Five more people, including two separatist rebels, have been killed in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, the military and residents said.

Soldiers shot dead a suspected member of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in a gunfight at Indrajaya in Pidie district on Friday, said local military chief Colonel Supartodi.

Kupang – Senior Indonesian government officials on Saturday expressed willingness to allow East Timorese policemen and officials to pursue higher education in Indonesia.

The agreement was reached during an official visit Saturday to East Timor by more than 30 senior Indonesian officials, including three ministers.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Indonesia is sending a delegation of three ministers to East Timor in a signal that it wants a co-operative relationship with its former possession, declared independent on May 20.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's potential ambassadors perceive the job as a chance for a vacation and have little idea of how to promote the country overseas, a parliamentary commission claims.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Analysts predict that less than 10 political parties will be eligible to contest the 2004 general election should the proposed bill on general elections be enacted.

Jill Jolliffe – An incursion by Indonesian warships into East Timorese waters last month was a ploy by military hardliners to prevent President Megawati Sukarnoputri attending independence celebrations, according to East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

They are Dr Alkatiri's first comments on the incident, which cast a shadow over the May 20 celebrations.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Poverty remains a major problem in Jakarta because the city administration's programs fail to address its underlying causes, according to an activist.

Jakarta/Ambon – Skepticism loomed on Friday over the neutrality and capability of the newly established team to investigate human rights abuses in Maluku because it is run by the government, human rights activists said on Friday.

Jakarta – The International Financial Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, warned on Friday that the country's weak legal system was scaring away badly needed foreign investors, after the Central Jakarta Commercial Court declared Canada's Manulife Financial Corp's local insurance unit bankrupt.

Sanur – The Indonesian government is expected to complete the repatriation process of 10,000 families of refugees back to East Timor by August this year, in a bid to resolve thecomplex refugee problems and to ease the financial burden that the state has to shoulder for the past few years.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – The bill on general elections, which provides that members of the military will be able to vote and be elected in the 2004 general election, is a good start but on its own is insufficient to take the military out of politics, say observers.

Banda Aceh – Two Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel, two alleged members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and three civilians died in armed conflict here on Wednesday and Thursday, a military officer said on Thursday.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Imagine a squalid three-by-four-meter house under a large water pipe on the Western Flood Canal in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. Its walls consist of used plywood and rough concrete that supports the pipe. It has no kitchen or toilet.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – There are many theories to explain why the government's various programs to eliminate poverty have been futile. In Jakarta, one problem is clear: Over 100,000 poor do not have ID cards, which make public services unavailable to them.

Jakarta – A fight broke on Thursday between North Jakarta public order officers and around 200 becak (pedicab) drivers in Sungai Bambu subdistrict in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

The clash at midday left a car destroyed by fire and another car damaged, while three officers were injured.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Is that a rice cooker or a bomb in the shopping bag? Bomb paranoia has struck Jakarta and other major cities as residents are scared stiff at the sight of unattended bags, boxes and odd-looking items after the latest spate of explosions to rock the country.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Mayor Abdillah of Medan, the North Sumatra capital, introduced new fares for public minivans on Thursday following a protest by hundreds of minivan drivers grouped under the Association of Medan Public Minivan Drivers/Owners (Kesper) earlier in the morning.

Bernie K. Moestafa, Jakarta – How do we explain the sight last Wednesday of the Indonesian delegation shopping in one of Rome's most expensive arcades while attending a world summit on hunger?

Bad timing maybe, but a note by prominent Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid that Indonesians were not serious about running the state, could be nearer to the truth.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao has put the new country's politicians on notice to lift their performance, in a free-wheeling attack on the Government just 23 days after it took office.

[There are fears that violence could once again return to East Timor, after the announcement by former militia leader Joao Tavares that he intends to return home with some 3,000 followers. The refugee body, the UNHCR, has confirmed it will facilitate a meeting on Friday between Tavares and East Timorese authorities who have previously talked about the possibility of an amnesty.

R.K. Nugroho, Jayapura – With new powers under the special autonomy laws, the provincial legislature in Irian Jaya (Papua) has dropped all fees for elementary and high school students as of the 2002/2003 academic year to give children more of an opportunity to receive a quality education.

Jakarta – More than 200 burning seams of coal could threaten huge areas of forest in East Kalimantan province, an environmental official said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia told international creditors yesterday that its efforts to turn around the sickly economy were bearing fruit, and the creditors largely agreed.

This took place a day after Indonesia promised the International Monetary Fund in a new letter of intent that it will push through reforms in return for a US$340 million loan.

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors dropped their investigation into the killing of a Dutch journalist in East Timor that took place in 1999, a spokesman said Thursday.

Howard LaFranchi, Washington – The outrage was global in the late 1990s when Indonesia's military and goon-like militias associated with the army ran roughshod through independence-seeking East Timor. The human rights abuses were so wanton that the United States cut all cooperation with the Indonesian armed forces.

Jakarta – Indonesia paid for anti-independence militias responsible for much of the violence in East Timor in 1999 when it voted for independence, a former government official told a court Thursday.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti and Minister of Finance Boediono have made a new economic reform agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), despite signs that the Cabinet is cracking due to a disagreement on key economic policies sponsored by the fund.

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.