Kasparman, Padang – Thousands of protesters expressed on Wednesday their support of a government plan to dismiss the current management of state cement maker PT Semen Padang, lending fresh backing to the company's privatization efforts.

Jayandra Menon, Perth – Senior Australian defence officials are worried that the Bush administration's war on terrorism is being exploited by some of its "supposed allies" for their own domestic political gains.

Robert Go, Jakarta – In a triumph over the central government, the Batam authorities have successfully lobbied Parliament to block Jakarta's efforts to take over the island's sea and airports.

Both Batam administrators and members of Parliament in the capital confirmed the decision during interviews with The Straits Times.

Medan – The Military Police in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, are questioning three Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers for their alleged role in an attack on the Serbelawan Police subprecinct post on Monday night.

Dewi Anggraeni and Syafi'i Anwar – There is something unnerving about Singapore senior minister Lee Kwan Yew's call last week that the world (read the United States) should rely on the Indonesian military to keep the nation from disintegrating because of Muslim militancy.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Sunday's bombing in the Indonesian capital may be the work of criminal gangs and not rogue elements of the military who have been blamed for previous bombings, say police and analysts.

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri told a United Nations summit on food and agriculture that the burden of foreign debt on poor nations restricted access to food and undermined poverty reduction efforts.

[Australians keen to help in the reconstruction of East Timor are being asked to make a financial commitment. The world's newest nation will be looking in its own backyard for the foreign investors needed for everything from roads and phones to farming and fishing, naming Australia and Asia as the best sources of investment and expertise.

Jakarta – Members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police will have to leave politics ahead of schedule as the newly proposed bill on general elections states they will no longer be represented in the legislative bodies in 2004.

Canberra – The federal government was examining introducing duty-free status for all goods of East Timor origin, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.

Speaking at the launch of the Australia East Timor Business Council, Mr Downer said East Timor faced great economic challenges now that it had achieved political independence.

Dear Fellow Citizens,

We have been independent and masters of our destiny for 23 days. Yet, it is somewhat ironic to feel as masters of our destiny without a corresponding feeling of change.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – At least 100 members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) branded chairwoman Megawati a traitor for her endorsement of the nomination of the incumbent Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso for the next governor.

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – Astri, 14, from Bunga Sari Japatan village, Indramayu West Java, has spent the past seven months of her life working in a Jakarta brothel.

She dropped out of elementary school four years ago when she was in the fourth grade and decided to earn money for her poor family.

Kupang – Police officers in East Nusa Tenggara province have arrested 20 of 25 alleged Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members trying to sneak into East Timor, Belu regent Marsel Bere said on Monday.

A former district chief in East Timor during Indonesian rule said that provincial authorities had often paid the pro-Jakarta militias who launched an orgy of violence against independence supporters in 1999.

Jakarta – Witnesses testified before the human rights ad hoc trial for the 1999 East Timor atrocities on Tuesday that pro-Jakarta militia groups attacked proindependence supporters taking refuge in the St. Ave Maria Church in Suai town, Covalima regency, East Timor, on September 6, 1999.

Jakarta – Despite strong criticism of their performance, members of the House of Representatives (DPR) remained stubbornly undisciplined on Tuesday, skipping a scheduled plenary meeting for reasons known only to them.

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 about whether Indonesian unity can be maintained.

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has agreed to increase import tariffs on all food and agricultural commodities in the near-term, a report said.

Two gunmen shot dead a district parliamentarian at his home in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh, police said.

Taslim Jalil was shot dead in Lhoknga near the provincial capital of Banda Aceh a few hours before dawn on Tuesday, Adjunct Senior Police Commissioner D. Achmad told journalists.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Thousands of fisherman in the Lampung provincial capital of Bandarlampung are still unable to go to sea due to serious pollution in Pelabuhan Panjang waters, which has been blamed on local sugar cane plantation firm PT Gunung Madu Plantation (GMP).

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – If you are an ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, you need to be a star to get your citizenship papers. And even then it is not easy.

This is the bitter lesson learnt by international badminton star Hendrawan, who got his papers just a few days before leaving Indonesia to win the Thomas Cup in China.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – It is called the office of the Clean Ciliwung Campaign – which is supposed to conduct activities to clean Ciliwung and other rivers in the city, but the two-story building is quiet.

Police in the Indonesian capital have warned that more bombings are likely in the city following a blast outside a discotheque early Sunday which injured five people.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A significant increase in the level of donations allowed for political parties has won the support of political observers and a politician, who see the increase as a positive measure to help prevent parties obtaining money from illegal sources.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Local military intelligence has confirmed the presence of 25 members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group in Atambua near the border with East Timor, an officer claimed on Saturday.

The former chief of East Timorese pro-Jakarta militia groups is planning to return home from exile in Indonesia with some 3,000 followers, a report said.

"The precise time has yet to be determined but what is certain is that we are determined to return to East Timor in the near future," Joao da Silva Tavares was quoted by in Monday's Koran Tempo newspaper as saying.

