Atambua – A man lobbed a Korean-made grenade into the middle of a crowded East Timorese refugee camp in Manumutin village, Atambua, early Sunday but the device failed to explode, a local police spokesman said.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Ten years after the massacre that shocked the world, memories are still raw in East Timor. When a short piece of theatre re-enacting the November 12, 1991, slaughter of more than 200 students in the Santa Cruz cemetery was shown to an audience of survivors and families on Saturday, it left them in tears.

Jakarta - Six people were injured when a group of Muslims tried to close down an entertainment area in a town in Indonesia's Sumatra island over the weekend, police said Monday.

Students and anti-vice activists tried to shut down the area in Pangkalan Kerinci near Langgam before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, said a local police officer, Supardiansyah.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – Thousands of East Timorese gathered at the Santa Cruz cemetery on Monday to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a brutal massacre by Indonesian troops that shocked the world and paved the way for the territory's independence.

Rydha Arlini, Jakarta – Tom Beanal, Vice President of the Papuan Presidium, believes that the death of Papuan Presidium's President, Theys Hiyo Eluay, would not discourage the Papuan from continuing with their struggle. On the contrary, he said the incident would fire up the struggle.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels killed a soldier on Monday in the latest violence to hit Indonesia's Aceh province, the military said.

Banda Aceh – At least five civilians were killed in the Indonesian province of Aceh where separatist rebels are fighting government forces, residents said Sunday.

Four civilians were found dead, all with gunshot wounds in Muara Dua, North Aceh, near a pipeline of the ExxonMobil gas field on Saturday, a resident said.

Protestors set alight buildings in the hometown of Irian Jaya independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay, whose body was found after he was abducted in the remote Indonesian province, an activist said.

Jakarta – One of two men arrested Friday shortly after the blast of a home-made bomb rocked a Protestant church in the Indonesian capital had fought with Muslim rebels in the Malukus, a report said here Sunday.

Abu Hanifah, Jakarta – Police briefly detained two activists for handing out cotton buds to legislators that they said never listened to the common people. The cotton buds were slipped under the doors of rooms at Hotel Mulia near the Assembly premises, where most legislators taking part in the People's Consultative Assembly session stay.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The highest legislative body ends a remarkably peaceful annual session today, having achieved little more than deeper public disenchantment and an agreement to talk again.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Most of 13 Acehnese leaders who met with Vice President Hamzah Haz in Banda Aceh on Thursday said they preferred a cease-fire and dialog to settle the prolonged dispute between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the government of Indonesia.

Jakarta – The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is the highest state body, so the text books say. Students all over the country should know that. But do they have any idea about the Annual Session? And what do the teachers say?

Robert Go, Jakarta – There is no guarantee that fresh aid to Indonesia will not be diverted by corrupt officials, as graft has become a way of life, said one of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's senior aides yesterday.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court began hearing a civil case on Thursday filed against Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, Jakarta Police Chief Gen. Ins. Sofjan Jacoeb and Jakarta Military Command Chief Lt. Gen. Bibit Waluyo, in relation to the crackdowns against becak (pedicab) drivers and street vendors.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Defying police warnings, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) maintained that it would raid nightspots violating city regulations governing the operation of entertainment centers during the holy month of Ramadhan.

Sydney – Australia should not seek to have constructive relations with Indonesia at any price, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said amid new criticism from Jakarta.

Indonesia's Ambassador to Australia, Mr Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, complained that both the Howard government and the Labor opposition had politicised the asylum-seekers issue to win votes.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Two new television stations have hit the Indonesian airwaves in the last fortnight, and another two will start broadcasting before the end of the year.

But these newcomers will face tough competition from the six existing private television stations to grab a share of the advertising market.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Only eight of 286 cases of trafficking of women reported to the police during the last two years have gone to court, according to North Sumatra's Kaukus Perempuan, a coalition of non-governmental organizations dealing with women's concerns.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Firm in its first vote on the contentious issue of presidential elections on Wednesday, the Golkar faction at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Annual Session finally agreed to support the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

Jakarta – The current People's Consultative Assembly Annual Session, costing 18 billion rupiah (US$1.6 million), is talking gibberish, which people from Irian Jaya, Sulawesi, Java and Sumatra say has nothing to do with their lives.

Jakarta – Dadang Sukandar, chairman of the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation, on Wednesday revealed that he had accepted Rp 40 billion in non-budgetary funds from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), but insisted that it had been properly spent on relief operations.

The admission to waiting reporters came following 10 hours of questioning at the Attorney General's Office.

Lhokseumawe – Indonesia might grant amnesty to rebels in Aceh province if they abandon their armed, separatist struggle, Vice-President Hamzah Haz said yesterday.

