Simon Montlake, Jakarta – The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency plans to restructure 70% of its major debt cases by the end of this month, Irwan Siregar, a senior IBRA executive, said Wednesday.
IBRA is managing loans with a nominal value of about IDR260 trillion, which it has taken over from the devastated banking sector.
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden has established links with Muslim radicals in Indonesia who are behind attacks on Christians in the Maluku islands, according to Western intelligence sources in Jakarta.
Stewart Taggart – Walk down any street in East Timor's capitol of Dili and the scene is the same: blackened, roofless buildings and heaps of rubble. Severed telephone lines dangle from exposed walls, charred satellite dishes point skyward, and traffic lights stare blindly at intersections. Only a tiny fraction of the city's 60,000 residents have running water or electricity.
Soraya Permatasari, Jakarta – An Indonesian commission said there were signs that some listed firms, including noodle giant Indofood and some cement companies, might be in violation of an anti-monopoly law that took effect on Tuesday.
Aulia Andri/Swastika & Ari P, Medan – The abduction of four activists from the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA) while protesting outside the General Assembly in early August remains a tug of war between the Jakarta City Police and the KPA, with the KPA believing that the abduction was committed by police officers.
Jakarta – The joint team set up by the Attorney General's Office to investigate rights violations in East Timor has ignored the real offenders, a watchdog said on Saturday.
Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday appointed 16 judges to the Supreme Court in support of reform of the country's judicial system.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – As the Indonesian government considers extending a civil emergency for the strife-torn region of the Malukus, local groups warn that fresh violence could erupt at any time.
Matthew Rothschild, Dili – On August 30, a huge crowd in Dili, East Timor, gathered to celebrate the first anniversary of the independence vote for this tiny nation. But all is not well in East Timor.
Jakarta – Dozens of older men and women belonging to the Victims of New Order Human Rights Abuse Association (Pakorba HAM) met French human rights activist, Danielle Mitterand, here today.
Chris McCall, Jakarta – The Government and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) yesterday half-heartedly announced that their ineffective truce would be extended, at least for now. A day after the truce officially expired, a joint statement was issued announcing new talks this month in Switzerland, where the deal was first signed in May.
Jakarta – Seven people, including four women, were accosted when some 100 members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) attacked cafes and bars in Tebet, South Jakarta, on Friday evening, a police officer said on Saturday.
Chaidir Anwar Tanjung, Pekanbaru – Protected forests at Bukit Suligi in Kampar regency, Riau province on Sumatra's west coast, are being plundered without local authorities lifting a finger and even supporting the illegal industry.
Susan Sim, Jakarta – If history is written by victors and it is left to fiction to lionise the defeated, then General Wiranto and his nemesis, Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman, cannot have crafted a better outcome than the one dictated by the hard realities of Indonesian politics.
Chris McCall and Staff Reporters – They were among the men to fear in Dili in the bloody weeks before and after last year's independence vote.
Chris McCall, Jakarta – Jakarta yesterday finally named a string of top military and police officers among 19 suspects involved in last year's East Timor bloodbath, but received a suspicious response.
Jakarta – Three Indonesian student activists who picketted the national assembly last month, have related how they and a fellow protestor were abducted at gunpoint and held incommunicado for 13 days, reports said Saturday.
Jakarta – Dozens of students in Lampung province took to the streets yesterday to protest against a government plan to increase fuel prices and a rise in public transport fares, reports said.
They gathered at a main intersection in the provincial capital, Bandar Lampung, causing traffic jams, the state Antara news agency said.
Jakarta – An international rights group on Saturday welcomed Indonesia's naming of 19 suspects in the violence that ravaged East Timor after its independence vote last year, but said "serious obstacles" remained in bringing them to justice.
Jakarta – Indonesian investigators were condemned by rights activists Friday for omitting top Indonesian generals and notorious militia leaders from a list of suspects in last year's bloodshed in East Timor.
Jakarta – With former president Soeharto's appearance as a defendant in his corruption trial in doubt, judicial experts disagreed on Thursday over the legality of trying him in his absence.
Jakarta – Indonesia on Friday named three generals as suspects in its probe into the violence that followed last year's East Timor independence vote but immediately came under pressure to go higher up the military chain of command.
Nenden NF/Hendra & LM, Yogyakarta – A 70% rise in economy class railway fares, implemented Friday, are likely to prove extremely burdensome for the poor.
Jakarta – The Cabinet's new economic team is not seeking major changes in the International Monetary Fund-sponsored economic reform program, Bank Indonesia acting governor Anwar Nasution said here on Thursday.
Rising tensions and an increasing number of attacks on foreign aid workers in West Timor reduced the IOM/UNHCR repatriations of East Timorese refugees to a trickle in July and August. In early July, IOM was forced to suspend all return operations from the Kupang area following fighting between the local population and East Timorese refugees.
Maryadi/BI & AH Detik, Pontianak – A student protest at the Malaysian Consulate in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, today, Thursday 31 August 2000, has ended with four students being beaten and arrested.
Jakarta – Student reformists who helped topple former Indonesian president Suharto two years ago reacted with anger and disgust Thursday at his failure to show up at the start of his corruption trial.
