Jakarta – Indonesian corruption fighters on Monday slammed the Supreme Court's dissolution of an anti-graft team as an attempt by judges to protect themselves and a setback to efforts to clean-up Indonesia's judiciary.

Jakarta – Legal experts have called on the government to take strict measures against judges whose verdicts spark controversy, instead of just giving them administrative sanctions.

Jakrarta – Hoodlums, locally known as preman, have established themselves in every corner of the capital, "guarding" almost every public place, including bus terminals, traditional markets, shopping centers and even road junctions.

Jakarta – Indonesia's finance minister on Monday warned the 2001 budget deficit could be wider than expected, hit by a weak rupiah, high interest rates and low oil prices.

Linda Silaen, Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund has warned the Indonesian government of the possibility of a higher-than-expected deficit in the state budget this year due to a delay in the implementation of a tax regulation and only a limited fuel price increase, Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said Monday.

Ati Nurbaiti, Dili – The rains finally poured in late December, too much in some areas for a good corn harvest. Emergency operations over the past year have alleviated fear of widespread starvation as crops and cattle had been abandoned by farmers who fled the violence with their families.

Charles Scheiner – Eighteen months have elapsed since the Indonesian military and its militia proxies devastated East Timor. A quarter century has passed since the US-supported Indonesian invasion of East Timor began an occupation which killed one-third of the population and kidnapped, raped, tortured and terrorized hundreds of thousands more.

Arifin Asydhad/Heather, Jakarta – The National Front for Indonesian Labour Struggle (FNPBI) is planning a demonstration for workers from PT Kadera-Ar. They demand justice for the attack by hoodlums which killed one worker and injured others.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has rejected as unacceptable the trial in the United States of an Indonesian general accused of gross human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesian Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung has called on President Abdurrahman Wahid to transfer substantial powers to his deputy to defuse a ticking political time-bomb.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia will face mass violence "worse than the riots in 1998" if President Abdurrahman Wahid is impeached, Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung has warned.

On the move by the lawmakers to oust him, he said: "They want him out at all cost. But I have asked them to reconsider because it is very risky to force him out even if we do it by the book.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Questions over President Abdurrahman Wahid's health swept through Jakarta yesterday as two separate medical teams issued contradictory opinions on his fitness to remain at Indonesia's helm.

Jakarta – Former President Suharto remains unfit to stand trial despite some improvement in his health, said the chief prosecutor in the graft case against the former ruler.

Jakarta – The guilty verdict handed down to Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar drew condemnation on Thursday with some saying the trial, criticized as a political maneuver which made Nazar a prisoner of conscience, contained legal defects.

Banjarmasin – In order to prevent the spread of ethnic clashes between local Dayaks and Madurese migrants, a Dayak and a Madurese representing their respective communities inked a peace deal here on Wednesday.

Rita Uli Hutapea/Heather, Jakarta – East Timorese leader, Xanana Gusmao is unimpressed with the Indonesian government's handling of East Timor's transition to independence. He believes the donations have dried up due to the slow implementation of building projects in Timor Lorosae.

Yogyakarta – Some 30 students representing 12 universities in Yogyakarta marched to the provincial legislative council on Thursday to warn the country's political elite that the country was in danger of disintegrating.

John Ruwitch, Jakarta – East Timor leader Xanana Gusmao will remain a key figure in the impoverished territory's painful transition to independence despite resigning as head of the de facto parliament, UN officials said on Thursday.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto said on Thursday that he was not responsible for the shooting incident at the Trisakti University on May 12, 1998.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said Friday he had ordered prosecutors to arrest a former mines and energy minister implicated in a graft scandal linked to a son of former dictator Suharto.

Jakarta – Around 1,000 angry residents of Inderagiri Hilir, Riau, Thursday night ransacked and burned down the local police precinct building. No casualties were reported in the incident which was triggered by a fight between two locals on Sunday, Antara reported.

Dili – After quitting East Timor's interim legislature in a bitter row over the shape of a new constitution, independence leader Mr Xanana Gusmao yesterday announced he will not compete in the nation's first presidential election.

Jakarta – Hundreds of workers of car upholstery producer PT Kadera AR Indonesia in Pulogadung industrial estate were attacked while on strike in the early hours of Thursday, leaving one dead and 11 injured.

Jakarta – The US embassy here on Friday deplored the "senseless" and "brutal" murder of three Indonesians involved in the peace process in restless Aceh province, and urged the government to investigate the killings.

Reuters in Jakarta – Senior politicians yesterday warned President Abdurrahman Wahid that discontent with his erratic 17-month rule was so intense he had little chance of surviving much longer in office. Mr Wahid, fighting for his political life, on Wednesday answered Parliament's February 1 censure of him over two financial scandals involving more than US$6 million.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia's biggest political party yesterday fired the first salvo against President Abdurrahman Wahid by pressing ahead with a potentially fatal second censure motion against the embattled leader.

