Jakarta – A peaceful demonstration by East Timorese refugees to commemorate the first anniversary of East Timor's secession from Indonesia turned brutal yesterday, when they attacked East Nusa Tenggara's provincial legislative building.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Western diplomats and senior Indonesian military officers say the pro-Jakarta militias operating in West Timor are still being sponsored by a group of retired and serving generals with links to the ousted Suharto regime.

Mark Dodd, Dili – East Timor independence leaders have accused the United Nations of failing to uphold its mandate to provide security for the country in the face of cross-border attacks by pro-Indonesian militia.

Heather Paterson, Aileu – They fought a desperate jungle war against Indonesia's occupation for a quarter of a century. Now, one year after East Timor broke free, they have no place to go and nothing to do.

Djoko Tjiptono/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – Around 200 victims of the 27 July incident gathered at Central Jakarta's famous HI Roundabout Wednesday demanding the Jakarta Provincial government reject Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's accountability speech.

Jakarta – The government yesterday stepped up pressure on rebels in restive Aceh province to halt violence which could jeopardize a three-month-old ceasefire agreement expected for extension.

Djoko Tjiptono/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – Around 40 representatives of the Indonesian Scavenger's Association (IPI) staged a noisy protest at the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) offices in Jakarta Wednesday. They complained that they had been arbitrarily and forcible evicted by the North Jakarta Police and PT Green Garden.

Jakarta – Indonesia's first democratically-elected government will put its reform image on the line Thursday by bringing former president Suharto to trial for corruption. The case will open amid doubts that the former strongman will show up at the court, and assurances of a pardon if found guilty.

Budi Sugiarto/BI & LM, Bojonegoro – For the past nine days journalists from several media organisations in Bojonegoro, East Java, have boycotted all reports and announcements from Bojonegoro Police and have now taken legal action. The beating of a local journalist at a demonstration and the contemptuous response of the police have angered the press.

Jakarta – Indonesia will set up a new agency to oversee state companies in a bid to speed their privatization, chief economics minister Rizal Ramli said yesterday.

Pip Hinman, Sydney – Romawaty Sinaga, the international officer of the militant Indonesian National Front for Workers Struggle (FNPBI), in Australia to meet other trade unionists, has appealed for greater assistance for the emerging independent union movement in her country.

Jon Land – August 30 is the first anniversary of East Timor's courageous act of self-determination, when, after 24 years of occupation, 78.9% of voters defied concerted Indonesian military and militia attempts to crush support for independence and voted for an end to Indonesian rule.

Francesca Davis, Dili – Its 4.45pm and the heat is stifling. There is a crowd of students at the door, smiling at me hopefully. Some have travelled miles on foot, on top of buses and in carts to get here. Word had spread that English courses are being offered at the university. We have had to turn scores away. We only have 25 computers for 500 students.

Tim Dodd, Dili – "When the UN pulls out, the whole system's going to crash," says Mr Kirk MacManus, the manager of Hello Mister, Dili's only Western-style supermarket, which is housed in a building that until recently was a burnt-out shell.

Paul Daley – A small group of Australian politicians and military chiefs still shudder when they recollect receiving a top-secret report from the Australian Defence Intelligence Organisation on September 28 last year – just eight days after the first of 5000 Australian troops led InterFET into East Timor under a United Nations mandate at Indonesia's invitation.

Jakarta – Following are summaries of a government report, obtained by Kyodo News, on the flow of funds at seven charity foundations created and chaired by former Indonesian President Suharto while in power.

The information is contained in the indictment on corruption charges filed against Suharto, scheduled to be read by the prosecution during the trial Thursday.

Denpasar – One person was killed and six others injured yesterday when police opened fire to disperse protesters on the resort island of Bali.

The unrest occurred in the district of Jembrana, 95 kilometer west of Denpasar, when the protesters rallied against the inauguration of a new administrator in Negara, the capital of Jembrana.

Jakarta – Indonesia's huge public debt is likely to derail its economic recovery, the IMF's Jakarta representative John Dodsworth said Tuesday, urging the new cabinet to make the debt burden its main focus.

Jakarta – University of Indonesia (UI) students marked the first day of going back to campus after a long holiday by boycotting classes on Monday, following the university's decision not to cancel a policy on an extra school fee.

Medan – Two bombs exploded separately in an area near Jl. Bahagia in Medan Tenggara district in the early hours of Sunday morning. There were no casualties but one person was slightly injured. Several buildings, however, were damaged from the incident.

Malangke – At least 1,400 residents from eight villages in West Malangke and Baebunta district in North Luwu regency left their homes on Sunday to escape communal clashes in the area that first erupted on Thursday.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – As pep talks go, it was not particularly stirring, but symbolic nonetheless. Work as a solid and compact team; do not be like the previous Cabinet. Your ministries are vital to the nation's economic recovery.

Vaudine England – It is hard to find a mention of East Timor – the province that got away – in daily conversation or reporting in Jakarta. But it's not hard to find the reason why. Almost one year since the East Timorese voted for independence, Indonesian feelings remain bitter and sometimes twisted.

