Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Despite public opposition to a state of emergency in Aceh, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked the President to deploy 8,000 more troops to the restive province.

Bangkok – The Aceh separatists' regional connection was bared after police in Thailand seized a major arms cache, including 68 AK-47 rifles, bound for the rebels in Indonesia's troubled northern province.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Senior politicians from Muslim-based parties met again here on Monday in an apparent move to counter a coalition between the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Golkar Party, the two largest political parties.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Two of the largest parties in the Indonesian Parliament, the ruling PDI-P and Golkar, are trying to dislodge Mr Amien Rais as the National Assembly Speaker next month in an apparent bid to thwart his presidential ambitions.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Former president Suharto's children enjoy a measure of protection from the establishment even today, analysts said after prosecutors pressed for a lighter sentence for murder suspect Tommy Suharto.

Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta – The former commander of Indonesian troops in East Timor went on trial Tuesday on charges of crimes against humanity for allegedly allowing his soldiers to commit atrocities in the former province.

"I am not a human rights abuser," declared Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman – now Indonesia's deputy military spokesman – moments before his trial began.

A draft bill on amnesty and pardoning of sentences has been criticized as being "unconstitutional", "too general" and open to "dangerous interpretation", by a leading Timorese nongovernmental organization concerned with legal matters.

Cilacap – Hundreds of fishermen in Donan subdistrict here have protested to state oil company Pertamina for allegedly polluting the river from which they making their living.

The fishermen went to the local legislature to seek its support for their fight against Pertamina, which for some time has been dumping waste from its refinery in Cilacap into the Donan river.

After signing and approving East Timor's state budget Tuesday, President Xanana Gusmao called for revision of the measures within four months, while also lamenting the lackluster nature of parliamentary debate and opposition parties in the new country.

Theresia Sufa, Bogor – Hundreds of residents from Kampung Walahir in Nambo village, Klapa Nunggal district, protested on Monday to demand the closure of a waste treatment plant located in the village. The plant is owned by PT Prasadha Pamunah Limbah Industry.

Jakarta – Over 60 per cent of Indonesians back the imposition of a civil emergency in the restive Aceh province, according to a nationwide survey.

John Garnaut – Forget luring Allan Jones to 2GB, or his role in rescuing Channel 10 – John Singleton looks set to realise his most lucrative media deal tomorrow.

Twenty per cent of Indonesian TV station SCTV has been floated and will list on the Jakarta Stock Exchange at lunchtime tomorrow, delivering a 100 per cent return for Singleton's consortium in less just 18 months.

Michael Shari, Surabaya – When Indonesia's President Suharto fell from power in 1998 and the business empires of his cronies melted down, young Hary Tanoesoedibjo saw a chance to snap up cheap businesses.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The rampant practice of exorbitant mark-ups will likely continue as a senior defense official responsible for equipment procurement has refused to cut out the role of contractors.

Apriadi Gunawan and Jacob Herin, Medan/Maumere – More than 430 workers from East Java occupied the North Sumatra legislature building out of fear of being traded like slaves in neighboring country Malaysia, demanding the government send them back home as soon as possible.

The involvement of the Soeharto family in the country's arms procurement business only started in the early 1990s. Nevertheless, in a short time, their reach had quickly spread to various quarters of the military.

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – With HIV spreading rapidly in Indonesia, the country cannot expect much from the government but instead many non-governmental organizations and foreign groups are tackling the problems.

The government is moving slowly with its eight-year-old National AIDS Commission (KPA) to prevent the possible emergence of an out-of-control HIV epidemic.

Nani Farida and Muhammad Nafik, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – As most Acehnese have rejected the government's proposal that a state of civil emergency be imposed on the restive province, there is no option left for the government except to forge ahead with dialog, activists and legislators said on Sunday.

President Xanana Gusmao will address the East Timorese Tuesday in a nationally broadcast speech that an aide described Monday as centered on his two-week delay in signing the government's budget.

Leo Wahyudi S, Jakarta – With the new school year beginning, parents are facing increased financial demands. Those parents unable to come up with their children's school fees are forced to turn to pawnshops to raise the necessary cash.

A radical Indonesian Muslim cleric that Singapore accuses of leading a terrorist network, has accused Washington of being behind a recent Philippine court's jailing of an Indonesian over weapons possession.

Lesley McCulloch – The pursuit of a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Aceh has been viewed with skepticism by many for some time. But now confirmation of the Indonesian government's lack of commitment to the peace process seems imminent.

Grace Nirang, Jakarta – Indonesia's plans to impose higher tariffs on a string of agricultural commodities might not help farmers as intended but instead raise consumer prices and encourage smuggling, analysts say.

They also say the benefits are likely be swallowed up by traders and intermediaries ahead of farmers in Indonesia's long and convoluted trading chain.

Jane Perlez, Lhokseumawe – The silvery pipes that extract hundreds of millions of dollars in natural gas a year for Exxon Mobil glint in the tropical sun here, a glittering contrast to the ramshackle huts and rice fields of the villagers nearby.

