Jakarta – The Indonesian provinces of Aceh and Papua, as well as Ambon city in Maluku province, are still closed to foreign researchers for security reasons, an official said on Friday.

Jayapura – A crowd of some 100 students demonstrated on Monday before the provincial legislature against Jakarta's move to split Papua into three provinces, arguing it would attract mor

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Trying to ease the mounting controversy over its decision to split Papua into three provinces, the government is said to be seeking a formula to ensure

Port Vila – On Tuesday, 18 February, approximately 1300 non-Papuans traveled in convoy from Abepura to Jayapura in support of the recent presidential decree ordering the partition of Pa

Timothy Mapes, Jakarta – Just as Indonesia is beginning to bring its most serious armed rebellion under control, separatist tension is flaring again in another province that is home to

Denpasar – Dozens of students and youths from Papua held a street rally in front of Bali's provincial legislative compound on Monday to oppose the government decision to split up the pr

The Free Papua Movement's representative in Vanuatu, Andy Ayamiseba, says the Indonesian plan to split Papua province into three is aimed at crushing the independence movement.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Kanis Dursin, Jayapura – The Papua Legislative Council (Papua DPRD) rejected on Monday the government decision to split up the province into three provinces and v

Jakarta – About one thousand students from various universities in the Papua capital of Jayapura held a rally Monday to protest the government's decision to divide the province into thr

Jakarta – Indonesia has decided to go ahead with its decision to divide the easternmost Papua province into three smaller provinces in the face of objections from local officials and re

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia is drawing a line in the sand in its dealings with Aceh and Papua, warning that attempts to secede will be met by force.

Jakarta – Military might have staged anambush in which two American teachers were killed near the in August, AFP reported.

Nethy Darma Somba and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta/Jayapura – The government has for the time being shelved plans to create three new provinces from the country's easternmost province

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday endorsed a bill on the formation of 14 new regencies in Papua in a bid to cut red tape and increase the people's w

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Papuan people urged on Friday that the government immediately reinstate the plan for two new provinces on the island, whose establishment was approved i

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – New districts and regencies are mushrooming across Indonesia as ambitious politicians try to carve out fiefdoms to increase their political power and attract

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The ethnically distinct and mostly conflict-free districts of central Aceh want Jakarta to let them break free from Aceh and establish a new province, prefer

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors on Thursday accused the head of the best-known Muslim militant group of inciting hatred when he delivered a speech earlier this year in the strife-torn

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Confusion over the powers of local regents, or district heads, who have been empowered under Indonesia's messy autonomy laws, has finally come to a head with

After the pain of losing East Timor, Indonesia is determined it will never lose Aceh, the resource rich western- most province in the archipelago.

Max Lane – The persistence of the movement for a self-determination referendum in Aceh, the emergence of the Papuan Peoples Council and the troubles in Ambon have all raised concerns ab

Jakarta – The government has backtracked on its earlier decision to review a law on regional autonomy and agreed to wait until an evaluation of the legislation is completed before makin

Mark Baker – East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta has ruled out any backing for separatist movements within Indonesia once the country achieves its independence next month.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Confronted with strong opposition from regents and experts on her move to revise the current autonomy law, President Megawati Soekarno

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Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Two top separatist leaders in Indonesia's Papua and Aceh provinces have been killed in the last three months, raising suspicions that the Indonesian government

Jakarta – The proposed formation of a Riau Islands province has stirred strong discord pitting the central government and the islands' inhabitants – some of whom oppose the idea – again

Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers shot dead a woman in a dispute at a logging company in the easternmost province of Papua, a rights activist said Tuesday.

Indonesia's easternmost province of Irian Jaya was officially renamed Papua yesterday as part of an autonomy package aimed at reducing support for independence.

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Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The military says it has found evidence that a group on the Indonesian side of Timor island is striving for an independent state, which it wants to call Timor

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The Indonesian military is sounding the alarm over a separatist group that is aspiring to unite both halves of Timor island.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Home Affairs Minister Hari Sabarno on Monday urged local authorities to revoke dozens of regional regulations deemed to hinder the flow of goods and capital.

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Friday insisted that the recently exercised regional autonomy was not a blank check for provinces to do as they please.

RK Nugroho, Jayapura – The proindependence Papuan Council Presidium (PDP) asserted on Saturday in Jayapura that it would reject the Special Autonomy Law on Irian Jaya which will come in

Jakarta – Hundreds of separatist rebels are still holding an airfield after attacking the town of Ilaga in the rugged central highlands of Irian Jaya and torching several buildings, Ind

Jonathan Thatcher, Jakarta – A senior Indonesian official said the government wanted to change controversial laws giving greater autonomy to its provinces, warning that hurried legislat

Lely Djuhari, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri, a staunch nationalist, said yesterday she respected East Timor's right to secede from Indonesia, and apologised for atrocities i

Robert Go, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri's efforts to re-establish stability in the regions will involve a temporary pulling back of Indonesia's decentralisation programme,

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's big-bang decentralisation programme took effect eight months ago and gave wide-ranging powers over taxation, education and exploitation of resources to

Jakarta – In an effort to end a long-running separatist war, Indonesia's Parliament yesterday passed a Bill granting Aceh province sweeping autonomy.

Hamish McDonald – Senior United States and Australian officials yesterday joined in an unusually direct warning to Jakarta against trying to suppress secessionists in Aceh and Irian Jay

Jakarta – The House of Representatives' consultative body agreed on Thursday to put forward a controversial special autonomy bill for Irian Jaya proposed by Papuan legislators, but at t

Jakarta – Irian Jaya leaders renounced on Wednesday the unenthusiastic response by legislators and government officials to a draft bill on special autonomy for the province, arguing tha

Jakarta – Lawyers from Aceh yesterday urged the Indonesian government to ensure that courts are run properly after judges fled the troubled province fearing for their safety.

Jakarta – A former army commander Friday admitted excesses in the Indonesian military in its handling of separatist movements, and publicly embraced East Timor's independence leader Xan

[The following is excerpts from a report prepared for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom which held a hearing on the Maluku Islands on February 13 in Was

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Jakarta plans a crackdown on separatist movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya that observers say will almost certainly end reconciliation talks promoted by Preside

Jakarta – House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung ruled out on Monday independence for Irian Jaya, dealing a blow to separatist rebel leader Willem Onde during his visit here.

Jakarta – Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Surjadi Soedirdja installed Tursandi Alwi on Friday as acting Governor of Gorontalo and inaugurated the region as the country's