Jakarta – After days of rallies – some of them violent, the capital enjoyed an arts performance on Sunday aimed at easing the political tension. No less than 500 people took part in the celebration, which ranged from a parade to a music festival that lasted into the evening.

Djoko Tjiptono/Hendra & GB, Jakarta – Students grouped in the Golkar Disbursement Alliance (ABG) wanted to take over the Jakarta offices of the Golkar Party but apparently have not been successful.

Around 100 security officers from the Jakarta city police are on alert at the site. Head of the Jakarta city police, Inspector General Mulyono Sulaiman, is there too.

Jakarta – Police have increased the number of personnel guarding offices of the Golkar Party following an attack by hundreds of students on the party's branch office on Jl. Cikini, Central Jakarta on Friday.

Mark Dodd – One of East Timor's most notorious militia leaders will today meet representatives of the community he left devastated to discuss his return home to face justice.

Jakarta – Eighteen syndicates of illegal loggers operating from Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan cost the state an annual Rp1.2 trillion (US$125 million) in lost revenue. All 18 gangs in the logging mafia have special connections with police and local governments.

Jakarta – Chairman of the executive board of the Corps of Indonesian Muslim Students Alumni (KAHMI), Fuad Bawazier, warns of resurgent communism.

Jakarta – Pro-reform organizations across Java and Sumatra yesterday stepped up their demands for the former ruling Golkar Party to be dissolved and investigated over its involvement in corruption and human rights abuses.

Tual – Humanitarian activists slammed on Saturday the Social Welfare Agency in Southeast Maluku for allegedly swindling approximately Rp 698 million (US$73,500) in meal allowances which were supposed to have been distributed to refugees in the strife-torn regency.

Derwin Pereira, Karta – Prominent international economic advisers yesterday called on Indonesia not to sever ties with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), even if pressure for reform is upsetting Jakarta.

Yogyakarta – Twelve students were arrested by Yogyakarta Police on Saturday following a protest against the political elite to mark the visit of Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri to the Gedung Agung on Jl. Ahmad Yani here in the afternoon.

Geneva – Indonesian officials and rebel leaders from Aceh have agreed to extend their ceasefire indefinitely and to hold broad political dialogue to end the conflict in the separatist province.

Ambon – The Military Joint-Intelligence Task Force (SGI) stationed in Ambon seized on Friday hundreds of weaponry during an afternoon raid at a house in Tanah Lapang Kecil area, Nusaniwe district, Ambon.

Yogyakarta – After eulogizing about the long road to democracy which Indonesia must travel, President Abdurrahman Wahid found out later on Friday that not all roads are open to him after students blocked streets preventing his visit to the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) campus.

Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office named former president Soeharto's daughter Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukmana on Friday as a suspect in a corruption case over a US$306 million project involving state oil and gas company Pertamina.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – It was a poignant moment, full of irony. Megawati Sukarnoputri dons army fatigues and beret and climbs aboard a Scorpion tank.

The Vice-President has plenty of reason to despise Indonesia's armed forces, which have been accused of widespread repression and plunder during the 32-year Suharto dictatorship.

Geneva – Indonesian government representatives and separatist Aceh rebels agreed Friday a security pact to replace the current ceasefire in the troubled province, sources close to the talks said.

Banda Aceh – Resolute rebel group Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has threatened to create trouble nationwide if the joint police and military operation to restore order in the province continues.

Jakarta – The country could see another round of political probes into financial scandals if the National Awakening Party (PKB) has its way by setting up a special committee to investigate financial improprieties involving the Golkar Party.

Jakarta – Thousands of students took to the streets of three Indonesian cities Friday, calling on President Abdurrahman Wahid to resign, police and witnesses said.

Jakarta – Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Surjadi Soedirdja installed Tursandi Alwi on Friday as acting Governor of Gorontalo and inaugurated the region as the country's 32nd province.

Jakarta – Some 500 students from various groups attacked Golkar Party's city chapter office on Jl. Cikini, Central Jakarta on Friday evening, throwing at least five molotov cocktails at the office.

Jakarta – Pressure over a housing scam allegedly involving Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung is growing with National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf on Thursday suggesting that Akbar could be questioned pending the emergence of further evidence.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Anti-corruption activists are backing government calls for the former ruling party, Golkar, to be investigated for alleged misuse of state funds in the 1999 election.

The allegation against Golkar came first from Defence Minister Mahfud Mahmoddin and has been repeated by other ministers loyal to President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Jakarta – Four local non-governmental organizations have threatened to call for a boycott by Indonesia's aid donors unless the government puts an immediate stop to illegal logging and the destruction of the country's forests.

Aulia Andri/GB, Jakarta – If the Golkar Party pointed the finger at the 'communist bogeyman' and specifically the People's Democratic Party (PRD) for the arson attack on their East Java headquarters, others are maintaining there was another third party involved.

