Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Choking haze in central and west Kalimantan reached its worst levels this season, with visibility down to only a few metres yesterday.
A scientist from an international forestry research centre said the pollution levels, that are now being described as "extremely dangerous", were predictable, given the dry El Nino season.
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A widespread blackout in the Indonesian capital and the surrounding West Java towns has underscored Jakarta's failure to build power infrastructure to keep pace with the growing demand.
Richard Galpin, Jakarta – A senior police official in Indonesia has confirmed reports that 30 people demonstrating on Wednesday against the re-election of the governor of Jakarta were poisoned with cyanide.
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Suhari spends almost one-third of his day on the road. It is not because he is a driver. The employee of a company in Kota, Central Jakarta, spends, on average, nearly six hours in public vehicles because he lives in East Bekasi, which is about 40 kilometers away from his workplace.
[Indonesia, like other predominantly Islamic countries in the Asia Pacific region, has felt the impact of the September 11 attacks on the US. The effects have at times threatened to destabilise the balance between President Megawati Sukarnoputri's secular rule and the demands of a devout Muslim population.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri's backing for the re-election of Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso has undermined her anti-graft drive, said analysts critical of her support for a politician widely seen as corrupt and ineffective.
Ainur R. Sophia'an and Nana Rukmana, Surabaya/Cirebon – Thousands of sugar farmers and peasants employed by sugar plantations in West and East Java went on strike Thursday to protest sugar imports that have affected the sugar industry at home.
Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Two unidentified gunmen in Aceh ignored the cries by a schoolboy for his mother's life on Thursday morning, shooting her in the head before stealing her motorcycle, local residents said.
John Garnaut – A Sydney University professor has described as "outrageous" claims by Indonesia's Security Minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, that the university could be linked to the murders two weeks ago of two Americans and one Indonesian on a road near the Freeport mine in Indonesia's Papua province.
Berni K. Moestafa and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Activists have welcomed the submission of the anti-race and ethnic discrimination bill to the House of Representatives saying that it will ensure equal rights of all citizens.
Lee Kim Chew – Last week's three-year jail sentence for Akbar Tandjung, Indonesia's Lower House Speaker and Golkar party chairman, is another new milestone in the country's legal history.
Even as Akbar fights to stay in the saddle – he is appealing against his conviction for corruption – the reformers have claimed yet another sweet victory.
Medan – At least 700 workers from six regencies in North Sumatra grouped under The North Sumatra Labor Union NGO Forum held a rally on Wednesday at the provincial legislature to oppose the bills on labor protection and industrial dispute settlement.
Berni K. Moestafa and Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Local analysts expressed doubt on Wednesday that al-Qaeda had any organized cells here, but warned that the country was ripe for radicalism, while at least one Muslim scholar said he had evidence of links between al-Qaeda and a local group.
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Police yesterday fired blank warning shots, tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters as Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso won a parliamentary vote for another five years in office.
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Over 550,000 poor families will no longer receive government assistance through "Rice for the Poor" program in 2003 due to a reduction in the subsidy and anticipated higher rice prices, the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) chief said on Wednesday.
Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Three assessment companies appointed by the Ministry of Forestry to help filter out bad forest concession holders are being suspected of having links to certain concession holders including timber tycoon Bob Hasan.
James Balowski – On August 31, a band of unidentified assailants ambushed a group of mine workers in Indonesia's eastern-most province of West Papua, leaving three dead and 11 injured.
Indonesian officials immediately blamed the Free Papua Movement (OPM), however others have accused the Indonesian security forces of involvement in the attack.
Norman Brewer, Sydney – Reconciliation and peaceful dialogue among West Papuans was the theme of the workshop of the West Papua Project, held at Sydney University on September 2-3.
Catharine Munro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Government has ordered an investigation into links between a fatal ambush on international schoolteachers near a mine in Papua and a trip to Australia by a group of Papuans at the time of the attack.
Representatives of protesters rejecting the likely re-election of Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso scuffled with police after they were refused entry to the voting room at the city legislative assembly building.
Medan – Hundreds of employees of a regional construction company staged a demo at the city council building in Medan, North Sumatra, on Monday demanding a guarantee for their future employment status following the state owned firm's management transfer.
US Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce has advised American investors not to make any new investments in Indonesia until the investment and security climate improves.
Jakarta – Indonesia's economy is forecast to grow 3.86 percent year-on-year in the third quarter and 5.76 percent year-on-year in the fourth due to expected higher output ahead of year-end celebrations, Finance Minister Boediono said on Wednesday.
A Dili court has sentenced a Timorese man who belonged to a pro-Indonesian militia to twenty years imprisonment for three murders that he committed in 1999, it was announced Wednesday.
Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which is fighting for the war-torn territory's independence, accepted the government's tentative plan for further dialogs in Geneva, Switzerland, by the end of September or early in October, to end the prolonged conflict that has claimed more than 900 civilian lives this year alone.
[The most senior Indonesian diplomat in Australia has warned that a war on Iraq will divide Indonesia – Australia's most important and populous neighbour. Imron Cotan, the deputy chief at the Indonesian embassy in Canberra, says Indonesia wants United Nations backing for a war on Iraq.
