Ambitious politicians misjudge the mood in the military and soon the shooting starts, with the factions fighting over the pathetically small spoils of power.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Widespread disenchantment with East Timor's government, a poorly led military and widespread poverty and unemployment are fuelling the worst unrest since the

Patience is thin, and memory short.

Mark Forbes, Dili – Crowds danced to a cover version of Van Halen's Jump in the forecourt of East Timor's battered government headquarters on Saturday night – celebrating the anniversar

Max Lane, Jakarta – It was an amazing experience to translate the works of Pramoedya Ananta Toer, to have had to think deeply about what he wrote, to discuss with him the situation in I

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri avoided a leadership challenge this week but it is doubtful his rule will ensure any peace in the world's youngest

Loro Horta – It was a hauntingly familiar scene. Large-scale riots broke out in East Timor late last month, attended by looting, arson and the murder of five civilians.

Endy M.

The House of Representatives is scheduled to deliberate a number of important bills, including the long-awaited Freedom of Information Bill.

Damien Kingsbury – The recent Indonesian ban on academic contact with Deakin University over the West Papua issue is the latest shot in a wider political battle.

Max Lane – Scores of activists and young writers, as well as family members, were at the Karet Bivak cemetery in central Jakarta on April 30. Many were crying, tearful.

Bronwyn Hurrell, Canberra – Australia has an affinity with East Timor that dates back to World War II when Australian soldiers were supported and sheltered by the locals, who paid a hig

Aguswandi, Banda Aceh – Aceh is currently still in a transition to peace.

If there was one thing John Howard wanted as Prime Minister it was to differentiate himself from his Labor predecessor, Paul Keating.

Kenneth Davidson – The Government is playing with the lives of West Papuans. Australia's foreign policy establishment seems incapable of learning from recent history.

Were it not for the corruption-infested public procurement system and the potential conflicts of interest of several members of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Cabinet, the propose

Australia's relations with Indonesia are at their lowest ebb since East Timor.

When is Australia not Australia? When Papuans want to land on it. The Howard Government is planning yet another contortion of the immigration laws and refugee treaties.

Damien Kingsbury – The diplomatic row between Australia and Indonesia has highlighted the increasingly critical situation in the already troubled territory of Papua.

Roy Tupai – World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, who served as US ambassador to Indonesia from 1986-89 and more recently as hawkish deputy defense secretary, has been back in town this

Max Lane, Sydney – The arrival of 43 Papuan refugees in Australia followed soon after by the violent dispersal of otherwise peaceful student demonstrations in Papua has resulted in two

The Australian Government's latest responses to the problems of West Papua and asylum seekers contain an ugly echo of previous times when the underlying causes of human suffering were i

Tom Allard – In the sad, bloody history of Papua, there have been fleeting moments of optimism, the last of which, dubbed the Papuan Spring, occurred in 2000.

John Birmingham – What was Bill Leak thinking last weekend?

Cartoonists might make light of it, but the view from Jakarta of separatist unrest in Papua is anything but funny. Papua is many times larger than East Timor and Aceh combined.

Peter King – The fracas between Indonesia and Australia over West Papuan refugees may blow over, but the underlying issues won't go away anytime soon.

The late Adam Malik, long Indonesia's foreign minister and later vice-president, was called the "kancil" after the mousedeer which, in his country's folktales, uses cunning and humour a

Damien Kingsbury, Melbourne – In asking the question, is Papua in danger of becoming another East Timor, Ahmad Qisa'i does little more than highlight a number of misunderstandings about

Some people following the case of the three Christians awaiting execution for their alleged involvement in the Poso violence in 2000 have no doubt recalled the movie In the Name of the

David Manne is a refugee advocate who has been a fierce critic of Australia's harsh policies towards asylum-seekers, someone the Howard Government would have dismissed not so long ago a

Richard Chauvel – Indonesia's extreme sensitivity and depth of feeling about Papua is reflected in its decision to recall its ambassador.

Jakarta – Although disillusioned and even threatened with losing its relevance, the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) remains the best available channel to address grievances in the provin

When 43 Papuan separatists washed up on Cape York last January in a 25m outrigger canoe and demanded asylum, they opened up the biggest rift in Australia-Indonesian relations since East

The giant Freeport gold and copper mine is carving a scar so vast and deep into the remote forests of Papua that it will soon be visible from space.

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – Something seems to be amiss in the current nationwide crackdown on prostitution.

Days after peaceful gubernatorial elections in the provinces of Papua and the newly established West Irian Jaya, three policemen and a member of the Air Force were killed in clashes wit

Soeryo Winoto, Jakarta – Thank God! Finally, the government has made its position clear on the controversial pornography bill.

Desi Anwar, Bali – The Balinese are calling it the third Bali bomb, threatening to frighten even more foreign tourists away from their beaches.

John Pilger – In 1993, I and four others travelled clandestinely across East Timor to gather evidence of the genocide committed by the Indonesian dictatorship.

During the years of bloodshed in Maluku and North Maluku one of the most fervent wishes of residents was for law enforcers to do their jobs, and do them properly.

The stated motives behind the series of recent street demonstrations by Papuans in Jayapura, Jakarta, Semarang and Makassar, demanding the closure of Freeport's giant mine in Papua, are

The Indonesian government made the right decision to aggressively promote forest product certification, or ecolabeling, as a market-based instrument to curb illegal logging, because the

We may have good reason to congratulate ourselves for the peace in Aceh, which has now lasted for six months, the longest in decades, but we must never forget the role played by our int

Pekanbaru – Margarine, lipstick, ice cream, shampoo, chocolate – all use palm oil as a crucial ingredient but with booming demand, the plantations are swallowing up forests, a conferenc

David Costello – If our leaders were to have a collective brain meltdown and press Jakarta over Papua, the regional fallout would be dramatic

The government, in refraining from forcing its will on Papuans in the protracted dispute over the status of West Irian Jaya, seems to have learned from the past.

Charles Scheiner – Imagine a vast land mass, laden with gold and timber and populated only by a few "primitive" tribes.

[Talk by Scott Burchill, senior lecturer in international relations, Deakin University Forum for West Papua, RMIT University, Victoria, Australia, February 15, 2006.]

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso has become obsessed with the idea that the megalopolitan concept of development is the answer to the capital's numerous long-standing problems.

The installation this week of Marshal Djoko Suyanto, previously chief of the air force, as head of Indonesia's armed forces made front-page news.