"If the rebels of the Free Aceh Movement ask for amnesty, the government will consider it. But they have to promise not to fight again in the future," Mr Hamzah said while on a three-day tour of the region.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Justice will remain elusive if the government's move to install 60 judges for human rights courts is not complemented by the appointment of prosecutors, rights lawyers asserted on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Jakarta will maintain the status quo on a local government's unilateral takeover of a major cement firm's affiliate, Home Minister Hari Sabarno said Thursday.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – As of January 2002, the government will no longer provide any financial or food assistance to East Timorese refugees in West Timor as it will reinstate the Indonesian citizenship of those who choose to stay in Indonesia.

Jakarta – More than one thousand protesters from various non governmental organizations (NGOs), grouped into the newly-formed organization the Anti-Debt Coalition (KAU), staged on Wednesday an anti-foreign debt rally, urging the government to stop talks with the creditor nations of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI).

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court sentenced two student activists to five months in jail each on Wednesday for defying police officers during a demonstration against a fuel price hike in June.

Joanne Collins and Soraya Permatasari, Jakarta – International donors threw crisis-hit Indonesia a generous lifeline of $3.73 billion in aid on Thursday after one senior official bemoaned the need to "beg" for funds he said might be pilfered.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, the first senior Chinese leader to visit Jakarta since diplomatic ties resumed in 1990, yesterday announced a 40-million-yuan (S$8.9-million) gift to aid Indonesia's infrastructure development.

Jakarta – A coalition of Indonesian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Thursday called on the country's main donors meeting here to determine their new aid pledge, to allow the government to slow down its privatisation program.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Lost in the recent hoopla of Parliament's approval of special autonomy for Irian Jaya is the fact that four of the separatist-inclined province's leaders remain on trial for subversion.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Some 100,000 textile workers may lose their jobs next year due to a combination of the global economic slump and unfavorable domestic conditions, according to a top industry executive.

Bagja Hidayat, Jakarta – About a thousand farmers staged a rally at the legislature complex today, demanding the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Ad Hoc Committee, particularly MPR's Commission C1 discussing the Bill of Agrarian and Natural Resources Reform, to orient the bill with the interests of farmers at its core.

Jake Lloyd-Smith – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday fired a parting shot as the Asean summit wound up, saying the US-led military action in Afghanistan should be suspended.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Dr Amien Rais, house speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), chastised legislators for skipping parts of their annual meeting and spending their days watching television in their posh hotel rooms.

Jakarta – Activists criticized on Tuesday the city administration's policy on the eviction of poor urban people, including those living along riverbanks here.

Tubagus H. Karbyanto, spokesman of the Antieviction Society Alliance, said the eviction policy showed that the administration had never regarded the poor as city residents.

Jakarta – Indonesian police said on Wednesday they had arrested an Egyptian suspected of being the chief smuggler responsible for organising a refugee boat for illegal migrants which sank last month killing more than 350 people.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – The Ministry of Agriculture has accounted for Rp 125 million following its settlement of 35 financial-related irregularities valued at Rp 14.99 billion discovered by the State Audit Agency (BPK) in its 1999 and 2000 reports.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Remember the old politicians who made a scene jostling and screaming at each other at the first-day meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly the other day? The "bad men" eventually got what they fought for yesterday: Their Regional Representatives Faction will be reinstated. It will be renamed, though.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Attorney General's Office said on Tuesday it had formally asked the country's central bank to freeze assets of 28 companies and groups suspected of having links to terror activities.

The rupiah plunged to near 11,000 per US dollar late on Monday, the lowest level during President Megawati Soekarnoputri's three-month-old administration.

R.K. Nugroho, Jayapura – A legislator has called on Jayapura District Court to free the Papua Presidium Council's functionaries from subversion charges, as what they have fought for has been accommodated in the newly endorsed law on special autonomy for Papua.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Three Islamic parties in Parliament are pushing for the inclusion of Islamic Syariah law in the Constitution to pave the way for its implementation in Indonesia.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – City officials complained on Monday over the interference of city councillors in their drafting of next year's city budget and alleged that they might be tempted to seek an advantage from the planned projects.

Kupang – Afghan and Iraqi asylum-seekers staying at an Indonesian police college here quietly protested Wednesday against their treatment by the Australian military and international refugee agencies.

About 100 men, women and children sat on hot ashphalt in the mid-afternoon protest with some claiming the group would go on a hunger strike.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court sentenced on Monday former chief of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) Beddu Amang to two years imprisonment for his involvement in a land swap deal causing some Rp 20 billion (US$ 20.8 million) in losses to the state. Beddu, 65, was also ordered to pay back Rp 5 billion to the state and a Rp 5 million fine.

Jakarta – A majority of factions in Indonesia's top assembly have agreed to hold the country's first ever direct presidential election in 2004, although the format is still being debated, local media reported on Monday.

Robert Garran – Indonesian troops attacking the East Timorese town of Balibo in October 1975 had good reason not to want five Australian-based journalists to escape, according to a new book.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – The World Bank said on Monday it expected Indonesia to "muddle through" its economic woes, adding the most urgent tasks were to ensure fiscal sustainability and improve the climate for private investment.