The recent furore over Singapore Technologies Telemedia's purchase of a major stake in Indonesia's Indosat is just a case of domestic political bickering, a former Indonesian minister said yesterday. Former trade minister Arifin M.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia could be building nuclear power plants by the end of this decade, as part of government efforts to provide alternative energy sources to the country's power-hungry households and businesses, said senior officials yesterday.

Dili – East Timor's defence force is to send 180 soldiers to a district where attackers killed four villagers over the weekend, a defence source said yesterday.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – It comes as no surprise that a handful of legislators are seeking an inquiry into the S$1.2 billion purchase of a major stake in telecommunications firm Indosat by Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT).

Richel Langit, Jakarta – Dozens of people suspected of plotting the deadly Bali bombing have been arrested, and the head of the joint international team investigating the terrorist attack, Inspector General I Made Mangku Pastika, has been declared the Asian Newsmaker of the Year by the US magazine Time, but the terrorist network operating in the world's largest archipelagic country

Jakarta – The country's booming paper industry is responsible for widespread attacks on indigenous communities in Sumatra, said a Human Rights Watch report released Monday.

According to the report, which was quoted by AFP, police are helping suppress protests against the seizure of forest land.

Jill Jolliffe, Darwin – United Nations officials and East Timorese government leaders are re-assessing security after a weekend border attack with all the hallmarks of a militia incursion from West Timor.

Jakarta – Papuans demanded on Monday that the venue of the murder trial for local separatist leader Theys Hiyo Eluay be moved from the East Java capital of Surabaya to their province in order for justice to take place.

Jakarta – Mass strikes by public transportation drivers commenced in a number of cities on Monday as street protests against recent hikes in utility prices continued in several parts of the country.

James Dunn – It is hard to feel sanguine about the latest acquittal of the Indonesian Human Rights Tribunal, which has been hearing charges against TNI (Indonesian armed forces) officers and militia leaders in relation to events in East Timor in 1999.

Dili – Screaming "We are coming back for you", a gang armed with automatic rifles raided two villages in newly independent East Timor, killing four people and injuring eight, witnesses said yesterday.

Hundreds of Indonesians took to the streets here to protest the government's decision to raise electricity and telephone rates and fuel prices, while elsewhere in the country higher fuel costs were likely to cause transport disruptions.

Jakarta – In a mainly Muslim nation dominated by Javanese culture, few Indonesians know much about the remote and mainly Christian province of Papua, beyond the stereotype of tribesmen living in the forest.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's businessmen and labour unions have formed a rare alliance to protest the government's New Year price hikes – paving the way for a mass nationwide strike this week.

Labour activist and union chief Dita Indah Sari said employers have not only backed, but also encouraged, union plans to strike against the latest series of price hikes.

Xanana Gusmao's first new year's address as president of an independent East Timor encapsulated the fragility of his young nation. At the heart of Mr Gusmao's message was an appeal for peace.

Tom Hyland, Jakarta – The relentless techno beat is so loud your insides vibrate. Strobe and laser lights flash out across the crowd of maybe 5000 that surges in waves across the vast dance floor. It's 2am on a Saturday and amid the noise and crush, the mood in this north Jakarta nightclub is a strangely mellow mix of joy and energy.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Employers remain committed to implementing a 7 percent increase in the minimum labor wage despite a simultaneous utility price hike, said an industry leader.

Bill Guerin – Indonesia's largest supermarket chain PT Hero Supermarket plans to open three hypermarkets on the outskirts of Jakarta this year to stem a steady drop in the chain's market share against very strong competition from foreign retailers.

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – The government's decision to hike fuel, electricity and telephone charges has drawn a strong public rejection, with many protesters demanding President Megawati Soekarnoputri step down.

Makassar – Hundreds of students of the State University of Makassar on Friday staged a demonstration at the provincial legislature here, demanding President Megawati Soekarnoputri to immediately resign for her incompetence in leading the nation.

Jakarta – The killing of civilians has dropped sharply in Indonesia's Aceh province since the signing of a landmark peace accord between the central government and rebels, a Geneva-based organisation that brokered the deal said.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Jailed American nurse Joy Lee Sadler was rushed to hospital on Friday but was rejected by all hospitals in Banda Aceh for fears that her HIV illness would spread to other people.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Women, beware. Every five hours, a woman is raped in Indonesia. Every day, at least one rape case in Jakarta is reported by the media, not to mention the unreported ones, which may be triple the number.

Jakarta – A number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) launched a campaign on Thursday against the much-criticized government policy of exonerating some former bank owners from their past banking crimes.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Those East Timorese living in camps in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) whose refugee status ended on December 31 have automatically become Indonesian citizens, a senior government official has said.

Jakarta – A former militia leader who is facing a jail term in Indonesia over atrocities in East Timor said Friday he plans to send a delegation to the new nation to promote reconciliation.

