Khairul Ikhwan D/HD & HY, Medan – Around 300 workers of PT Cipta Prima staged a demonstration at north Sumatra Provincial Legislative Council (DPRD Sumut) office, Monday. They demanded the DPRD Sumut be the mediator in resolving the problem between them and PT Cipta Prima.

Geneva – An international resettlement group said on Friday that it had restarted repatriating East Timorese refugees from the Indonesian west of the island after nearly a year-long hiatus due to insecurity.

Peace agreements come and go but on the ground nothing ever changes in Aceh. The death toll has continued to rise, even following a mid-January accord for a one-month moratorium on violence. Volunteers working for a group to assist victims of torture were murdered in cold blood, in a deliberate move to curb the activities of human rights defenders.

Jake Lloyd-Smith, Batam/Vaudine England, Jakarta – Shirley Lau says she fled her home in fear of her life, clutching just a handful of possessions.

An explosion of violence in Kalimantan in late February shook the entire province of Central Kalimantan. Thousands of Dayaks, armed with machetes and home-made spears, hunted down migrants from the island of Madura, killing at random and destroying entire villages.

Less than three years after the fall of Suharto amid calls for "reformasi", there are serious signs that the democratically-elected government of Abdurrahman Wahid is slipping back into the bad, repressive ways of the Suharto dictatorship. In West Papua and Aceh, people who exercised their right to peaceful protest are facing charges that criminalise legitimate political protest.

Banda Aceh – Violence has again escalated in Aceh with at least 11 people being killed in various incidents on Wednesday, while talks continue between government representatives and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels regarding security arrangements.

The closed-door meeting took place at Kuala Tripa Hotel here discussing details about the security arrangements.

Ati Nurbaiti, Dili – Indonesians, who grew up believing they helped East Timor out of a civil war, must wake up to the fact that they are perceived as former colonizers. On the other hand East Timorese are convincing Indonesians that they can be good neighbors.

Seth Mydans, Ermera – There is one happy thing – one glorious thing – in the shamed and broken life of Loren a Martins. Far from her family, hidden away from her neighbors, she lives in poverty in a tiny hillside house where the loud buzz of cicadas fills her loneliness.

Rohit Jaggi and Tom McCawley, Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid's hold on power grew increasingly tenuous on Thursday after his vice-president broke her silence to stress that she did not support him.

Jonathan Head – The clashes in the Indonesian province of central Kalimantan are part of a pattern of violence between the indigenous inhabitants of the island of Borneo and immigrants from other parts of the country.

Jakarta – Five major factions at the House of Representatives will recommend that faction members, who were on a special committee investigating two financial scandals allegedly linked to President Abdurrahman Wahid, defy summonses for questioning.

Agencies in Sampit, Palangkaraya and Jakarta – Security forces called in to quell ethnic violence on Borneo instead turned their guns on each other yesterday while thousands of desperate refugees scrambled to board ships taking them to safety.

Calvin Sims - Jakarta – The ethnic violence that erupted 10 days ago in the Indonesian section of Borneo, where hundreds of people have been decapitated and thousands more left destitute, might seem a likely candidate for a major deployment of government troops or international peacekeepers.

Mark Dodd, Dili – The head of the UN mission in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, has given the green light to Indonesia's armed forces to forcibly close militia-controlled refugee camps in West Timor to break the repatriation stalemate.

Jakarta – Head of the Food and Drug Control Agency Sampurno revealed on Monday that the government would increase the prices of generic drugs by some 15 percent starting April this year. The increase, he said, was in line with the rise in the cost of pharmaceutical raw materials and fuel prices.

Jakarta – A regulation has been issued specifically aimed at preventing forest fires by holding more parties, including forest concession holders, accountable for fires breaking out in their areas, even if they are not directly responsible the fires.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia is rushing hundreds of special force troops to its Borneo province in an attempt to end the slaughter of migrant settlers by mobs of headhunting Dayaks who on Sunday expanded the areas they control.

Jakarta – The rupiah dropped on Monday by 2 percent to its lowest level since October 1998 amid worsening ethnic violence in Central Kalimantan and problems with the International Monetary Fund. The rupiah ended at Rp 9,830 per US dollar late on Monday from Rp 9,685 on Friday, foreign exchange dealers said.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Footwear Association (Apresindo) was cautious on Monday in responding to reported labor abuses in Nike's Indonesian partner factories.

[The following is excerpts from a report prepared for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom which held a hearing on the Maluku Islands on February 13 in Washington D.C. The report is by R. William Liddle, an expert on Indonesia of The Ohio State University in the United States.]

Makassar – A skirmish erupted between student demonstrators and members of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Banser civilian guards at the Makassar Islamic University compound on Saturday.

Sonya Hepinstallm, Washington – The human rights picture in Indonesia has steadily deteriorated as Jakarta loses control over ethnic, social and religious strife in its most unstable provinces, the State Department said on Monday.

Vaudine England – Megawati Sukarnoputri's father founded independent Indonesia and was its first president until deposed in 1966. Her constituency relies on her emotional allure to the masses and her family name.

