There are warnings today about a negative fallout in the region from the Howard Government's decision to deploy forces to the gulf before any United Nations decision on war against Iraq

Australia's foreign minister Alexander Downer has meet his East Timorese counterpart, Jose Ramos Horta, to discuss recent unrest in the developing nation.

Recent unrest in newly-independent East Timor which claimed five lives is a purely domestic problem and has nothing to do with former ruler Indonesia, Jakarta's foreign minister said.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – US President George Bush has told Indonesia's President Megawati Soekarnoputri that Indonesia must find and punish those responsible for shooting dead two Ameri

Craig Skehan – Australia's Foreign Minister has cautioned Vanuatu that any change to Indonesia's boundaries to provide for independence for the province of Papua would result in bloodsh

Nigel Wilson – Australia's relations with East Timor have been tested by claims Foreign Minister Alexander Downer verbally abused Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

Tim Shorrock, Washington – The killings last August of two Americans, allegedly at the hands of Indonesian soldiers with the apparent consent of the high command, haven't dampened enthu

Jennifer Hewett – One of Indonesia's most influential moderate Muslim leaders has criticised the Australian Government's flirtation with the idea of working with the Indonesian special

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Indonesia has expressed optimism over the possibility of the United States Congress allowing Indonesian Military (TNI) officers to rejoin the US Interna

Ian Bostock – Few issues continue to dominate Australia's security outlook more than our angst-ridden relationship with Indonesia.

James Dunn – For the Howard Government to move to restore links with Indonesia's special forces command, Kopassus, at this time, would be an act of indecent haste.

Alison Dellit – "It was under the military rule of Suharto that Indonesia experienced the only decades of stability that it has so far enjoyed.

Linda Mottram – Out of control and not to be trusted: that's the caution being sounded this morning to the Federal Government about Kopassus, as Canberra contemplates re-establishing li

Jennifer Hewett – The Minister for Defence, Robert Hill, has given his strongest backing yet to the controversial idea of Australia working with the Indonesian special forces unit Kopas

When neighbours become ensnared by mutual insults and perceived slights the easiest, and most perilous, course of action is to escalate the dispute.

[Just what was Jakarta trying to achieve two days ago by sending its acting ambassador scurrying back to Canberra with threats that the Government might have to withdraw its cooperat

The Australian Government is continuing to discuss the prospect of renewing military links with Indonesia's notorious Special Forces, Kopassus.

Matthew Moore, Mark Riley and Mark Baker – The Indonesian President, Megawati Soekarnoputri, has cautioned Australia not to overreact to the terrorism threat and not to harass Indonesia

David Costello – Should Australia conduct joint exercises and training with Indonesia's special forces to boost the fight against terrorism and the hunt for the Bali bombers?

Hundreds of demonstrators marched on the Australian embassy in Jakarta yesterday, angry over Australia's raids on Indonesians suspected of having links to the terrorist group Jemaah Isl

The Federal Opposition is backing away from a Government proposal for Australia to resume military ties with elite Kopassus units from the Indonesian Army.

Roger Maynard, Sydney – The claim that Australia's spy agency passed on intelligence reports to the United States which implicate the Indonesian military in the West Papua mine ambush c

Max Lane – The relationship been Australia and Indonesia has always been complex.

John Walker – As Australian policy makers attempt to analyse the implications for Australian-Indonesian relations of the bomb attacks on Bali, it is important that they maintain a reali

Australia, with a nod from Washington, is rebuilding its relationship with Indonesia's military.

Sonny Inbaraj, Melbourne (Inter Press Service) – Australia's move to restore links with Indonesia's feared special forces after the October 12 bombings in Bali is risky and short-sighte

Matthew Moore, Mike Seccombe and Marian Wilkinson – The Indonesian Government has flatly rejected a suggestion by Australia's Defence Minister, Robert Hill, that Australian troops could

Damon Kingsbury – Defence Minister Senator Robert Hill has said that in a bid to counter terrorism, Australia will restore its links with the Indonesian army's special forces, Kopassus,

[The following are excerpts pertaining to Indonesia by Deputy Secretary Of Defense Paul Wolfowitz to the Defense Forum Foundation meeting about the war on terrorism on October 18, 20

Australia's defence minister Robert Hill has confirmed Australia is considering resuming military links with Indonesia's notorious Kopassus special forces.

Alan Sipress, Jakarta – The Bush administration has warned Indonesian officials that it will withdraw some diplomats from the country unless police step up efforts to investigate a gren

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Indonesia and East Timor agreed on Tuesday to convert Indonesian assets in East Timor, mostly corporate assets, into equity investment in the newly born

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – On the eve of his return home, Australia's ambassador to Indonesia, Ric Smith, has sought to rebut a series of "myths" which he believes are straining the relat

Jakarta – The government is determined to scrap the visa-free facility accorded to nationals of 48 countries in an effort to prevent more of its misuse, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hass

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A leader of East Timor's parliamentary opposition has described an agreement regulating conditions for US troops in the territory as "an affront to East Timorese s

Matthew Moore, Yogyakarta – A new regional group intended to strengthen Indonesia's brittle relations with its neighbours held its inaugural meeting at the weekend, and Australia's Fore

Jose Ramos Horta knows a thing or two about Indonesia, about suppression, and about independence.

East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao called Monday for Portugal to strengthen the "bridge" connecting his country and the European Union, adding that Lisbon's backing would be invaluab

Jakarta – East Timor said on Monday it wants its land border with Indonesia to be gradually de-militarised and hopes all frontier disputes with its former ruler can be solved by next ye

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kornelius Purba, Yogyakarta – Indonesia, as the host, opened a two-day meeting of the Southwest Pacific Dialogue Forum here on Friday to seek reconfirmation of

East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao appealed to business leaders in the former colonial power Portugal Friday to invest in his war-battered country, recently admitted to the United Nat

Rod McGuirk – East Timorese private sector groups today urged the federal government not to ratify the new Timor Sea Treaty.

East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao prepared to head to Portugal Thursday after a "positive" round of meetings in Washington, including talks with President George Bush.

Catharine Munro, Jakarta – In a sign Papuan independence still strains relations between Indonesia and Australia, Canberra this week had to repeatedly deny suggestions it supported sece

East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao on 27 September marked his country's admission as the UN's 191st member with a defence of the right to independence of both the Palestinians and th

New York – On the eve of East Timor's joining the United Nations, the president of the former Indonesian-held territory said he would not advise other regions to use armed struggles as

[Indonesia is moving to settle its maritime border issues with East Timor and is keen to see Australia do the same, according to a senior government advisor.

Dili – East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta has said that despite his country's 24-year struggle for freedom from Indonesian rule, it would not support independence movements

Tim Dodd – Indonesia's Foreign Ministry has a message for Australia that it evidently wants to be heard loud and clear, rather than in the confines of normally discreet diplomatic commu

Rowan Callick – Indonesian Embassy in Canberra is investigating claims by the Institute of Public Affairs that "taxpayer-funded Australian non-government organisations are supporting in