Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Is that a rice cooker or a bomb in the shopping bag? Bomb paranoia has struck Jakarta and other major cities as residents are scared stiff at the sight of unattended bags, boxes and odd-looking items after the latest spate of explosions to rock the country.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – There are many theories to explain why the government's various programs to eliminate poverty have been futile. In Jakarta, one problem is clear: Over 100,000 poor do not have ID cards, which make public services unavailable to them.

Bernie K. Moestafa, Jakarta – How do we explain the sight last Wednesday of the Indonesian delegation shopping in one of Rome's most expensive arcades while attending a world summit on hunger?

Bad timing maybe, but a note by prominent Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid that Indonesians were not serious about running the state, could be nearer to the truth.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Imagine a squalid three-by-four-meter house under a large water pipe on the Western Flood Canal in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. Its walls consist of used plywood and rough concrete that supports the pipe. It has no kitchen or toilet.

R.K. Nugroho, Jayapura – With new powers under the special autonomy laws, the provincial legislature in Irian Jaya (Papua) has dropped all fees for elementary and high school students as of the 2002/2003 academic year to give children more of an opportunity to receive a quality education.

[There are fears that violence could once again return to East Timor, after the announcement by former militia leader Joao Tavares that he intends to return home with some 3,000 followers. The refugee body, the UNHCR, has confirmed it will facilitate a meeting on Friday between Tavares and East Timorese authorities who have previously talked about the possibility of an amnesty.

Robert Go, Jakarta – In a triumph over the central government, the Batam authorities have successfully lobbied Parliament to block Jakarta's efforts to take over the island's sea and airports.

Both Batam administrators and members of Parliament in the capital confirmed the decision during interviews with The Straits Times.

Jakarta – Indonesia told international creditors yesterday that its efforts to turn around the sickly economy were bearing fruit, and the creditors largely agreed.

This took place a day after Indonesia promised the International Monetary Fund in a new letter of intent that it will push through reforms in return for a US$340 million loan.

Jakarta – More than 200 burning seams of coal could threaten huge areas of forest in East Kalimantan province, an environmental official said on Wednesday.

Howard LaFranchi, Washington – The outrage was global in the late 1990s when Indonesia's military and goon-like militias associated with the army ran roughshod through independence-seeking East Timor. The human rights abuses were so wanton that the United States cut all cooperation with the Indonesian armed forces.

Medan – The Military Police in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, are questioning three Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers for their alleged role in an attack on the Serbelawan Police subprecinct post on Monday night.

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors dropped their investigation into the killing of a Dutch journalist in East Timor that took place in 1999, a spokesman said Thursday.

Jayandra Menon, Perth – Senior Australian defence officials are worried that the Bush administration's war on terrorism is being exploited by some of its "supposed allies" for their own domestic political gains.

Kasparman, Padang – Thousands of protesters expressed on Wednesday their support of a government plan to dismiss the current management of state cement maker PT Semen Padang, lending fresh backing to the company's privatization efforts.

Jakarta – Indonesia paid for anti-independence militias responsible for much of the violence in East Timor in 1999 when it voted for independence, a former government official told a court Thursday.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti and Minister of Finance Boediono have made a new economic reform agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), despite signs that the Cabinet is cracking due to a disagreement on key economic policies sponsored by the fund.

Jakarta – Witnesses testified before the human rights ad hoc trial for the 1999 East Timor atrocities on Tuesday that pro-Jakarta militia groups attacked proindependence supporters taking refuge in the St. Ave Maria Church in Suai town, Covalima regency, East Timor, on September 6, 1999.

Dewi Anggraeni and Syafi'i Anwar – There is something unnerving about Singapore senior minister Lee Kwan Yew's call last week that the world (read the United States) should rely on the Indonesian military to keep the nation from disintegrating because of Muslim militancy.

[Australians keen to help in the reconstruction of East Timor are being asked to make a financial commitment. The world's newest nation will be looking in its own backyard for the foreign investors needed for everything from roads and phones to farming and fishing, naming Australia and Asia as the best sources of investment and expertise.

Jakarta – Members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police will have to leave politics ahead of schedule as the newly proposed bill on general elections states they will no longer be represented in the legislative bodies in 2004.

Canberra – The federal government was examining introducing duty-free status for all goods of East Timor origin, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.

Speaking at the launch of the Australia East Timor Business Council, Mr Downer said East Timor faced great economic challenges now that it had achieved political independence.

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri told a United Nations summit on food and agriculture that the burden of foreign debt on poor nations restricted access to food and undermined poverty reduction efforts.

A former district chief in East Timor during Indonesian rule said that provincial authorities had often paid the pro-Jakarta militias who launched an orgy of violence against independence supporters in 1999.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Sunday's bombing in the Indonesian capital may be the work of criminal gangs and not rogue elements of the military who have been blamed for previous bombings, say police and analysts.

Dear Fellow Citizens,

We have been independent and masters of our destiny for 23 days. Yet, it is somewhat ironic to feel as masters of our destiny without a corresponding feeling of change.

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – Astri, 14, from Bunga Sari Japatan village, Indramayu West Java, has spent the past seven months of her life working in a Jakarta brothel.

