Jakarta – People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais has criticized government policies, saying they only benefit big businesses and damage the economy.

Julie Chao, Dili – After Salvador Ferrera cast his ballot two years ago for independence for East Timor, he fled into the hills. When he came back a few weeks later, his hometown of Suai had been burned to the ground by militia groups. "All of Suai was totally destroyed," he said. "Three priests were killed. Until today, we don't know where their bones are."

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Some 50 fishing families lost their homes after the North Jakarta public order office on Thursday demolished their houses, which were allegedly built without any legal permit.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Disgusting. That might be the comment that most people would make when seeing them begging on the street or at other public places here.

Jakarta – House of Representatives (DPR) legislators questioned on Friday the performance of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's government in the economic and political fields after nearly three months in office.

Jakarta – Ousted Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid has said that he is ready to run for the post again if there are no other candidates from his party. "I am actually lazy because being president at the moment is not comfortable.

Jakarta – The prolonged drought in Central Java, which has lasted for five months already, has caused residents in several provinces to resort to selling their livestock to purchase water. Many have also had to walk for hours in search of water.

Yongker Rumthe, Manado – North Sulawesi Governor A.J. Sondakh has ordered M.Zaini, head of the Pertamina branch office here, and Rosman Idris, Bitung port administrator, not to leave the region, amid mounting anger over their alleged roles in a prolonged fuel shortage that has particularly affected supplies of kerosene.

Associated Press in Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday urged Indonesia's powerful military to stop meddling in politics and instead concentrate on defending the sprawling union from threats of national disintegration.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – For the past year, the Jakarta police have been bustling about town, raiding apartments, smashing their way into cellars, tapping telephone lines, consulting psychics, putting up wanted posters, scattering leaflets, setting up roadblocks. If they actually found him, they would really have a problem on their hands.

Robert Go, Batam – After migrating from Medan in July, it took Mr Gunawan Nasution more than two months before finding a job in Batam. He now works as a groundskeeper at one of the island's posh hotels, earning around 600,000 rupiah (S$115) each month.

Asip A. Hasani, Yogyakarta – Soldiers in Yogyakarta came up with an novel way of responding to a student demonstration on Friday by blasting out popular local dangdut music and dancing in front of scores of students protesting outside the Yogyakarta Regional Military (Korem) headquarters.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaya, Jakarta – Former deputy Army chief of staff Gen. Johny Lumintang denied on Friday any responsibility over systematic human rights violations in East Timor in 1999 after it voted for independence from Indonesia.

After a seven-month delay, the House of Representatives finally has begun deliberating on a Child Protection bill.

An article in the official criminal code stipulates that court trials should be a cheap, quick and simple way to see that justice is done. But whether or not the court actually recognizes this particular section of the legal code is a different matter.

Jakarta – The government issued on Thursday afternoon a four-point political statement against terrorism following the terrorist attacks on two US landmarks on September 11.

An employee with the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) in the regency of Bireun, Aceh, Jafar Syehdo, 57, was found dead – with gunshot wounds to his head and body – on a road in the village of Glumpang Payong, Jeumpa district in Bireun on Wednesday night, a Red Cross official confirmed on Thursday.

The Free Aceh Separatist Movement (GAM) denied on Wednesday that it was training rebels of the so-named Free Deli Separatist Movement (GDM), aimed at fighting for the separation of the Deli sultanate in the northern part of North Sumatra from Indonesia.

Jakarta – Indonesian security forces regained complete control of the Ilaga airfield on Thursday after it had been occupied by rebels of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) for about a week, reports confirmed.

Jakarta – A plan by Indonesia's attorney general to appeal against the Supreme Court's controversial acquittal of Tommy Suharto came under fire Friday. An analyst described the move as a cosmetic exercise rather than a genuine attempt to seek justice in the case of the former dictator's fugitive son. Experts said such an appeal is legally impossible.

The Indonesian Government has shown new signs of its determination to rid itself of East Timorese refugees, and thousands of them are now likely to be forced back across the border within the next three months.

The United Nations and the nascent government of East Timor have long wanted the estimated 50,000 to 80,000 refugees still in camps in West Timor to return.

Dili-East Timor's newly elected Constituent Assembly today unanimously adopted a set of Rules and Procedures for the 88-member body following a two-week debate.

The newly appointed Yogyakarta police chief Brig. Gen. Yohanes Wahyu has hailed the recent police crackdown on pornographic VCDs in the city as a success, despite a skeptical public response to the operation.

Jakarta – An Indonesian militant Muslim group said Friday it would defy a government ban on sending volunteers to fight against any attack by the United States on Afghanistan. The Islamic Youth Movement (GPI) said registration remains open for those who wish to wage jihad, or holy war, in Afghanistan.

Jakarta – Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, would stay neutral in any US-led attack against Afghanistan's Taliban, its defence minister said on Friday.

Jakarta – Some 5,000 workers at Indonesia's state aircraft manufacturer picketed the presidential palace yesterday to demand higher pay and urge the government to stamp out what they called rampant corruption in the company.

Vaudine England – The latest campaign by police in the capital to wipe out crime – dubbed Operation Great Elimination – has been hailed a resounding success, with 23 mostly petty criminals shot dead in the past month.

