.

Banda Aceh – At least 35 women academics, legal practitioners, activists and students visited the Aceh Provincial Legislative Council (DPRD) at midday on Friday June 10.

Jakarta – Yesterday, Megawati Sukarnoputri inaugurated the Volunteers for Democratic Struggle (Relawan Perjuangan Demokrasi, Repdem), a social organisation affiliated with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). At the same time, the general chairperson of PDI-P also inaugurated Repdem members as members of her party.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military threw its backing on Friday behind a controversial government anti-terror plan to revive a far-reaching intelligence network used to quell dissent during the country's authoritarian past.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – In a bid to prevent future terrorist attacks, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the country's governors on Thursday to revive a regional intelligence agency that once helped Soeharto's New Order regime silence opposition voices.

Rusman and Blontank Poer, Samarinda/Surakarta – Although East Kalimantan is popularly known as natural resource-rich province, malnutrition is still rampant in the area. Government data reveals that 174 infants, out of total 360,298 infants in the province, are currently suffering from malnutrition.

Jakarta – The government will soon negotiate an out-of-court settlement with PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR), a local unit of a US-based gold mining company, which non-governmental organizations have accused of polluting Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi, State Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said on Thursday.

"I did this so that we would not be a nation of coolies and a coolie among nations" - Indonesia's founding President Sukarno

David Adam – Another catastrophic giant earthquake similar to the one that caused carnage across the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day last year is lurking off Indonesia, say scientists.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Indonesian Muslims donate about Rp 19.3 trillion (about US$2 billion) annually, but poor management prevents much of this money from really helping the poor, according to a researcher.

Jakarta – A number of former activist who were part of the popular struggle against the New Order regime have formally joined the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Jakarta – Non-governmental organizations are seeking public support to file a request for a judicial review of a new presidential decree on land which has widely been deemed as authoritarian.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – A planned new antiterror agency is expected to have branches in regencies throughout the country gathering crucial information for the agency's counterterrorism work.

Bangil (East Java) – An Indonesian court on Thursday jailed for three years the wife of a top Malaysian terrorism suspect, wanted in connection with a string of deadly bombings, for hiding her husband.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Colonized by the Dutch, occupied by the Japanese and led by authoritarian leaders for several decades, Indonesia has entered the final phase of its transition into the world's third-largest democracy in a series of direct local elections or pilkada that will see authority finally devolved from the central government in Jakarta.

It is hard to get excited about suggested "breakthroughs" on resolving the conflict in Aceh. Promises have been broken and repeated initiatives have fallen by the wayside. The end result of years of political pledges and hundreds of hours of diplomatic speak, is that the suffering continues unabated.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – The government says it will form a special antiterror agency in a move that is hoped will overcome the lack of coordination between authorities and different agencies in trying to prevent future terrorist attacks.

Sunariah, Jakarta – Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi has said that the time limit for the Fact Finding Team (TPF) investigation into the death of human rights activist Munir will be extended if by June 23 they have not finished their job and uncovered the perpetrator of Munir's murder.

Dusk had only just fallen when a black Land Cruiser entered the grounds of the national police headquarters on Jalan Trunojoyo in South Jakarta on Sunday May 29. Just a few metres from the gate the vehicle stopped. "Should we turn right Sir? To the chief of police's office", asked the driver. "Ah, you. No! We're going to the public relations desk.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – With just two weeks left of its mandate, a government-sanctioned fact-finding team remains unable to speak with former National Intelligence Body (BIN) chief A.M. Hendropriyono over possible links between the body and the poisoning death of rights activist Munir last September.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – With the glamor of life in the metropolis a constant attraction for the young and a source of frustration for those who cannot afford to enjoy it, the family of 17-year-old Yuni Anggraeni never expected that she would go that far.

The perpetrators of the 2004 bombing at the Australian embassy in the Indonesian capital felt no remorse for the 10 innocent people who died in the attack, a suspect in the blast told a Jakarta court on Tuesday.

Jakarta – One of Southeast Asia's most wanted Islamic militants may be hiding on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital, police said on Monday as they stepped up security at luxury hotels and embassies after a US warning.

Jakarta police spokesman Tjiptono said that although police in the capital were already on high alert, they had yet to see signs an attack was imminent.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government and the budget committee of the nation's Parliament Monday agreed on a set of new assumptions that will be used to base the current state budget.

Suherdjoko and A'an Suryana, Pekalongan/Jakarta – After successful direct elections in Kutai Kartanegara regency last week, direct regional elections were held on Sunday in Pekalongan and Cilegon municipalities and Kebumen regency.

Jakarta – Deputy police chief General Commissioner Adang Daradjatun has acknowledged that it may take 15-25 years for the Indonesian police to be able overcome its culture of violence and this depends on developing factors which support and impede the process. Nevertheless, this cannot become an obstacle to the independence of the police.