Louise Williams – At the turn of the century a convention of tribal head hunters gathered beneath the towering canopy of the rainforests of Borneo and reluctantly agreed to end their practice of resolving territorial disputes by snatching each others heads.

Surabaya – Masudi Muali said he ran as fast as he could after seeing many of his friends beheaded by indigeneous Dayak tribesmen outside his college in Sampit on the Indonesian part of Borneo island.

"I jumped into a river as they threw spears at me. I'm thankful to be alive," said the weary-looking Muali, 27.

As always, Singapore's senior minister Lee Kuan Yew is keeping a wary eye on the big powers in his region-especially Indonesia and China. In Davos for the recent meeting of the World Economic Forum, he spoke with Newsweek's Lally Weymouth. Excerpts: Newsweek: How will the situation in Indonesia unfold?

Regan Morris, Singapore – East Timor's Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta says he understands the suffering, humiliation and struggles of people fighting to break free from Indonesia, but he said his newly independent homeland cannot support their cause.

Associated Press in Jakarta – Australian peacekeepers clashed with suspected militiamen in East Timor, UN officials said on Saturday.

Madiun – Some 4,000 supporters of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid hit the streets in East Java on Sunday, resuming protests against efforts to oust the beleaguered Muslim cleric.

Packed into trucks, the protesters drove around the town of Madiun shouting slogans in support of Wahid before gathering for a mass prayer.

Jakarta – A man was killed and another was injured Friday night in a communal clash that broke out in Woja district, Dompu regency, West Nusa Tenggara.

Lukman, 35, died from a bullet wound. The other victim, One Mursin, suffered injuries and is now being treated at Dompu hospital, Dompu Police chief Adj. Snr. Comr. Ngadi Prayitno said.

Reuters in Sampit – Terrified refugees crammed onto an Indonesian navy ship on Saturday to escape marauding mobs in Borneo as officials said the death toll from a week of ethnic bloodshed had reached 210.

Mark Dodd, Dili – East Timor will go to the polls on August 30 – the second anniversary of its United Nations-brokered referendum – in a historic vote that will mark the transition of the world's newest country to full independence.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Most Indonesians will not be able to watch the coverage of inter-ethnic clashes like those in Central Kalimantan on their television screen under a new broadcast Bill being considered by the government.

Agencies in Sampit and Palangkaraya – The death toll from six days of brutal ethnic clashes on Borneo island rose to at least 143 yesterday as the violence spread and armed bands of Dayak tribesmen continued to rampage through the main town of Sampit.

Philip Bowring, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia faces many crises, several of his own creation. But it would be wrong to assume that he is doomed and unwise to believe that his early removal, even if conducted constitutionally, would be beneficial.

Jakarta – An official said on Friday that the long awaited trial of proindependence activist Muhammad Nazar would be transferred to Banda Aceh rescinding a previous decision to try the case in a neutral area, Medan, North Sumatra.

Jakarta – Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu confirmed on Friday he had assured Abdurrahman Wahid of his soldiers' loyalty prior to the President's departure on an overseas trip.

Banda Aceh – Violence continued in Aceh as Indonesian Police and Military officers held talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on Thursday and Friday, officials said. As of Friday afternoon, no immediate results had been revealed.

Hamish McDonald – The World Bank warned yesterday that if a political or economic crisis broke out in Indonesia it would cease all new lending until stability is restored.

Jakarta – A pro-integration East Timorese militia member told the North Jakarta District Court on Thursday that he had stabbed a UNHCR humanitarian aid worker after witnessing another man do the same thing.

Jakarta – The government will proceed with its plan to raise fuel prices in April despite concerns that it could trigger a new wave of social unrest, according to Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Alhilal Hamdi.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Supreme Audit Board said yesterday that government departments, including the presidential office, had misused 8.05 trillion rupiah (S$1.5 billion) last year.

Jakarta – The official death toll from six days of brutal ethnic slayings on Borneo island rose to more than 200 Friday, a medical worker said.

Jakarta – The Supreme Audit Agency disclosed on Thursday that it found 1,760 instances of financial irregularities involving a total sum of more than Rp 11.8 trillion (US$1.2 billion) in the management of state budget and state companies in the fiscal years 1999 and 2000.

Jakarta – East Timorese leaders told Indonesian parliamentary heads Friday that unless Jakarta moves soon to try those accused of committing crimes in East Timor, an international war crimes tribunal will be unavoidable.

Associated Press in Portland – Workers at nine of Nike's contract factories in Indonesia have witnessed verbal and physical abuse by supervisors against their colleagues and seen female employees being coerced into sex, according to a new report.

Washington – The International Monetary Fund sought Friday to reassure financial markets that it wasn't turning away from engagement with Indonesia, following speculation in Indonesia that a meeting this week between Fund officials and Economy Minister Rizal Ramli damaged relations further.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid left Jakarta yesterday on an overseas trip which takes him out of the country for two weeks while a leadership crisis grows at home.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The recent ethnic bloody violence in central Kalimantan was orchestrated by two civil servants who were furious at having lost their jobs in a regional autonomy shake-up, according to the police.