P.C. Naommy, Jakarta – The investigation into alleged corruption involving Attorney General MA Rachman was dealt a large blow on Friday when a key witness said he would withdraw his testimony.

M. Taufiqurrahman and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) Police chief Maj. Gen. Sulaiman A.B. announced on Friday that two presidential guards had been declared suspects in a recent shooting incident and a busway traffic violation.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Despite the series of natural disasters that have ravaged vast stretches of the country in recent years, current and aspiring leaders seem uninterested in addressing environmental issues in their political campaigns.

Bambang Nurbianto and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Time is money – especially that of time-pressed women, as one campaigning political party found out.

Indonesians are hiring themselves out to attend campaign rallies as parties struggle to drum up enthusiasm before next month's general election.

"Accept campaign orders from any political party," read one sign erected by motorcycle taxi drivers in the capital, according to the Jakarta Post.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – When Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti "Tutut" Rukmana recently came forward as a possible challenge for President Megawati Soekarnoputri, the daughter of first president Sukarno, some political parties, including Soeharto's former party, Golkar, played down its significance.

Jakarta – The public's lackluster response to election campaigns has forced political parties to draw up new strategies to attract people to their campaign sites.

Rully Chairul Azwar, Golkar's campaign team secretary, said on Thursday that his party had prepared different approaches for various situations in order to draw a large crowd of people.

Surakarta/Surabaya/Yogyakarta – The violent behavior on Thursday by the campaign participants in several cities sent an alarming message to the 24 political parties that they needed to keep a handle on their supporters and improve their street campaign strategies to ensure that the April 5 legislative election would proceed peacefully and democratically.

Jakarta – Here come the ballot papers: A few million are damaged, thousands contain mistakes or are missing and millions more have yet to arrive.

Kendari – Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Jusuf Kalla warned on Friday that if Jakarta continued to disregard development in the eastern part of the country, it would lead to the disintegration of Indonesia.

Rusman, Samarinda – Eighteen holders of forestry licenses who had evaded paying a total of Rp 229 billion in reforestation and resource fees last year should have their forestry concessions revoked, a non-governmental organization said on Thursday.

Jakarta – The country's investment climate remains in a poor condition despite claims by the government that it has carried out various reform measures as set out in the White Paper, according to the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

Jakarta – Indonesian police tortured imprisoned rebels from Aceh province to warn them that they must confess to terrorist attacks when they are interviewed by visiting Swedish investigators, a spokesman for the guerrillas said Friday.

Fadli, Batam – Around 1,600 workers of PT Foster Electric Indonesia staged a protest on the industrial island of Batam, Riau province, on Thursday to demand the increase of their salaries.

Amid the three-week campaign period for the legislative election on April 5, involving 24 political parties, the protest was the biggest to hit the island this year.

Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tanjung has warned he will instigate legal action people suspected of setting fire to the party's symbols during the election campaign.

Tanjung was speaking Thursday in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, where dozens of Golkar flags were torched last week.

John Vidal – Late last year more than 200 people were killed and 400 houses destroyed when hundreds of illegally felled trees in the Leseur national park in northern Sumatra crashed down a mountain side, smashing their way into the town of Gunung Leseur.

Banda Aceh – The Indonesian military said Thursday it had shot dead a key figure in the self-styled government proclaimed by separatist rebels in Aceh province.

Jamie Wilson – Waiting for the first shards of light to break through the night sky, the two inflatable speedboats were running without navigation lights. The lead boat flashed a torch twice, and the two ribs powered up and began cutting through the swell of the English Channel.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The whole of Papua society could unite in a movement to secede from the Republic of Indonesia if the government insisted on splitting the province, a religious leader warned.

For the first time since it was called into the case, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is believed to be following several promising leads in the investigation into the slaying of two American teachers near the Papua mining town of Tembagapura in August 2002.

East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao said today he would not stand for re-election in his country's second presidential elections, are slated for 2007.

"I am tired. Five years is enough for me," the independence hero and former guerrilla leader told the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Guido Guillart, Dili – An American group said on Thursday it cancelled plans to distribute a children's book on democracy in East Timor, after the country's leaders complained that the illustrations portrayed them as monkeys.

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – If there is money, the parties are popular. If they only have T-shirts they are ignored.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province urged Acehnese on Wednesday to vote in next month's elections and said they would not try to disrupt the polls.

Ishak Daud, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) operations commander in East Aceh, said the security presence is so intense that he expects all electors will cast ballots to avoid physical reprisals.

