Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The country's commercial banks have booked strong third quarter profits, thanks mainly to low cost of funds that allowed them to enjoy fat net interest margins.

Antonia Staats – US-based gold mining enterprise Newmont, the world's biggest gold mining corporation, has been operating its Minahasa Raya mine in Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, since 1996. The waste, a mix of ground rock and heavy metals that has been treated by a neutralisation process, is disposed of through a pipe at 82 metres depth into the ocean at Buyat Bay.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – What do people survive on a monthly wage of only Rp 671,550 (US$73.80) in Jakarta? It may be difficult for white-collar workers to answer but that is what some of their blue-collar counterparts have to get by on.

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – As the environment on several islands in Kepulauan Seribu regency continues to deteriorate, the Jakarta Police have yet to show significant progress in their ongoing 10-month investigation of a serious oil spill in the regency.

Jakarta – While details remain sketchy, the newly unveiled 100-day national economic program has apparently met the expectations many people have, by showing that the government literally means business when it comes to improving the country's investment climate and economy.

Bill Guerin – Indonesia's new president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, dubbed the "the thinking general", has been hard at work making the rounds of key ministries to lay down the law, as it were.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – For Chinese-Indonesians, albeit a minority, the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's pledge to fight discrimination is not convincing.

RR Ariyani, Jakarta – A grouping of non-government organisations (NGOs) who are handling the Buyat Bay pollution case including the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) and the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) hope that an integrated technical team will be able to act independently.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Noted observers have criticized the two opposing coalitions in the House of Representatives on Sunday for placing short-term, party gain over and above the public's interest in the election of leaders of House commissions and auxiliary bodies.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Sri Wahyuni, Jakarta/Yogyakarta – An education expert warned on Sunday that extensive liberalization of education would threaten the existence of local universities.

Pekanbaru – Plantation workers and tribe members clashed on Saturday at an oil palm plantation in Balam Jaya subdistrict, Rokan Hilir regency, Riau province.

No fatalities were reported in the incident, Riau Police chief Brig. Gen. Deddy Komaruddin said on Saturday.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been urged to reconsider his idea to appoint an Army chief as the new Indonesian Military (TNI) chief, and instead choose the Air Force chief.

Imanuddin Razak – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's request to annul his predecessor's request for lawmakers to discuss the replacement of the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief, which was announced during a plenary meeting of the House of Representatives last Wednesday, was a controversial move by the new president.

Abdul Khalik and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Jakarta/Padang – After several dozen local legislators across the country were convicted for corruption, police and prosecutors were currently targeting local administration heads in their fight against endemic corruption.

Karen Orenstein - November 2 has come and gone. As we ponder the results, we must gear up for four more years of a Bush administration and Congress that will lean farther to the right than before the election.

Eworaswa, Jakarta – Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) are questioning plans by the defense minister to increase the defense budget by 5.59 per cent (26 trillion rupiah).

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – An international housing rights protection organization called on the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to put a stop to forced evictions in Indonesia.

Matthew Moore and Karuni Rompies, Jakarta – In the months before he was swept to office, Indonesia's new president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, promised a 100-day plan as a way of breaking through the malaise of President Megawati Soekaroputri's administration.

Jakarta – The two opposing factions in the House of Representatives remained locked in their respective positions on Friday, raising the possibility of a lengthy deadlock in the legislative body.

Tony Hotland and Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta – The World Bank urged the new government on Friday to fix the country's adverse investment climate in a bid to accelerate economic growth and create jobs.

Dan Kingsley, Jakarta – We have read quite a bit recently about how Indonesia's non-oil manufacturing exports have been decreasing. In fact, there has actually been negative investment in this sector if the number of international trading companies (export manufacturing, retail buyers, international investors) that have left the country is taken into account.

As the nation clamors for change, the conduct currently being exhibited by the honorable members of our national legislature, the House of Representatives, does not bode well for the immediate future of democracy in Indonesia.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – House of Representative speakers and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met for the first time on Friday amid tension between the two sides over who should lead the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – None of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Cabinet members had submitted a wealth report to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as of Friday, a commission member stated.

As part of efforts to create a clean government, Susilo told his new ministers last Friday to submit their reports to the commission within a week.

Palembang – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) disclosed on Friday that it had discovered at least nine high-profile pollution cases over the past year.

Ben Harkness, Jakarta – As of July, 2004 the official number of HIV/AIDS infections in Indonesia recorded by the Indonesian Department of Health was 4,389. However, a widely accepted estimate of the true number of cases is between 100 000 and 150 000.

The Jakarta Post, Denpasar – The visa-on-arrival policy has discouraged foreigners from traveling to Bali, the country's main tourist destination, a recent survey revealed. From the responses of 10,000 people, the survey found that more than 50 percent of those interviewed would not return to Bali due to the new policy.

