Geraldine Goh, Jakarta – East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao said new blood is needed to lead his country towards self-rule.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid has endorsed the 11 names recommended by the House of Representatives Commission II for home and legal affairs as members of the General Election C

Stephen Romei, New York – At the risk of exposing himself to political parody, Xanana Gusmao has a simple message for the international community: Read my lips, I will not run for the p

Reuters in United Nations – Xanana Gusmao, the popular East Timorese resistance leader, said overnight he would not be a candidate for president when the former Portuguese colony achiev

Sydney – East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao will inevitably become his country's first president, even though he says he does not want the job, Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Ho

Dili – After quitting East Timor's interim legislature in a bitter row over the shape of a new constitution, independence leader Mr Xanana Gusmao yesterday announced he will not compete

Dili – East Timor, preparing the way for eventual independence, will hold its first democratic elections on August 30, the head of the United Nations transitional authority said.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Seven suspected Indonesian spies have been detected in East Timor, prompting warnings by United Nations officials that saboteurs could try to wreck the territory's fir

Jakarta – Despite mounting political support for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) chairperson, Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, to lead the country, th

Jakarta – The House of Representatives Commission II for home and legal affairs selected 11 members on Friday for the new General Election Committee (KPU) who are to be the organizers a

Surabaya – The situation in Sampang regency, Madura Island, has become increasingly tense as opposing forces of elected regent Fadhilah Budiono on Wednesday look set for a showdown.

Jakarta – Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung on Tuesday dismissed calls to dissolve the party saying that it is a lawful organization and has the right to exist in the country.

Budi Sugiharto/Hendra & GB, Surabaya – 182 village heads from Sampang regency, on the island of Madura, East Java province, have occupied the office of the East Java Governor in the

Peter Johnston, Darwin – "We expect over 50% of the first elected parliament – definitely", Estanislau da Silva reassured trade unionists here on January 11, claiming that his party, Fr

Hamish McDonald, Dili – His full name is said to be Ely Foho Rai Boot, which translates from the main Timorese language Tetum as something like Ely Great Mountain, but he is known here

Jakarta – Indonesian Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri Sunday told 100,000 supporters of her Indonesian Democracy Party- Struggle (PDIP) that national unity was at stake and called o

Jakarta – Vice President and chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Megawati Soekarnoputri scolded unscrupulous party legislators on Saturday for ha

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid revealed on Saturday that there were four major groups trying to unseat him from his presidential chair, citing that systematic attempts have been

Jakarta – Question: What is the going rate for elected local office in most of Indonesia today? Answer: At least 1 billion rupiah (S$180,000).

Mark Dodd, Dili – The East Timorese independence leader, Xanana Gusmao, has resigned as president of the National Council over a dispute involving the timetable for the handover of powe

Iwan Triono/Hendra & GB, Jakarta – The Central Leaders' Committee of the People's Democratic Party (KPP-PRD) denied there has been a split in the party.

A Dipta Anindita/Hendra & GB, Jakarta – The Socialist Democratic Faction (FDS) of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) led by Budiman Sudjatmiko has formally separated from the PRD a

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Aceh, one of the proudest and most defiant of Indonesia's provinces, has become the first province in the reform era to elect its own Governor, defying Jakar

Banda Aceh – The provincial parliament in Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh has elected a new governor as violence between government forces and separatist rebels killed at least se

Vanja Tanaja, Dili – The newest addition to East Timor's political landscape was declared formally at the National Council of Timorese Resistance headquarters on September 20: the Socia

Philippa Skinner and Jill Hickson, Dili – From August 21-29, members of East Timor's seven political parties participated in the congress of the CNRT (National Council for Timorese Resi

Dili – Members of Timorese Socialist Party (PST) around East Timor have been occupying buildings left by the Indonesian government in order to establish offices for their work with the

Vanja Tanaja, Dili – Speaking at a meeting of the just weeks-old East Timor Press Club on August 12, Jose Ramos Horta, vice-president of the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CN

Mark Dodd, Dili – Almost a year since voting to end Indonesian rule, East Timor is about to launch into open politicking about the shape of its independent state once the United Nations

MMI Ahyani/BI & AH, Bandung – Hundreds supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have staged a protest in Bandung.

Warren Caragata, Jakarta – If anything represents the uneasy muddle that is Indonesian politics these days, it may well be Golkar, the party of discredited ex-president Suharto.

A group of prominent East Timorese leaders, spanning the territory's historical political spectrum, are organizing a new center-right political party with the apparent blessing of indep

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Former guerilla fighter Mr Xanana Gusmao will become the first president of independent East Timor.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Golkar party said it would be ready to be in the opposition and hinted that there would be a shake-up of its executive board ahead of the next general election in

Jakarta – The husband and executive secretary to Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri are emerging as key advisers, providing guidance and support to the policies of Indonesia's most po

Dili – Militants of East Timor's newest political party have seized a building destined to serve as a police station in the eastern district of Viqueque, claiming it as their headquarte

Susan Sim – The People's Consultative Assembly session in August will be a breakpoint for the major political parties, who will also have to work out an inter-party relationship based o

Kupang – Responding to an UNTAS statement which said that it would not participate in the 2001 elections in East Timor if the UN didn't clarify UNAMET fraud in the referendum, UNTAET re

Jon Land – From May 15 to 20, the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin) held a conference in Dili, East Timor.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Making the transformation from a revolutionary front to an orthodox political party is a lot harder than it seems for East Timor's biggest pro-independence group, Fret

Kwangju – A coalition is very possible between the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party to build a force in the General Session of the MPR in August 200

Mark Dodd, Dili – One of East Timor's biggest and best known political groups, Fretilin, which spearheaded the bloody 24-year struggle for independence from Indonesia, yesterday began a

Kupang – The Timorese People's Party (PPT) intends to soon register itself with UNTAET [UN Transitional Authority in East Timor ] and become one of the political parties to contest the

Jakarta – The re-election of Yusril Ihza Mahendra as Crescent Star Party (PBB) chairman has brought about a split within the party.

Jose Manuel Tesoro – One can always rely on the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle for a public spectacle.

Semarang – Indonesian Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri has announced a new line-up for the executive board of her Indonesian Democratic Party Perjuangan but her party members doubt

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – In a manner some here see as reminiscent of Golkar's elections during the rule of former President Suharto, Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri was unanimou

Marianne Kearney, Semarang – Charismatic Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri is still hugely popular with ordinary Indonesians.

Semarang – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said yesterday that his government will propose that the country's next president and vice-president be elected directly by the people