The police have blamed easily obtained police and military uniforms and badges and a lack of regulation governing the trade on the emergence of bogus police officers extorting people around the city.

Jakarta – PT Sony Electronics Indonesia (SEI) is preparing to lay off 884 employees after the closure of its Indonesian branch next month. "The plan to close the factory is clear and all employees will be laid off," Suleswati Pujiasti, senior manager of Sony Electronics Indonesia, said on Thursday.

Bukittinggi – Scores of students from the West Sumatra branch of the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI) rallied here on Friday to protest the privatization of state enterprises and the presence of some economics ministers.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The turf battle between Indonesia's police and the military (TNI) over who should be in charge of Indonesia's domestic security showed signs of flaring again this week.

Jakarta – Villagers demanding road improvementshave ended a blockade of an oil field owned by US company PT Caltex in Riau after police mediated in the dispute, AP reported. The villagers began their blockade of the Pinang field on Monday, Caltex spokesman Harry Bustaman said on Friday.

Marian Wilkinson, Washington – The police chief who led the Bali bombing investigation has pleaded for training assistance from the US for a controversial Indonesian police unit accused of human rights abuses in Aceh and other Indonesian trouble spots.

Bandung – Chairman of the fatwa (legal advice) commission of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) said here on Friday that the erotic stage act of dangdut singer Inul Andarista could be categorized as haram (banned by Islamic teaching) because of her suggestive moves.

Kuala Lumpur – Saying the US government deserves more credit for its Iraq policy, East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta on Saturday criticized what he called "illogical anti-Americanism" fueled by fears of a US-led attack on Baghdad.

The United States ambassador to Jakarta has said that Indonesia must make better progress in holding its military to account for human rights abuses before the US fully normalises relations.

Deborah Snow – Charges are understood to have been laid against a former senior soldier in the Special Air Service after a long investigation into allegations of serious misconduct by members of the elite unit in East Timor.

East Timor's foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta, in New Zealand this week on a private visit, once had 10 brothers and sisters. Now he has six. Four died in the violent and suppressive regime which ruled East Timor for 25 years. Ian Stuart of NZPA reports.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Urban activists criticized the city administration's plan to evict Angke river squatters in North and West Jakarta, warning that it could spark social unrest.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – In an apparent attempt to elude unwanted public interest in the February 3 bomb blast in the National Police's Wisma Bhayangkari building, the police issued on Wednesday a statement that negated a previous one.

Jakarta – Indonesia has won universal praise for the nimble footwork its police have shown in investigating the Bali bombings and arresting nearly 30 suspects. But the job is only half-done.

Women's groups in Indonesia have welcomed a new law that paves the way for more women to enter parliament.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Top leaders of Indonesia's ruling Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) yesterday called on one of their own ministers to resign after he charged that the party was the most corrupt in the country.

Jakarta – A lawyer for the jailed youngest son of former Indonesian president Suharto will soon face charges of bribing a witness at his trial, a prosecutor said yesterday.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Trying to ease the mounting controversy over its decision to split Papua into three provinces, the government is said to be seeking a formula to ensure fair revenues from exploitation of natural resources in Papua.

Port Vila – On Tuesday, 18 February, approximately 1300 non-Papuans traveled in convoy from Abepura to Jayapura in support of the recent presidential decree ordering the partition of Papua. Before leaving, the group gathered in front of the District Office in Abepura and, seeing an anti-partition crowd of about 100 Papuans, they began to heckle and abuse them.

Linda Mottram: A West Papuan human rights campaigner says that ongoing unrest in the Indonesian province is being caused by the violently radical Islamic group, Laskar Jihad, which was thought to have been disbanded.

Richel Dursin, Bekasi – "We're Indonesians. Why do we have to get a citizenship certificate proving that we're Indonesians?" asked Tjiong Tjoei Liong, 70.

Over the past week in Aceh, Indonesia has repeatedly violated the December 10 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA), arresting civil movement activists and carrying out military offensives.

According to Pip Hinman, national coordinator of Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP), this is because Indonesia is not serious about peace in Aceh.

Jakarta – Six student protesters were in police detention after police cracked down on an anti-government demonstration involving about 60 students overnight Tuesday.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The International Labor Organization (ILO) called on the Indonesian government to work more seriously to uphold workers' rights to freedom of association as Indonesian workers have to face hurdles in exercising their rights.

Rachel Harvey, Jakarta – The Indonesian parliament this week passed measures designed to reform the electoral system, but regular street protests may be a sign that many people are still not ready to trust their politicians.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Golkar, Indonesia's second-largest party which once ruled the country's politics for thirty years, is preparing to strike back after nearly a year of adversity.