Jakarta – Security forces shot and killed five separatist rebels, while one solider died as clashes persisted in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, the military said Sunday.

Rebels ambushed a security patrol in the Bireun district in northern Aceh, killing one soldier, local military spokesman Maj. Zaenal Mutaquin said.

Jakarta – Six countries have agreed to set up the Southwest Pacific Forum and will hold a first annual meeting in Indonesia in August, reports said Sunday.

Don Greenlees – Soon after midnight on May 20, after the East Timorese flag had been raised, and the new nation declared independent, Indonesia's armed forces commander Admiral Widodo Adisucipto went up on the deck of the support ship Tandjung Kambani and watched the celebratory fireworks erupt along the East Timorese shoreline.

The new chief of Indonesia's powerful armed forces has been sworn in, promising to protect President Megawati Sukarnoputri from any unconstitutional move to topple her government.

"I will not tolerate anyone who is trying to destabilise the government because it only brings harm to this nation," army General Endriartono Sutarto said on Friday.

Banda Aceh – As killings continue in restive Aceh province, tens of thousands of people in three subdistricts of Pidie regency are facing food shortages following a road block by separatist rebels.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Ansyaad Mbai met with leaders of the Batak-Toba Forum (Parbato) on Wednesday to diffuse tension that built after the central government decided to allow pulp and paper company PT Inti Indorayon Utama to resume operations.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The automated message comes in a soothing alto voice: "The number you are calling is being repaired." And it is heard often, as the poor resort to ripping out telephone cables and selling them in local black markets to make a living.

Jakarta – A company owned by Tommy Suharto spent 12 billion rupiah on financing protests against Mr Abdurrahman Wahid after the then Indonesian president rejected his pardon plea in November 2000.

Tangerang – Dozens of residents of Cipondoh subdistrict rallied at the municipal administration office on Wednesday to protest the new subdistrict chief.

"We want former subdistrict chief Asmawi back, because all of the residents were very happy with his programs," said Madari, one of the residents.

Greg Sheridan – Want to hear something strange? East Timorese representatives have had discussions with Indonesian authorities about the possibility of Indonesia's armed forces, the TNI, helping to train East Timor's nascent force.

Jakarta – A former Indonesian district army chief admitted on Thursday that a man alleged to have led a bloody attack on a church in East Timor in April 1999 was a soldier.

Lieutenant Colonel Asep Kuswandi, formerly head of the Liquica district military command, told a human rights court that Tome Diego was a member of the Liquica military.

Jakarta – Malaysia, which has been aggressively looking at business opportunities in Indonesia, joined a host of other foreign countries on Wednesday in voicing concerns about the growing militancy among Indonesia's labor unions.

Medan – Thousands of workers at state-owned plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara II continued their protest here on Wednesday, demanding their firm's president director Suhairi Lubis be fired for failing to provide them with better pay.

The demonstrators started the rally on Tuesday in the North Sumatra capital and most of them held out a day later.

Banda Aceh – Fierce armed clashes broke out in five different locations in Aceh on Tuesday, killing a Mobile Brigade (Brimob) policeman and a rebel of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM),an official said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, at least two civilians, one of them the wife of alocal politician in Aceh, were found dead with gunshot wounds.

Aaron Goodman, Dili (Inter Press Service) – Augostino da Costa Cabral's eyes were wide open, and his smile seemed unbreakable. But he could not sit still, and was shifting nervously in his seat on the gymnasium floor.

Jakarta – A former school teacher told an Indonesian human rights court on Wednesday that he helped load the bodies of murdered priests, women and children from the East Timor township of Suai into cars and drive miles to bury them.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court rejected on Tuesday the request by a group of East Timorese refugees demanding former president BJ Habibie to pay Rp 1 trillion (US$115.6 million) in compensation for losses incurred following East Timor's 1999 vote for independence.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The Indonesian Military (TNI) Headquarters has yet to consider transferring the headquarters of the Udayana Regional Military Command from Denpasar, Bali, to the East Nusa Tenggara capital of Kupang, Udayana Regional Military Commander Maj. Gen. Willem T. da Costa said on Monday.

Jakarta – Lieutenant-General Ryamizard Ryacudu, the outspoken Kostrad commander who took a tough public stance against separatist revolts in Aceh and Papua, has been named as Indonesia's new army chief.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Strong criticism from the public, particularly legal experts, has changed the West Jakarta Mayoralty's stance on its own instruction obliging students in public and private schools to wear Muslim attire on Fridays.

Jakarta – An international non-governmental organization (NGO) warned on Monday that endangered species in Indonesia were close to extinction due to poaching and the outlawed animal trade.

Jakarta – The population of Indonesia, the world's fourth largest nation, is projected to rise to 215.2 million next year from an estimated 212 million this year, head of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Sudarti Surbakti said on Monday.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Legal experts called on to testify for corruption defendant Akbar Tandjung told the court here on Monday that the former minister/state secretary could not be tried as the case had not resulted in losses to the state.