She dropped out of elementary school four years ago when she was in the fourth grade and decided to earn money for her poor family.

Kupang – Police officers in East Nusa Tenggara province have arrested 20 of 25 alleged Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members trying to sneak into East Timor, Belu regent Marsel Bere said on Monday.

Jakarta – Despite strong criticism of their performance, members of the House of Representatives (DPR) remained stubbornly undisciplined on Tuesday, skipping a scheduled plenary meeting for reasons known only to them.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – At least 100 members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) branded chairwoman Megawati a traitor for her endorsement of the nomination of the incumbent Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso for the next governor.

Max Lane – The persistence of the movement for a self-determination referendum in Aceh, the emergence of the Papuan Peoples Council and the troubles in Ambon have all raised concerns about whether Indonesian unity can be maintained.

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has agreed to increase import tariffs on all food and agricultural commodities in the near-term, a report said.

Two gunmen shot dead a district parliamentarian at his home in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh, police said.

Taslim Jalil was shot dead in Lhoknga near the provincial capital of Banda Aceh a few hours before dawn on Tuesday, Adjunct Senior Police Commissioner D. Achmad told journalists.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – If you are an ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, you need to be a star to get your citizenship papers. And even then it is not easy.

This is the bitter lesson learnt by international badminton star Hendrawan, who got his papers just a few days before leaving Indonesia to win the Thomas Cup in China.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Thousands of fisherman in the Lampung provincial capital of Bandarlampung are still unable to go to sea due to serious pollution in Pelabuhan Panjang waters, which has been blamed on local sugar cane plantation firm PT Gunung Madu Plantation (GMP).

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – It is called the office of the Clean Ciliwung Campaign – which is supposed to conduct activities to clean Ciliwung and other rivers in the city, but the two-story building is quiet.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A significant increase in the level of donations allowed for political parties has won the support of political observers and a politician, who see the increase as a positive measure to help prevent parties obtaining money from illegal sources.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Local military intelligence has confirmed the presence of 25 members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group in Atambua near the border with East Timor, an officer claimed on Saturday.

Police in the Indonesian capital have warned that more bombings are likely in the city following a blast outside a discotheque early Sunday which injured five people.

The former chief of East Timorese pro-Jakarta militia groups is planning to return home from exile in Indonesia with some 3,000 followers, a report said.

"The precise time has yet to be determined but what is certain is that we are determined to return to East Timor in the near future," Joao da Silva Tavares was quoted by in Monday's Koran Tempo newspaper as saying.

Jakarta – Six countries have agreed to set up the Southwest Pacific Forum and will hold a first annual meeting in Indonesia in August, reports said Sunday.

Jakarta – Security forces shot and killed five separatist rebels, while one solider died as clashes persisted in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, the military said Sunday.

Rebels ambushed a security patrol in the Bireun district in northern Aceh, killing one soldier, local military spokesman Maj. Zaenal Mutaquin said.

Don Greenlees – Soon after midnight on May 20, after the East Timorese flag had been raised, and the new nation declared independent, Indonesia's armed forces commander Admiral Widodo Adisucipto went up on the deck of the support ship Tandjung Kambani and watched the celebratory fireworks erupt along the East Timorese shoreline.

The new chief of Indonesia's powerful armed forces has been sworn in, promising to protect President Megawati Sukarnoputri from any unconstitutional move to topple her government.

"I will not tolerate anyone who is trying to destabilise the government because it only brings harm to this nation," army General Endriartono Sutarto said on Friday.

Banda Aceh – As killings continue in restive Aceh province, tens of thousands of people in three subdistricts of Pidie regency are facing food shortages following a road block by separatist rebels.

Banda Aceh – Fierce armed clashes broke out in five different locations in Aceh on Tuesday, killing a Mobile Brigade (Brimob) policeman and a rebel of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM),an official said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, at least two civilians, one of them the wife of alocal politician in Aceh, were found dead with gunshot wounds.

Medan – Thousands of workers at state-owned plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara II continued their protest here on Wednesday, demanding their firm's president director Suhairi Lubis be fired for failing to provide them with better pay.

The demonstrators started the rally on Tuesday in the North Sumatra capital and most of them held out a day later.

Jakarta – Malaysia, which has been aggressively looking at business opportunities in Indonesia, joined a host of other foreign countries on Wednesday in voicing concerns about the growing militancy among Indonesia's labor unions.

Jakarta – A former Indonesian district army chief admitted on Thursday that a man alleged to have led a bloody attack on a church in East Timor in April 1999 was a soldier.

Lieutenant Colonel Asep Kuswandi, formerly head of the Liquica district military command, told a human rights court that Tome Diego was a member of the Liquica military.

Greg Sheridan – Want to hear something strange? East Timorese representatives have had discussions with Indonesian authorities about the possibility of Indonesia's armed forces, the TNI, helping to train East Timor's nascent force.

Tangerang – Dozens of residents of Cipondoh subdistrict rallied at the municipal administration office on Wednesday to protest the new subdistrict chief.

"We want former subdistrict chief Asmawi back, because all of the residents were very happy with his programs," said Madari, one of the residents.