Agus Sumule, Manokwari – The downfall of former president Soeharto on May 21, 1998, undoubtedly fueled the widespread revival of free speech among the people – including Papuans – in determining their own future.

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta – Despite an extensive campaign against HIV/AIDS in Papua, the number of local people living with the deadly virus continues to increase, making the province one of the regions worst affected by the disease.

Paul Barber, London – It is not yet clear whether the election of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as president of Indonesia is a positive development for West Papua and whether he will bring peace and stability to the restive territory any closer. The signals are ambiguous and we simply do not know what policies the new president will pursue when in office.

Jakarta – As many as four people and a priest in the Puncak Jaya regency of West Papua were killed by shots suspected to have been fired from a TNI (armed forces) helicopter. Fearing for their lives as many as 500 people living in and around the area where the shooting occurred have sought refuge on Wijaya Mountain.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The whereabouts of the bodies of five migrants, killed a week ago by suspected separatist rebels in a remote area of Papua, remained a mystery on Tuesday as soldiers and police continued to hunt the gunmen.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Demonstrators rallied in Jayapura yesterday demanding that recently elected president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono allow international negotiators to end the decades-long conflict in Papua.

The protest by up to 500 students came as church leaders and civil groups began lobbying Mr Yudhoyono for Papuan self rule in Indonesia's easternmost province.

Jayapura – Some 100 people protested in Jayapura on Monday, demanding president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono re-hold Papua's 1963 referendum.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Two Papuans were arrested on Monday for questioning over an attack that claimed five lives in Tinggi Nambut village, Puncak Jaya regency.

"The two are being questioned over their roles in the attack," said Comr. Wempy Batlayeri, the deputy chief of the Paniai Police, which oversees Tinggi Nambut village.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Papuans have called on president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to enforce the Special Autonomy Law for Papua to resolve the prolonged issues in the province.

Angela Gregory – Pacific countries are ignoring the brutality of Indonesian armed forces towards West Papuans, a regional peace and security conference has been told.

The problems facing Indonesian-controlled West Papua were put before the weekend conference in Christchurch, which examined security issues in the Pacific.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A three-day evaluation of regional autonomy in Papua ended on Friday, with one of the most contentious issues raised being the appointment of civil servants in the province.

The issue was brought to the forefront amid prolonged protests by native Papuans, over the appointment of civil servants hailing from outside Papua.

Indonesia – The situation in Tinggi Nambut village, Puncak Jaya regency remained tense on Friday, following the murder of five construction workers, all migrants from Makassar, South Sulawesi province earlier on Tuesday.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A group of suspected Papuan separatists remained in control of a hamlet in Puncak Jaya on Friday, as efforts to negotiate the release of bodies of five migrants killed in a Tuesday attack failed and fears rose of further bloodshed.

West Papua has never been known to the world politics, except for its rich natural resources. Many countries have contributed to various catastrophes facing the beings who live in this western half of New Guiea Island, the world's second largest island.

Port Vila – The West Papua freedom fighters are enjoying unprecedented support from the Vanuatu Government.

With the establishment of an office and approval by the government for the freedom fighters to operate in Vanuatu and raise funds for their cause and

Jayapura – In the ongoing trial of five men charged with rebellion, the defence lawyers at a hearing in Jayapura on 28 September, called for the men's release.

In an earlier session, the prosecutor had asked the court to sentence the accused to two years. The five men are: Agus Waipon, Salmon Daka,SE, Maurids Wouw, Yehuda Wandi and Yosep Wow Imfum.

Unless West Papua is granted independence from Indonesia, a time bomb will go off affecting Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand, according to a West Papuan activist.

John Rumbiak fears West Papuans will be embroiled in a bloody war if independence is not granted.

John D'Arcy May – Now the pretext that the war in Iraq was a war on terror has worn thin, and the US President and the Australian Prime Minister face elections in which their manipulation of intelligence to justify the war is an issue, it is worth focusing on two much larger questions that were obscured at the time by political hype.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A group of suspected Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebels attacked on Tuesday 15 Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers in Lima Jari subdistrict, Puncak Jaya regency, leaving one rebel dead and one soldier severely injured.

Jakarta – An Indonesian general indicted for war crimes in East Timor has been appointed to lead a probe into the shooting deaths of two American schoolteachers at a gold mine in Papua province two years ago, news reports said Saturday.

Indonesian security forces carried out gross human rights abuses including murder, torture and arbitrary arrests during two incidents in remote eastern Papua province, a rights body says.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) announced on Thursday that it had found initial evidence suggesting that security personnel had committed crimes against humanity in two separate incidents in Papua a few years ago.

Jakarta – Two humanitarian organizations in Papua have demanded the United Nations to investigate alleged violations of human rights in the prosecution of two Papuans being held by Wamena Police in connection with a burglary case.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Oyos Saroso, Jayapura/Lampung – One person was killed and seven others injured in a tribal clash in Papua over whether Indonesian Independence Day should be commemorated, a senior police officer said on Thursday.

Louise Williams – The failure of human rights prosecutions against the Indonesian military over abuses in East Timor has put millions of people at risk of continuing military abuses in the contested provinces of Papua and Aceh, a prominent Papuan says.

John Rumbiak, Papua's most influential human rights leader, said the East Timor case had set a dangerous precedent.

