Two former top Indonesian ministers told a human rights trial yesterday that a savage outbreak of militia violence in East Timor in September 1999 caught the Jakarta government unawares.

Yogita Tahilramani and Edith Hartanto, East Java – This year's drought has dealt a severe blow to East Java province causing the country's major rice producing area to suffer losses to the tune of Rp 8.4 billion.

The loss has been caused mainly by a water shortage, ravaging hundreds of thousands of hectares of paddy fields and crops in 12 regencies.

Jakarta – Garbage problems continue to haunt the Jakarta city administration.

The Bekasi legislative council complained on Thursday about what they saw as poor management of the garbage dumped at the Bantar Gebang site by the Jakarta Sanitation Agency.

[East Timor's fledgling parliament has made a key decision about the nation's borders which could be the first big test of its relations with Australia. Its declared a maritime boundary with Australia that would give East Timor full ownership of lucrative oil and gas deposits that now fall inside Australian waters ..

Jakarta/Medan – West Kalimantan Governor Aspar Aswin declared his province on top alert on Thursday, urging local governments to tackle forest fire outbreaks which have been blanketing the province in a haze for the past week.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's offer to act as the honest broker between the two Koreas, made during North Korean number two leader Kim Yong Nam's first visit here, has been greeted with scepticism.

Observers point out that President Megawati Sukarnoputri has only the slimmest of chances to ease tensions and revive dialogue between the two feuding neighbours.

Jakarta – The Democratic People's Party (PRD) launched on Thursday the Democracy Front to unite like-minded reformers within a forum in a bid to revive the country's original reform movement.

PRD secretary-general Natalia Scholastika said the Democracy Front could prove to become a viable opposition force to the government and the legislature.

Prosecutors yesterday demanded that East Timor's former Indonesian-appointed governor be sent to prison for 10 and a half years – just six months more than the minimum sentence for crimes against humanity.

[The following letter to the the Sydney Morning Herald editor was issued by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dr Jose Ramos-Horta.]

The Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney July 11, 2002

Dear Sir,

Debbie A. Lubis and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Most people still think that the spread of HIV/AIDS here is mainly caused by the sharing of syringes – usually between drug users – and unsafe sex. However, one may also be infected by HIV/AIDS via a blood transfusion.

Thalif Deen, United Nations – East Timor, the world's newest nation, will ask the United Nations to designate it a "least developed country" (LDC).

Atika Shubertm Jakarta – In another sign of Indonesia's crackdown in the restive province of Aceh, Chief Security Minister Bambang Yudhoyono will investigate suggestions the region's peace talks negotiator is not impartial.

Jill Jolliffe – An argument over who is to be East Timor's first ambassador to Australia could lead to a showdown between President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expects to see half of the remaining 50,000 East Timorese refugees currently taking shelter in neighboring East Nusa Tenggara to enter the repatriation program.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Four male gorillas which arrived here recently are proving to be some of Jakarta's most controversial guests.

Residents are outraged that the government plans to spend 3.2 billion rupiah on imported fruits for the primates – much more than the 625 million rupiah allocated for the city's poor people last year.

Jakarta – A senior Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) legislator has resigned in apparent disgust at the party's decision not to establish a team to investigate the Rp 40 billion (US$4.5 million) scandal at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights activists have accused the House of Representatives of making political deals during the selection of members of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

The selections have raised fresh fears that only the perpetrators of human rights violations will be protected.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) could split apart following parliament's decision not to investigate House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tanjung's role in a multimillion dollar scandal.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) denied on Wednesday that al Qaeda, the terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden, had a presence in war-torn Aceh.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's food-production targets could be hit this year because unscrupulous officials have allegedly been exporting fertiliser and reaping huge profits – at the expense of farmers here, who desperately need the commodity for their own crops.

Jakarta – Aceh councillors warned the central government on Wednesday against imposing either a civil emergency or martial law in the province, arguing that the move would only worsen the security situation there.

In a meeting with Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, they also urged Jakarta to fulfill its previous promises.

John Aglionby – The Indonesian government currently finds itself at a major crossroads over its policy towards Aceh, the province on the northern tip of Sumatra where separatists have been waging an armed struggle for independence since 1976, driven on by decades of broken promises of greater autonomy from successive regimes in Jakarta.

The Indonesian Government is at a crossroads in its long running war with separatist rebels in its rebellious province of Aceh ... a conflict which has been dogging Jakarta for almost 30 years. Jakarta is considering whether it should continue floundering peace talks abroad with GAM, Aceh's separatist rebel group or whether it should cancel the talks and impose martial law.

Sri Wahyuni and Kurniawan Hari, Yogyakarta/Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri locked horns on Wednesday with legislators over the need to establish an independent constitutional commission.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, has put pragmatism ahead of human rights in his first foreign policy statement, describing China as the new nation's "closest possible ally".

Jakarta – An Indonesian judge yesterday ordered prosecutors to check on Tommy Suharto in jail after the youngest son of former president Suharto sent a sick note to his murder and weapons trial.

Prosecutors were due yesterday to present final arguments and recommend a sentence should the five judges find him guilty. Both charges are punishable by death.