A teenager was killed and four other people were wounded when a bomb exploded outside their bus in the troubled Poso district of Central Sulawesi, according to police.

It is the latest challenge to a peace deal signed between Muslims and Christians in the area last December.

Nigel Wilson – East Timor's decision to pursue maritime boundaries that might include substantial Australian oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea will not derail talks aimed at defining the legal and commercial position of the Sunrise gas reservoirs.

Thalif Deen, United Nations – East Timor, the world's newest nation, will ask the United Nations to designate it a "least developed country" (LDC).

Jill Jolliffe – An argument over who is to be East Timor's first ambassador to Australia could lead to a showdown between President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

[The following letter to the the Sydney Morning Herald editor was issued by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dr Jose Ramos-Horta.]

The Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney July 11, 2002

Dear Sir,

Two former top Indonesian ministers told a human rights trial yesterday that a savage outbreak of militia violence in East Timor in September 1999 caught the Jakarta government unawares.

Prosecutors yesterday demanded that East Timor's former Indonesian-appointed governor be sent to prison for 10 and a half years – just six months more than the minimum sentence for crimes against humanity.

Yogita Tahilramani and Edith Hartanto, East Java – This year's drought has dealt a severe blow to East Java province causing the country's major rice producing area to suffer losses to the tune of Rp 8.4 billion.

The loss has been caused mainly by a water shortage, ravaging hundreds of thousands of hectares of paddy fields and crops in 12 regencies.

[East Timor's fledgling parliament has made a key decision about the nation's borders which could be the first big test of its relations with Australia. Its declared a maritime boundary with Australia that would give East Timor full ownership of lucrative oil and gas deposits that now fall inside Australian waters ..

Debbie A. Lubis and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Most people still think that the spread of HIV/AIDS here is mainly caused by the sharing of syringes – usually between drug users – and unsafe sex. However, one may also be infected by HIV/AIDS via a blood transfusion.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's offer to act as the honest broker between the two Koreas, made during North Korean number two leader Kim Yong Nam's first visit here, has been greeted with scepticism.

Observers point out that President Megawati Sukarnoputri has only the slimmest of chances to ease tensions and revive dialogue between the two feuding neighbours.

Atika Shubertm Jakarta – In another sign of Indonesia's crackdown in the restive province of Aceh, Chief Security Minister Bambang Yudhoyono will investigate suggestions the region's peace talks negotiator is not impartial.

Jakarta – The Democratic People's Party (PRD) launched on Thursday the Democracy Front to unite like-minded reformers within a forum in a bid to revive the country's original reform movement.

PRD secretary-general Natalia Scholastika said the Democracy Front could prove to become a viable opposition force to the government and the legislature.

Jakarta – Garbage problems continue to haunt the Jakarta city administration.

The Bekasi legislative council complained on Thursday about what they saw as poor management of the garbage dumped at the Bantar Gebang site by the Jakarta Sanitation Agency.

Jakarta/Medan – West Kalimantan Governor Aspar Aswin declared his province on top alert on Thursday, urging local governments to tackle forest fire outbreaks which have been blanketing the province in a haze for the past week.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, has put pragmatism ahead of human rights in his first foreign policy statement, describing China as the new nation's "closest possible ally".

Rod McGuirk, Darwin – East Timor President and former freedom fighter Xanana Gusmao today said he did not want to see the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya win independence.

His comments followed his Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta's advice to activists in the two trouble spots to settle for autonomy from Indonesia.

Jakarta – A senior Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) legislator has resigned in apparent disgust at the party's decision not to establish a team to investigate the Rp 40 billion (US$4.5 million) scandal at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights activists have accused the House of Representatives of making political deals during the selection of members of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

The selections have raised fresh fears that only the perpetrators of human rights violations will be protected.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) could split apart following parliament's decision not to investigate House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tanjung's role in a multimillion dollar scandal.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) denied on Wednesday that al Qaeda, the terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden, had a presence in war-torn Aceh.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's food-production targets could be hit this year because unscrupulous officials have allegedly been exporting fertiliser and reaping huge profits – at the expense of farmers here, who desperately need the commodity for their own crops.

Jakarta – Aceh councillors warned the central government on Wednesday against imposing either a civil emergency or martial law in the province, arguing that the move would only worsen the security situation there.

In a meeting with Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, they also urged Jakarta to fulfill its previous promises.

John Aglionby – The Indonesian government currently finds itself at a major crossroads over its policy towards Aceh, the province on the northern tip of Sumatra where separatists have been waging an armed struggle for independence since 1976, driven on by decades of broken promises of greater autonomy from successive regimes in Jakarta.

The Indonesian Government is at a crossroads in its long running war with separatist rebels in its rebellious province of Aceh ... a conflict which has been dogging Jakarta for almost 30 years. Jakarta is considering whether it should continue floundering peace talks abroad with GAM, Aceh's separatist rebel group or whether it should cancel the talks and impose martial law.

Sri Wahyuni and Kurniawan Hari, Yogyakarta/Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri locked horns on Wednesday with legislators over the need to establish an independent constitutional commission.