Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Army soldiers began a four-day military exercise in Biak Numfor regency, Papua, on Monday, but it immediately sparked protests from students and a human rights group in Jayapura, the capital of the troubled province.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Schools are the new breeding grounds for violence in Indonesia if the murders and acts of brutality at colleges and universities over the last month are anything to go by.

By Teuku Samsul Bahri

A. Grassroots economic situation

Bali – An Indonesian court on the resort island of Bali sentenced two men on Monday to 12 and 15 years in jail for their part in last year's nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, most of them young Western tourists.

Tiarma Siboro and Indra Harsaputra, Jakarta/Surabaya – Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid is facing an uphill challenge in his bid to regain power, even within his National Awakening Party (PKB).

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – About 150 members of the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) raided a number of nightspots in Cilincing area, Muara Baru and North Jakarta, early Sunday morning, ordering the venue's owners to shut down business within a week.

Sri Wahyuni, Yogyakarta – University communities throughout the country, particularly those in Java, have committed themselves to a nationwide "moral pressure movement" aimed at helping put the country's reform agenda back on track, says Gadjah Mada University (UGM) rector Sofian Effendi.

Jakarta – Indonesian business confidence rose in the June and July period for the first time since September last year, in the belief that the economy will fare better during the period of August 2003 until January 2004, according to a Danareksa Research Institute survey.

The survey also revealed that the Business Sentiment Index (BSI) rose by 2.1 percent.

Jakarta – Money sent by Al-Qaeda to support the families of suspects arrested over the Bali bombings was used to finance the August 5 attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesian terror suspect Hambali has told investigators.

Jakarta – The Ministry of Finance is currently drafting a new bill on the accountancy profession, which will replace the existing outdated law issued in the 1950s.

Cohabitation, oral sex and homosexual sex will soon become crimes in Indonesia if the justice ministry has its way, a ministry spokesman said.

The ministry is drafting an amendment to the country's criminal code to include acts not currently categorised as crimes but considered morally unacceptable.

Jakarta – Only 20 percent of the some 450,000 daily commuter train passengers in the Greater Jakarta area buy tickets while the rest either bribe conductors on board or do not pay at all.

Lie Hua, Jakarta – September 30, 1965, is a black day in the history of modern Indonesia. The assassination of seven generals in the wee hours of October 1 sparked a ghastly orgy of bloodletting and vigilantism in the ensuing months.

Jakarta – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu said on Sunday that the Army had long detected foreign parties' involvement in a number of conflicts in the country. "They may be involved, either directly or indirectly," he said after opening a marathon to celebrate the Indonesian military's 58th anniversary.

Dikhy Sasra, Jakarta – Around 100 people from the group Solidarity for Aceh and Papua protested rejecting militarism at the offices of the United Nations, the Ministry for the Coordination of Politics and Security and the Presidential Palace.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Police released on Friday another four people reportedly linked to terrorist activities, deeming their accounts during interrogation thus far sufficient.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Several Jemaah Islamiah members detained by Indonesian police said an extremist splinter faction of the group is responsible for conducting terror attacks in the country.

Malaysian Nasir Abbas said yesterday during a broadcast by El Shinta radio station that JI has broken up into at least three distinct parts.

Jakarta – Demonstrators wearing traditional Papuan tribal dress marched Saturday to protest an Indonesian government plan to divide Papua into three provinces.

More than 100 protesters chanted "Free Papua from legal and illegal military operations" at the rally in Jakarta, about 3,600 kilometers west of the province.

Mark Forbes, Canberra – Despite the Bali and Marriott Hotel bombings and rising anti-Western sentiment in the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesian leaders are still not prepared to tackle Islamic terrorism, according to Indonesia experts.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Two conflicting camps at the municipal branch of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) in the North Sumatra capital of Medan, filed lawsuits on Friday against each other, following a rampage that seriously injured seven people.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung blamed fellow lawmakers on Friday for the legislative body's failure to finish the deliberation of various bills on time.

Akbar said the lawmakers' full attendance was necessary to help speed up the deliberation of the bills.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) has allocated more than 12 seats in provincial and regency/municipality legislative councils in 37 electoral districts, which is in breach of the law.

"The KPU has no choice but to violate the law," its deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said on Friday.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Golkar Party would take advantage of widespread disappointment with the so-called reform parties to woo support from the public, particularly from first-time voters, to win the election next year, a survey shows.