Indra Shalihin, Jakarta – Scores of students from the University of Indonesia (UI) Student Action Front (Front Aksi Mahasiswa, FAM) held an demonstration against New Order [regime of former President Suharto] political parties. They burnt United Development Party (PPP), Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Golkar Party paraphernalia.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and A. Junaidi, Jakarta – Another list naming "rotten" politicians would be released to the public soon, the group behind the publications said on Tuesday.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Don't be fooled by the apparent enthusiasm for giveaways from political parties – including money – many people are aware of what party and who to vote for, an analyst here said.

The major parties might think their campaigns are successfully erasing the collective memory of their past performance, said Mochtar Pabottingi on Tuesday.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – With the House of Representatives in recess, and campaigning for seats in the new legislature heating up, a cabinet meeting chaired by President Megawati Sukarnoputri issued an administrative order allowing mining companies with contracts in place before 1999 to resume activities in protected forests.

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Amid the growing trend among most of the 24 political parties to distribute money or staple food to entice voters, the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) warned them on Tuesday not to offer money during the campaign period.

A. Junaidi and Rusman, Jakarta/Samarinda – Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and Regional Representatives Council (DPD) candidates are running the campaign gamut from mass gatherings, publications to mobile phone messages as they compete on rough terrain, not only against other candidates, but also against concurrent party campaigns.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The youngest of Sukarno's children from his third wife Fatmawati, Guruh Soekarnoputra, expressed his pain over the open rift between her three sisters, especially between incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Rachmawati Soekarnoputri.

Jakarta – The lackluster reception since last Thursday's kick-off of the 22-day campaign period vanished on Tuesday – at least in part, as indicated by severe traffic jams and accompanying moods caused across the city by a vigorous show of force by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Robert Go, Jakarta – They think that the tougher-looking they are, the better. And so, members of Indonesian political parties' youth wings wear dark sunglasses, bandanas or berets and military boots and fatigues.

Dean Yates, Bojong Gede – Indonesia's most famous novelist, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, nearly totters over from age and illness.

Grabbing the arm of a visiting reporter to steady himself, Pramoedya, 79, sits down at a table inside his comfortable villa in the leafy province of West Java before reaching for a packet of Indonesia's clove-scented cigarettes called kreteks.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Police here said on Tuesday they had named four more suspects charged with involvement in last week's deadly protest that killed four people in Manggarai regency on the eastern island of Flores.

Manggarai Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Wasiran Robert said the four brought the number of suspects to 14 people, all civilian locals.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Seven of Indonesia's most senior judges have retired to consider their verdict in a case that could result in convictions against all leading Bali bombers being overturned.

The verdict also has implications for soldiers convicted of gross human rights abuses.

Geneva – A leading environmental group on Tuesday warned that the exotic Sumatran tiger was bound for extinction if the government of Indonesia did not crack down on illegal trading in the endangered species.

The WWF said only 400-500 tigers remained on the island of Sumatra as hunters continue to kill the animal commercially and for sport.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government Tuesday issued Rp 2 trillion ($1=IDR8,457) of bonds with a weighted average yield of 11.57%, the finance ministry said.

The weighted average yield was in line with market expectations and lower than the 11.82% weighted average yield for the bonds it issued last month.

Dili – A former Australian diplomat said his country's "policy of failure" was partly to blame for Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor and its subsequent 24-year occupation that resulted in more than 150,000 deaths.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Monopolistic practices and a lack of concern toward public complaints were continuing to perpetuate a culture of poor public service in the country, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) lamented on Monday.

Jakarta – Five alleged members of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah group have been jailed on terror charges by an Indonesian court, the presiding judge who sentenced them said on Tuesday.

I Nyoman Sumanada, head of the Palu district court, said the five were sentenced on Monday to terms ranging from three to six years.

Jakarta, Kompas – Accusations of human rights violations have not affected retired Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto's plan to advance towards the presidency. The former head of Kopassus who is believed to be linked to the abductions of a number of students(1) continues to move forward in Golkar's presidential candidate selection process.

Jakarta – Idealists and officials have spoken for years of the benefits of "dialog campaigns" rather than rowdy rallies and convoys, but on the fifth day of campaigning, political parties were still struggling to get people interested in any attempt at dialog.

P.C. Naommy and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) revealed on Monday that it planned to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the shooting by police officers of demonstrating farmers in Manggarai, Flores, last week.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – The Indonesian general election campaign started with a bang last week, but it will end with a whimper. Never have 24 parties given people so little reason to celebrate.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – It began with a bang. Just six days ago, party faithful thronged the streets of Indonesia in carnival mood to mark the start of the country's election campaigning.