Mark Dodd, Dili – After a 24-hour session, East Timor's main independence umbrella group has reaffirmed support for Mr Xanana Gusmao as its leader and approved measures aimed at a smooth transition to independence.
Mark Landler, Jakarta – The corruption trial of Indonesia's fallen leader, Suharto, got under way here this morning in the converted auditorium of a government ministry building that was crowded with spectators and ringed by police officers, but missing one man: the accused.
Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Suharto's failure to attend the opening of his own trial Thursday had been widely expected but public patience is wearing. Economists, political analysts and a former judge warned of further social unrest if the "stage show" continues.
Joanna Jolly, Dili – On a day tinged with sadness and joy, thousands of East Timorese yesterday celebrated the first anniversary of their independence from often brutal colonial rule by Indonesia.
Jakarta – A peaceful demonstration by East Timorese refugees to commemorate the first anniversary of East Timor's secession from Indonesia turned brutal yesterday, when they attacked East Nusa Tenggara's provincial legislative building.
Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Western diplomats and senior Indonesian military officers say the pro-Jakarta militias operating in West Timor are still being sponsored by a group of retired and serving generals with links to the ousted Suharto regime.
Mark Dodd, Dili – East Timor independence leaders have accused the United Nations of failing to uphold its mandate to provide security for the country in the face of cross-border attacks by pro-Indonesian militia.
Heather Paterson, Aileu – They fought a desperate jungle war against Indonesia's occupation for a quarter of a century. Now, one year after East Timor broke free, they have no place to go and nothing to do.
Djoko Tjiptono/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – Around 200 victims of the 27 July incident gathered at Central Jakarta's famous HI Roundabout Wednesday demanding the Jakarta Provincial government reject Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's accountability speech.
Jakarta – The government yesterday stepped up pressure on rebels in restive Aceh province to halt violence which could jeopardize a three-month-old ceasefire agreement expected for extension.
Djoko Tjiptono/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – Around 40 representatives of the Indonesian Scavenger's Association (IPI) staged a noisy protest at the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) offices in Jakarta Wednesday. They complained that they had been arbitrarily and forcible evicted by the North Jakarta Police and PT Green Garden.
Jakarta – Indonesia's first democratically-elected government will put its reform image on the line Thursday by bringing former president Suharto to trial for corruption. The case will open amid doubts that the former strongman will show up at the court, and assurances of a pardon if found guilty.
Budi Sugiarto/BI & LM, Bojonegoro – For the past nine days journalists from several media organisations in Bojonegoro, East Java, have boycotted all reports and announcements from Bojonegoro Police and have now taken legal action. The beating of a local journalist at a demonstration and the contemptuous response of the police have angered the press.
Jakarta – Indonesia will set up a new agency to oversee state companies in a bid to speed their privatization, chief economics minister Rizal Ramli said yesterday.
Pip Hinman, Sydney – Romawaty Sinaga, the international officer of the militant Indonesian National Front for Workers Struggle (FNPBI), in Australia to meet other trade unionists, has appealed for greater assistance for the emerging independent union movement in her country.
Jon Land – August 30 is the first anniversary of East Timor's courageous act of self-determination, when, after 24 years of occupation, 78.9% of voters defied concerted Indonesian military and militia attempts to crush support for independence and voted for an end to Indonesian rule.
Francesca Davis, Dili – Its 4.45pm and the heat is stifling. There is a crowd of students at the door, smiling at me hopefully. Some have travelled miles on foot, on top of buses and in carts to get here. Word had spread that English courses are being offered at the university. We have had to turn scores away. We only have 25 computers for 500 students.
Tim Dodd, Dili – "When the UN pulls out, the whole system's going to crash," says Mr Kirk MacManus, the manager of Hello Mister, Dili's only Western-style supermarket, which is housed in a building that until recently was a burnt-out shell.
Paul Daley – A small group of Australian politicians and military chiefs still shudder when they recollect receiving a top-secret report from the Australian Defence Intelligence Organisation on September 28 last year – just eight days after the first of 5000 Australian troops led InterFET into East Timor under a United Nations mandate at Indonesia's invitation.
Jakarta – Following are summaries of a government report, obtained by Kyodo News, on the flow of funds at seven charity foundations created and chaired by former Indonesian President Suharto while in power.
The information is contained in the indictment on corruption charges filed against Suharto, scheduled to be read by the prosecution during the trial Thursday.
Denpasar – One person was killed and six others injured yesterday when police opened fire to disperse protesters on the resort island of Bali.
The unrest occurred in the district of Jembrana, 95 kilometer west of Denpasar, when the protesters rallied against the inauguration of a new administrator in Negara, the capital of Jembrana.
Jakarta – Indonesia's huge public debt is likely to derail its economic recovery, the IMF's Jakarta representative John Dodsworth said Tuesday, urging the new cabinet to make the debt burden its main focus.
Jakarta – University of Indonesia (UI) students marked the first day of going back to campus after a long holiday by boycotting classes on Monday, following the university's decision not to cancel a policy on an extra school fee.