Zakki Hakim and Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has found 58 cases of irregularities in six Jakarta agencies amounting to Rp 70.41 billion (approximately US$8.38 million) in the 2002 fiscal year and the first semester in 2003.

Luh Putu, Trisna Wahyuni and Damar Harsanto – Mataram/Jakarta Three police officers have been detained in connection with the death of a student that led to a riot on Thursday in Sumbawa Besar regency, West Nusa Tenggara, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Friday.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has set up a team to investigate a string of evictions in the city, which many claim have violated people's basic rights, a commission member said on Friday.

Blontank Poer, Jakarta – Some people may have taken Shakespeare's "What's in a name?" to heart and decided they needed more weight to their names, yearning for the prestige of a royal title.

About 600 people, including prominent politicians, have reportedly submitted requests to be granted royal titles from the Hadiningrat Kraton of Surakarta in Central Java.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – House of Representatives' Speaker Akbar Tandjung defended on Friday the water resources bill despite protests from some quarters, and asked lawmakers to inform the public about the contents of the bill before approving it.

Jakarta – East Timor prosecutors have indicted 18 people for crimes against humanity, including two Indonesian military officers, in connection with violence surrounding its 1999 vote for independence.

The tiny country's serious crimes unit said on Friday the 18 were indicted for crimes ranging from murder to torture and persecution.

Jakarta – Supporters and opponents of the creation of Central Irian Jaya province barbecued two pigs in a traditional ceremony on Thursday in the town of Timika, Papua province, to mark a peace agreement among them.

Marian Wilkinson, Washington – Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri has called on the West to re-examine its strategy in the war on terrorism in a tough address to the United Nations that sets her at odds with both Washington and Canberra.

Max Lane, Jakarta – There was little doubt about what feelings dwell in the heart of Negro Alpius Kogoyo, head of the Lani tribe of Mimika and commander of the Peoples Opposed to the Division of Papua.

Malang – During its presence in Indonesia, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) formed a "mafia" intent on choking and ruining the nation economcially, a cabinet member said.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, New York – President Megawati Soekarnoputri says foreigners have been helping rebels in troubled provinces Papua and Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam to fight for independence from Jakarta.

Nick Ferrett – It may be that Australia fails in its bid to obtain chairmanship of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. That would make Greg Barns happy, apparently. It would also make the serial and serious abusers of human rights among the members of the committee happy.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government has played down the Human Rights Watch's accusation of gross human rights abuses in the ongoing military operation in Aceh, saying that such an accusation is groundless.

Ainur R. Sophiaan and ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Hundreds of students and religious activists staged separate rallies in the nation's second largest city of Surabaya as well as in Yogyakarta on Friday to protest the United States' stance regarding Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Bambang Nurbianto and Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – Most of the evicted people who had been living on disputed land at Kampung Baru, Cengkareng Timur, in West Jakarta, insisted that they would stay on the land and demand compensation for the destruction of their homes.

Jakarta – Indonesian police are hunting down a group of suspected terrorists who are prepared at "any time" to use car bombs and suicide attacks, the police chief warned yesterday.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Experts and human rights activists have expressed doubts over the effectiveness of the planned Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) to resolve past human rights abuses, saying it would merely expose some facts but would not result in true justice.

Sutarto urged politicians on Friday not to invite the military back into politics and suggested that the institution stay neutral in the 2004 general elections.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto claimed on Friday that government troops deployed in war-ravaged Aceh had significantly sapped the strength of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the four-month-old operation.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – A team from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said here on Friday it had verified reports of human rights abuses by police during protests in Bulukumba regency, South Sulawesi, last July in which two people died.

Robert Go, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri's complaint this week that the job of running Indonesia gives her headaches has made political rivals, as well as a member of her own party, suggest a cure: That she resign.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The martial law administration in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam will immediately court-martial 12 soldiers on charges of torturing dozens of villagers in a move that seems calculated to show the international community the military's strong commitment to protecting Acehnese people's human rights.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The 15 people arrested in the past month for allegedly plotting fresh terror attacks in Indonesia attended meetings led by the supposed heir of Abu Bakar Bashir.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Muslim extremists have been convicted of the bombings that left 202 dead in Bali last October and which devastated Indonesia's tourism industry. Now, they're making another assault that's legal but potentially more damaging.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Anyone planning or persuading other people to commit acts of terrorism will in future be classified as a terrorist and thus could be arrested, a government official said on Thursday.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Despite considerable public opposition, the House of Representatives began on Thursday to review the controversial bill on water resources but early indications appear as if there is little commitment to make significant changes into the bill.