Residents, far from being shocked at the gunning down of possibly innocent people without trial, are applauding the effort.

Washington – A US judge has piled 66 million dollars in damages on a top Indonesian general, concluding after a civil lawsuit lodged in a US court that he was guilty of crimes against humanity in East Timor.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The Supreme Court's decision to overturn a graft ruling against Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra Suharto has caused outrage among the public and cast doubts on President Megawati Sukarnoputri's ability to rid Indonesia of endemic corruption.

Kupang – The government has said that, as of December this year, there will be no more humanitarian aid for around 290,000 East Timorese who opted to stay in Indonesia and are now living in West Timor, East Nusa Tenggara province. This means that, starting next year, the refugees will be expected to rely on their own resources to survive.

Timothy Mapes, Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's pledge to support the US war against terrorism is straining her fragile alliance with Islamic political parties and strengthening the hand of Vice President Hamzah Haz, a conservative Muslim, to challenge her authority.

[East Timor is finally on the road to independence but there is still a long way to go. Following its first election, a constituent assembly is drafting the constitution that will decide this young nation's political future. For 25 years, the East Timorese associated politics with violence and killing. Adjusting to the idea that politics can be peaceful has been a struggle.

A former pro-Indonesian militia member has received a 16-year sentence from the Special Panel for Serious Crimes in Dili.

Richard Galpin, Jakarta – In Indonesia, a nation of almost 200 million Muslims, the radical fringe is getting increasingly angry with the US and its allies. Anti-US demonstrations have been getting steadily bigger as the US prepares for possible military action over the 11 September attacks on Washington and New York.

Jakarta – Vice President Hamzah Haz on Tuesday urged Indonesians to respect a supreme court decision quashing a graft conviction and jail sentence on Tommy Suharto, fugitive son of the former dictator. But critics said Monday's ruling showed that law enforcement had become meaningless. About 150 students held a protest rally near the home of former president Suharto.

Jennifer Chen, Singapore – The Indonesian rupiah fell past 10,000 to the dollar for the first time since July 31 on Tuesday, trampled in a corporate rush to buy dollars.

Jakarta – In a sign of the changing times, the country commemorated on Monday what used to be called Pancasila Sanctity Day but has been renamed Commemoration of the National Tragedy due to the Betrayal of Pancasila".

Timothy Mapes and Puspa Madani, Jakarta – Indonesia's Supreme Court overturned a graft conviction against Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the fugitive son of former President Suharto, in a surprise decision that underlined the problems this nation faces in grappling with years of rampant corruption.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – United Nations officials are challenging Indonesia's stand on East Timor war crimes. They are demanding the handover of 10 men accused of a September 1999 massacre in which 65 unarmed civilians were killed. Classified as crimes against humanity, the killings occurred in East Timor's western Oecusse enclave on September 8-10, 1999.

Indonesian and East Timorese authorities have begun discussions on the removal of remains of Indonesian soldiers from various cemeteries across East Timor, according to an Indonesian government source cited by Monday's Jakarta Post newspaper.

Tom Fawthrop and Paul Harris – Formally recognising the continued security threats to East Timor, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on 26 July: "There is concern that some militia elements have adopted a strategy of lying low until independence in the belief that the international military peacekeeping force will be removed from East Timor.

[The recent (inadvertent) release of more cables between the US embassy in Jakarta and Washington in late 1965 has supplied more pieces of the jigsaw puzzle mapping Washington's enthusiastic support for the Indonesian army's bloodthirsty crackdown against the Indonesian Communist Party when up to a million people were slaughtered.

Jakarta – Hundreds of separatist rebels are still holding an airfield after attacking the town of Ilaga in the rugged central highlands of Irian Jaya and torching several buildings, Indonesia's military and police said Monday.

Jakarta – Governor Sutiyoso pledged on Friday to continue operations aimed at maintaining order in the city despite the fact that they have not yet proved to be successful. Sutiyoso argued that the city administration would continue the operations because there had been a "significant improvement" in public order.

Hundreds of protesters staged an anti-communism rally at the National Monument (Monas) Park in Central Jakarta on Sunday in commemoration of the bloody 1965 abortive coup, which is blamed on the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

[Slavery was abolished years ago, but the plight of some housemaids today shows that inhumane attitudes never die. The recent self-immolation by a housemaid who endured ill-treatment from her employers in Jakarta has brought attention once again to the problem of domestic helpers denied their basic rights.

Ian Timberlake, Dili – Sister Erminia somehow survived the volley of rifle fire that tore into her van at a militia roadblock two years ago.

The Catholic nun, almost 70 years old, got out and knelt down to pray while the militia made sure none of the seven people with her survived.

Jakarta – Indonesia's plans to win back foreign investment for its troubled economy could falter as the United States and other governments fear for the safety of their diplomats and citizens in the world's most populous Muslim country, analysts said Friday.

Jakarta – Tension was high in the Glodok area in Kota, Central Jakarta, on Thursday, after Taman Sari Public Order Officers demolished VCD vendors' stands along the road during a raid on the vendors on Wednesday night.