Banda Aceh – Mobile Brigade Police (Brimob) personnel have been combing villages in Pidie regency, Aceh, over the past two days, in what is suspected to be a mission to track down the Free Aceh Movement's (GAM) war commander, Tengku Abdullah Syafe'i.

Scott Burchill – Given advance notice that the street bully is about to beat up your neighbour, three courses of action are open to you. The first is to try to dissuade the bully from his violent intent. The second is to warn your neighbour so that he can make preparations to defend himself or flee. The third is to do nothing, sit back and watch the attack.

The leader of the Catholic Church in Dili, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo urged academics at the National University of Timor Lorosae to use the campus grounds solely for the pursuit of higher edcuation and not for political activities.

"Use the university campus to increase the knowledge of students so that they become quality intellectuals," said Bishop Belo.

Jakarta – A number of independent labor unions are planning a series of strikes to force the government to revoke an amendment of a ministerial decree on severance and service payments.

Jakarta – The World Bank has expressed its full support of the government's fiscal adjustment package, which contains various measures to prevent the 2001 state budget deficit from growing out of control.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Separatist rebels in Aceh declared a state of emergency yesterday, blaming the military offensive for the rising civilian death toll in the province.

Agencies in Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid raised the stakes in Indonesia's political crisis yesterday, saying he would not hand further powers to his popular deputy and ruling out a reply to a second parliamentary censure for alleged corruption.

Jakarta – A majority of Indonesians are fed up with the ongoing political bickering and protracted economic crisis, and long for the stability of the Suharto era, a survey showed.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province yesterday denied any involvement in a bomb blast in Jakarta that killed two people.

Representatives instead accused the Indonesian military of planting the device at a hostel for Acehnese students to discredit the independence movement and justify a crackdown in the province.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Publishers Association (IKAPI) condemned on Friday a planned sweep and burning of "leftist" books and rejected any ban against them.

Mark Dodd, Dili – United Nations economic planners have launched a campaign to ensure the US dollar is the sole legal tender in East Timor. To back it up, heavy fines will be imposed to deter the unlicensed importation of all other foreign currencies, including the Australian dollar.

Jakarta – Separatist guerillas from Indonesia's restive Aceh province on Friday denied involvement in a Jakarta bomb blast as police found a third body at the scene.

Jakarta – Police in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta have raided book sellers, impounding hundreds of titles considered leftist or communist-linked, to save them from being burned by anti-communist zealots, reports said Friday.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – The head of the UN Central Payments Office, which manages the territory's tiny and shattered economy, told reporters that the world body was taking legal steps and launching an educational campaign urging East Timorese to embrace US greenbacks and coins as the sole legal tender.

Jakarta – PILAR biweekly magazine photographer Rudi P. Singgih was in the midst of covering some long-term investigation when he was shot dead by Bandung Police for allegedly being a car thief.

The Australian government knew about Indonesian military plans to massacre East Timor independence supporters in 1999 and thought clever diplomacy could prevent it, a former member of the INTERFET forces said.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The next time rioters run amok through Jakarta's streets, they will come face to face with elite police units armed with Russian AK assault rifles, possibly loaded with live – not rubber – bullets.

The weapons each weigh about 3 kg and feature magazines with 30 rounds each, a sighting range of up to 1000 m, and a 600-rounds-per-minute rate of fire.

Vanya Tanaja, Dili – News that Indonesia has formally agreed to set up an ad hoc tribunal to try those responsible for mass murder in East Timor around the period of the 1999 independence referendum was welcomed by Sergio de Mello, head of UNTAET (United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor) on April 27.

A report by members of the Portuguese parliament criticizes the UN Transition Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) as being "costly and not very efficient".

Max Lane – Contrary to many predictions circulating in Jakarta during the last few weeks, the Indonesian capital remained calm after the Golkar-Central Axis-led majority in the House of Representatives voted to censure President Abdurrahman Wahid for a second time.

[In an extraordinary investigation, reporter Mark Davis returns to East Timor to disclose disturbing new revelations about Australia's secret intelligence information prior to the country's independence referendum. Davis's report in 2000 on militias in East Timor won him both the Walkley for Investigative Reporting and the Gold Walkley.

Banda Aceh – At least three people were killed and four others were wounded in the latest violence between separatist rebels and government forces in the Indonesian province of Aceh, a report said Wednesday.

Chris McCall, Dili – Once branded a gang of dangerous left-wingers, Fretilin is out in the open and may be set to win through the ballot what it lost in 1975 with bullets.

Max Lane – At least 50,000 workers, mostly members of the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles (FNPBI), joined protests in 19 cities in Sulawesi, Bali, Java and Sumatra. The largest mobilisations were in Medan and the East Java town of Sidoarjo, where 15,000 workers demonstrated at each. The Medan demonstrations included 7000 FNPBI members.