Edith Hartanto and Yogita Tahilramani, Surabaya – Still shy but a bit surprised, university lecturer Abdul Mukti emerged as champion on Wednesday when he was elected leader of Muhammadiyah Youth, replacing outgoing leader Imam Addaruqutni.

Rod McGuirk, Darwin – East Timor President and former freedom fighter Xanana Gusmao today said he did not want to see the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya win independence.

His comments followed his Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta's advice to activists in the two trouble spots to settle for autonomy from Indonesia.

[Deliverance by Don Greenlees and Robert Garran, Allen & Unwin.]

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – As the death toll from Sunday night's grisly fire in a South Sumatra karaoke club climbs, building experts admit that many karaoke bars, entertainment centres, hotels and even office buildings are fire disasters just waiting to happen.

Jakarta – While Indonesia's economy has been making significant improvement in a number of key areas, progress remains relatively fragile, the chief representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) office in Jakarta says.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Political observers with the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI) urged the House of Representatives (DPR) on Tuesday to give the public a chance to critique and give inputs to the bills on elections and political parties which they say have many flaws.

Max Lane, Jakarta – On June 25, the Jakarta Media Centre was packed to overflowing. Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) and Dita Sari, the most prominent labour movement figure in Indonesia, were going to speak on the same platform.

Lely T. Djuhari, Jakarta – Former dictator Suharto's son is accused of murdering a judge who ordered him jailed for graft, the head of the Central Bank has been convicted of misusing $80 million in bank funds, and the speaker of Indonesia's Parliament is on trial for corruption.

Thomas Freitas, Dili – Activists from the NGO La'o Hamutuk and others were disappointed by Manuel Carrascalao's statement in Tuesday's edition of STL that "Foreigners can not come here to provoke conflict amongst East Timorese."

This information was given by Thomas Freitas, a coordinator of the peaceful action in front of the United States Embassy last Saturday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's chief security minister, on a fact-finding mission to Aceh province, said the government wanted to end a separatist war there peacefully but at the same time he issued a tough warning to the rebels.

Vice President Hamzah Haz has pointed a finger of blame at disgruntled generals who, he implied, have been destabilizing the restive province of Aceh by penetrating the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Amid the controversy concerning the government's plan to impose martial law in response to the continuing violence in Aceh, Haz has questioned who is the mastermind behind GAM.

Jakarta – A baby was shot and killed and its mother left fighting for her life in violence which claimed at least 10 lives in the war-ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh on Sunday and Monday, sources said.

The dead also include a soldier, two alleged Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists and a 79-year-old man and his son.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Every Monday and Thursday at 5 pm, office clerk Danial Erwin makes his most important calls of the week – to his bookie, to check winning numbers.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Dozens of people claiming to represent thousands of East Timorese refugees sheltering in camps in West Timor rallied at the gubernatorial office in the regional capital of Kupang on Tuesday to demand a quick disbursement of US$5.38 in humanitarian aid from the Japanese government.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has denied a report that claims it was in cahoots with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

A spokesman for GAM's exiled leaders in Sweden, Zaini Abdullah, on Wednesday told Japan's Kyodo News the source of the report presumably came from the Indonesian government, which wants to discredit the separatist group.

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – People living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia are having difficulty gaining access to imported live-saving antiretroviral drugs because of the exorbitant price of patented drugs and a limited supply of the generic version.

Wahyu Dhyatmika, Jakarta – People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Amien Rais has guaranteed that this August's MPR Annual Session would not become a special session to topple President Megawati Soekarnoputri as there's no agenda to request an accountability report from the president.

Jim Lobe – If Indonesia declares martial law in oil-rich Aceh province, as suggested last weekend by top military officials, the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri may find it more difficult to resume military-to-military ties with the United States, according to analysts in Washington.

Dili – UN Police officials today announced they have seized two trucks loaded with sandalwood apparently destined for sale outside East Timor.

Officials would not disclose where the sandalwood originated but said there has been a recent upsurge in cases of this type. A number of people are being questioned in relation to the incident.

Tom McCawley, Jakarta – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's chief security minister, arrived in the troubled Aceh province on Tuesday as Jakarta considered declaring a civil emergency to end a 26-year war with separatists.

The European Union is to give humanitarian aid worth nearly euros 2 million to East Timorese refugees still living in camps in Indonesian West Timor, it was announced Tuesday in Brussels.

The assistance includes food aid for the severely malnourished and supplementary feeding for nearly 10,000 children and 1,700 pregnant or breast feeding women.

Maria Ressa, Manila – Intelligence officials tell CNN that Osama bin Laden wanted to move the base of operations for his al Qaeda terrorist network from Afghanistan to Southeast Asia in 2000.

The plan, according to these officials' intelligence report, was to move the base to Aceh in Indonesia, where members of the Free Aceh movement (or GAM) were working with al Qaeda.

East Timor's parliament approved a draft bill Tuesday on maritime borders, paving the way for the ratification of the potentially lucrative Timor Sea oil and gas treaty, signed in May by Dili and Canberra during the new nation's independence celebrations.

Renewed clashes in the troubled Indonesian province over the past few days have also claimed the lives of three civilians in a grenade blast, and three more rebels, officials said.

Indonesia's Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is visiting the northern province to decide whether to institute tougher measures to end the 26-year-long separatist insurgency.