Krystof Obidzinski, Bogor – Barely a day goes by without a story appearing in the Indonesian media about illegal logging. Often these stories bemoan the loss of timber smuggled on boats out of Papua, trucked across the Kalimantan-Sarawak border, or ferried through Riau's labyrinthine archipelago.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Reform Movement's "opposition" to the party's central leadership board led by Megawati Sukarnoputri continues unabated. Indeed there is a possibility that they will form a new political party if their legal efforts run aground(1).

Jakarta – The government-sanctioned fact finding team, set up to assist the police in the investigation into the death of rights campaigner Munir will make a formal report to the President about its difficulty in obtaining access to the State Intelligence Agency (BIN).

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – An out-of-court settlement that the government plans to seek with gold miner PT Newmont Minahasa Raya proves to be another example of a failure to serve the people, in this case the residents of Buyat Bay in Minahasa, North Sulawesi, who have long been waiting to see the light at the end of a long tunnel.

John McBeth, Jakarta – If anyone should be upset about serving military officers taking part in this year's direct local elections, it should be civilian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has said it will not cooperate with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in its investigation of the abductions of pro-democracy activists during the Soeharto regime.

Max Lane, Murdoch WA, Australia – Since soon after the arrest of Schapelle Corby in Bali sections of the Australian media have waged a non-stop campaign agitating for her to be found innocent in her trial in Bali while at the same time launching persistent attacks against the Indonesian prosecutors, judges, police, prison system and legal system as a whole.

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta – Law Number 7/2004 on Water Resources continues to encounter opposition. Actions against the law were once again organised by hundreds of farmers, students and non-government organisations in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on Saturday June 4.

Ruslan Sangadji and Slamet Susanto, Poso/Yogyakarta – A terrorist suspect detained in Yogyakarta has admitted to having assembled the bomb that killed 21 people in the Central Sulawesi town of Tentena last Saturday, Yogyakarta Police say.

Alan Boyd, Sydney – "Twelve brutal Indonesian troopers armed with high-caliber rifles. Schapelle Corby, 27, an innocent and defenseless girl from Queensland, Australia, shackled to a pole. This is Indonesia's concept of a 'justice' system. Evil triumphs when good people do nothing. Don't shoot Corby!"

Indonesia's armed forces chief said the normalisation of military ties between Jakarta and Washington would help strengthen democracy in his country and ensure regional stability.

General Endriartono Sutarto said Saturday the full restoration of military links was a matter for the political leaders of both nations to decide, but said he would like to see this happen.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia, the fourth-most populous country in the world, has been a net oil importer since 2004.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – After years of diminishing hope and frustration, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said on Thursday it was set to question several military and police top brass over the abduction of pro-democracy activists ahead of former president Soeharto's fall in 1998.

Jakarta – Irked by rampant cases of rape, sexual assault and abuse, the government will launch a campaign next month to combat pornography and indecency, with children and youth being the target.

The plan comes despite the fact that the definition of pornography remains debatable in the predominantly Muslim nation.

Scott Burchill – From an Australian perspective there have always been two separate relationships with Indonesia. The first, between the political elites in Canberra and Jakarta, has been warm and stable since Soeharto's rise to power, with only a couple of exceptions.

An Indonesian prison chief and one of his inmates, believed to be a government official sentenced for graft, have been charged over a bombing on Sulawesi island that killed 21 people, police said.

Jakarta – Hundreds of people were caught in an identity card crackdown on Thursday morning in the subdistricts of Senen, Bungur, Kramat and Paseban in Central Jakarta.

"The operation was held to remind residents to obtain valid identity cards," an official at the City Population and Civil Registration Agency, Rosyik Muhammad, was quoted as saying by Antara.

Kornelius Purba – Why is Indonesia so similar to a personal computer? Because most PCs have Intel Inside, and there is rarely a place in Indonesia that has not been infiltrated by the intelligence network inside.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – The government made the commissioning of an environmental impact analysis mandatory for all major projects 20 years ago. However, corruption has once again prevented the original good intentions from bearing fruit, and pollution and environmental destruction are now worse than ever.

Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta – The robust demand for coal, ore, slag, ash and furniture have helped Indonesia's exports rise by 31.12 percent to US$26.63 billion for the first four months of 2005, from $20.31 billion in the same period last year.

A biological attack on Indonesia's embassy in Canberra has damaged Australia's standing among Indonesians, Prime Minister John Howard said, but he downplayed the threat it posed to the countries' attempts to rebuild their often fraught ties.

Jakarta – Human rights activists have urged the police to detain former intelligence chief A.M. Hendropriyono for what they called "attempts to avoid investigation" in connection with the death of rights champion Munir last year.

Jakarta – With the advent of the low season, the number of foreign tourists arriving through Indonesia's 13 main entry points fell by almost 4 percent in April, after rising by more than 11 percent in March, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported on Wednesday.

Jakarta – The Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday against a possibility for independent candidates to contest regional elections, saying it would discourage efforts to help political parties mature.