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?

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.]

Roy Tupai – Former East Timorese pro-Indonesia militia leader Eurico Guterres, currently appealing his five-year jail sentence for crimes against humanity, has been elected chairman of

Sian Powell, Tampak Siring, Bali – The presidents of East Timor and Indonesia agreed yesterday to publicly ignore the conclusions of a damning UN-sanctioned report that found Jakarta co

Soeryo Winoto, Jakarta – "He who knows not that he knows not is a fool, shun him!" That's the old saying for ignorant people who are not aware of their ignorance, but instead believe th

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.

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.

Overprescribed and overpriced.

There is no doubt that almost nobody in Indonesia openly agrees with pornography.

Thousands of officials and politicians across the country, including 200 executives of state companies, are currently embroiled in corruption investigations, as the government escalates

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Playboy magazine, which was due to make its debut in Indonesia next month, is at the center of a growing anti-pornography debate in Indonesia.

The uproar over the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad has yet to blow over.

What the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten did in September was absurd. It failed to exercise self-restraint or consider what is fit to print.

Hugh White – In Jakarta, they fear that one of their worst nightmares may be coming to life.

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta – Both the Helsinki Accord and the BRR (Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency) are failing to include women, says Samsidar, Nobel P

Joseph Nevins, New York – The logic of reparations for war-related crimes has a long history.

The Socialist Alliance calls on the federal Coalition government and the ALP opposition to learn the lesson of East Timor in relation to West Papua.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia has scored a major victory in the war on corruption after the return to the country of a crooked banker who fled before being sentenced in absentia to e

The government submitted the final draft of its Aceh government bill to the House of Representatives on Thursday, a major step following the historic peace agreement signed in Helsinki

Infrastructure development can be dilemmatic at times.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Brussels, Helsinki – A reception on Jan.

Aguswandi, Banda Aceh – The fundamental problem facing Muslims and others seeking to understand Islam is not that there are too many versions of Islam.

Australia's enthusiastic embrace of Indonesian democracy overlooks the bleak truth that sweeping political reforms in Jakarta falter when powerful vested interests stand in the way.

Sian Powell's exclusive report on atrocities against the people of East Timor during the 24 years of Indonesian occupation, published in The Australianyesterday, was grim reading, detai