Ian Timberlake – A telephone rings somewhere inside Eggi Sudjana's denim jacket. He pulls out two tiny cell phones and talks briefly into one, but the 41-year-old corporate lawyer seems to be half asleep.

Warren Caragata – Before Indonesia can truly get back to the job of successfully running and economy, the nation needs a functioning financial system. It is only a dream.

Banda Aceh – The trial of Central Information for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar remains up in the air after the government brushed off a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday that the trial venue be moved from Sabang, Aceh to Medan, North Sumatra.

Jakarta – Indonesia's chief economics minister Rizal Ramli lashed out at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Thursday over its dissatisfaction with Jakarta's restrictions on borrowing by regional governments. Ramli said the IMF had criticised the restrictions, announced last week, as too weak.

Mark Dodd, Dili – East Timor could still press for a United Nations war crimes tribunal unless Indonesia brought to justice those responsible for the political violence in 1999, the independence leader and Nobel laureate Mr Jose Ramos Horta said yesterday.

Kerryn Williams – On January 30 more than 500 high school students and 300 urban poor youth, with the help of 15 buses, mobilised in Jakarta for the "Anti-New Order Tour". Organised by the Popular Youth Movement (GPK) and Jabotabek High School Students Front (FPJ), the tour targeted Suharto and his supporters, the Golkar party, and the Indonesian armed forces (TNI).

Jakarta – Around 1,000 high school students on Wednesday defied a ban on protests to call on President Abdurrahman Wahid to step down and denounce attacks on schools by his supporters in East Java.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's aides were trying to put together a deal yesterday to fend off pressure for him to resign, as demonstrations continued across Java for his removal from office.

Jakarta – The wave of support for President Abdurrahman Wahid continued in Central Java on Tuesday with demands that the President remain in office until 2004 and that the Golkar Party be dissolved.

Max Lane – During 2000, only the People's Democratic Party (PRD) championed the political slogan: "Smash the remnants of the New Order, leave behind the fake reformers".

Max Lane – Golkar chairperson Akbar Tanjung has accused the People's Democratic Party and two student activist organisations, Forkot and Jarkot, of being behind the burning down of its offices throughout East Java.

Jakarta's main daily, Kompas, reported Tanjung as telling journalists on February 8: "If not them, who? The members of the Nahdlatul Ulama don't like violence".

Jakarta – Tensions in Aceh remain as three more civilians were shot during military and police operations against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in East Aceh and Aceh Besar on Monday, a volunteer said on Tuesday.

Vanya Tanaja, Dili – Public hearings held here January 14-24 to discuss the timetable for East Timor's transition to independence have revealed sharply differing views among East Timorese leaders over the political mechanisms to be used to bring into being a fully sovereign East Timorese government.

Dan Murphy, Aileu and Dili – Sergio Vieira de Mello watches impassively as the United Nations flag rises over a group of jungle survival experts, aware of the delicacy of his position as, effectively, the unelected president of East Timor.

Contents

Mark Dodd, Dili – Senior bureaucrats working for the UN administration in East Timor should focus on developing the skills of local public servants to avoid a vacuum of experienced officials when the world body pulls out, the visiting head of its development program said.

Khairul Ihwan/GB, Medan – After a fellow student was slashed yesterday, Monday, 2,000 students of the Medan State University (UniMed) today attacked the local offices of the notorious 'hired hands' of the New Order regime- Pemuda Pancasila.

Lukmanul Hakim/Hendra & GB, Jakarta – Representatives of 40 mass organisations which took part in the massive demonstration at the Surabaya, East Java, provincial parliament on 7 February went to the National Police headquarters today to clarify their version of events.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – One of President Abdurrahman Wahid's brothers has called on him to step down and hand power over to Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri in the best interest of the nation, as thousands of the President's supporters rallied in several cities across Java.

Susan Sim – Senior cadres of the top Indonesian political parties, who have been meeting secretly for the past two months, are close to signing an agreement to back Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri as president until 2004.

Jakarta – A top crony of former Indonesian president Suharto, Muhammad "Bob" Hasan, was sent back to jail Tuesday after a successful appeal against a court ruling that he could serve a corruption sentence under house arrest, officials said.

Jakarta – Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo insisted on Monday that fuel prices must be increased by 20 percent in April to meet urgent budget needs, indirectly disputing a remark made earlier by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli.

Banda Aceh – Government representatives and rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) commanders reached an agreement here on Saturday on ways to reduce the violence in strife-torn Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Seven people were killed in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, police and residents said Monday, as government and separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) representatives headed for a fresh round of talks in Switzerland.

Aulia Andri/Fitri & GB, Jakarta – An unlikely group joined the calls for President Abdurrahman Wahid to stand down. Around 40 Muslim clerics of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation Wahid led for 15 years before becoming president, went to the House of Representatives, demanding Gus Dur – as the president is popularly addressed – stand down.