Dian Yuliastuti, Jakarta – Scores of students from a number of student and labour groups have demonstrated demanding that the new government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and Vice-president Jusuf Kalla create a democratic government.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Hundreds of members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) checked in at the Mulia Hotel on Monday despite calls by their chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid to lead a simple lifestyle.

Jakarta – President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) is being urged to form a clean and productive government.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Demonstrators rallied in Jayapura yesterday demanding that recently elected president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono allow international negotiators to end the decades-long conflict in Papua.

The protest by up to 500 students came as church leaders and civil groups began lobbying Mr Yudhoyono for Papuan self rule in Indonesia's easternmost province.

Jayapura – Some 100 people protested in Jayapura on Monday, demanding president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono re-hold Papua's 1963 referendum.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Gloom fell over Megawati Soekarnoputri's private residence in Kebagusan, South Jakarta, as a small group huddled around the television set, hours after the election runoff on September 20.

Allan Behm – The pundits might want to dismiss Alexander Downer's thinking out loud on a security agreement with Indonesia as a volte-face or the cynical repackaging of a Keating legacy.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Two Papuans were arrested on Monday for questioning over an attack that claimed five lives in Tinggi Nambut village, Puncak Jaya regency.

"The two are being questioned over their roles in the attack," said Comr. Wempy Batlayeri, the deputy chief of the Paniai Police, which oversees Tinggi Nambut village.

Banda Aceh – A senior separatist rebel on Tuesday was given 16 years in jail for treason in Indonesia's war-hit Aceh province.

Sayed Mustafa, a Free Aceh Movement rebel coordinator for southern and western Aceh, was also found guilty of illegal weapons possesion, said chief judge Azhari of the Tapaktuan district court in South Aceh.

Jakarta – There has been a jump in the number of East Timorese refugees returning home from Indonesia, where they have been living since East Timor's bloody breakaway in 1999, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday.

Jongker Rumthe, Manado – Three newly reelected North Sulawesi councillors stood trial at the Manado District Court here on Monday on charges of misusing some Rp 9.6 billion (US$1.06 million) from Manado's 2003 budget.

Hananto Wiryo, Mataram – The Cabinet of president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must ensure that in designing its health programs focuses on servicing and reaching grassroots by truly optimizing existing health infrastructures, improving affordability and awareness of health services, and also eliminating malpractice.

Andi Hajramurni and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Makassar/Bandung – After two days of relative calm, violence broke out again in Aralle district, Mamasa regency, killing one man and injuring another.

Indonesia's incoming President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, takes office tomorrow with a promise of "a beautiful era", including better relations with the West.

In a public, and unprecedented, gesture of goodwill, the Prime Minister, John Howard, will attend the inauguration ceremony in Jakarta.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Contrary to police findings, a joint government team comprising 14 agencies has concluded that Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi, where PT Newmont Minahasa Raya stopped operations late August, is not contaminated by heavy metals.

The prospect of an openly negotiated security treaty with Jakarta is welcome.

Veronica Brooks, Canberra – Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Tuesday headed to Jakarta to witness the swearing in of Indonesia's new president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, hoping his presence will spur a deeper strategic partnership between the two nations.

The City Population Agency will launch a two-week raid a week before and a week after the Idul Fitri holidays, targeting in-house maids, nannies and private company workers who do not possess Jakarta or newcomer identity cards.

Indra Harsaputra, Malang – Set in the mountains, the picturesque and cool city of Malang, East Java, is now getting hotter according to locals and not, they say, for a good reason.

Rusman, Samarinda – Thick haze from forest fires in Central and East Kalimantan provinces continued to blanket some cities in Kalimantan on Monday, but heavy downpours over the weekend helped ease the fog in some cities in Sumatra.

In Samarinda, East Kalmantan, visibility has been reduced to one kilometer because of the haze.

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Yulianti, a bartender at a nightclub in Surabaya, had a busy couple of nights before Ramadhan started on Friday. On Wednesday night, the club was packed and there was a huge demand for drinks. Pouring a beer was one thing, but some of the cocktails were complicated to mix.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta/Bogor – Outgoing President Megawati Soekarnoputri's decision to skip the inauguration of her successor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will backfire and further damage her image, political analysts said on Sunday.

Indonesia's Megawati Sukarnoputri, under increasing fire in her last days as president for failing to admit poll defeat, has come under new criticism from the country's military chief over controverisal promotions.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – The number of credit card users here is expected to grow by at least 20 percent next year, driven by a more robust growth in consumer spending and an expected improvement in people's income.

A new security treaty between Indonesia and Australia would symbolise the increasingly close relationship between the two countries. The question is whether we really need such a symbol, when practical co-operation has yielded excellent results in the absence of one.

Jakarta – Chief Justice Bagir Manan said the country's first sharia court in Aceh, which applies Islamic law, or sharia, could not work effectively due to the absence of related bylaws.