Partai Asosiacao Social Democrat Timor (ASDT) will this week try to get itself registered with the Independent Election Commission. They intend to use Fretilin symbols and the party's political ideology.

The General Co-ordinator of CPD-RDTL Antonio Aitahan Matak yesterday rejected allegations that the group was behind the threats against CNRT President Xanana Gusmao.

In an official letter, which was obtained by STL, Aitahan Matak said CPD-RDTL cadres never had any intentions to harm Xanana because they were all Catholics.

Jill Jollife, Dariwn – An Australian Army intelligence officer who served in East Timor has accused the Federal Government of concealing vital evidence on Indonesian army and militia war crimes in 1999.

Jakarta – Labor unions are threatening massive strikes following Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Al-Hilal Hamdi's decision to amend controversial Ministerial Decree No. 150/2000 on employment termination which allows employees to receive a substantial payout regardless of whether they resign or are dismissed.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Fresh signs of Government fragmentation came last week with the demand from Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri's office that journalists seek special accreditation to cover her activities.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung once again pushed Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri into a more prominent role in the process of ousting President Abdurrahman Wahid by saying that she is ready to lead a multi-party coalition to govern Indonesia.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – She is the immovable object of Indonesian politics – stolid, silent, imperious, a puzzle to her countrymen even as she commands unrivalled popularity.

Melbourne – Tough negotiations over a Timor Sea oil and gas production treaty are likely to resume between Australia and East Timor later this month in Dili as commercial deadlines loom for a key gas development in the region.

Fifteen militia commanders on Saturday accepted the 30 August 1999 referendum result, because it was, as they said, the decision of the majority.

The decision by the militia leaders was made at a tripartite meeting between CNRT, the Defense Forces of Timor Lorosae (FDTL) and PPI (the militia grouping), in Denpasar, Bali.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – A spate of recent anti-communist incidents and violent threats is part of a plot to destroy Indonesia's fledgling democracy, philosophers and activists say.

"It smells of the New Order," said Dr Franz Magnis Suseno, in a reference to the brutally anti-communist regime of former president Suharto.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – For more than 30 years until Soeharto's fall in 1998, the writings of Indonesia's pre-eminent novelist and political prisoner, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, were banned in his own country.

Banda Aceh – Continuing violence involving Indonesian government forces and separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has left at least five killed, police and residents said Sunday.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The pillaging of the nation's forests has increased dramatically since the fall of former president Suharto and within 10 years the remaining trees will be gone, a report published yesterday warns.

[Despite a legacy of organized crime, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso has said that freeing Jakarta of thugs is "easy." Researcher Tim Lindsey, Associate Professor and Director of the Asian Law Centre at The University of Melbourne, examines whether the policy is effective.]

Jakarta – Despite a massive crackdown against hoodlums by the city administration, thugs are still operating freely in a number of markets in the city, extorting money from vendors and public transportation drivers.

Jakarta – An anti-communist group in Indonesia has said it will stage vigilante-style raids on book stores in the capital on May 20 to rid them of leftist publications, local media reports said yesterday.

Jakarta – Police have arrested both a leader of the ethnic Dayaks who killed more than 500 settlers on Borneo island this year, and the commander of a Muslim militia fighting Christians in the Maluku islands, officials said yesterday.

Vaudine England – The survival of several animals key to global biodiversity – the Sumatran tiger, the Asian elephant and the orang-utan – have been put at risk by Indonesia's disappearing forests. Illegal logging and ignorance about the long-term costs are now destroying those habitats at greater speed than ever.

Agencies in Jakarta and Geneva – The United Nations and foreign diplomats yesterday condemned as a mockery jail terms imposed by a Jakarta court on six men convicted in connection with the murders of three foreign aid workers in West Timor last year.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – As Indonesia's politics descends deeper into gloom, Indonesia's tarnished military is repolishing its image and trying to position itself as the nation's saviour.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – A group of Indonesian legislators on Thursday endorsed a proposal that would give rebellious Irian Jaya province more powers including an all-indigenous upper house and a locally-recruited police force.

Lindsay Murdoch – Indonesia has dropped prosecutions against six people who have been under investigation for more than 12 months over crimes against humanity in East Timor, including the notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres.

Jakarta – Manpower and Transmigration Minister Al-Hilal Hamdi revealed on Wednesday that some 80,000 Indonesian laborers overseas have little protection, since they are not registered with the government-run insurance program.

Jakarta – Sixty-seven people were killed in Aceh province between April 11 and April 29, Aceh's Human Rights Care Forum (Forum Peduli HAM Aceh) revealed on Wednesday.

Jakarta – The Catholic church in Indonesia on Thursday disassociated itself from a separatist group in the violence-torn Maluku islands.

Hamish McDonald – Negotiators for Australia and East Timor yesterday began a secrecy-shrouded meeting in Brisbane in the search for agreement on the seabed boundary in the Timor Sea, after a month of escalating pressure tactics by both sides.