Joe Cochrane & Nurfika Osman – There was no doubt about it this time.

Who wants to visit Aceh – for pleasure, not mere curiosity?

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta – When the global financial crisis was at its height last November, Indonesia's Century Bank faced a severe liquidity crisis.

Paul Daley – The former Coalition government had a vastly different idea of how independent our near neighbour should be than what eventuated.

Germany reminds us that human rights and justice have no time limits.

Twenty-five years ago, Sept.

Noor Huda Ismail, Semarang – Based on my interviews with the actors of past attacks – both inside and outside prisons – there are three primary factors that will keep their movements go

Thomas Barker and Veronica Kusuma, Jakarta – Unless you have been living under a rock for the past decade, you would have noticed that in terms of annual output, the Indonesian film ind

Usman Hamid and Paul Barber, Yogyakarta/London – In October 1999, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) published a report, Ruler's Law, that described how Indonesia's first two

Pandaya, Dili – Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta's refusal of demand for an international tribunal to try perpetrators of serious crimes against humanity in East Timor between 197

Damien Kingsbury – It is hardly novel that a politician looking back at the glory days of office will want to ensure that their political legacy looks as positive as possible.

Kartika Jahja – Marhaban ya Ramadan. Welcome oh Ramadan. The holy month to abstain from our worldly desires. The blessed month to purify our souls.

Janeman Latul & Muhammad Al Azhari – Economic and political analysts said over the weekend that the Rp 6.7 trillion ($663.3 million) Bank Century bailout controversy would not gener

Paul Kelly, Editor-at-large – The Howard government decided in early 1999 to work for East Timor's independence but concealed this from the Indonesian government, John Howard and Alexan

[Excerpted from "The March of Patriots" by Paul Kelly, Melbourne University Press, to be published next week]

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta – If the purpose of the recent terrorist attacks in Indonesia was to undermine democracy and rattle investor confidence, the July bombings of the luxury J

It is difficult not to be suspicious of the latest political maneuvers made by the heirs of the late former president Soeharto.

Kartika Inggas, Bangkok – Lubna Ahmed Al Hussein is not a household name in Indonesia.

Kafil Yamin – Since the beginning of last year, the heads of no fewer than 29 provincial, district and municipal administrations have been arrested on corruption charges, with 19 being

A decade after the devastation that surrounded the vote for independence, there are some promising signs.

Sunanda Creagh, Dili – As a student activist in Jakarta, Avelino Coelho da Silva sought refuge in the Austrian embassy to avoid capture by Indonesian troops.

Australia is still atoning for East Timor's suffering 10 years after the independence vote. No nation has paid a higher price for independence than East Timor.

Ten years ago tomorrow, the people of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a popular referendum sanctioned by the United Nations.

Ten years after voting for independence, the Timorese have little to show for supposed freedom. Lindsay Murdoch paid a visit.

Joe Kelly – Ten years ago East Timor voted for its independence, triggering a contentious Australian military intervention that transformed the nation's regional profile and provoked ho

Ezki Suyanto – History might show that for more than two decades, the fates of East Timor and its giant neighbor Indonesia were inextricably woven together, but for many from both natio

Often it takes the death of a white man to get the story of West Papua past the gatekeepers of the media.

Ricky Gunawan, Jakarta – Indonesia ratified the UN Convention against Torture almost 11 years ago.

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta – Under former dictator Suharto, the military linked Golkar party dominated Indonesian politics for decades.

Debnath Guharoy, Consultant – Just a few weeks ago, the Mega-Pro ticket proclaimed that the "cultural invasion" by the West must be stopped.

Jonathan Wootliff – Although Indonesia covers only 1.3 percent of the planet's land surface, this island nation is home to about 17 percent of Earth's plant and animal species, some of

Australian governments, both Labor and Coalition, knew what was happening.

HS Dillon, Jakarta – To the country's first president, Sukarno, freedom was political independence in its entirety.

Romanus Ndau Lendong, Jakarta – The government and the House of Representatives (DPR) are committed to passing the state secrecy bill this month.

John Pilger – On August 30 it will be a decade since the people of East Timor defied the genocidal occupiers of their country to take part in a United Nations referendum and vote for th

Paul Stewart recalls the day in 1975 when a newspaper banner shouted "Five Newsman Missing In Timor".

Teguh Prasetyo – While senior officials regularly make well-meaning noises about the need for food diversification, both experts and the food processing industry say what is really requ

Kim Knight – Felled trees, burnt stumps. Once tropical rainforest, now palm plantations spread across this Indonesian island like a plague.

Mohamad Abdun Nasir, Mataram – The jilbab (Muslim women's headscarf) has rarely been free from political debate, and is often closely related to sharia-inspired regional ordinances.

Max Lane – Monday was Independence Day, the anniversary of the proclamation of independence by Sukarno and Hatta and the beginning of a four-year struggle by millions of Indonesians to

In May, The Jakarta Post wrote in this column that many parties were gunning for the demise of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Joe Cochrane – Noordin M Top has certainly lived by the sword, so it would have been fitting if he had met his demise amid a hail of bullets and bomb explosions inside a farmhouse in Ce

Eka Budianta, Cikarang (West Java) – The leading Indonesian poet and playwright, W.S.

Jim Elmslie – The recent shootings at the Freeport Mine in Papua, which resulted in the death of Australian Drew Grant, is the first real test of the 2007 Lombok Treaty between Australi

The Supreme Court is publicly perceived as a corrupt institution and it is no wonder that the public has little trust in the country's highest judiciary institution.

John McBeth, Jakarta – Despite skepticism that a business breakfast was always the primary target, there is one indisputable fact about the July 17 attacks on Jakarta's Marriott and Rit

Twenty years after the death of her brother, one of five journalists killed in Balibo, East Timor, grandmother Maureen Tolfree began a painstaking search for the truth.

Nelson Rand – The day before last week's bombings of two luxury hotels in Jakarta, the Australian Strategic Policy Research Institute (ASPRI) released a report warning of possible new a

Norimitsu Onishi, Jakarta – The Indonesian government's crackdown on militant Islamic groups has been widely praised in recent years, particularly by the United States.

Tom Allard Herald, Jakarta – The suicide bomber at the Ritz-Carlton gave a non-existent room number as he entered its restaurant.