Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Golkar Party, the biggest faction in the House of Representatives, has led the way in declaring its support for independent candidates to contest

Chris Brummitt, Jakarta – International aid group Oxfam has suspended some of its tsunami-relief operations in hard-hit Aceh province while it investigates suspected financial irregular

Max Lane – The second congress of the Acehnese Peoples Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA), held on February 23-26 in Aceh Besar, took a decision to form a new political party in Aceh.

Radzie, Banda Aceh – As many as 62 Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members detained in a number of correctional institutions in Sumatra have yet to be granted amnesty by the Indonesian governm

Jakarta – A former separatist peace negotiator in Indonesia's Aceh province may face public caning after he was caught with a French humanitarian worker alone inside a car, in violation

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Acehnese appealed once again for an end to lingering suspicion about their allegiance to the country as the House committee deliberating the bill on t

Banda Aceh – Dewi Haryanti was in a hurry.

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – An Australian aid agency is among those to have lied about their lacklustre efforts in Aceh's $7 billion tsunami reconstruction program, the program's director sa

Oktamandjaya Wiguna, Jakarta – The government will continue observing alleged propaganda attempts by former members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to discredit Indonesia.

Duncan Wilson, Banda Aceh – Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR) chief Kuntoro Mangkusubroto has blasted non-governmental organizations, accusing some of dis

Anton Aliabbas, Jakarta – There are indications that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leadership is actively carrying out anti-government propaganda.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – A scientist dismissed on Monday nationalist fears that the bill on Aceh governance would lead to the province's succession from Indonesia.

Riyadi Suparno – The high-ranking officials gathered around a table at a ministry office in Jakarta literally divided Aceh's forests into a number of concessions, to be offered to the i

Washington – Mobil Corp., the world's biggest oil company, must face a lawsuit by villagers in Indonesia who say the company contributed to human-rights abuses by government security fo

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – After many years when it was too dangerous for him to visit his Aceh family home, Muslim Ibrahim finally returned with last August's signing of a peac

Sri Muninggar Saraswati and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Aceh leaders are optimistic that Jakarta will accommodate their people's political aspirations in the new bill on Aceh governan

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Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Aceh legislative council is displeased with an article on the bill on governance in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam that would give Jakarta broader power

Banda Aceh – The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) has asked the Indonesian government to immediately conduct an investigation into the illegal groups that were behind the recent attack on

Banda Aceh – European Union peace monitors in Indonesia's Aceh province said Monday the EU has extended their mission by another three months until June 15.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Activists have slammed the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias for failing to perform its duty, asserting that many of its working units

Matt Wade – Government aid to the tsunami-devastated province of Aceh has been undermined by corruption, poor communication with locals and a failure to protect the environment, a repor

Rilis, Banda Aceh – A meeting of the Commission for Security Arrangements (COSA) on Saturday February 25 has discussed a number of crucial issues that have taken place in Aceh such as v

Banda Aceh – If you happen to pass an alleyway in the Banda Aceh's Kuta Alam area at night, don't be surprised if you bump into beautiful, flirtatious and scantily dressed "women".

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The new bill on Aceh governance is in line with the Constitution and the Helsinki peace pact signed last August with rebel leaders, the government sai

The peace process in the Indonesian province of Aceh is about to face its next big test., with parliament setting up a special committee to debate a draft law granting a level of autono

Jerry Norton, Jakarta – Sustaining world interest in aid to areas devastated by the December 2004 tsunami is about to get tougher, a top recovery official said on Thursday as he visited

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The religious police are earning a bad reputation among some Banda Aceh residents for arrogance and thuggery.

Nani Afrida, Aceh Jaya – Thousands of students in Aceh Jaya regency, Aceh, are still attending lessons in tents more than a year after the deadly tsunami destroyed many of the regency's

Fitraya Ramadhanny, Jakarta – Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) has protested the unearthing of 23 sites suspected to be graves of victims of human rights violations in the Nort

Banda Aceh – A convicted gambler from North Sumatra was caned in front of hundreds of spectators Friday in Banda Aceh.

Jakarta – The government has no intention of partitioning Aceh because it would violate the Helsinki peace agreement signed by Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) last year, Info

Imran MA, Banda Aceh – The Blang Pidie representative offices of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) in West Aceh was attacked by a group of around 100 militia on Friday Febru

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – Ahead of next week's legislative deliberation on the Aceh governance bill, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle reiterated its

Yophiandi Kurniawan, Jakarta – The general chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Megawati Sukarnoputri, is pessimistic that the implementation of the memor

Jakarta – Former president Abdurrahman Wahid, known as Gus Dur, has confirmed a report by the State Intelligent Agency (BIN) that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) still wants independence f

ST Pramono, Jakarta – An Acehnese member from the Joint Forum of the National and Regional House of Representatives, Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, says that the National Intelligence Agency (

Salim Osman, Jakarta – Even before parliament starts its deliberation today, the Aceh Government Bill has already been slammed by critics for not sticking to the spirit of the Helsinki

Jakarta – The government has promised to heed Acehnese leaders' demand for a greater say in a future law that will be used to guide how Aceh will be governed.

Saiful Bahri, Banda Aceh – Wilayatul Hisbah officers (Syariah/Islamic law police) detained five women that were considered to have violated Islamic law on the afternoon of Monday Februa

Jakarta, Antara – Former Army chief of staff, retired General Tyasno Sudarto, says that the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh or RUU-PA will endanger the Unitary State of the Republic

Jakarta – Indonesia will miss a deadline to move tens of thousands of people made homeless by the 2004 tsunami into temporary houses because of problems obtaining timber, a senior gover

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Activists grouped in the Aceh Network for Democracy have demanded an rewrite of the Aceh governance bill, which they say accommodates Jakarta's interests more t

M Isma & Saiful Bahri, Banda Aceh – Demonstrations "opposing" the Home Affairs Department's revisions to the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh (RUU-PA) are continuing and spreading

Banda Aceh – Vice President Jusuf Kalla says he opposes the inclusion of a clause in the bill on governance in Aceh that would allow independent candidates to run for public posts.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The House of Representatives has yet to start deliberating the bill on Aceh's future governance but opposition and criticism of its contents have alre

Bhimanto Suwastoyo, Jakarta – Indonesia's parliament is set to scrutinize a draft law granting war-torn Aceh unprecedented autonomy, which may spur demands from other regions for simila

Margie Mason – More than a year after the tsunami swallowed thousands of lives and homes in Indonesia, many survivors still lack of basic health and sanitation needs despite billions of

Tony Hotland and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The government and the House of Representatives may allow independent candidates to contest local elections in Aceh, although the iss

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – A draft law aimed at cementing a peace deal between Indonesia and rebels in Aceh province will be debated for the first time in parliament this week, with le