Examining Timor-Leste's current tangle of land ownership claims, this briefing recommends that the government and its partners act now to supplement titling with clear public information. Measures to resolve land disputes in Timor-Leste must go beyond a draft law on land titling if they are to comprehensively reduce the risks posed, otherwise the law could...

A substantive dialogue between the Indonesian government and Papuan leaders could help stem political radicalisation in the country’s easternmost province, according to this report. This report charts the radicalisation of activists from the central highlands, the province’s mountainous spine, and links a small group of them, the pro-independence National Committee for West Papua (Komite Nasional...

The 17 July 2009 Jakarta hotel bombings have produced calls for a strengthened security apparatus and harsher laws, but the more urgent priority is to understand the terrorists’ local support base and target government programs accordingly, according to this report. The report examines the backgrounds of those arrested, killed or on the run in connection...

A year after the near-fatal shooting of President José Ramos-Horta, security in Timor-Leste is strikingly improved. Armed rebels are no longer at large. The atmosphere on the streets of Dili is far less tense. The government does not seem to be facing any serious political threat to its survival. It has, at least temporarily, been...

Three years after the Helsinki agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM) to end a 30-year conflict, Aceh is tense in the lead-up to general elections in 2009. The sources of unease are several. As preparations get underway for the April 2009 parliamentary elections with 44 parties –...