Mario Filomeno da Costa Pinheiro – The Government of Timor-Leste has indicated that it is committed to joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2015, but as the dat

Max Lane, Melbourne – It would appear that at least three times in recent weeks, the Australian navy and also the customs service has detained Indonesian and other foreign citizens trav

Riwanto Tirtosudarmo, Jakarta – Demography is rearing its ugly head, and as a result, political development in Papua has become convoluted.

John McBeth, Jakarta – Indonesia's exports of mineral ore are now at a standstill, with unprocessed bauxite and nickel the target of an outright ban and mining companies either refusing

Loro Horta – Contact between Chinese and Timorese dates back to the early 15th century when the ships of the legendary Chinese explorer Admiral Zheng He arrived on the island in search

Tom Davies – Imagine a protest. A protest against the actions of a tyrannical, oppressive military administration totally intolerant of dissent.

Tunggal Pawestri – In the second week of December 2013, I visited Dili, Timor Leste. It was not my first visit.

Rendi A.

Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court took a bold and landmark stride on Thursday, announcing its ruling that Indonesia would hold the presidential election and legislativ

The East Timor spying scandal currently in the Hague is the latest in a long history of Australian aid being used as a cover for intelligence agencies, writes Greens Senator Lee Rhianno

Western Papua has become like "a pebble in the shoe" for Indonesia, as former Foreign Minister Ali Alatas put it when he referred to East Timor's struggle for independence from Indonesi

Daniel Ziv, Ubud, Bali – This week, for the first time ever, an Indonesian film will be nominated for an Academy Award.

Graham Davis, Suva – Foreign Ministers of the Melanesian Spearhead Group are set to tip-toe through a diplomatic minefield with news that a MSG delegation – led by Fiji's Ratu Inoke Kub

Michael Sainsbury, Bangkok – Deep under the Timor Sea, there is a huge reserve of gas.

Mimin Dwi Hartono, Jakarta – Attempts by the state to respect, protect and fulfill human rights in 2013 have been no better than those in 2012.

Budi Hernawan, New York – The 2013 Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) summit undoubtedly marked a historic moment on the long journey of Papua's international diplomacy.

Paul Cleary – When Australian workmen turned up with an enormous crane to renovate and reinforce the office of the East Timor prime minister in early 2004, they looked like Paul Hogan i

Prodita Sabarini – A military helicopter flew overhead, firing rounds, as a young protester named Tineke Rumakabu ran from soldiers.

Edward Aspinall – Everyone in Indonesia is familiar with the case of Ariel, arguably Indonesia's best-known pop star, who went to jail in early 2011 when videos of him having sex with a

Antonius Made Tony Supriatma – The killing of four detainees in a civilian prison on 23 March 2013 in Cebongan in Yogyakarta, and the ensuing investigations and trials, have put Kopassu

I should thank Mr. Prabowo Subianto for his response (The Jakarta Post Dec. 27) on my article titled "What ever happened in Kraras, Timor Leste, 'Pak' Prabowo?" (The Jakarta Post Dec.

I am writing this response to the article entitled "Whatever happened in Kraras, Timor Leste, 'Pak' Prabowo?" written by Aboeprijadi Santoso, which appeared in the Dec.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Amsterdam – One of the most interesting – and most controversial – presidential hopefuls is, no doubt, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto.

On Dec. 16, 2013, I visited Abepura Penitentiary in West Papua to deliver postcards and video bearing messages of support and solidarity to West Papuan political prisoners.

Jeff Kingston – On a recent trip to Jakarta, I experienced firsthand what an infrastructure bottleneck feels like.

Gwynne Dyer – And now for something completely different: A spy story that isn't about Edward Snowden's disclosures and the US National Security Agency's surveillance of everything and

Damien Kingsbury – Australia and Timor-Leste are in a diplomatic lull following the revelations that Australia spied on Timor-Leste's cabinet via agents working through its aid program.

Whatever merit the Australian government might discern in spying on the ministers of East Timor in 2004, it is beggarly that its operatives apparently went about their work in Dili usin

Nukila Evanty, Jakarta – Indonesia received 180 recommendations when it was reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meeting

Damien Kingsbury – The new government is not off on the right foot in foreign policy terms, with the Indonesian spying scandal dominating headlines.

Donald K. Anton – Claims of Australian spying on East Timor are only the latest chapter in a saga of clashes over treaties.

Despite the usual diplomatic niceties at the celebration of the thirty-eighth anniversary of Timor-Leste's declaration of independence in Canberra last week, the raid on that nation's l

Gordon Peake and Piers Kelly – With allegations of Australian chicanery during the Timor Sea negotiations, a definitional question emerges for the media: just what is the correct name o

Shirley Shackleton – This week the home and offices of Australian barrister Bernard Collaery were raided, while he was in the Hague seeking arbitration for a fair deal for the Timorese

It is disturbing that more than a decade after East Timor secured its independence, with the assistance of Australian forces, our nations now are in dispute.

Australia's role in supporting the transition of East Timor, or Timor Leste, to independence in 2002 – making it the first new sovereign state of the 21st century – was pivotal.

Bernard Keane – As the United States-style war on whistleblowers and journalists ramps up in Australia, one of the key myths about national security whistleblowers has taken another ham

Jennifer Robinson – West Papua's claim to self-determination is gaining grounds internationally.

Paul Cleary – Oil and espionage have gone hand in hand during the past four decades of contestation over the lucrative petroleum resources of the Timor Sea, so the latest revelations sh

Clinton Fernandes – It is not hard to see why ASIO yesterday raided the office and home of a Canberra-based lawyer, Bernard Collaery, and the house of a former Australian intelligence a

Tom Clarke – Indonesia isn't the only country in our region upset about Australia's spying.

Tom O'Lincoln – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may just be posturing about Australian intelligence phone taps. But it wouldn't be surprising if he was genuinely annoyed.

Endy Bayuni, Jakarta – Brace yourself to see more discrimination and persecution of religious minorities in Indonesia, after the House of Representatives formally re-endorsed a law limi

Lance Collins – The storm in a teacup sparked by the Snowden leaks and the heated response from Jakarta – when Tokyo, Hanoi, Dili and Beijing were also mentioned – has resulted in predi

Joanne Wallis – In March 2013 Australia drew down the last members of the Australian Defence Force-led international forces that had been deployed to stabilise Timor-Leste after a major

Celestino Gusmao – University students from Timor-Leste's eastern Baucau district gathered this week to commemorate the 1979 Matebian cave massacre in a month of events focused on prote

Endy Bayuni, Jakarta – Today is International Day to End Impunity, an issue relevant to Indonesia but sadly one the nation appears to be ignoring, at its peril.

Paul Kelly – The onus now resides with Tony Abbott to demonstrate a flexible and new approach to intelligence and security issues by offering concessions when he replies to the letter f

Kanupriya Kapoor – His popularity is sliding in the polls. Accusations of graft are mounting against political allies. The once-powerful economy is limping.

Laura Gumbs – Australia's stumbling Abbott government has managed to insult two Asian nations over spying allegations, with a key advisor to the prime minister tweeting that Indonesian