Jakarta – Indonesia yesterday demanded that separatists drop demands for independence for Aceh, and warned that it was losing patience in the search for peace for the troubled province.

Jakarta – An average of 1.6 million ha of Indonesia's forests are being destroyed every year, mostly by illegal loggers with powerful connections here and abroad, a report said yesterday.

Forestry Ministry secretary-general Suripto said illegal loggers formed mafia-like international networks and that their operations were hard to track down.

Robert Go, Jakarta – One of the most amazing outcomes of the recent MPR session must be that the rupiah continued to strengthen even as legislators bashed President Abdurrahman Wahid's 10-month-old government over the sluggish pace of economic recovery.

Banda Aceh – A commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels in restive North Aceh regency Abu Sofyan Daud conceded that the movement has special links with officers in the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Devi Asmarani and Robert Go, Jakarta – No fire on the streets and smaller fireworks than expected in Indonesia's parliament complex. The first annual session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) ended with an anti-climax yesterday with the last tap of Speaker Amien Rais' gavel.

Jakarta – Employees of coal mining firm PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) in Sangata regency, East Kalimantan, ended their strike on Friday after assurances were made that the company would not fire them.

Jakarta – Concluding its Annual Session on Friday, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) endorsed nine decrees, two of which certified the military's presence at the Assembly until 2009 and the new tasks for Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Jakarta – Human Rights Watch on Saturday slammed Indonesia's MPs for passing a law that could let former president Suharto and senior military officers escape punishment for gross human rights abuses, including those in East Timor.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's discredited military yesterday won a blanket amnesty for past human rights abuses. Human rights activists are furious that a decree blocking prosecution of troops involved in abuses in provinces such as East Timor, Aceh and Irian Jaya was passed by the People's Consultative Assembly with little debate.

Jakarta – Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab on Saturday said some soldiers might have encouraged the pro-Jakarta militias in the border area of East Timor.

"It is possible that certain individual [soldiers] have encouraged the militias' operations, but as an institution it is obvious that the military doesn't want the incidents to happen," Shihab told journalists.

Jakarta – Hundreds of people from various groups rallied outside the compound of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to express their disappointment with the results of the Annual Session, which concluded on Friday.

Jakarta – People across the country, including those in troubled areas, marked the 55th Independence Day on Thursday with solemn ceremonies and traditional games. No reports of violence were recorded.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid led on Thursday a solemn commemoration of Indonesia's 55th anniversary on the grounds of the official residence, Istana Merdeka, as students staged noisy demonstrations in the Monas Square nearby the palace.

Aulia Andri/Swastika & Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – The People's Democratic Party (PRD) did not just demo on the final day of the annual parliament session in the capital, Jakarta.

Shinta NM Sinaga/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – The Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI) led by Dita Indah Sari marked the final day of the annual session of the Assembly by amassing workers and members at the parliament to express their frustration with the so-called representatives of the people.

Irna Gustia/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – A Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) investigation into a foundation owned by the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) has uncovered corruption to the value of Rp 70 billion (US$ 8.4 million). The BPK has promised to complete their investigation next week.

Warren Caragata, Jakarta – If anything represents the uneasy muddle that is Indonesian politics these days, it may well be Golkar, the party of discredited ex-president Suharto.

Abdul Haerah HR/BI, Makassar – Up to a hundred low paid workers and waterside labourers who demanded a 100% pay rise have been forcefully removed from Makassar harbour side in Makassar on Saturday . Security officers from the Makassar Police force have removed the protestors who have been conducting their protest in the area since Friday.

Jakarta – About 1,000 university students staged a peaceful demonstration in Central Jakarta yesterday, to celebrate Independence Day with calls for further reform.

Hestiana Dharmastuti/Hendra & Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – Disgraced former dictator Suharto and his cronies can not yet breathe easily. Once again, students gathered together with the City Forum (Forkot) have demanded they be taken to court and again planned to besiege his residence, known as Cendana after the street on which it is located.

Maryadi/Fitri & Lyndal Meehan, Pontianak – Today is Indonesian Independence Day. In West Kalimantan, thousands of people are expected to mark the day with a mixture of celebration and protest involving all elements of society, including Madurese refugees of sectarian violence which erupted in 1997.

Jakarta – Six students who pulled down the Indonesian flag at the Attorney General's Office in South Jakarta yesterday could be imprisoned for up to four years.

Andrew Perrin, Ainaro – Fearing UN peacekeepers cannot guarantee their safety, villagers in East Timor's mountainous central south-west have fled to the forest or formed vigilante groups against possible militia attack.

Marianne Kearney Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's pre-Independence Day address to Parliament yesterday began and ended with his trademark humour and, this time, legislators laughed with him, indicating that much of the tension between the two sides had dissipated.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Removing the military from politics was one of the key agendas of the reform movement in 1998, yet legislators on a People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) committee recommended this week that the military retain its dual role until 2009.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – A leading armed forces reformer has made an unprecedented attack on corrupt generals.