John Martinkus, Jakarta – On December 28 last year a car carrying the wife and daughter of a prominent Papuan human rights activist was ambushed by unidentified gunmen between the border posts of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

Timothy Mapes, Jakarta – Just as Indonesia is beginning to bring its most serious armed rebellion under control, separatist tension is flaring again in another province that is home to several of the country's most promising new foreign investments.

As hopes grow that a US war with Iraq may be averted, much attention is being paid to the Justice Party (Partai Keadilan, PK), which has demonstrated strong grass roots support during the campaign against a war.

Jakarta – Former foreign minister Ali Alatas said on Wednesday that the offer of secession from Indonesia to the East Timorese in the UN-organized ballot in August 1999 was a "premature" decision of (former) president B.J.Habibie's government.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Noted religious leaders grouped in the National Moral Movement (GMN) called on the government to halt the East Timor human rights trials, claiming that they were politically motivated.

Australia's Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock has been asked to establish a special visa category in a bid to allow a group of East Timorese to stay in the country.

The special visa would apply to about 18-hundred East Timorese asylum seekers who are facing deportation.

Jakarta – The US Embassy here is now full of praise for Indonesia's fight against terrorism, in a marked departure from the sharp criticism levelled by US officials at the government here for nearly two years.

Robert Go, Jakarta – There is no love for Mr Saddam Hussein in Indonesia. Members of the educated elite view him as a dictator who has waged war against other Muslims, both beyond and within his own borders. The unschooled masses know only that he has a moustache and often wears a beret.

Jakarta – Delays in planting some 413,343 hectares of rice in a number of areas have resulted in a drain of farmers' income sources.

In Jakarta, President Megawati Sukarnoputri's PDIP party has come under fire for continuing the corruption that has long been a part of Indonesian political life. But this time the criticisim comes from within her own ranks. Long serving PDIP member and National Development Planning Minister Kwik Kian Gie says the president's party is the most corrupt in the country.

Denpasar – Dozens of students and youths from Papua held a street rally in front of Bali's provincial legislative compound on Monday to oppose the government decision to split up the province into three.

They argued that the division would trigger horizontal and vertical conflicts in the country's easternmost province.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday took civil servants to task again, saying they performed badly and were frequently absent from work.

Her comment followed a proposal for a rise in civil servants' salaries to up to 10 million rupiah (S$2,000) a month.

Jakarta – On Monday February 17, hundreds of workers from PT Elaine who have been left in the dark by factory owners, complained to the National Coalition. They were received by National Coalition representatives Eros Djarot, Jusuf Lakaseng and Ricky Tamba.

Jakarta – The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) is the most corrupt party in Indonesia and will crumble during the next elections, PDI-Perjuangan's very own State Minister of National Development Planning Kwik Kian Gie said Monday.

La Remi, Palu – Reinforced security forces were on alert in North Lore sub-district, part of the conflict-torn regency of Poso, on Monday after a rampaging mob attacked a local police station after police refused to hand over a suspect in the killing of a local resident.

East Timorese asylum seekers have a special case to be allowed to stay in Australia.

Jakarta – A former Indonesian military chief for East Timor said Monday he tried to prevent massacres in East Timor in September 1999 and that none of his own men were involved.

"None of the witnesses who were heard in court said that the TNI [the armed forces] was involved in the attacks," Colonel Noer Muis told a human rights court.

Jakarta – Indonesia's economy probably expanded in the fourth quarter as Muslim holy days and other festivals spurred spending on food and gifts, analysts say.

More troubles surfaced last week in the government and Bank Indonesia's (BI) efforts to cover the costs of the disastrous bank bailout of the late 1990s just as many of those responsible for the catastrophe put their names forward for the position of central bank governor.

Dennis Shanahan, Jakarta – Aid agencies operating in Indonesia using Australian government funding face scrutiny after John Howard offered to investigate if any of the funds were being spent to undermine Indonesian control in the rebellious provinces of Aceh and Papua.

Simon Elegant – Patricia Spier was heading home from a mountaintop picnic in Indonesia's eastern province of Papua when the ambush began. Out of nowhere, a hail of automatic-weapon fire perforated the two Toyota Land Cruisers in which the American schoolteacher and a group of her colleagues and husband were traveling in.

Banda Aceh – Government troops and rebels in Aceh are both guilty of serious breaches of a recent peace deal, the Swiss-based group mediating the conflict between the two sides said yesterday.

"It is clear and without any doubt in my mind that these cases constitute violations," said Major-General Tanongsuk Tuvinun, senior envoy for Geneva-based Henri Dunant Centre.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A small group of East Timorese ex-prisoners listens, transfixed, to the text of the UN's 1987 Convention on Torture.

For the first time they learn that the people who tortured them are considered criminals. The listeners break into broad smiles and give thumbs-up signals.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Six of the largest political parties qualified for the general election scheduled for 2004 following the House of Representatives approval of electoral threshold on Friday.