An Indonesian prosecutor has proposed that controversial human rights trials be moved to Dili, the capital of neighbouring East Timor.
Prosecutor Gabriel Simangunsong says it is difficult to get witnesses from the fledgling country to testify in Jakarta.
East Timor's foreign minister Jose Ramos-Horta says the country's fledgling judicial and prison systems are frail because there are insufficient judges.
He has told Radio New Zealand that judges appointed by the United Nations two years ago were without basic education in law and only a few had law degrees.
Sharon Labi, Fatuk-Hun – The red juice of the betel nut stains her teeth and runs down her chin, settling in the cracks of her lips and the wrinkles of her weathered face. Maria Jose Barrato has no idea how old she is; her guess is at least 80, and it shows.
Dan Murphy, Wonosobo – Maya Friera's letter home is filled with re-assurances for her parents. The 8-year-old promises she's studying hard and saying her prayers every day.
Bill Guerin – Despite growing "anti-IMF" sentiment among some Indonesian politicians, last month's draft budget for 2003 was crafted to appease the International Monetary Fund and ensure that the country continues to receive the remaining tranches of a long-drawn-out US$5 billion rescue program.
Sharon Labi, Dili – They idolise Britney Spears, watch lots of TV and worry about what to wear to school. But one disturbing truth sets these teenage girls apart from others their age – most have been raped and many have witnessed the torture and murder of family members.
Alan Sipress and Ellen Nakashima, Jakarta – Indonesian police are investigating whether soldiers were behind the killing of two Americans and one Indonesian near the Freeport-McMoRan gold and copper mine in the eastern province of Papua, the regional police chief said today.
Tangerang – Hundreds of passengers were stranded across Tangerang on Monday following a strike by public minivan drivers serving three routes from Cimone to Cikupa, Tigaraksa and Perumnas.
Earlier in the day, drivers parked their vans at Kadewaran intersection in Bitung and then marched to the regency legislative council office to voice their protest.
Jakarta – Despite improvements in health over the past decades, Indonesia is listed as being among the countries that contribute 40 percent of the world's maternal deaths.
Manuela Saragosa – Indonesia has the world's second largest reserves of natural forest but the World Bank has warned it could all disappear within the next decade.
Critics say the country's forests have been exploited with little regard for their sustainability as a valuable resource.
Novan Iman Santosa, Jakarta – In a last minute attempt to foil governor Sutiyoso's nomination in the gubernatorial election on Wednesday, thousands of people from various groups – some brought along two cows with them -packed the City Council building on Jl. Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta on Monday.
Chris McCall – Virtual pariahs after their bloody destruction of East Timor, the Indonesian military and police were turned overnight into prospective friends of the West by September 11.
Greg Sheridan – The Bush Administration was shocked at the extent of al-Qa'ida's penetration of southeast Asia, says US Deputy Defence Secretary and former ambassador to Indonesia Paul Wolfowitz.
Wolfowitz's view flatly rejects the claims of some commentators that regional governments have exaggerated the terrorist network's links for domestic political purposes.
An Indonesian soldier and two civilians were killed in the restive province of Aceh, the military and residents said.
[Political pressure is mounting for the resignation of Indonesian Attorney-General Muhammad Abdurrahman. Following allegations that he has underdisclosed his personal wealth he has become a target for anti-corruption campaigners and political rivals of the President.
[Lesley McCulloch, a lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania in Australia, says government forces and the independence movement are responding to the problem in very different ways. She writes from Aceh that there's evidence that the police and military are involved in the drug trade, while the independence movement wants to stamp it out.]
Police fired blank ammunition, tear gas and water cannons on Wednesday to stop a brawl between about 300 student protesters demanding the dissolution of the former ruling Golkar Party and dozens of thugs loyal to the party.
Jamie Walker – According to the army, it began as a Melbourne Cup day joke. Hot and bored, a group of Australian soldiers spotted two Timorese boys herding water buffalo along a sun-blasted street fronting the Battalion Support Group compound in Dili, East Timor.
A private wrapped a US dollar note around a rock and threw it to the children.
A special fund to compensate former Indonesian government employees and pensioners in East Timor expects to make its first payments next month, a founder of the fund said Monday.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri has been on a seven-nation tour abroad while President Gloria Arroyo has personally visited illegal workers deported from Malaysia.
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Labor union activists and businessmen have expressed discontent with the changes to the labor bill being deliberated at the House of Representatives, saying the revision fails to accommodate their respective aspirations.
Dean Yates, Jakarta – In the struggle for the public face of Islam in Indonesia, militant Muslims rarely encounter anyone willing to confront them head on.
But Ulil Abshar-Abdalla, a young moderate Muslim intellectual, has taken the battle to the militants on the radio airwaves and through newspaper columns to defend Indonesia's traditional Islamic tolerance.
Fitri Wulandari and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Nunukan – Rustan was dreaming of streets paved in gold when he took the offer to work in Malaysia last year. He left his hometown of Rappang in South Sulawesi, bringing with him his wife Pasah and their two-month-old son, Ruslan.
Jakarta – Four people, including three teenage girl athletes, died in a powerful explosion at a sports stadium in Indonesia's strife-torn Ambon city, police said yesterday.