Jakarta – Two human rights activists and their driver were shot dead in Aceh in an attack that suggests humanitarian workers were being targeted by Indonesian security forces in the rebellious province, a rights group said on Friday. Police confirmed the killings, but said they suspected rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were responsible.

Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh Court sentenced Central Information for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar on Wednesday to 10 months in prison for displaying hostile intentions toward the state. The 27-year-old defendant was found guilty of inciting hostility against the state.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesian newspapers on Thursday warned more upheaval would follow President Abdurrahman Wahid's rejection of a parliamentary censure, and one leading critic said the Muslim cleric was on borrowed time.

Jakarta – "Unsatisfactory" and "rhetorical" were some of the unfavorable responses from legislators to President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to the House of Representatives' memorandum of censure.

Jakarta – To everyone's surprise, the capital was free from huge rallies which had been expected to mark a plenary session at the House of Representatives to hear President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to its first memorandum of censure on Wednesday.

Jakarta – About 30 women activists held rally at the US Embassy on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan here today. They asked President Bush not to support the Indonesian military (TNI) in any form, including supporting education program for TNI officers in the US.

Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – Indonesia's president, defiant before a hostile parliament, denied corruption charges Wednesday and questioned the constitutionality of efforts to remove him from office.

Stephen Collinson, Washington – An activist from East Timor tearfully told on Tuesday of his brother's murder in violence that erupted after the territory voted for independence, as a US court opened a civil trial into an Indonesian general's alleged role in the carnage.

Jakarta – Police fired warning shots and eventually clashed with pro-independence protesters in the Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura on Wednesday, Antara news agency reported.

The clash started when people boarding eight trucks arrived at the Cendrawasih sports hall on Jl. Ratulangi in Jayapura, where a seminar on special autonomy for Irian Jaya was being held.

Jakarta – Residents in Kaloran village, Temanggung regency, East Java, Wednesday put up a roadblock to their village following a plan to bury the remains of 21 ex-communists there.

Pip Hinman – The Indonesian military is stepping up its war against the Acehnese people.

Jakarta has declared a "limited military operation" to "rid" Aceh of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). The Indonesian government has branded GAM a "separatist" organisation.

Jakarta – Hundreds of activists of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) held a rally in front of the Dutch Embassy on Wednesday to demand that the Dutch government return Aceh to the Acehnese.

The protesters started arriving at 1 a.m. and occupied the slow lane in front of the embassy building on Jl. HR Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

Jakarta – Fire raged in Kuala Kapuas, the capital of Kapuas regency in Central Kalimantan, turning the town into a sea of fire all day long Tuesday.

John Gauci, Sydney – The large turnout of 230 people for a March 17 dinner and public meeting here on issue "Free Aceh, Referendum now!" is an indication of growing interest in the struggle in Aceh among the Australian public.

The event was organised jointly by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) and the Sydney-based Aceh Australia Association (AAA).

Jakarta – Ethnic violence in Indonesian Borneo claimed another five lives, police and the military said Wednesday, a month after similar bloody clashes there left at least 500 dead.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to a censure motion today could trigger a last-ditch round of corrupt deal-making to try to ensure his political survival, according to analysts.

More than 1,000 Wahid supporters demonstrated in Jakarta yesterday and police were on high alert in anticipation of unrest ahead of the parliamentary session.

Vaudine England – The timber tycoon and golfing buddy of former Indonesian president Suharto, Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, has been moved to a high-security island jail following fears he might escape his central Jakarta cell.

Starting March 27, a United States court in Washington, DC, will hear evidence that Indonesian General Johnny Lumintang is responsible for gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed in East Timor. The proceeding will determine the amount of compensatory and punitive damages to be assessed against Lumintang, who is not expected to attend.

Jon Land – Chances are increasingly remote that the Indonesian legal system will bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and human rights abuses committed before, during and after East Timor's August 1999 referendum. Any trial that does take place will be little more than a whitewash.

The National Council of East Timor today voted against setting up a mechanism that would have allowed the East Timorese people to provide input to the drafting of their territory's first constitution, according to the United Nations mission there, which had supported the idea of national consultation.

Dili – UN prosecutors in East Timor condemned on Tuesday the downgrading of charges against six people accused of killing international aid workers in West Timor in September.

Banda Aceh – At least 14 people were killed in a series of clashes between government forces and separatist rebels in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh, police and residents said Sunday.

Dili – East Timor, preparing the way for eventual independence, will hold its first democratic elections on August 30, the head of the United Nations transitional authority said. Formal independence is not expected until later this year or in 2002.

Former workers of the Shangri-La hotel, Jakarta, have clashed with baton-wielding Indonesian police, after threatening to enter the hotel, which re-opened yesterday.