Damien Kingsbury – The sentencing of Australian-based academic researcher and sometime Asia Times Online contributor Dr Lesley McCulloch to five months' imprisonment in Indonesia has sent a clear signal that the Indonesian military's tolerance for what it regards as foreign interference in domestic issues has come to an end.

Heri Retnowati, Surabaya – Seven Indonesian special forces soldiers went on trial on Friday for the killing of an independence leader in Papua in what is seen as a test of Jakarta's ability to tackle rebellion in the remote province.

Jakarta – Indonesia's year-on-year inflation was 10.03 percent in December against 10.48 percent in November, the statistics bureau said on Thursday.

The bureau said month-on-month inflation in December was 1.2 percent compared to 1.80 percent in November, still showing the impact of increased spending for year-end religious festivities.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia is drawing a line in the sand in its dealings with Aceh and Papua, warning that attempts to secede will be met by force.

Jakarta – People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais said Tuesday the government should stop working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2003, Antara reported.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A number of professional associations and corruption watchdogs threatened on Monday to file a class action suit against the government, should President Megawati Soekarnoputri insist on releasing big debtors from possible criminal charges.

Indonesian police were fired upon by unknown gunmen as they tried to investigate the earlier wounding of two women including the wife of a local human rights campaigner, police said.

It was unclear whether any of the officers had been wounded, Papua police spokesman Daud Sihombing told AFP Wednesday.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government told the provinces of Papua and Aceh on Monday that the special autonomy status accorded to them in January 2002 would be final and any move to secede from the country would not be tolerated.

Tom Hyland, Jakarta – As a Scot, Lesley McCulloch could hardly let New Year's Eve pass without a party, however her chances of celebrating last night were limited.

McColloch is in a prison cell in Banda Aceh, the capital of the Indonesian province of Aceh, where she will spend the next six weeks for visa violations.

Shravanti Reddy – What began as a peaceful student protest on December 4 in the East Timor capital city of Dili ended in the largest violent conflict the nation has seen since independence.

Jakarta – Indonesia's president said on Tuesday that stabilising the world's most populous Muslim nation, rocked by devastating bomb attacks on Bali island last October, would be a top priority for her in 2003.

Leo Wahyudi S – With the New Year approaching, people are full of hope that better things will come. However, despite their hope, many Jakartans remain pessimistic about life in the city. The Jakarta Post talked to some residents about their expectations for 2003.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The socially disadvantaged of this city will bear the brunt of corruption occurring in this year's budget as most of the money alleged to have been misappropriated was earmarked for the destitute, a state agency has said.

[A British born academic and an American nurse who visited a separatist rebel base in Indonesia's Aceh province have been jailed for violating their tourist visas. Indonesian prosecutors argued that Lesley McCulloch who works at the University of Tasmania and her American friend Joy Sadler were spies, and their actions threatened national security.

Tom Hyland and agencies, Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers in the strife-torn province of Aceh usually get their own way, so when they detained two Westerners – and women at that – leaving a rebel area, they would have expected them to come quietly.

The leaders of Indonesia's two largest Islamic groups have called for an end to efforts to get Islamic Sharia law enforced in the country, the world's largest Muslim nation.

"There is no need to press ahead with the struggle for Sharia," Ahmad Syafii Maarif, chairman of the Muhammadiyah group, told The Jakarta Post daily.

Jakarta – A court on Monday acquitted a military commander of crimes committed during East Timor's break from Indonesia, the ninth official to be cleared over the 1999 bloodshed.

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – The international community needs to bring pressure to bear on the ad hoc human rights trials being held in Indonesia in order to assure that judges and prosecutors are held accountable for questionable verdicts and justice is served, analysts said.

A British academic and an American nurse who visited a separatist rebel base in Indonesia's Aceh province were jailed for violating their tourist visas.

Briton Lesley McCulloch, 40, was sentenced to five months. Her travelling companion Joy Sadler, 57, who says she is terminally ill with an HIV-related condition, was jailed for four months.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's President, Xanana Gusmao, has appealed to his people to reject violence in 2003 – but has also renewed criticism of the Fretilin-led government.

"I ask you to remain calm, because violence does not help us build, it only destroys," he said in a new year message broadcast nationally on Saturday.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – After clinging to the shadows for much of her 18-month presidency, Megawati Sukarnoputri flies to bomb-hit Bali on Monday to mark the New Year, hot on the heels of visits to Indonesia's two separatist hotspots.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) will continue with its plan to question President Megawati Soekarnoputri about the controversial divestment of publicly listed telecommunication company PT Indosat, a spokesman said.

Tom Hyland, Jakarta – A human rights group in the Indonesian province of Papua has linked the Indonesian Army to an ambush in which the wife and daughter of a human rights activist were shot and wounded.