Lieutenant-General Agus Wirahadikusumah called on the Government to cleanse the military and police of what he called the cancer of corruption. "It's now up to the Government – to act or not to act," he wrote in the latest issue of the magazine Tempo .

Rayhan Anas Lubis/Swastika & Lyndal Meehan, Banda Aceh – A mass prayer for those killed, raped and abused by the Indonesian Armed Forces and government organised by pro-referendum groups in Banda Aceh on Wednesday, has ended in clashes with police.

Surabaya – Dozens of the banners denouncing political figures and parties which have been erected since the start of the People's Consultative Assembly Annual Session are being taken down by police in a bid to cool the climate in the city.

Jakarta – Indonesian police on Wednesday said they had identified 22 suspects in connection with a violent military-backed attack on the then-party headquarters of Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri in 1996.

A group of prominent East Timorese leaders, spanning the territory's historical political spectrum, are organizing a new center-right political party with the apparent blessing of independence leader Xanana Gusmao, a key organizer said Wednesday.

James Balowski – After months of delays, false starts and a performance to rival Christopher Skase's "Now I'm sick, now I'm not", former president Suharto is finally to stand trial for embezzlement of Indonesian state funds.

Jon Land – Pro-Jakarta militia operating out of refugee camps and other bases in West Timor show no sign of scaling down their attacks upon refugees or United Nations soldiers and humanitarian staff.

Chris McCall, Pekanbaru – When Indonesia's politicians and pundits talk about the separatist movements that plague the country, two provinces on the opposite ends of the archipelago are mentioned first: Aceh and Irian Jaya. But tagged on to the end of the discussion is Riau.

On July 10, a new labour rights bill was unanimously passed by the Indonesian House of Representatives. It still requires President Abdurrahman Wahid's approval to become law.

Jakarta – Hundreds of people staged a peaceful rally in the West Papua (Irian Jaya) capital of Jayapura yesterday, demanding the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) cancel its decision to issue a decree that would prevent any parts of Indonesia from seceding and declaring independence.

Robert Go, Jakarta – If a recent Tempo Magazine poll is correct, Indonesians have little patience left for the manoeuvrings of Jakarta's political elite. The people crave concrete signs that economic and social conditions are improving.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – As politician after politician attacked President Abdurrahman Wahid during this week's general assembly for failing to care for the welfare of Indonesia's "little people", the irony was not lost on these "little people".

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Amid loose talk of a constitutional coup, President Abdurrahman Wahid says he will run his Government through a gang of four.

Iin Yumiyanti/Swastika & Lyndal Meehanm, Jakarta – As commemorations to mark the 55th anniversary of the declaration of independence on 17 August approach, groups of local people in North Aceh have begun confiscating and forbidding locals from raising the 'Red and White' Indonesian national flag.

Banda Aceh – Residents in Indonesia's troubled Aceh Province began a strike Wednesday, refusing to conduct any activities or to hoist the red-and-white Indonesian national flag to mark Independence Day on August 17.

Jakarta – Over 100 civilians in Indonesia's East Aceh regency were assaulted by Indonesian police and soldiers who went on a rampage of shooting and arson in retaliation for the death of a fellow soldier, a local daily Serambi Indonesia reported yesterday.

Jakarta – After eight relatively peaceful and calm days outside the Parliament building, the ninth day of the current annual general session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) yesterday was marred by a major turnout of demonstrators.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia yesterday denied responsibility for intensified attacks by militias on international forces inside East Timor.

Washington – Human rights groups on Tuesday voiced deep concern over the fate of a New York-based activist missing in Indonesia's Aceh province, and demanded more action from US officials on his case.

Jakarta – Over 1,000 people from different groups rallied on Monday in front of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), voicing various demands ranging from support for the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid to the expulsion of the military/police faction in the nation's highest law-making body.

Djoko Tjiptono/BI & LM, Jakarta – A large metal gate at the parliament was torn down by members of the City Front (Front Kota) student group when their protest turned tense and nasty after a lively demonstration at the parliament building on Tuesday.

Arifin A/Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – NGOs and students in the province of Jambi, Sumatra, have called on the Minister of Forestry and Plantations, Nurmahmudi Ismail, to immediately close PT Inhutani V due to the extensive environmental damage caused by the state-owned enterprise and that the local Forestry Ministry official be sacked for corruption.

Jakarta – Jakarta City Councilmen questioned on Saturday the absence of police officers on several raids conducted recently by local officials against gambling dens in the capital.

Council Deputy Speaker Djafar Badjeber of the United Development Party said the presence of the police during such operations is necessary to avoid any unexpected obstacles.

Ian Timberlake Indonesia – Vigilante mobs have slain more than 100 people on the streets of Jakarta already this year, reflecting a loss of faith in the police since former dictator Suharto stepped down two years ago.

Thomas Omestad, Jakarta – "The old man at No. 8 Cendana Street sits by his satellite TV, watching local sitcoms and nature shows on the Discovery, National Geographic, and Animal Planet channels. After three strokes, he is on a low-fat, low-stress regimen, and his doctors think it best that he avoid newspapers and magazines.