Malangke – Police said on Saturday they found it difficult to arrest perpetrators of unrest in Luwu, while the burning of residents houses in two districts continued.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – It had been a bad few hours. Tempers were starting to fray. Some people wept. As gunfire echoed around the besieged United Nations compound in Dili, hope that the madness would soon end turned to despair. Then a remarkable thing happened. At 3.15am, probably the darkest hour of a long night, Pedro poked his tiny head into the world.

Maumere – At least 2,000 people from 12 villages in the district of Molo Utara have been occupying a marble quarry in the town of Soe, South Timor Tengah regency, since August 12.

Jakarta – The family planning (KB) program in Indonesia has long been perceived as a birth control measure, but ignores the reproductive health of women, who are the backbone of the nationwide movement.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid warded off the prospect of a crumbling Cabinet as he and his allies worked yesterday to project an image of a unified and working leadership.

Jakarta – Multilateral lenders including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have vowed to support the new Cabinet, particularly the new economic ministers, in their effort to accelerate the country's economic recovery.

Jakarta – In a slum of West Java's Kiaracondong district, hundreds of families live on the border of death. With their shacks just an arm's length from the railroad tracks, husbands, wives and children are at risk each time a train rumbles through.

Jakarta – Pro-Soeharto protesters threatened yesterday to bring around 25,000 people to the Agriculture Ministry building in Ragunan, South Jakarta, the planned site of the former president's trial slated for August 31.

United Nations – A recent amendment to the Indonesian Constitution might force the United Nations to hold an international inquiry into human rights abuses in East Timor, a spokesman said.

Jakarta – The state of civil emergency in Indonesia's Maluku islands, torn by warfare between Muslims and Christians, should be extended for another month, the national police chief said Friday.

It is no dream team, but can President Abdurrahman Wahid's new Cabinet save his presidency from an early death? Many of the Jakarta elite do not think so, judging by yesterday's negative coverage in the Indonesian media. Devi Asmarani and Marianne Kearney of The Straits Times Indonesia Bureau highlight the good and the bad.

Barry Wain – The way most reports had it, the Indonesian military ambushed unarmed politicians in the final hours of People's Consultative Assembly deliberations in Jakarta last week. They somehow persuaded or coerced the civilians into agreeing that officers be allowed to sit in the assembly until 2009, instead of 2004.

Jeremy Wagstaff, Manado – One day in December 1998, a hearse pulled into the graveled courtyard of the Saint Joseph Catholic church in this port city on the island of Sulawesi. Two men slid a white coffin out of the back of the car and hauled it up the steps to the church door.

Mia Trinephi, Hong Kong – While Indonesia's debt has reached unsustainable levels, the government's immediate options to restructure its debt remain limited, analysts say.

Jakarta – A leading human rights watchdog says four missing activists from the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) may have been abducted by hired thugs or assassins.

Jakarta – US Ambassador Robert S. Gelbard and National Police Chief General Rusdihardjo yesterday signed an agreement to provide training, technical assistance and equipment to enhance the professional capacity of the police force.

Michael Backman – Three years ago, Ari Sigit was on the cover of Indonesian magazines trumpeted as Indonesia's business whiz kid. Today, Mr Ari's name tends to be linked more to drugs, sex scandals and cancelled contracts than to alleged business prowess. What happened in the intervening period? His grandfather, Mr Suharto, resigned as president.

H Dharmastuti/Swastika & AH, Jakarta – The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) and the National Police (Polri) are said to be the worst violators of the Humanitarian Pause in Aceh. Unknown armed groups are second on the list, with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) ranked last.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday appointed a retired army general and an economist to key posts in a streamlined Cabinet he hopes will pull Indonesia out of nearly three years of economic, civil and political turmoil.

Shoeb Kagda – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday unveiled a new Cabinet tilted strongly in his favour, catching many observers and market analysts off guard. They had expected some concessions towards Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who, in recent days, had become more strident in pushing her claim to power as well as having a say in the running of the country.

The annual two-week session of Indonesia's Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) from August 7 to 18 witnessed growing collaboration between Golkar, the political machine of the former Suharto military dictatorship, and the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), led by Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Jakarta – The new Cabinet has been criticized as having ministers lacking in competence and being poorly supported by major political parties.

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais gave a thumbs-down on Wednesday to President Abdurrahman Wahid's new team, saying it was even worse than the old one in terms of the quality of its personnel.

Many hope to see the new team last the full term, but early signs are discouraging, says Yang Razali Kassim

What a way to start off a new Cabinet. President Abdurrahman Wahid has been insisting that he and his vice-president remain the best of friends; it's the media that's been making things up, he charged.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid unveiled a new slimmer Cabinet to tackle myriad problems, ranging from separatist unrest to economic woes and corruption.

It has two coordinating ministers, 16 ministers, five state ministers without ministries and three junior ministers

Max Lane – The current session of Indonesia's parliament, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), began with much criticism of President Abdurrahman Wahid by politicians and threats that he would be deposed, forced to appoint a prime minister or made to surrender significant power to vice-president Megawati Sukarnoputri. None of it happened.

Jakarta – The number of unemployment in Indonesia has reached 37 million, a senior official said.

The existing program for jobless eradication was inadequate, Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare and Poverty Eradication Basri Hasanuddin was quoted Wednesday by the Jakarta Post daily as saying.

Jakarta – Lawyers defending Indonesian military officers accused of human rights violations in East Timor have vowed to use a controversial constitutional amendment to save them from prosecution.