Nethy Dharma Somba and M. Aziz Tunny, Jayapura/Ambon – The Jayapura District Court in Papua province sentenced separatist leader Yance Hembring, 50, to 10 years in prison for treason.

The sentence, handed down on Tuesday, was heavier than the five years demanded by prosecutors. Yance said he would consider appealing against the ruling.

Neles Tebay, Rome – It was the first time in the history of Papua that the Government of Indonesia recognized the Papuans' need for democracy (The Jakarta Post, July 30, 2004). This recognition is fundamental, not only for the Papuans, but also for the government and the international community.

John Saltford, London – In his July 30th article in this newspaper, Foreign Affairs official Andri Hadi argues against any discussion of the 1969 Indonesian-organized act of self determination in West Papua known as the "Act of Free Choice".

An Indonesian independent rights watchdog has found evidence that the country's police and military were involved in gross human rights abuses in the troubled eastern province of Papua, a report said.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has completed the report on its investigation into bloody incidents in the Papua towns of Wamena and Wasior, saying soldiers and police committed gross abuses in both cases.

A dispute over the killing of two Americans in a remote Indonesian province two years ago shows no sign of abating, despite a recent US indictment against an Indonesian man believed to have been involved.

John Roberts – US Attorney General John Ashcroft announced in late June that the Justice Department and FBI had indicted Anthonius Wamang over the August 2002 ambush of employees of the giant US-operated Freeport mine in West Papua that resulted in three deaths-two US teachers and an Indonesian colleague.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Three human rights groups in Papua province have accused the US Attorney-General, John Ashcroft, of withholding evidence of the Indonesian military's involvement in an attack that killed two American teachers in 2002.

Jakarta – Rights groups in Indonesia's Papua province Wednesday accused US Attorney General John Ashcroft of a cover up over the killing of two US teachers and an Indonesian near Papua's giant Freeport gold mine in 2002.

[This transcript was kindly supplied by Tony O'Connor as ABC TV no longer provides transcripts.]

Reporter: Anthony Balmain (AB)

Speakers: John Rumbiak (JR), Anthonius Wamak (AW), Spier (PS), Albert Kailele (AK)

Scene of Wewak beach and town

The eyes of world are far from the small coastal ton of Wewak on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea.

Antony Balmain – West Papuan leaders, including several from the Free Papua Movement, OPM, have decided to lay down arms and pursue self-determination from Indonesia through peaceful means.

Andri Hadi, Jakarta – Efforts by certain quarters, within and outside Indonesia, to question the decolonization process in Papua gain a momentum by the declassification of restricted documents in the US recently.

Alan Sipress, Jakarta – The new publication of declassified US documents by a private Washington-based research group, raising questions about Indonesia's takeover of disputed territory 35 years ago, has provoked charges in Jakarta that the US government must be behind the revelations.

Jayapura – One person was killed and another was severely wounded after ethnic violence broke out in the Timika district in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua on Friday morning.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – religious leaders have urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to reveal the findings of its probe into alleged human rights violations by soldiers and police in the troubled province.

Earlier today Mark Davis spoke to Indonesia's Ambassador to Australia, Imron Cotan, from Canberra.

Mark Davis: Ambassador, thanks for joining us. Were you surprised by the very strong nature of these documents?

Imron Cotan, Indonesian ambassador to Australia: I'm not surprised at all.

Jayapura – Trikora Military Commander Maj. Gen. Nurdin Zainal has filed a complaint against Latifah Hanum Siregar, the director of the Democratic Alliance for Papua (ALDP), alleging defamation.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – In its response to new questions over the legitimacy of Indonesia's sovereignty over Papua, it seems the government has learned little from the loss of East Timor in 1999.

Jim Lobe, Washington – On the 35th anniversary of the so-called "Act of Free Choice" (AFC) that resulted in West Papua's annexation by Indonesia, newly declassified documents revealed that the administration of the late US president Richard Nixon was unwilling to raise any objections to the process despite its assessment that the move was overwhelmingly opposed by the Papuan people.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja & Netty Dharma Somba, Jakarta, Jayapura – The Indonesian government has brushed aside any questions about the legitimacy of the 1964 UN-sponsored self-determination vote in Papua, saying current standards should not be applied to past events.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The central government's reluctance to implement Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy status for Papua might incite a separatist movement in the province, a court was told.

Frances Evans – West Papua: where the second largest rainforest in the world is cleared for Freeport/Rio Tinto's gold and copper mines; where one of the world's most diverse marine environments is being polluted by BHP-Billiton's toxic tailings; where, for more than half a century, demands for self-determination have been met with mass human rights abuses; where a struggle has been

John Rumbiak is West Papua's most prominent human rights investigator. He led a 2-year investigation of the Freeport killings, in close cooperation with the FBI. Rumbiak now lives in exile after reports emerged of death threats being made against him by the Indonesian military.

Indonesia says it hopes to resume military cooperation with the United States after a separatist rebel leader was charged over the deaths of two Americans in Papua almost two years ago. A US grand jury in Washington has indicted Anthonius Wamang on two counts of murder and eight counts of attempted murder over an ambush at the Freeport copper mine, near the town of Timika.

The recent declassification of documents by the US National Security Archive pertaining to the 1969 referendum on Papua has put this vast and resource-rich westernmost province of Indonesia in the spotlight.