Megawati Sukarnoputri has won plaudits for smoothing Indonesia's path to democracy, but in her final days as president the taciturn leader is in danger of leaving a lasting image as a sore loser who refuses to bow out gracefully.

Dili – East Timor's future oil and gas revenues must have positive effects for the world's newest nation, which is taking measures to prevent the damage that similar oil bonanzas have inflicted on other states, Prime Minster Mari Alkatiri said Monday.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Papuans have called on president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to enforce the Special Autonomy Law for Papua to resolve the prolonged issues in the province.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A three-day evaluation of regional autonomy in Papua ended on Friday, with one of the most contentious issues raised being the appointment of civil servants in the province.

The issue was brought to the forefront amid prolonged protests by native Papuans, over the appointment of civil servants hailing from outside Papua.

Tiarma Siboro and M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Signs of cracks in the coalition of political parties that support president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono are emerging as they question his choice of several ministerial candidates.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Observers demanded on Sunday a thorough investigation into officers allegedly involved in the escape of Adrian Waworuntu, a key suspect in the Rp 1.7 trillion (US$185 billion) BNI scandal, saying it could reveal widespread bribery involving the police.

In an example of prudence in the search for justice, the underused Press Council issued on Friday a momentous decision that should reignite freedom of expression's dimming light.

Jakarta – The streets of central Indonesia's Sulawesi town remained tense yesterday after new communal conflict erupted, leaving at least two dead, the top local police official said.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Tension was still high on Sunday in a village in Aralle district, some 400 kilometers from the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, after two people were reported killed and dozens of homes burned down in a communal clash over a dispute on the formation of a new regency there.

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – Two days before his inauguration as president, some 100 students from the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI) and the Greater Jakarta Student Executive Council (BEM Jabotabek) held a demonstration against president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). They failed however to meet directly with SBY.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The draft bill on intelligence provides the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) with excessive powers, say rights campaigners, and will put civil liberties in peril.

Eka Saprianawati, Jakarta – The inauguration of president and vice-president elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla (SBY-JK) on October 20 will be greeted with demonstrations. As many as 25 non-government organisations (NGOs) and student groups plan to demonstrate calling on SBY-JK to keep their election promises.

Angela Gregory – Pacific countries are ignoring the brutality of Indonesian armed forces towards West Papuans, a regional peace and security conference has been told.

The problems facing Indonesian-controlled West Papua were put before the weekend conference in Christchurch, which examined security issues in the Pacific.

Indonesia – The situation in Tinggi Nambut village, Puncak Jaya regency remained tense on Friday, following the murder of five construction workers, all migrants from Makassar, South Sulawesi province earlier on Tuesday.

Rita A.Widiadana, Denpasar – The number of foreign tourists visiting Bali has continued to increase over the past few months, thanks to the improved security situation.

Australia is considering talks on a new security treaty with Indonesia to replace a pact abandoned during the bloody fallout from East Timor's independence ballot in 1999, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Sunday.

Jakarta – Thick haze began disrupting flights in Central Kalimantan province on Saturday, with an airplane from PT Dirgantara Air Service (DAS) reportedly rerouted after it was unable to land at Beringin Airport, North Barito regency, due to dangerous visibility levels.

Semarang/Medan/Banda Aceh/Indramayu – Millions of Indonesian Muslims, who account for some 85 percent of the total 220 million population in the country, began fasting dawn-to-dusk on Friday, the first day of Ramadhan.

Jakarta – The Islamic fasting month of Ramadan started yesterday and the Indonesian entertainment industry is grumbling over local edicts to close nightclubs, massage parlours and amusement centres for the entire period.

Jakarta – Parts of Indonesia have been enveloped in one of the worst days of haze this year, officials said, as residents donned face masks to ward off thick, choking fumes.

The haze, caused by forest and ground fires across the country, descended on the province of South Kalimantan on Wednesday, reducing visibility and filling the air with noxious burning smells.

Jakarta, Kompas – In examining the Draft Law on the Fundamentals of Intelligence, the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) has the potential to became a body which will be inseparable from the state. The stipulations in the law could turn BIN into a super-body, with excessive powers and a tendency to take over judicial functions.

Tiarma Siboro and M. Taufiqurrahman, Bogor – Five prospective candidates who would likely fill posts in the Cabinet of president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono were summoned for interviews on Friday, the first time such a mechanism has been used in the selection of ministers, at least in the public eye.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – After many delays, state prosecutors finally submitted the file on Abu Bakar Ba'asyir to the South Jakarta District Court on Friday, charging him with masterminding the Bali bombings and the JW Marriott Hotel attack.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A group of suspected Papuan separatists remained in control of a hamlet in Puncak Jaya on Friday, as efforts to negotiate the release of bodies of five migrants killed in a Tuesday attack failed and fears rose of further bloodshed.