Batam/Samarinda/Jakarta – Hundreds of Indonesian workers in Malaysia began returning home on Friday, marking the first day of the 17-day amnesty program for illegal workers offered by the Malaysian government.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The absence of clear-cut domestic regulations sanctioning the debt-for-nature-swap (DNS) scheme has hampered the way for its full-fledged implementation, a non-governmental organization says.

Newly-elected Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he would consider becoming a globe-trotting advocate for moderate Islam, promoting peace in hotspots such as the Middle East.

Yudhoyono said he wanted Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, to be a model for moderate Islamic democracy.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Oyos Saroso, Jakarta/Lampung – Pardede, a truck driver, had just eaten a meal at a busy roadside Begadang Restaurant, Bandarlampung. But while his stomach was full, his wallet was not.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Responding to the war on corruption launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office (AGO) have decided to prioritize several graft cases in the first 100 days of the new administration.

Nala Edwin, Jakarta – The Committee to Monitor the New Order (Komite Waspada Orde Baru, Tewas Orba) says that the Indonesian Cabinet of Unity is ridden with people from former President Suharto's New Order regime. There are indications that 34.21 per cent of the members in the cabinet of newly installed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) have links with the New Order.

Jakarta – A number of non-government organisations (NGOs) who are concerned with issues of human rights are supporting the Indonesian government's nomination as the head of the United Nations Human Rights Commission on the condition that the government must first resolve cases of human rights violations which have occurred in the country.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Smack in the middle of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, hordes of international and local reporters have descended on a makeshift courtroom here to witness the long-awaited and pivotal trial that pits the state against one of its people, 66-year-old militant cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

Agus R/Supriyantho/Dian Y/Mahbub, Surabaya – Commemorations of Youth Pledge Day in various parts of the country yesterday were enlivened by a number of demonstrations. In the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya, around 20 activists from the Left Democratic Force (LDF) held a demonstration at the State Grahadi Building wearing bamboo hats traditionally worn by farmers.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Employers can no longer dismiss striking workers or those implicated in crimes without due process of law, the Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday.

Kornelius Purba, Jakarta – When asked about the decision of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to oblige his ministers to sign a "political contract" before their appointments, a senior government official who has served three presidents replied, "You remember president Habibie?" According to the official, top government officials from the central government down to the lowest tier

The press in our former colony, the tiny East Timor, is much more free than ours; the new nation ranks number 57 together with Ghana and a notch above Thailand on a newly released list that ranks 167 countries.

Meriam Debora, Jakarta – Moves to nominate Indonesia as the head of the United Nations Human Rights Commission and as a permanent member of the Security Council are presumptuous because of the many cases of human rights violations in Indonesia which have yet to be resolved.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Newly inaugurated Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, also known as SBY, is borrowing a page from another president known by his three initials: America's Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR (1933-1945).

The Golkar Party, which dominated Indonesian politics under former dictator Suharto, may have lost this year's presidential election but it now controls the lion's share of important posts in the national parliament.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Press freedom in Indonesia remains under serious threat due to the existence of outdated laws, and killings and physical attacks targeting journalists, an international press organization has said in a report.

Radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Baasyir says charges that he was behind the deadly Bali and Marriott Hotel bombings were trumped up by US President George W. Bush and his "slave" Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Rowan Callick/Melbourne and John McBeth/Jakarta – Fresh from a re-election victory, Australian Prime Minister John Howard's government is raising the prospect of stronger security cooperation with Indonesia's new administration to boost anti-terrorism efforts – and even formalizing that cooperation in a comprehensive new defence treaty.

Abu Bakar Bashir, the Muslim cleric who was cleared last year of leading Jemaah Islamiah, goes on trial again on Thursday accused of involvement in the Bali and Marriott hotel bombings.

Sydney – As East Timor-like tragedies unfold in Aceh and Papua, at both ends of our giant and important neighbour, how real is the democratic transformation of Indonesia? What is the relationship between terrorist groups and the Indonesian military?

Zakki P. Hakim and Sri Wahyuni, Jakarta/Yogyakarta – The new government remains committed to liberalizing the country's education sector in line with the World Trade Organization plan, despite protests from local university rectors, who fear they will not be able to compete with top universities from other countries that would be allowed to operate here.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The environment in the country's major cities is poor condition and adversely affects the population's health, a report says.

Palembang – More than half of South Sumatra's residents have no access to electricity, due to the remote locations of their homes, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Of 1.1 million households in South Sumatra, 60 percent have no access to electricity, said chief of the South Sumatra administration's Village Electricity Program Zahirsyah.