INDONESIA A NEWS

At least seven people, including two children, have died after fire broke out on a ferry shortly after it set sail from Indonesia's capital Jakarta. The Levina I, with more than 200 people on board, was 80km (50 miles) from shore en route to Bangka island when the fire broke out. Five navy ships and two aircraft were despatched to evacuate survivors. The accident is the latest in a string of deadly incidents that have cast doubt over Indonesia's safety record. Officials said 211 passengers and crew had so far been saved, many of them taken off the burning vessel by another ferry. Indonesia's public perils It was not clear if others were still unaccounted for, in part because there were conflicting reports about the numbers of people who had been on the ferry. "We are still looking for (anyone unaccounted for) by combing through the waters. They may have jumped into the sea because the ferry was hot due to the fire," Lieutenant-Colonel Hendra Pakan of Indonesia...

AUSTRALIA was overzealous and "gung-ho" towards East Timor, former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas has said at an inquiry aimed at healing the wounds left by the bloody aftermath of Timor's independence.Mr Alatas said he did not blame Prime Minister John Howard for the bloodshed around the 1999 independence vote, but claimed a letter from Mr Howard to then Indonesian president B. J. Habibie provoked Indonesia's about-face on holding the referendum. The letter, which described a change in Australia's position towards holding an independence vote, was not the "bone of contention", Mr Alatas said yesterday."It was rather the spirit of overzealousness of Australia suddenly sending troops and the largest contingent. Sometimes it's a gung-ho attitude."Mr Alatas, who is a foreign policy adviser to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was the first witness before the Commission of Truth and Friendship, which is holding hearings in...